Fishing when you were a kid ...

Quiz FFF members on fishing and outdoors topics using the forum polling function

How did you get hooked on fishing?

Parent(s) to blame
27
66%
Mate(s) to blame
2
5%
Got yourself hooked
12
29%
 
Total votes: 41

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Matt Flynn
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Fishing when you were a kid ...

Post by Matt Flynn »

Nostalgia time ...

Did a fishing trip with the olds get you hooked?

Or did you get hooked yourself. Or are mates to blame?

Did early trips leave the biggest impression?

Or did it just get better?

***
My old man grew up in the UK, catching carp and the other coarse fish. He loved it, carp were legendary fish there.

In Australia, as a kid our family did trips to the Onkaparinga River SA, catching bream on ultralight gear from a riverbank in the meadows. We also fished the Port River a lot, some big old bream to 4lb at Birkenhead Tavern and Snowdens Beach.

We explored the upper Onkaparinga for trout (not much luck) and caught huge carp in the River Torrens just below the city weir.

Holidays were to Apollo Bay, with salmon fishing in the surf and silver trevs off the marina rock wall.

The yelloweye mullet run in winter was a big part of the Adelaide scene. Surprisingly good fun catching these small fish on the sheltered gulf beaches, along with silver whiting, salmon trout, tommies and very occasional flathead. Did Waitpinga a few times (real surf fishing) but the salmon schools were either there or not, we got sick of that place.

The tommy run at Port Giles and Edithburgh SA over on the peninsula was huge fun, multi hookups at night, only little fish but great fun, we also did this at Rapid Bay jetty, which was a special place.

Also had fun catching big calamari squid off the metro jetties on baited jigs under floats. There was a huge run of two-spot sandcrabs each year, I could never be bothered with them, but some people would take home a sack full.

So dad's enthusiasm is to blame, plus the gifts under the Christmas tree were invariably shiny new fishing gear (a beaut brown skirtless Daiwa reel, the bees knees then). Good times, thank you dad.

Later, we moved to UK for a while, I fished the old man's former haunts, the River Wey, for coarse fish, and Tillingbourne River for trout, and various lakes. Dad would sometimes drop me off and pick me up, other times we would fish together.

We used maggots for bait which could be bought in different sizes, dyed in multiple colours. Didn't have the imagination then to call them Elton John maggots!

Back in Oz, I got older, dad stopped fishing, fish got bigger, lots of adventures. But I'd love to be sitting on a rock with dad catching those little fish again.

Thing I liked most as a kid was rock fishing, which around Adelaide was fairly safe as there wasn't much swell. Dad would catch 'em and I'd let them go in a rock pool for viewing and collection at the end of the day. One day I did this with several good fish and the tide came in and they swum off, dad was not happy.

Table has turned full circle now, I am dad ...


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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Andy Grey »

Good read thanks Matt. You have certainly fished around. Defo with the old man..we had a 12 foot stacer with a rude 6hp. Spent many hours on the Mary River billabongs, Corroboree, Adelaide, Yellow waters, Red Lily, Finniss fresh, Daly and the South, Mekitts, Howard, Gun Point, Roper and some places I dont even know the name of?. Still got my first lures and the 6 inch Nislie that I got my first Barra on. Thanks Dad. Mum got a new kitchen from memory when the boat arrived. ha ha. Highlights apart from fishing with the old man have been a week on Lake Nasser with me mate Peter Burcher chasing Nile Perch and Tigers, fishing with Scotty Eccles (RIP) endlessly before he became a guide, a insane session out on the Finniss with Dave Ashfield catching easy over 100 fish in a day. Landing my first Jewey with Duane from DNA one night off the containers in the wet season with lighting all over the joint!. Great sessions with mates catching heaps of fish. Anyway fishing is awesome, great people, common cause, outdoors, food for the BBQ as someone would say HOW CAN YOU BEAT IT!
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Matt Flynn »

Sounds like you experienced the real Territory Andy. Too funny about the new kitchen, I now understand that caper, another part of being dad ...
Lake Nasser sounds like fun, will go one day hopefully, either that or far South America for really big wild trout.
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Dick »

Fishing with my old man, Hawkesbury River, nylon line on cork spools, not a rod to be seen, matchsticks tied into the line as a sinker stopper. Prawn baits, flathead, whiting, gars and bream. Bread and butter fishing at its best.

