Master and Commander
Somehow I managed to convince my old man to let me borrow his boat. We had taken his houseboat out before (under escort) but this time it was the 5 meter runabout. And I was going out alone as well. Unescorted.
The reason why I was going alone as the lone master and commander of the boat was simple. When you spend all day and night with someone for 70 days straight, you may get on each others nerves a little bit. (Even if she is your lovely and beautiful and amazing wife). This was a chance for both of us to have a break from each other outside of working in the kitchen.
The reasons why it was a big deal for me to be going out alone on the water are many. Firstly it is incredibly remote here at King Ash Bay. Ash Bay. The McArthur River is the main river that runs along The banks of King Ash Bay Fishing Club. Then there are heaps of creeks coming off the McArthur River. These creeks are big enough that most of them have a name. Then shooting off these creeks will be dozens of smaller creeks that are still big enough to navigate up in your tinny. If you were to add them all up, there are probably thousands of creeks in the McArthur River delta catchment system. The locals simply call any of these little creeks “sneaky creek”. It’s like a generic name for any small unnamed creek here. If you travel up a sneaky creek and get stuck, you might not see another human for a week.
If you were stuck up a creek, you can’t simply go to shore and walk to get help. The salt water crocodiles here are in great numbers and do not discriminate when it comes to deciding what’s for dinner.
When heading down stream on the McArthur from King Ash Bay, you will be met with sand bars, rock bars and mud flats. Most of which are not marked. Luckily the depth sounder on my old mans boat had a track marked on the map for me to follow. Because I was being extra cautious, I think I spent more time looking at the GPS map on the sounder than taking in the beautiful scenery. I followed the track marked by a line on the screen perfectly. I probably would have been lost without it.
I definitely need to work on my knot tying. I found a bit of a weak spot in my fishing ability. I hooked up to 2 really big fish while I was there. The line snapped both times where I had joined the mono leader to the braid. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the old man when he was showing me how to tie that knot.
It was a great day out on the water and can’t wait to go out and do it again. I have conveniently parked the boat out the front of the shack we are staying at.
