A DAY OUT FISHING WITH STEVE'S FOLKS...

 Steve's Dad still loves to go fishing but at 86 years of age is not able to go on his own anymore.  Steve tries whenever he can to get away and take his dad fishing so on our way home from Rainbow Beach we took time out to stop in at Turkey Beach and spend a few days with his parents so that we could take them out fishing..

We had a little trouble convincing him initially to come out in Steve's boat for a fish.  It is much easier to get him into our boat and also more comfortable for him.  It did take a bit of convincing but he finally came mainly because Steve's mum was definitely coming for a ride in the new boat..

We were up early, packed a picnic lunch and headed down to the boat ramp....

Swimming enclosure on the beach at Turkey Beach

Launching the boat

Lots of boats out today...

Once Steve had parked the car and trailer again it was time to head off...  The tide wasn't quite low enough to pump our yabbies yet so we did a little fishing with left over bait from the previous day whilst we were waiting for the tide to drop a bit lower...

 

Off we head... Steve's dad was keen to have a bit of a drive himself

We had a little fish whilst we waited for the tide to drop and expose the sand banks so that Steve could pump some yabbies.  We also thought that this was a great opportunity to have a bit of any early lunch so that we could make the most of our fishing as the tide came in. 

Lunch time...

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Enjoying lunch on the front deck...

Some decided to cast a line whilst some decided to take a nap....

Nap time...

Then it was fishing time....

And he started landing the fish..

Love those whiting

And he's got another one...

And another one....

Suddenly Steve was getting the bites.  No so much for the rest of us at this stage, but Steve was pulling them in, one after the other..  Some were a little on the small side and had to be thrown back, but the fishing were biting and that was the main thing...

Caught a couple of brim too... These are good for crab pot bait...

Steve's Mum caught her first fish.  Unfortunately it wasn't a keeper, but she was just pleased to have finally hooked a fish...

Whilst Steve pumped some yabbies,  I took to reading a good book.  My friend Barb had read this book as part of her Book Club and had really enjoyed it so had bought it up for me to read whilst we were away on holidays at Turkey Beach.  I started reading it in the boat.  Not a good move as it really got me in and I found it hard to put down..  I think I spent more time reading my book in the afternoon rather than throwing a hook out...

Enjoying a good book..

My now, everyone were hooking fish and bringing them in...

This fish totally swallowed the hook...

Fishing the Trumpie hole now and reeling them in... mostly they had to be thrown back..

Our first big day out fishing in the new boat and the fishing didn't disappoint...

We had planned to be home before dark, but somehow the sun was setting before we realized it.  The fishing was so good, that no one wanted to stop.  As the sun started to set, we headed off to check the crabpots.  We had 8 to check, so it was going to take us a good hour to do this and that meant it would be dark before we got back to the boat ramp..

Mind you it was a really beautiful time of day to be out on the water though and we made the most of enjoying the setting sun.

Sunset over the water....

We're off to check the crab pots...

We didn't have too much luck with the crabs today.  We had 8 pots out and only managed to get two keepers in the pot.  There were several Jennies but they had to be tipped out...

No crab in the next pot, but a huge cod.. Unfortunately it was dead, so it then became the crab pot bait.

And we have a crab...

It was dark by the time we got back to the boat ramp and got home.  Fortunately we had some left over pie for the previous night, so we threw a few vegetables on the stove and had a pretty simple dinner...

The boys still had fish to clean and fillet after dinner before bed, and a couple of crabs to cook..

Picked up a good feed of fish..

A good feed of crab..

It's been a long day out on the water, but one we all enjoyed.  The weather was perfect if not a little cool, but it was great to be out in the fresh air.  The sky was blue as blue and we witnessed bit turtles swimming by and dolphins frolicing in the water near our boat.  All rather magical really....