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Fishing with the Kids

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Fishing with the kids.

Just of late I’ve had some of the local kids coming around, asking questions about how many fish I caught, what lures, what line strength that sort of thing, it wasn’t hard to work out were it was all going!

So the end result was I had agreed to fish with them in Meunga creek (fresh) which is our local creek. Accompanying me were Ashley Danzig and James Lamen, we started out one early Saturday morning arriving just in time to see the Tarpon working on the surface. The fresh water part of Meunga creek is a series of deep holes connected by shallow sandy stretch’s, so there was a bit of walking to do.

I was fishing with a Mann’s Stretch 5 and the guys were using a variety of lures, mainly of the “Surebite” brand, on gear that was a bit to heavy for the fresh. It wasn’t long before I had grassed some nice Tarpon and one small Barra. Ashley had jumped off a couple of Tarpon and James had yet to score. I stopped fishing and explained that they had to slow their lures down and for the barra they must get them in the snags, 30cm’s away won’t cut it.

We wandered down (well they were, I was clambering over fallen tree’s, up banks) to the next hole. I hooked another Tarpon and then stopped fishing to give instructions. Ashley had had some follows from a useful Barra but had failed to hook up, ”slow your lure down and if he doesn’t take let it float to the top” was my advice but the wily old Barra wasn’t having any of it. James in the mean time had hooked up to a nice “Sooty” but had managed to stuff it up by pulling it instead of working it to the bank. When the sun came up over the water things got a bit quite so we called it a day.

“How about a trip to Missionary Bay next Saturday ”I asked, smiles all around, so I knew I had said the magic words. We arrived just as the tide (such as it was) had started to run in, the boys were as keen as, to get started but I decided to check there gear, putting on doubles and a 55lb leader, they had all purchased pink ”Flatratz”. These lures are still the best (even if there bibs do break occasionally) and just about bomb proof and I find that pink works well in the creeks. We also had Sean Hill fishing with us; he was using one of my light spinning outfits as his casting (with an overhead) left a bit to desire.

After some instruction on where to place lures etc and to check behind before casting, off we went working our way up the creek on the electric. I reckon these kids had had some instructions from my old mate “Lumpy’Milson, talk about quick, any likely snag had 3 lures pelted in it before I could cock my Calcutta! Still I didn’t mind it was there day, I go out plenty of times.

I had spotted this snag a while back and was waiting for a chance to flick a lure in, chance, no chance was what it was, three Pink “rats” where in before you could say Barramundi! As they hit the snag almost together, a nice Barra (60cm+) floated up and inhaled one of the lures, I waited for a second then said” I don’t know which one of you has that Barra on but it might be a good idea to bring it to the boat. ”Well talk about laugh, 3 rods struck at once, lures flying out of the water except James’s he had the fish on! The fish took of with James hanging on, ”Don’t Panic” from me, too late he’s pulled it and straightened the split ring out. Devastation, is the word that fits James’s expression, not much you can say but fix the lure up and get back in there.

Ashley was having fun catching some nice Estuary Cod, as I was, the best Sean could do was drop a Barracudda! We also had some fun catching some plate size Trevally but Barra were hard to find. The next big snag James is ready, he’s put new terminal gear on and backed the drag of a bit (a bit too much as it turned out). In goes the lure, right in the block hole only to be monstered by a big old cod. Which then proceeded to make a Macramé basket out of James line and leader, weaving it in and out of the Mangrove roots! The boy was having no luck, we worked in on the electric and managed to untangle the mess with the cod still on, only to see the fish drop of at the boat! This cod must have been starving, as James was winding in the lure it decides to have another go, only to have James pull it out of his mouth, This time it swam away in disgust!

On that note we decided to call it a day as both boys had jobs to do and I had to mow lawns. ”We’ll have a go next Sunday”, smiles all around.

Sunday comes, with a bit of rain and a big tide, so we decide to fish the run out over some nice snags that I know (most probably everybody else does to!). We started about two hrs after the high drifting with the tide, the first bank of snags produced zero and the boys were flagging plus they still weren’t in the sticks. Next bank, I boated and released a 66cm Barra and kept a 59cm for the table.

Well that stirred the boys up they were casting with renewed interest now, Ashey is soon into a nice fish looked to be just legal, it gave him some trouble in the sticks but a bit of pressure and its boated, measured, photo’ed and back in the water, at 54 cm it was a fun Barra!

James was flogging the water to foam by now, ”Slow down, and get closer to the timber”. No sooner had the words left my mouth, when his lure was smashed by a “Rat Barra” about 30-40 cm, it was leaping about causing James no end of strife. He was determined to boat this fish and it wasn’t long before it to was measured and photographed. His first Barramundi, he was stoked and is now looking towards some bigger fish!

We had just about run out of water and there was a decent sort of storm heading our way, so I decided to head for home. Not a bad session, four Barra and a couple of small cod in about two and a half-hours fishing. A real fun time for the kids and a very rewarding experience for me.

Jim (Jimbo) Lee  -  www.un-reel-sportsfishing-adventures.com.au