Did some very rough packing Friday morning after spending Thursday night sorting things out for work. Spent the day at work hoping i'd packed everything and it was going to work out because come 3:15 I was out of there. Made the trip down watching some black cloud along the journey but with it mostly looking promising things looked hopeful that the weather forecast was wrong for a change. Crossed the bridge into Peterborough and saw some sad looking hopefuls tossing lures along the banks. Caught up with Dean the owner of the caravan park and headed down for a quick chat to hear all about how great the weather had been for the day  Chucked the tent up, got changed and not to long after it was off to the pub to plan the assault. 

Being off the grog paid off the next morning when I woke around 6:30 and still felt okay so whilst the others had a sleep in thought i'd toss a few lures along the shore. 1st couple of casts saw some small salmon making a good warm up and then a feisty little 25cm mullet that buried itself in a weed clump and managed to throw the hook but could get out of the weed before i drag it onto the shore.The tide and wind were working together to make things a little trickier than they needed to be but by casting ahead of my target area and walking down the bank with the drift I was able to get my vibes down without miles of slack line collecting weed every second, even working this I was lucky to get 1 in 5 casts clean of weed for any period of time. Felt a light tap then a solid thump as the hooks connected and it was on, played dodge the weed and get out of the channel and tide for a few minutes with a nice bream to open the account for the weekend. Ended up going 41cm to the fork with a nice bit of weight to him. 

Decided to call it quits and head back for some breaky, found Geoff had stirred by that point and Boz wasn't far behind. With the promise of good bream we got the kayaks rigged and out onto the water while Riv sorted breakfast out and came down soon after.

 Hit the bridge area for a few more salmon when the wind and rain picked up and I went and beached under the bridge while the Hobie boys paddled around underneath. 

After the rain cleared decided to head back to shore for a break when we spotted cruiser(Geoff2) who was about to head out, since the weather was a little better decided to stick it out and went down the channel to where i'd got the bream earlier. drifted along with Geoff1 flicking vibes along the edges and having a good laugh as the mirage drives found the shallows each time. Got back to the mark from earlier and dropped a vibe down while I tried to adapt my paddle for a stakeout pole(we really should have raided Dean's broom supply  ) While I was busy with that the rod loaded up and another fight was on. With the fish running along the channel with the tide and the wind pushing me across the shallow flats it was a tough battle mixed between getting some line back, keeping things clear of a the channel edge and  keeping the kayak out of the weed. In the end I got him to the surface and managed to slip him into the shallows where the fight soon turned my way. Another nice bream in the net this one going 38. Things got quiet after that so headed in to grab a bite to eat and stretch the legs. 

Headed back out after a decent pie(last one in the shop) and anchored up next to Riv back in the channels. Riv managed a couple of salmon when I decided to change lures over to a small strike pro vibe.

 Using a super slow retrieve soon had another feisty bream on and being anchored up this time the fight was much more one sided, despite an attempt to wrap himself around a channel marker pole he was soon in the net for a quick photo and back over. 

Weather got nasty again and decided to call it for the day so headed back to the campsite. Had a chat and a bit of a flick along the shore picking up a little salmon that we began contemplating live baiting off the beach before Geoff2 decided to give some prawns a go from the kayak again.

 Headed back down the channel with both of us picking up a small trevally, Geoff on a plastic mine on a vibe, anchored up again and went through a range of lures and plastics for not much joy, mullet and salmon again on the plastics although they seemed to be getting smaller each time. Cruiser's were getting bigger but still no sign of bream when a couple of boaters came through flicking sx40's along the opposite channel edge, they picked up 3 reasonable bream that I saw, and plenty of salmon. Watching the black clouds coming in I decided that was definitely the end of my day so said later to Geoff and headed back in, made it about halfway when the heavens opened and I got soaked in seconds, couldn't see the front of the yak through the rain and was busy sucking water through my buff instead of air. 

That was it for fishing for me so after a shower and some clean clothes we did a barbie and enjoyed the soggy fire before calling it a night. About 6 the next day I heard a few car doors going and thought Cruiser had decided to head out but when I got up around 7 he was still sleeping away in the troopy, Geoff1's tent was down so hoped he'd taken Boz up on the offer of a bed in the cabin, tried flicking lures from the shore but the wind was ferocious by this stage and only managed two salmon when the sky opened up again and after skull dragging the last one in I went back to bed for another hour.

Great weekend as always, even managed some fish and four species for me so good fun, stopped in at toolirook on the way home but the wind was making the surf launch at peterborough more comfortable than hitting the lake so that was it for the weekend. Thanks again guys had a great time as always. Also a big thanks to Dean for being a great host once again, always a pleasure to get down there mate.


Few random Shots

With the weather looking so promising couldn't let saturday go to waste, decide on gentleman's hours since the eldest has hit that lovely stage of bed sleep good. Arrived around 1 ish, with low tide at 2 things didn't look to promising but the water was like glass so great day for a paddle regardless. Trolled some plastics out echoing the crystal clear water, following a banjo shark around and playing keep the plastic away form the toady for awhile. As we got out to the 7mtr mark spotted a fin disappearing into the water and questioned telling Oli about it or not, then two more came up with a nice curve, all good the dolphin pod was out and playing. They headed our way for awhile and reminded us how awesome kayaking can be before they headed off chasing the bait schools.

The annual VYAK Peterborough trip is on again, weather hasn't always been kind but great times and people on each trip. Always great for a catchup around the fire with everyone staying at Great Ocean Road Tourist Park Added some photos from past trips.

Weather forecast looked fairly promising if somewhat cold so made a relatively late start and passed Redherring headed the wrong way(poor guy had to work)  arrived at the lake around 11 o'clock. Met up with Wokka who was having a chat to someone who'd been out earlier. After a brief chat and setup we formed a basic plan of attack and headed out.

Conditions were reasonably good with a nice bit of cloud cover and some wind to keep the surface broken up. The plan was to work through the reeded area and trees on the way to the dam wall and island region. We set out together slowly trolling an assortment of lures and plastics. I was trying a white Rapala husky jerk along with a Damiki ripper with a small spinner blade attached to the jighead, Wokka was trying a tassie devil and a small plastic. 

Overview
Okay so this is one of my local waters, so not really a fishing with session, but thought I'd share some info to get the ball rolling. Jubilee is located just outside Daylesford and is one of the state government's premier fishing lakes. This means it receives annual stocking of ex brood trout in excess of 2kg. It's a relatively small water with limited shore access although two fishing platforms have been established recently opening up some new grounds to land based fishing. However it's an ideal kayaking location, sheltered from the winds and almost always fishable. Photos and techniques after the break.

This section will include trip reports written either individually or co written with the local kayaker. Will include images and possibly video as well as links to specific sections where appropriate, eg. map showing where we fished, if a key feature of the kayak is mentioned then links to the image/writeup for it under the fitouts section.