All Fishing Days are Good

from Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 137 2019 May

New Zealand Adventure — Joe Riley

If you don’t go - you don’t know. But all days fishing have their rewards.

Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt shares the joy. It may not be a monster but it was Col’s first Tassie snapper and it tasted good.

Every day is a good day on the water. I say this loud and proud as Mike prompted me to write something for him and said “What about the best day you have had on the water this last season”

I sat down and tried to pare one of the great days we have had over the past 12 months and I could not really pare one out. We have really got a great deal to be thankful for here in Tasmania. We have some great land and seascapes to take in when the fishing is slow. The fishing is that good however, that with a bit of pre thought and planning, luckily the fishing very rarely is.

You can always count on your mates to entertain if the fishing does drop off the pace and of course the ever present “cabin fever” if the fish are hating on your lures. Cabin fever is that strange and unpredictable mood that comes over a boat when there has been hours of lure dragging for no result. You can never really tell what may happen when a crew gets caught in its vice like grip. It can range from a change of song on the radio and a bit of boat deck boogie all the way up to a nude bait board dance to appease Poseidon the god of the sea. Then an argument will more than likely break out over Poseidon being the god of the sea or Neptune.

This can all unfold underneath some of the best seascape cliffs anywhere in the world if down Eaglehawk Neck in the states south and two minutes later the long corner can go off yielding a 100kg plus Southern Bluefin tuna. All of a sudden that 4 hours you have spent wandering around the ocean going bonkers has turned into one of the greatest days in your life as a mate lands that fish of a life time.

It doesn’t have to be a fan dangled whoop dee doo day out game fishing either to be fun by any means. Some of the simplest and enjoyable days out on the water this season has been with my young kids or people who don’t get to fish much. There is a real satisfaction with someone asking to come out fishing with you because they have never caught a certain fish and then you bag them one.

I have an old cobber who loves his fishing. After a long work life down the west coast he is at an age where his body is slowing him down and his mobility. He also has a degree of hearing loss as he pre

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dates the compulsory use of ear muffs. Many a long day on the underground drill rig with no hearing protection will do that.

We went out on a real nice afternoon where the tide wasn’t quite right, but I managed to find him a nice oven baking sized Tasmanian Snapper. He was totally chuffed and I could see the bragging rights he was to have at the Men’s Shed for the next month forming in his head. I bet they didn’t hear the end of it for quite a while. He made a point of ringing me later in the week and saying how nice it was to eat and he and his wife enjoyed it immensely.

The big point to make here was it was a great day and enjoyable experience even before we caught the fish. To start off it was a sensational afternoon weather wise and what a perfect place to enjoy it, but on the ocean. We made our way to our spot at a leisurely pace with the wind in our teeth and sun beaming down. Once we pulled up and I started to drop our burley pot over the side and get our cube trail initiated the banter started. I really love spending time with people that are a fair bit older than myself. It gives you some amazing insight into how hard they worked in some pretty wild conditions at times. Then there are the stories of the fishing trips of old that were offered up. Trips to Flinders Island and the big flathead honey holes. The time old mate lost someone’s expensive rod and reel over the side and the bollocking he got for the rest of the trip. All the old favourite stories come out for a run and it is a great session on the water.

Kids…. Well kids are another whole set of circumstances. You just have to reset your mind and know you are going back in time. Back to a time when you were that age and you didn’t listen and knew everything. You have to switch off and re boot yourself with a different operating system. It is best that you don’t fight it and just go with the flow in the world that is “self learning.” Early on in your “taking kids fishing career” you will have to resign yourself to not worrying too much about the fishing or catching fish. Now this sounds crazy, but you will reap huge reward later on.

I find some of my best work is done in an advisory role. As an example when the kids are looking to cast out of the boat all together at a school of Australian Salmon. I just merely suggest they could cast out each side and over the nose and swap about each few casts. So what happens is they invariably disregard everything I say and start pinging lures out one side of the boat. All three of them…at once.

