Gone Fishing

I went fishing yesterday on the Gold Coast. A friend told me about a place which he'd had some success. Since I had the weekend off, i.e. I wasn't on call, I decided to take a drive down and have a look. It turns out to be just up the road from a place I'd stayed last year. That was a pleasant surprise, since I found the roads familiar. I also found a faster, easier road from the motorway (we call them freeways) over to the Coast.

I don't much like the Gold Coast itself, which is to say, the main beach and the strip at Surfer's Paradise. Imagine high rises and clueless tourists from all over the world. That's the main beach. Yuck. There are three new high rises under construction now, which weren't there the last time I visited, which was about a year ago. The suburbs down there are ticky-tacky construction, and could be Suburb, Anywhere, the World. Same old architecture, same old street design, same old sidewalks, some old Courts, Lanes, and Avenues. Feh. Boring. I remember thinking "I came to Australia for this?" on my first serious visit.

It's enough to say, the Gold Coast is not my favorite place to be.

But, the idea of a reasonable place to fish away from the strip had its appeal, so I headed on down to The Spit and had a go. I didn't catch any fish, but I did get quite a few nibbles and three or four strikes. I didn't manage to pull anything in, but I can't complain. I did manage to get myself a bit of a sunburn, but that comes with the territory, I think. All the more reason to get better sunblock and keep it up. The worst burn, of course, was on the tops of my feet. Heh. Fortunately, I have some aloe vera plants in my garden, so I get the good stuff to treat the sunburn. Great stuff...always go with the juice of a live plant.

Anyway, the Spit is a pleasant enough place. I'm sure it's really nice on weekdays without folks like me who can only make it on weekends. Half the problem with the fishing was the amount of boating traffic running hither and yon. The tides were wrong, too, since it was beach fishing and I got there at high tide. Still, I can't complain about the fishing. It was a good reason to get away from the house, not very expensive, got me out of doors, and gave me something to do with myself.

I'm sure I'll get better as I get more practice and find some quieter spots. I did wander to one place that set this whole thing into motion: the boatramp at Thorneside. Now that I have tackle, I'll have to head back there and see what it's like. Seemed much quieter, more of a locals-only kind of place. Just what I need.

One thing I did forget, unfortunately, was the camp chair. Ah, well. Next time!