Rock fishing, still no rods but big hand spools, cunjevoi as bait, old spark plugs for sinkers. Salmon, bream, pigs and other ooglies.
Regards Dick
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by theodosius »

With the old man fishing for carp in the Castereigh river
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Rug »

Fishing with my old man. Probably spent more time on Hardies and Corroboree in the 12ft punt than on land.

The best thing was when I got older into my teens the boat became like a men's shed on water. I'm sure others can relate to that.
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by b-radical »

Dad got me started early catching bream in the Greenough River WA and Tailor off the rocks in the early morning around Gero all we used was mulies on gang hooks cast n slowly wind in, best sunday breakfast tailor n eggs, now i watch n wait my as 3 month old grows up so i can someday do the same
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by john d »

Fishing with my dad in a Scottish town called Millport.
We went there for a holiday every year at the same time as the mackerel were running.
Parents didn't have much money back in the 60,s so mackerel were a big part of holiday food.
I had to ride on the handlebars of his push bike as that was the only transport they had,
Moved out to Whyalla in 1970 and continued from there.
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Matt Flynn »

Great post john d. Did you catch wild salmon up in Scotland? Do you go back for holidays?
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by goldfish »

Dad took me to southport ramp for a dangle when I was a young whipper snapper I got my first bream and a small rock cod using peeled prawns. But the thing that stuck in my mind was the bloke next to us (Greg Chan) was pulling in barra after barra on livies. We walked down and my dad was casting his 4'' invincible out to them he had a few strikes which you could see as the barra smashed the lure over the rockbar he didn't land any but from that day on I was hooked......

Once I was big enough we'd ride our bike up to the local creeks and fish for tarpon and spangled perch as well as the odd small barra pretty much all weekend. I got my first legal baz 65cm off the back of the ute an old 2.2L diesel hilux backed up on the coroboree rockhole boat ramp. Caught on a nilsie spearhead which I still have in the collection of hundreds of lures i now own.

I grew up in Darwin and I was able to fish for many different species on our multiple laps of oz from 20cm sand whiting whiting to massive tigers. School hols would sometimes be spent at my grandparents sheep and cattle property and adjoining neighbours chasing trout and redfin off the quadbike with my little brothers in 2 creeks that flowed through into the Hume wier. Only coming back in for lunch n dinner. Using worms n tiny celtas we used to get a fair few on 6lb mono but the bigger carp would test our skills on this gear. My PB redfin still is the 55 out of my uncles dam. Trolling red celtas out of an little yellow inflatable boat. We nearly sunk on the way to the bank as one of them flipped out of the tub and gave us about 20 punctures.

Once i grew up more I got an apprenticeship and soon had a company car and fuel card. It fitted the 250cc XR in the back..... just. By now we had better rods and 20lb fireline I used the bike to access some pretty good spots, some of which I still use these days. Heaps of good trips all around the Daly and Douglas rivers, Cahills xing LB and kakadu and Mary billabongs in my mates 12ft tinny too.

I am not a Dad but enjoy taking the nephews out building memories that will last a lifetime.

Both of them can handle legal ones pretty well now.
I release 95% of the barra I catch now keeping the odd one between 65 and 80 for a feed. And explain to them the importance of holding them correctly and minimal amount of time out of the water as well so they can catch them more than once.


I hope they can enjoy the same rush of getting a hit casting their own lures into the snags for another 40 plus yrs
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Melv »

Spent my junior years living on the NSW South Coast and camping at Currarong every school holidays. I've been interested in the water and all things in it as long as I can remember. We used handlines as nippers but got my first rod and reel for Xmas when I was 7. Can still vividly remember the first fish I caught on it, a 15cm bream that committed suicide by leaping out of the water and hooking up on the bit of bread I had for bait just as I was pulling it out. I was hooked from that day on.

