Outside view

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Sitting at home on a Sunday night I had the urge to go and have a squid bash, like many last minute trips I had nothing organised so quickly put some gear together and made the decision to launch at Hastings in Victoria.

Like many things when I plan a last minute trip I find myself going alone so on most occasions I turn to facebook to see who is keen on a squid session. On this occasion Kane Knos O'Rourke answered the facebook post and plans were made to meet at Hasting boat ramp at about 0500 in the morning. Like all good plans they never quite wok out. I realized once I left my house that both the car and boat needed fuel after my last 2 trips. I managed to squeeze 102 litres of petrol into the boat which meant I was very lucky I remembered to fuel up as the boat only holds 120 litres (could have been a close one) this meant I was running a little late for my meet up with Kane. A quick message and I was on my way again.

Arriving at the ramp I loaded the boat up and a good thing that Kane knew how to reverse a trailer meaning our launch time was reduced and we were on our way to the squid by 0545. We made a passage to the southern end of the Port, it is no secret to any one that when I go squidding I am normally targeting big squid and the first stop was at one of my big squid locations. Although we managed a squid in the first few minutes the trend was not to follow. We made a few drifts and only managed a few squid over a half an hour or so, I wanted to make my way outside the port and fish in some sheltered water offshore but the wind was not being a willing participant, a stiff South East wind was the only thing holding us back. We persisted in my normal haunt for a further half an hour landing a couple more small squid but not the big girls I am after.

We finally got a break in the wind so I made the dash outside, still far from great conditions I made the trip around to a spot that I had fished a few weeks prior with Dale. To say we did it tough was an understatement, I lost a few jigs to the friendly Pike that reside in the bays and coves at the rear of Philip Island and we only managed a few more small squid. Kane landed a couple using a Shimano Sephia Keimura white 3.0 and I picked up a couple on Gan Craft UO-Jya 3.5 Mookie and Gan Craft EGI-JYA 3.5 in Pink Shrimp head. With things moving slower than I was hoping for I decided to go back into Western Port and fish some of my normal spots for numbers rather than size.

Slowly making our way back up the port we made a few drifts along the way but again only managing a few smaller squid on each drift, I think we ended up with 12 squid for the day. Happy not have a doughnut day I managed to clock up 128.4km on the Lowrance HDS and use 33 litres of fuel. Kane was great company and he is welcome to fish on my boat again at any time.

 Upon our return to the boat ramp another indication of the state of affairs with our launching facilities, it was a 40 minute wait at a 4 lane ramp with things all running smoothly, a further example of how our government is happy to take millions of dollars off recreational boaters and not give a cent back. Considering that in Victoria we have 170,000 registered trailable boats and only 1500 boat and trailer car parks at our ramps we should expect more for our money and take note any ministers who may see this, we will be voting next time round with our boats and fishing rods