SOME THOUGHTS ON FISHING

 

My first experience at fishing was with a fishing line tied around an empty drinking can. I caught fish in the fresh water man-made ponds in Malaysia using earthworms as bait and the fish I caught were Telapia. That was a very long time ago.

Today I use a proper rod and reel and thanks to Marc and my sister Belle, I now fish in a tinny (aluminium dinghy) on the estuary or coastal reef and also on the beach in Western Australia.

 

On my first fishing trip in the tinny, I was given a light 12 lb line with a suicide hook on an Alvey rod. We fished in Augusta and used prawn as bait. Unfortunately as I did not know how to bait the prawn, I was mostly feeding the fish while Marc and Belle was catching all the fish and it was a frustrating experience. All I got was 3 miserable small fish. We caught whiting, herring and skippy. This was during my holiday trip to Australia in January 2009.

 

 

The next trip was on the coastal reef at Cleaverville, Karratha. This time Marc gave me a 40 lb line and we used octopus and squid as bait. I didn’t expect to catch anything as I was an amateur so I was quite surprised when I managed to catch 2 Long Toms and a Cod. From that day onwards, I gained my confidence and caught a variety of fish such as garfish, eel, cod, long tom, bream, snapper, mangrove jack, catfish, trevally, flag and cat shark. Considering that I was very new at fishing, Marc and Belle think I did pretty well and actually out fished them.

 

 

We moved on to Bush Bay in Carnarvon and here we did a lot of beach fishing. The only fish we can get here is yellow fin whiting and we use poddy worms (beach worms) as bait. In the beginning we only managed to catch small whiting because it was winter but later on when the days got warmer, we managed to get bigger ones and the largest one that Belle caught was a 29cm whiting. We use a light line on an egg-beater reel with a long shank hook attached with a red bead.

 

 

We went to Quobba for a day trip and luckily Marc brought along our fishing rods. There were hills of seaweed everywhere but it was very tough digging for worms. During the first half of the morning fishing wasn’t very good and we only got 3 small whiting. Came to lunch time Marc gave up and went off to take some piccys of the place. Belle and I resumed fishing but the tide became a bit rough. I guess it must have been my lucky day coz I was catching big whiting non-stop.

 

They were literally jumping onto my line (even with just a portion of a worm). I was having such a good time that Belle who wasn’t catching much gave me the balance of her worms. Marc who earlier had mentioned that he wasn’t going to clean the fish even came down to the beach to help. As Marc cleaned the fish, Belle was running back and forth like mad trying to get the fish that I caught to Marc. It was just amazing The fish were ravenous and in all I must have caught at least 16 biggies in a short span of time. The largest whiting measured 34 cm. It was such a spectacular day for all of us.

 

 

Our second time at Bush Bay was in Summer. By then I was the ‘fisherwoman’ out of the 3 of us. We heard stories from campers saying that they caught a 40 cm whiting but Marc did not believe their stories. He suspected that they might have caught a bone fish as we had never caught such a big whiting before. We finally believed their story when I to my and Belle’s amazement caught a 39cm whiting! Old George of Bush Bay claims they are winter whiting but they are hard to come by and an angler can only catch one or two the most. Belle and I enjoyed playing a trick on Marc when we told him that we caught just one miserable fish. Marc could not believe his eyes when he saw how big the fish was. We fried the fish and the flesh was okay except that the skin was a little tough.

 

 

It is now our second trip to Cleaverville. Marc has bought each of us a big egg-beater reel. Unfortunately I am not doing well with the reel as it is too heavy for me and I cannot cast far. So far I have only managed to catch a few finger-mark perch on the first day. I have therefore switched back to my Alvey.

Recently on one of our fishing trips we have learnt that on a calm day, we have to take the risk and cast our line away from the boat. I used a big suicide hook, a trace but with no sinker and used a combination bait of garfish and octopus and caught for the first time, 3 big snappers measuring 42 - 43 cm. Marc taught me how to reel the fish in properly and it was such a good feel when the fish was trying to get away. I am still waiting for my next chance to go fishing on the reef.

 

 

I recently bought a small gang hook and tried it on the bay. I managed to catch a big Mangrove Jack with it but Marc says that for such a big fish it is better to use a stronger hook. I therefore switched to the big suicide hook and caught a 42 cm Cod. It was not a good fishing day as Marc’s big fish got off as he did not have a trace and spoilt the rest of his day.

 

 

Belle on the other hand caught fish which was undersize so we only came home with 2 fish. The tides and winds are all wrong for now so we are hoping to go out again on Friday. Hopefully we will have a better time.


20th July 2010