Unfortunately she's not with us any more :angel: but dear old Mum was a keen fisho in her day. From Dutch parentage - her brother used to absail crazy cliffs to get to the hotspots around Sydney back in the 70s. When we moved to Darwin in 79 we used to spend plenty of time fishing and crabbing Middle Arm together, dragging the old Dolphin and Mariner 9.9 up and down the muddy rocks that passed for the ramp back then. Or taking the soft option and spending 12 hours on the water to get the high in and out..................She was also a pretty regular visitor to Corroboree back in the day when half the fun was getting there. Used to camp there for a week at a time with a family friend. Armed with her Mtchell 389 and Butterworth solid fibreglass rod (custom built by one of dad's mates) 20lb mono and half a dozen blue & white Spearheads was all she neede to put a dent in the local barra population. A 22lb'er was her best effort from memory. So I reckon she was instrumental in developing my passion for fishing for sure.

Teenage years growing up in Humpty Doo fishing every creek and waterhole within a days ride on the trusty old Malvern Star. Handlines over the handle bars and a throw net in the backpack. Heaps of Tarpon, Spangled Perch, Long Tom and Ock Ock (Mouth Almighty) but not too many barra, I think most of the creeks got netted pretty regularly back then.

A good mates brother lived down the Daly River and we spent plenty of time in our teens and early adult life with the Muluk Muluk mob down there. Walking/boating/driving into billabongs both sides of the Daly fishing, hunting, gathering tucker. Fished the river itself plenty as well with the odd trip in the Dolphin all the way down to No Fish (Nicholas) or Elizabeth but rarely went any further than Robbies sandbar or Browns Creek and caught plenty. I learnt so much from my time with the TO's it was an awesome adventure for a young fella and i feel very privileged to have had that experience.

My old man on the other hand wouldn't know a Toadie from a Tuna but he did teach me all about :drinking1: and :jester:. Two qualities that make fishing just that much more enjoyable..........


Got 2 boys of my own now and they've both been coming out with me since they were a couple of months old. They love everything fishing/crabbing/camping and I hope it stays with them forever.

:cheers:
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Matt Flynn »

Interesting that it was your mum leading the way Melv. So you think the harbour is fishing better now?

I remember Malvern Stars, a "Flying Wedge" was my first bike, lucky I didn't break bones on steep Braemar Rd in Adelaide after getting a speed wobble, the Wedge flew alright, through the air ...
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by john d »

Matt Flynn wrote:Great post john d. Did you catch wild salmon up in Scotland? Do you go back for holidays?
No Matt didn't get any salmon and haven't been back since.
I freeze every time I go back to SA for a visit (usualy in summer) so Scotland would kill me.
Bit cold right now in Darwin 20 deg... :shock:
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by cjgp »

Bit of nostalgia here folks so here is how I got hooked..

As a kid (until I was about 9) I lived a sort of nomadic lifestyle with my step grandfather. We had a dairy property in Koo wee rup in Victoria and a cattle fattening property somewhere up near Derby which we visited annually working hard to keep things afloat.

As detailed previously in this forum I was a bit of a terror as a kid (stole a cheque from granddad and bought a .22 Slazenger rifle when I was 6 and brought it home on the bus, shot heaps of rabbits to pay for more bullets etc)

If I got too out of hand my granddad gave me a bit of a hiding and more chores. I was a quick learner, so just before he exploded I would take off in the evenings and go for a hunt or a fish along the back of the neighbors property on Western Port bay for bream or mullet. I remember I used to try to shoot them, not one of my best endeavors. I must have pilfered a cork hand line from somewhere and I remember I used to use cheese or bits of oyster from the rocks. I must have had some success because I do remember taking fish home to appease the granddad.

I remember one time we were going to Derby. We had this clapped out old Bedford truck which had a two horse stall on it with horses and heaps of chaff and saddles and stuff and an area just behind the cab where we could sleep, It was all canvas covered from memory. I would sleep there while we drove. Occasionally I would drive so my granddad could have a few home distilled bevies.. (the still is also detailed somewhere in this forum, gees I have spoken a lot of crime here)

