A Fishing Trip to Narooma

The co driver had a quilting class in Moruya about an hour’s drive south so, after dropping her off, I continued on for another 45 minutes to Narooma to do a bit of fishing.
It turned out to be a pretty nasty day with a cold howling southerly wind so, looking for some protection from the elements, I headed down to the small harbour.

 Narooma sits at the entrance to Wagonga Inlet which now empties into the sea through a man made breakwater. The bar is notorious for boating accidents and this day it was in full flight with huge waves crashing over it. No one would be heading out to sea this day except maybe for Marine Rescue.
The view from the end of the breakwater along the rugged coast was quite beautiful despite the bad conditions.

Out to sea, about 8km offshore, is Montague Island.
This is a unique NSW south coast destination being a nature reserve which is accessible only by boat for day tours or for an overnight stay in the island's accommodation in the restored lighthouse keepers quarters.
The island lies within the Batemans Marine Park and features thousands of years of ongoing Aboriginal heritage and over 125 years of lighthouse history.

The lighthouse was built in 1881 and automated in 1986 and then demanned in 1987. It is 21 metres tall and the light is 80 metres above sea level with a nominal range of 20 nautical miles (37 km)
It has the state’s largest little penguin colony, approximately 12,000, as well as a fur seal colony. The seasonably variable wildlife includes Crested Terns and Shearwaters (mutton birds).
Obviously the rough conditions had upset the local seals. There were a few splashing about in the relative calmness behind the sea wall and one was even asleep on the rocks.

I headed back to the wharf and spent a few hours casting into the boat channel.
Suddenly my line went taught and it took some effort to reel it in. But it was deadweight. Seaweed or a snag of some sort I thought.
But no, it was huge red octopus!
I had no chance with the light gear I was using to get it up onto the wharf so thought I might have to cut the line. Finally after quite a struggle with much squirting of water and black ink, he managed to get himself free.
So it was sausages for dinner, not calamari.