Tall tales and true.

[Little grey men]

I'm not sure if this idea for a thread has been done before, but here goes anyway..
No doubt we've all got stories from our Fathers and Grandfathers about tangling with fish of mythical proportions.
This is a story my Grandfather used to tell us when we were fishing on the Condamine... When ever I'd find a likely spot on the riverbank this story always surfaced to sit quietly in my mind while I was fishing.
Hope you enjoy it.

This story takes place way back in the 30's when the river was clean and the fish were a lot bigger.
My Grandfather built fences on properties all along the Condamine river when he was a young fella. This work meant that he could fish a couple of hours each day.
As was the case in those day's he would set a few lines to take home a feed for his family.
One morning he was trudging along the bank checking his lines when he came across one with the tell tale sign of a hooked fish, the line was pulled nice and tight. He proceeded to pull it in and thought geeez it's snagged on something heavy, but it's coming in at least. When it got a bit closer to the bank he waded in up to his knees to unhook it so as to not break his line. He gave it one last heave and the broad head of a huge Murray Cod slid out of the water and looked straight at him.
My Granfather was frozen to the spot and at this point the Cod came to it's senses and with one almighty flick of it's huge tail it saturated him and disappeared back into the depths. He said the shock of it sat him on his seat in the freezing water...he wasn't sure if the shaking was from the cold or from being in total shock. He still had a hold of the line but he would tell us that it was like stopping a train with a piece of cotton. This was a man who was used to catching Cod in excess of 40lb with out too much trouble.
When we would ask him, how big do you think it was Grandpa. He would answer with a little smile on his wrinkled sun toughened face.....and say.....
at least one foot.........


between the eyes.


I never doubted him for a second.



Please share your story.

Michael.

[minno]

First there was jaws, and then orca, and now! the cod. Sorry mate just joking. Just remember, fisherman are well known for stretching the truth and the older the fisherman, the longer the fish gets. You can put it down to beer again.;D

But good story mate, and its probably true. Nothing in the fishing world would surprise me.



minno8-)

[jtpython]

Good on him
I'd believe it , i've seen pics form the mckensy river of barra strung from tree to tree full of barra in the old days
Wonder if they tasted better back then LOL

[Lovey80]

My uncle is probably the biggest bullSh** artist Ive ever met. he knows no one will beleive him but he likes putting a smile on faces. One story I nearly bought as a six year old involved way out west in NSW. "Back then" all the rivers were strait from the river to the mouth and it was the big murray cod that bent them. They use to fish with big sharp anchor type hooks with whole Kangaroo on the end and big tractor chain as line. I still get a laugh when he tries to pull that one off to his grandchildren. theres pleanty of them comming out of him and of course elaborately told but so far fetched that the funny bit is he takes 5 mins to tell a story that is total Crap.

Cheers Chris

[tunaticer]

About 15 yrs ago I was fortunate enough to read my great grandfathers diary he kept of fishing back in the 1920's thru to 30's. He was a Shorncliffe lad back then and often fished cabbage tree creek around to the pine river of an afternoon on his way home on horseback. Using catgut line and locally made hooks he would regularly bring home Squire, Kingfish and Mackeral as well as bream flathead and whiting for the table. As far as I could tell he never once got out in a boat to fish.

He was quite meticulous as for keeping records dates times and tide stages were recorded for each day fishing as well as the captures and thier weights. There were not too many days of no captures i remember reading in that journal. I would love to know what relation scored that book after his passing. Nobody seems to know, I just hope it wasn't tossed at the tip.

Jack.

[Little grey men]

Hey Minno, your right mate. When he was in his final years the story changed to. Grandpa fishing quietly when suddenly a 400lb Murray Cod with a patch over one eye and tatoo's on his fins lept out of the water and stole his sandwich....He battled the creature for six hours with a lump of wood. He finally stabbed it with his trusty pocket knife and the monster yelled some insulting remarks about his mother and jumped back into the water, but not before giving Grandpa a fat lip and messing up his hair........

I didn't believe that story so much..:-/

Hey Tunaticer, mate that journal would sure have been something to treasure.
I've got a few old photo's of my Grandfathers fishing days. One of which I turned into a painting, taking pride of place in my parents living room.

Thanks for the reply's guys.

Michael.

[Nowhere Bob]

Not fishing related, but one of my favourites.