So the trip to Derby took at least two or three weeks and we stopped pretty regular on the way for a day or two. The trip we did when I was about 8 we stopped at Coral Bay. At that stage there was about nothing there but a few campers and the beach.. I remember swimming out over the coral and seeing fish, so I sourced (read stole from some boat on the beach) a hand line. I managed to get something for bait and chucked my line in. First fish was a blue bone thing and then spangled emperor. I was hooked then! I also borrowed the boat on the beach and my granddad rowed me around over the coral. I could see fish everywhere; at one point I jumped out and tried desperately to grab a cray fish, but they were too spikey, so we rowed back and I made a spear with a knife. I cannot imagine my grandfathers fear. He couldn’t swim at all, and here I was jumping into unknown depths and staying down as long as possible to try to get us a cray…

When we got to Derby some of the local kids took me barra fishing.. loved it. But still don’t know how we didn’t get taken by a croc while wadding through the creek to get to the mouth where the fishing was good.. I also remember hooking crabs, and getting clawed on the foot, while the other kids laughed at my inexperience.

My grandfather and I moved to Sydney when I was 9ish; not long after he passed on and life changed again.

Because of my situation, I started spending a fair bit of time alone around Manly , Watsons Bay and Milsons Point. After a year or so I started snorkeling and spear fishing the harbor edges, then moved back to fishing as I got hold of hand lines or rods, most likely stolen from someone’s back veranda.

In the 70’s fishing for bream and drummer around Sydney harbor were probably the only normal things in my life for a few years, so I spent a lot of time doing it.

As I got to know some of the regular fishos, or watched different people at different locations around the harbour, I started chasing jewies, and kingies, catching squid for bait. I used to ride a bike from Milsons Point to somewhere in Mosman to fish off a wharf near a navy facility as the water was deep, looking for kingies and taylor which were everywhere. I remember swapping good fish for gear, either with other fishos, or at a shop in (or near) north Sydney. I also remember the hill down to this particular beach/wharf was really steep. I lost lots of skin coming off the bike.

For a while from about 15yrs old on I sailed a lot on 18ft skiffs and on yacht as a deckie to the rich. That gave me more opportunities to see good places to fish and a little money to buy some gear. I remember climbing down North Head and Middle Head with the aid of a crappy old rope and someone’s hand-made ladder to get to some of the better spots. I also remember being washed off the rocks a couple of times again cheating demise.

I got a job at Long Bay and used to fish behind the facility on my days off chasing drummer and black fish along with bream and taylor, before buying a house in Avoca Beach from where I fished all over the Central Coast on my days off, buying a little tinnie for the Brisbane Waters, and risking sea trips out of Terrigal Haven.. I must have been mad.

When I had kids, I used to go prawning on Avoca Lagoon, towing two styrafoame boxes. One for the prawn bucket and the lights battery (taken from my Ford Anglia and replaced after every trip to drive home) and one with my sleeping infant son.

Over time I have traveled around Au with my kids and have fished all over the shop, teaching them, and letting them learn for themselves the ways of fishos, and the art of fishing. We have loved it, fishing from rocks, beaches shores and boats as often as possible trying to receive the treasures of the water… its been fun.

Now I go through fishing on and off periods. I mainly fish alone, from the boat I built (Casting couch gets wet details that adventure) I still love it, and need to make the time to do more of it. My mate often invites me to come south and fish with him, but its time, I always seem to have too much on.

Just by the by, I don’t condone my stealing of gear. (I mean my careers have been jailer and a police officer, so…) but my life was hard then, and I sort of justify my actions as it was a way to get myself into an activity other than stealing. I’m 50 odd now so I think the statute of limitations has passed so can confess my sins.

Fishing is a great leveler. I was lucky to take it up when I did. As often as it has risked my life, it has probably saved me as well, giving me a hobby, steering me away from crime in my early teens.

Reading the stories on the post, I note how many of us got on our bike and went… yesterday as I drove home I watched two kids ride down my street, rods over the bars, headed off on some after school adventure. Made me happy.
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Re: Fishing when you wuz a kid ...

Post by Matt Flynn »

Now that's a good yarn! Where would some of us be without fishing through life ...

What a life going between Vic and Derby :mrgreen:

Wonder if the Sydney rocks still produce the same with all those people living there now?

Fishing doesn't help everyone though, there was a bloke who used to fish at our Port River and Outer Harbour spots sometimes at night, he often had his head in a bag of glue. Maybe if he was more into the fishing he wouldn't have bothered, but he was more interested in being out of it. Was sad to watch, he couldn't be talked out of it.
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