Arrived at Marks on friday around 11am. Up until then it was blowing around 20knts with squalls and low cloud. Spent an hour with Mark and then loaded up the boats with our gear before heading to the ramp across the road. During that hour, the wind dropped and the skies cleared.
By the time we launched and made it out to the river mouth it was fine and clear with almost no wind. Heres a pic of the conditions as we got to the rivermouth...Not what we expected!!!
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A quick talk to set up radio scheds etc and then I was off to the next island where I was going to set up ( see the google earth image in my last post)
As I came through the gap between the islands I saw about 500+ Canada geese sitting between my chosen spot and the 'mainland' accompanied by about 250 ducks. It was getting better and better....But I knew that the reason they were there was to take shelter from the winds that had been blowing overnight and through the morning. They all took flight at once and although I didnt get a pic ( was too busy trying to stay in the channel), it was a sight that is indelibly imprinted in my memory banks. Parked the boat in the mangroves after setting the decoys and then waited for the tide to drop so I could set the boat up and raise a 'fly' over it for shelter.
Bh kept calling me to remind me of the lack of wind and questioned my ability to forecast.....also told me that when he lowered the bunk in his 'mansion' a rat jumped out of his nest of shade cloth and dived over the side and swam away..I told him he would have company that night lol.
When the tide dropped I got out of the boat and set up a 'fly' for shelter by tying a rope between to mangroves and draping a green tarpaulin over it then tied it to mangrove roots.
Here are a couple of pics of the setup...
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By the time I had finished, it was dinner time so I set up the boat for cooking and sat back to enjoy venison steak, pan fried potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs. Cleared everything away and then converted the boat to a bedroom.
Went to sleep around 9pm to the sound of BH trying to wind me up about the lack of wind. Despite my words of "Wait till tomorrow"... he wouldnt let up.......It was a cold clear night and I could see the night sky from my bed so I contemplated the mysteries of the universe and watched for shooting stars......saw some of the biggest I had ever seen and it was so clear I could even see the odd satellite passing overhead.
Spent a lot of time thinking about past opening weekends and those people who I had enjoyed them with ( most of them have departed this earth). And raised a mug of 100 yr old port in their memory. With the memories flowing through my head and the port flowing through my body I had no difficulty in dropping into a sound sleep.-
Had to wake up every hour or 2 as the tide rose to ensure the boat didnt get hooked up under a branch but had a very relaxing sleep nevertheless. Bh woke me up shortly after midnight to tell me that the rat came back to claim his bed and also the the nest which was at the head of the bed had left an awful stink of rat piss and droppings which was nauseating.....
Day one...
Woke at 5am, packed away the bed, made bacon eggs and hash browns for breakfast followed by 2 large mugs of coffee before clearing everything away and setting up for first light. Got my trusty 1187 out and put the V3 away...( I carry the V3 as a spare)
It seemed to take ages for dawn to break but as it slowly got lighter I could hear ducks and geese calling the sun. Finally 6,30am came and after loading shells into the 1187 I gave a few quiet quacks on the caller to announce I was open for trade. 5 minutes later a pair of birds came screaming from my left over the decoys catching me unawares......as they passed out of range I gave a female 'come back here call'... they then zoom climbed, banked into a 360 degree turn and came screaming in over the decoys from my left again. Because I had set up the boat with a large mangrove tree on my left to keep me in the shadow, suddenly they appeared over the decoys, the 1187 barked twice ad they both dropped into the mud drt. Not having picked up a 12 gauge since june 2024 I was extremely pleased with my ability to continue where I left off from last season.
5 minutes later another 3 birds repeated the same maneuver as the first 2, another call and they banked, turned and followed the same flight path as their deceased brethren. 3 shots later and they continued on their way having humbled me completely!
The next single drake that came in about 10 minutes later restored some semblance of pride as I dropped him on the 1st pass with a snap shot.
By now it was almost full light and I decided to take the opportunity to retrieve the shot birds. stepping out of the boat and slinging the 1187 over my shoulder I walked out onto the mud....the further out I got the softer the mud became until it was almost up to my knees. Managed to get to the first bird and picked it up followed by the 2nd.....just as I straightened up 5 more mallards appeared over the mangroves, saw me and hit the afterburners...By the time I dropped the birds and unslung the 1187 the only thing i could see was 3 black spots in the distance with the echoes of their panic calls still ringing in my ears.....
Trudging back to the boat I laid the birds on the transom, put the gun down and leaned across the boat to get in. I didnt realise the props holding the boat level had floated away during the overnight high tide and the boat dropped under me onto one side of the hull. The sharp pain on my left ribs when I hit the side of the boat indicated I may have cracked a rib....Buggar! After a few minutes the pain subsided to a dull ache and after pressing each rib on that side it appeared I may have just pulled a muscle....2 nurofen later and I felt almost as good as new.....until I found that I had cracked my phone screen.
The ups and downs so far, seemed to set the tone of the day and I didnt think it would get much worse.....Ha, little did I know that the ups and downs coming would be so much bigger.
Next birds to arrive were a mob of about 100 Canada's....Didnt have time to switch from steel 4's to 3's or 2's but they were close enough for me to drop 2 birds about 40 yds out. Decided to leave them for a while and retrieve them when the morning flight had finished. Made a another mug of coffee, just in time for a single drake to arrive, dropped my cup and then dropped the drake with one shot......made another coffee to replace the spilled one and then sat back for about 2 hrs without another bird coming close.
Ribs felt good so I retrieved the downed birds.
Got a call from BH to say that he had 5 ducks down and that there was a large mob of birds on the mud at the back of the island I was on and would I mind going for a walk to stir them up. Once again he also reminded me of my inability to forecast the weather. (He was getting a lot of mileage from that
)I figured the exercise would stop me stiffening up so loading a pocket full of shells I went for a walk. Get around to the other side of the island to find the birds had flown....and BH gleefully told me he had scored 2 from that mob.
While I contemplated this I felt the first small gust of wind.....by the time I got back to the boat it was blowing around 25-30knots and steady. Vindicated at last!!!
Another mob of Canada's showed up and I dropped 2 more, followed in quick succession by a lone mallard drake then a lone Paradise female duck.. I could see the tide coming over the mud towards me so quickly donning my waders, I went out to retrieve them..... It was a race between me and the tide and I got about 15 metres away from them and then saw that the tide was going to beat me.......unfortunate thing about water on mud is that it makes it even softer and I knew from experience that if I continued I may get stuck as I was already over my knees in mud. With reluctance I left the 2 geese, retrieved the 2 ducks on my way back to the boat ......just in time to see the wind partially tear down my shelter. By the time I took it down the water was at the boat and with the tide floating the geese the wind took them down the harbour until they were lost from sight. An hour later I had enough water to float the boat so I set off in pursuit but they had disappeared into the mangroves.
The wind was that strong that I decided to pull the decoys and head to the sheltered creek opposite me on the mainland.
Relocated. set the decoys out and then enjoyed 90 minutes of good shooting, filling my limit of birds. Ended up with 8 mallards, 1 paradise duck and 3 geese in total.
More to come about day one.....going to have a coffee break.