You've no doubt heard the phrase "Mad as a hatter," well it relates to heavy metal poisoning, specifically the quicksilver or mercury used in the hat making process. The hatters used to accumulate it through the skin and they would - as the phrase says - goes mad. Unfortunately in the fifties in Japan heavy metal poisoning of fish stocks caused what was known as screaming sickness or Minimata disease. Again it caused a complete loss of sanity, and unfortunately was largely ireversable.

In Australia Gum trees absorb pollutants directly from the surrounding environment. This is a problem for pretty much all trees and shrubs, but through evolution plants have developed a means of exporting the poisons that are found in the environment. The toxins accumulate in the leaves and when the leaves are shed the poisons are in effect exported out of the trees' system.

Koalas, as I'm sure we all know, only eat gum leaves. They take on kilos of leaves each day and have a pretty poor waste / excretory system. Unfortunately this has meant that some in industrialised areas koalas are prone to bio-accumulating toxins including heavy metals specificaly mercury. So as a result, as with the hatters and the Japanese, the Koalas go mad, and attack with wicked tree climbing claws, anything unfortunate enough to pass under the tree.

Thus we have drop bears.;D

[Little grey men]

Top stuff nowhere Bob. I Learn something new everyday.

[B_E_N]

tunaticer,
my great grandfather, grandfather, father and myself have grown up in shorncliffe and all are mad keen fishos, relatives may have known one another, i also get all the stories and my grandfather sure can tell a story, mainly because he goes into detail and off in tangents! but i like one hes tells when he was young they used to use scissor nets to get prawns on the high tide at night where the co-op and trawlers are now at cabbage tree. back then the bank had a shallow gravel decent which then stepped right down almost like a gutter. anyways one night he was walking thru getting prawns and baitfish just digging round with the scissor net when all of a sudden he was knocked flat on his arse and hard. once over the shock he picked himself up and checked thats he was ok and looked around to see what had happened. white washed water started to settle as he got his eye sight ajusted (little moon) and he looked at his net which just moments before consisted of two 16ft woodern poles with net in between the ends like an 'a' frame, now he only had one pole of about 4ft. this of course clicked in his brain and he was no longer in the water but on the bank real fast. he thought he has 'disturbed' a shark feedin in the shallows which then in turn sh*T itself and took off net included.
i dont doubt this because of the degree of detail he has and he doesnt lie about this stuff, well i dont think he does :D

[edleigh7]

Hey Ben...whats a "shrak";D ;D is it some ancient animal that was around in your grandfathers day??:o :o LOL

Ed;D

[shaman]

Hey Ben...whats a "shrak";D ;D is it some ancient animal that was around in your grandfathers day??:o :o LOL

Ed;D

I think it might be the "shti" that grows between your ears.......

[shaman]

tunaticer,
my great grandfather, grandfather, father and myself have grown up in shorncliffe and all are mad keen fishos, :D

It's so good to see three or four generations of family growing up in the same area.....

Most of the oldies here probably remember me being a spiritual medium and I bring your attention (rarely) to this fact for a reason...........

At a group reading the other night (unbeknownst to me ) a section of the group I was reading was three generations of one family and the fourth was once removed (great grandma) if you get my drift but let me tell you Ben it was extremely special. Whether you believe this sh!t or not I've gotta tell you it's something cool.

So treasure the moments now and remember them for later...... cos thay may remind you............

[CHAPPY]

An old man and a young man were fishing urangan pier at night and as fishermen do, they were recounting some of there best catches to each other. The old man recalled the 15 pound barra he caught from the pier . The young man, trtying to impress his senior with his prowess, said that's nothing,he once caught a 20 inch whiting from this verry spot. Well it was about then the old man decided to bring things back down to reality. He told the story of his dear departed grandfather catching a hurricane lamp which had fallen overboard from a passing trawler and the lamp was still alight. The young man baulked at this one and told the old man he was streatching it a bit with that one. The old man agreed to compremise. He said ok ÿou take 6 inches off your whiting and ill blow out the lamp.

[Little grey men]

Good one bush budah.

Hey edleigh 7 I think a Shrak is a big green saltwater ogre with very sharp teeth and a really bad scottish accent.

[B_E_N]

lol i dont know what you guys are on about where abouts is this 'shrak' you speak of??? :D

[Little grey men]

They swim around in Caggabe Tree Creek

[edleigh7]

I think it might be the "shti" that grows between your ears.......

;D ;D :) :-/ :-/ ::) ::)

[edleigh7]

lol i dont know what you guys are on about where abouts is this 'shrak' you speak of??? :D

Good to see your editing skills are up to date mate being secretary and all. All you have to do now is work on ya spellin:D

Ed