First Thoughts – My Scott Aspect 930 on the Manly Dam Mountain Bike Track
Having spent Saturday pushing my 3 year old around the Narrabeen Lagoon Trail, it was time for me to put my new mountain bike to the test. And since we were yet to sort out a bike rack for the car, I decided to cycle to the Manly Dam Mountain Bike Track to put it through it's paces. The ride to the track went better than expected. After taking a wrong turn early on, and chasing a B-line bus down the hill to Spit Bridge, the climb back out was easier than expected, possibly due to the bike's gearing ratios. The remote lockout for the front fork was a life-saver, as I transversed from tar to dirt (and back) on a multitude of occasions. The Scott Aspect 930 Once I…
A Dirty Manly Dam
On Saturday afternoon I made a sneaky dash for Manly Dam, eager to flick a fly for a few Aussie bass. After months of drought, Sydney had finally had a week of heavy rain, and I was interested to see the state of the dam. The water level was significantly higher than on my previous two visits and, as expected, was substantially dirtier. That said, looking at the water from the bank, it looked tannin stained rather than muddy, which gave me some hope that it would still be fishable. An afternoon kayak session on Manly Dam I launched my kayak from the ski area boat ramp, and was promptly given a talking to by one of the skiers. Unbeknown to me, the ski zone was for powered boats only,…
Manly Dam – Take 2
On a lazy Friday morning, I decided to take advantage of the fact that granny was staying with us, and took her and the girls down to Manly Dam, to show her one of my local fishing holes. It was the first time I'd tried to load my Hobie Outback onto the roof of my ute by myself. And amazingly, it was easier than doing it with my sister, although it did take me fractionally longer, as I had to lift each side onto the roof on it's own. This amazing feat was achieved using the Rack and Roll roof rack bar, which I purchased from the Life Aquatic. When we got to the dam I setup a small picnic area for granny and the girls, and then got about…
Aussie Bass at Manly Dam (First Outing on my Hobie Outback)
After months of deliberation around which fishing platform would be best suited to my use cases, having considered multiple options from boats to float tubes and paddle kayaks, I bit the bullet and purchased a 2019 Hobie Outback. Surprisingly, even after I'd narrowed my choices down to the pedal kayaks, the decision was still far from obvious. What drive system did I want? Should it be fin based or a prop drive? Was size and ease of transport important? Or was stability more critical, being a fly fisherman? These are however questions better suited to a future post, once I've had a few more sessions on the kayak. With a shiny, new Hobie sitting in the garage, I absolutely had to get it onto the water as soon as possible.…