October on the water: it went backwards
On 13 October the sea off Newcastle read 20.5 degrees, the warmest of the month. By the 15th, 39 millimetres of rain had come down in two days. On the 27th the sea read 18.0, and October closed at 18.8. It had opened at 19.9.
So spring went into reverse for a fortnight.
The short version:
- The sea finished colder than it started. 19.9 on the 1st, 20.5 on the 13th, 18.8 on the 31st.
- Squid ran the lake. Arrow squid was Lake Macquarie's top pick on 16 of 31 days, 13 of them at Swansea Channel.
- No golden day. One came close enough to sting.
One morning early
Sunday 11 October, Swansea Channel Training Walls, bream. It scored exactly what a golden day takes today. On the 12th the site lowered the bar for golden. So October's best day didn't miss by a point. It missed by a morning.
It's like getting to the bakery at ten past five, the door's locked, and the next day they decide to stay open till six. I doubt the bream read the paperwork.
The squid didn't care about any of it. Not the rain, not the cold fortnight. They sat at the top of the lake list for half the month.
Is October a cold month now, or was this one a wobble? I have exactly one October in the log. I can't tell you yet.
November opened at 19.1, so maybe it's turned around. I'm going down to the channel to see if the squid have noticed.