Once there it was again a matter of marking the spot and then spending the best part of the next hour sounding the general area. Notice again how 1 hour spent sounding could be quite normal. Once we anchored at our likely spot we started getting a few bites but unfortunately they were not of the right type so it was a matter of playing with 2 variables that got us connected to the right species.

I am sure that by now all of you are wondering which ones the 2 variables were and it's sufficed to say that they were water depth and bait but I will not specify which values to attribute to the variables.

Within a matter of seconds the one rock species per minute had changed itself to a whiting per minute and it wasn't long before we ended up reaching the boat limit. I still don't know how to thank Eugene for his try on the new bait, it was amazing to see how you could select rock species from a whiting just by the bait used, even for me that was a first. I have always known obviously that certain fish bite on certain bait and so on, but to imagine not to be able to land a single whiting on a cockle for over an hour while nothing else than a whiting was landed on Eugene's 'magic' bait, that was a very welcome surprise.

Everything seemed to be proceeding well apart from our hope to go to the south coast of the island, that after all had been the reason why we had selected CJ as our holiday destination for this break, but the weather as usual had decided once more not to cooperate.

Spirits were still high after all we still had another 3 days to get a shot at that and surely our bad luck could not last that long. The idea to go back home for a feed of crayfish and whiting was too strong to resist so we decided to head back in. On the way home we decided to ring the weather bureau again and I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I got told that the forecast was for another 4 days of the same south easterly.

That just killed our morals. We could just not believe it. One week in CJ and, infact, as I write this article it is the 9th January and we are still in a south easterly stream. I guess we must have been a bit optimistic to try and strike anything else this time of the year. Anyway over dinner that night I received a call from my wife's cousin Jonathan, he is a doctor and this would have been the 3rd fishing trip of his life, so I asked him to meet us at 9a.m at the ramp as we could only try to fish 2 change of tides at 10:30a.m and 4:30p.m.

On arrival at the ramp Jonathan, David, and Scott were there keenly waiting for us, and although Eugene wasn't there, he had decided to head back to Adelaide, as the best we could do was to try for another 'boring' boat limit catch of whitings he thought. We soon seemed to form a nice crue. David had just purchased a boat and although he hasn't yet got a sounder on it, he and Jonathan were quite keen to learn and understand exactly how to use a sounder.

So I spent most of the time sounding the area while explaining to them how to read and use it. When we finally marked our likely spot it was again a matter of performing one very important part of a fishing routine, anchoring. I once again stress the importance of taking 2 variables in consideration - tide and wind, and understanding the way they affect your vessel will determine how accurately you can get at anchoring.

I must also admit though that I find absolutely indispensable a piece of advice that my fishing prof. Bill has given me but unfortunately I am not going to disclose something I was told by him without his consent. Back at anchor we started landing a few rock species again and after a few shifts we were back on the whitings, needless to say that the morning slack water session ended with a dozen whitings.

I had planned with Vince to take the boys to Rapid Head for a go at some squid while the tide was racing and then come back on this ground around 2 hours prior to the next slack water at 2:30pm. But just as everybody had packed their rods and rigs I had this idea of trying to reach the bottom with some 'heavy' and I mean heavy sinkers.

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