19-20 Nov South Coast trip to Brogo chasing bass.

10-11 Dec Jindabyne.

23 April 2005 – catch mess of salmon. Cleaning up, take very much alive salmon from rock pool, break neck and cut throat, blood everywhere. Katie, 3 yrs and 1 month, is dumbstruck by spurting blood. Looks at me and says, "Do another one".

26 April 2005 – Canberra, Katie in bathroom rubbing plastic toy fish with hair comb. "What are you doing?". "Scaling ‘em", she says.

19 Sept – land good trevally on tan/white clouser casting on coral flats at north end of Akaiami. Howling wind. Return with dinner to astonishment of Richard the caretaker, who has little faith in fly fishing.

Afternoon- snorkelling venture to south end. Reject wife’s suggestion to take fly rod on basis that we will have to go 500m and Katie will be carried most of the way. 2 minutes later am carrying Katie the Lump. Richard says "fish coming this way … bonefish … big one too … should have brought the fly rod". Look at 3 year old in arms, who is enthralled by bonefish mooching past 3m way in clear water. She looks at me and smiles.

21 Sept –lose decent trevally, to Richard’s amusement. Move south to outer beach with about 1km of scary coral bommies to the outer reef. Spook large bluefin trevally (15 kg). Hook smaller one that takes off at blistering pace. Faced with losing fly line in among coral, I wade in. Madly jumping up and over bommies, up down, up down (400m away Richard, sitting under a palm tree having a smoke, sees me and concludes I am demented, does not immediately realise I am hooked up). 100m from shore I am stuffed. Water is neck deep when I jump in, climbing out is almost impossible. Mercifully fish moves to a clear channel. I can catch breath. Fish circles back to shore, goes into coral and snags me up. Up down up down etc. Hand and rod are above water, rest of me is under water, unpicking flyline. Fish is still on. Fiasco continues another 10 minutes then take Trevor trevally by tail and wade back to beach.

Toughest fish I have ever caught on fly.

22 Sept – last day, wind has backed off for first time in 2 weeks. Target bonefish. Spot bones on marl flats and cast, they come over to fly, little rock cod darts from nowhere and takes fly (aaaaaagh). Move to sand flats. Richard calls and points, "bonefish" (Richard is starting to dig it). Suddenly surrounded by bonefish coming from behind. Twitch rod and they explode. Next half hour spent spotting bones on marl bottom (they are incredibly difficult to see). Got off one good cast and fly is intercepted by trevally (aaaaaagh). Bones melt away. Chase a few trevally then collect Bis and Katie on One Foot Island. Fun day.

At camp, Richard shucks and cleans clams, dips them in curry batter and fries them. Eat with simple salad and beer, then retire to beach for postcard sunset. No bonefish but still a perfect day.

Whilst I was not able to make these days, I understand they were blessed with great weather if not many fish at the Eucumbene Trout Farm.

Geoff hasn't provided any words, but it transpires that he turned up on the Eucumbene only to find Stuart and Martin fishing there as well - Geoff noted that whilst they were rigged up in double time, they seemed to be more interested in a good lunch than fishing. Nevertheless, Stuart provided the largest fish of the day (60cm?) that shaped up to be a record for the season on Day 1.

Subsequently (17 Oct), Geoff got back by himself for a working day fish and landed this huge brown - I understand the current largest fish, though can't remember the size at the moment (5lb?).

With the opening of the streams we've had two trips - the second was with Geoff and will be reported next.

Soon after opening Peter and Bill tried out the new Subaru Forester in the SNOW. (contrast this to Mark F's article earlier in the newsletter J As so often happens Peter's superior skills shone through with four fish landed. Bill came close with one good sized fish being released further from the bank than he would have wished ("was a good sized tail on that one Bill").

Interestingly, both Bill and Peter suffered with foul hookups right at the base of the tail - perhaps a consequence of the fast moving water this early in the melt.

With only about four hours sleep after the 60^th Anniversary Dinner the Subaru was on the road again. A nicer day was forecast though that didn't stop the wind from getting up and lashings of rain for good measure. Thankfully we all three got fish (breaking a significant drought for Bill!): two rainbows for each of Bill and Geoff, a rainbow and a small brown for Peter - all rainbows well over the 40cm mark.

Members present: Ian, Bill, Max, Peter, Geoff, Alan, Scott, Anna and David, Paul, .Norm, Bruce and Damien.

Apologies: Stefan, Cheryl and Darrel.

Minutes of the previous meeting of 14 Sep 2005 had been disseminated by web. No comments have been received.

Stefan is on holidays at Weipa however the President reported $1678.50 at bank as of 30 Sep.

The issue of length measures for saltwater fish trophies was raised. Geoff will explore an option of developing a scaling system. Another alternative was discussed to limit the competition to club outings with a popular vote on the best fish of the outing.

The issue of insurance for the boat was discussed. Max had checked his car comprehensive insurance and it provide $1000 for trailer load. He has received inconsistent quotes for separate insurance. The key concern of the meeting was the issue of 3^rd party/liability insurance. Max will seek quotes.

9 Nov: Guest Speaker is Nick Taranski (bamboo fly rod manufacturer). Geoff will also speak for 30 minutes on "a beginner's fly box" to explain some basic fly usage.

14 Dec: BBQ and meeting at Lotus Bay on Lake Burley Griffin.

Lyle Knowles is to be held Wed 19 Oct and will include a carp challenge.

The CAA 60^th anniversary dinner is to be held Fri 21 Oct.

The next outing is to Brogo chasing bass on 19-20 Nov. Directions will be emailed out. Confirmation of interest for attending required next (November) meeting.

The December outing is to Jindabyne to be held 10-11 Dec. As this is before the December meeting deposits will be required at the November meeting. Accommodation is expected to be in cabins at the Snowline Caravan Park.

All were reminded of the on-going considerations for the 2007 overseas trip - we need to decide soon on a locale and commence detailed planning.

Only few fish were caught at the trout farm fly casting day but a good day was had by all. Thanks were extended to Geoff for organising, Stuart for instructing and the trout farm owners. Bryan Pratt has been thanked by the President for donating the raffle prize

Ian               Bill

President               Secretary