So this is where the fun starts, well for me anyway. In stead of getting mad or angry I just sit back and wait. What normally happens is that one will hook up a fish and the other two start casting over towards them and they cross lines. Then there is a god almighty tangle and lots of squealing and belly aching. Now as a parent your first reaction is to get on the “I told you so horse” and ride that baby home giving it the whip like it is 1980. Screaming at them what they should have done and what you would have done to have it not happen. No…. Just ask them questions. Get their little minds working.

You will have to let the carry on and laying of blame between each child to calm down a bit otherwise you won’t be heard. When there is a bit of silence let go with… “So how do you think that went for you all ?”

When the reactionary counters come back at you ignore them and follow up with “ NOT.. some of your best work there” While you work through the tangle keep asking questions.

“Do you think we are wasting fishing time clearing this mess ?

“How do you think we could avoid this?”

What you will find is that the questions will have them think, form an opinion and then verbalise their answer. I love this. I love making my kids think and verbalise their actions and consequences. It is the best way for them to take something from the days outing and learn. You do not learn anything by being preached at and yelled out.

I find now that after doing the hard yard fishing with kids is awesome. They listen , they have an input and we catch fish. They all can cast like little demons. They lift and wind with great technique and to my great pride they hold their rod in their dominant hand and wind with their non-dominate hand. When you sit back and watch this all unfold in front of you , THAT is a great day on the water !

We had a day on the water recently which was most definitely in the top five for this season. We were fishing on the massive Stabicraft “Fathom Odyssey” The magnificent vessel is owned by Kate Daley and Derrek Finlay of Launceston. The rest of the crew was made up of myself, Tristan Cocker and Clinton Howe. Now Clinton is our unofficial captain The winning fish that capped off a great day’s fishing with mates. www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

and skipper of Team Penn, but we had not fished a competition in a long time. Work commitments and raising kids had slowed us down, but here we were on deck and in a comp. It was good to have some of the band back together and a few new band members to jam with. The fishing was slow to say the least but on the second and final day it all started to happen. The weather turned foul and from the south. We all know this has a propensity to bring the fish on and it did. We had made our way down past Munroe Bight and south of Tasman Island when we found fish. There are a couple of rock ledges and bait holding areas that the fish were really fired up on and we were picking fish up on each pass. It was great to see Clinton’s competitive spirit come out as we battled and tagged fish. Wheeling around to try and get back on the fish in some very serious conditions. We were really battling some big seas and a fair bit of wind. Kate was doing a sensational job on the helm. She had to contend with a heap of orders being barked from Clinton, Derrek and myself. There at one stage I thought she was going to gaff the lot of us. We caught fish and had a few sealed. Got some tags in and managed to take a few that made line class. In the end we were second tag and release, but to our surprise took the competition out with heaviest game fish. It was a great day on the water that had a bit of everything all culminating with a heap of team work that managed a great result. The fun didn’t stop there either as we carried on back to the shack and had a sensational nights celebration that will be talked about for some time.Attomic PRINT.pdf 1 31/08/2017 3:03:53 PM This is the calm before the storm of flathead fishing with the kids. Make sure there is plenty of food and drinks for the ‘billy lids’.

All I can say and recommend is to just get involved. You can never miss with fishing. New skills and new experiences are always coming at you and even when you least expect it. The whole idea of a trip out on the ocean fills me with great excitement and really invigorates. So you see I can’t really pin one particular trip this season as the best. There were so many great days on the water and so many that I have not mentioned. Fisheno is always a sensational weekend where we all congregate to Bicheno for Australia Day long weekend. This is 3 days in a row where we fish , have fun, take the piss and have an absolute ball. If you are in the area next year come and join us. It isn’t a competition it is just a really friendly gathering of like minded fisho’s who are all looking for that next “Best day on the water” So book some accommodation and come say hello! Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt