Fishing In The Sixties

[gunna]

Whenever I drive over the Gateway and see the old abattoirs, I am reminded of old fishing experiences from my teens. I was relating some to the missus today, and thought some of you young whipper-snappers (40 and younger) might be interested.

Interesting times back in the mid to late sixties. I was a teenager. Lived at Carina and rode the pushie to Bulimba Ck at Old Cleveland Rd for eels and catties. Or Tingalpa Ck for bream/flatties/jew. Every fortnight with the fishing club to the Pin or Caloundra.. Holidays and amazing fishing at Tullebudgera.

But it’s the abattoirs that were interesting. We fished two methods. Jagging and bait.

Jagging required specialist gear lol. A piece of 8ft cane with one large runner at the tip. A 40lb handline at your feet, fed through the tip runner, and connected to a 6/0 treble. The treble had to be larger than the runner – explained later. There were large drains at the bank under the abattoirs which every couple hours released evil looking fluids of blood and other animal matter into the river. Awful mix of red and yellow. The fish would go berserk. Fork-tailed catties and mullet. The idea was to hurl the treble out into the mix with the cane rod and then rip it back. Gee we had some good fights. Hook a 5lb cattie by the tail and they really go when they are swimming away from you. Sometimes we got snagged. You then take the rod like a spear and chuck it out past the snag point to get it off. The jag would not go through the tip runner so when you cleared the snag you simply pulled the rig back in.

Bait fishing had its moments. Number 1 bait was congealed blood. We always had a tin can which we took up to the kill area. In those days you could pretty well walk anywhere round the works. Cattle were shot in the head then strung up and the throat cut. We would step in and fill the can. Some days they were only killing sheep. These would be simply held over a large drain and the throats cut. We would have to get down in the drain to hold the can under the throat. These blokes always thought it was a hoot to stretch the neck back and spray us with blood. Mum used to love washing day lol. So we had our blood. The wharf had walkways underneath and we would get under there and fish for mullet with handlines and congealed blood. Used to get some rippers. And you know what – they went home for the dinner table. Tasted good too. Wouldn’t dream of it now.

Thought you people might enjoy that story. I imagine some of the other older codgers might have some yarns too ??

Peter

[Chris1984]

great read mate, hope some more people have storys they could share aswell.....im only a whipper snapper so no storys like that from me, used to fish some secluded spots with my girlfriend but that's a different story lol :D

[bluefin59]

Thanks for that mate ,its similar to some of the stories my brother and uncle used to tell me about when they worked for bothwicks ..tah matt

[Gazza]

Yeah mate , generally Friday arvo/night time me 'n dad would park at the end of a dirt road then(now metroplex), walk along this big log across a little creek, go about a 100 yards ;) , climb through a hole in a fence and walk down the wall to the blood drains.

Dad would jag for mullet to eat and for crab bait , catch the odd BIG Johnny dory ,catties and some monster bream around the wharf pilons.
The odd rat would freak me out at times , and we always used handlines on coke bottles, so I could get the odd index fingerjoint cut-to-the-bone :'( with a running bream......and I could swingcast to about 2mtrs of where and as far as I wanted the line to go. ;D

Dad just used to cut liver strips a few days before and mix in a little sugar in a big coffee bottle for bait.
And fresh MulletGut is a GREAT BREAMBAIT !!! :o :D

Saturday dig worms at Wynnum.

Saturday arvo put the 10' cartopper on the roof racks , put the 8HP Chrysler and Esky in the boot and head to Jacobs Well , launch off the beach , for an overnighter fishing and crabbing......
Back Sunday ,head back to the Gem at about lunchtime a DOUBLE-SARS >:( for me , and a few cold beers ,buy some raffle tickets , win the odd meat-tray and be legends in mums eyes & my 4 younger brothers and sisters. ;D

Great times !! :laola:

p.s. and we then slept like logs :sleeping: :sleeping: not long after watching Sunday Disney on the B&W TV ,for school the next week. :D

Dad would scale & SuperMum :-* would clean & fillet the fish , cook the crabs to perfection too.

[Boat Hog]

young whipper-snappers (40 and younger)
Great memories there Peter, thanks for sharing.

Apparently, I just miss out on being a whipper-snapper ... does that mean I'm an old codger ?? ;)


Jim

[spindles]

Gunna, you bringing back Fishing memories of experiences of the sixties. I started fishing for tailor at kingscliff in the sixties and I met up with an old couple that fished in the tweed fishing club. they taught me quite a bit about tailor and in the early seventies I can remember talking to another fisherman about catching tailor in the middle of the day and he said you cant catch them in the middle of the day so I said how about tomorrow. So the next day three of us went fishing at eight in the morning. We started catching tailor at ten thirty, I gave up at three thirty with 139 tailor. Him and his mate gave up at four with 129 between them. we walked away while they were still biting. I had many good memories of fishing in the sixties and seventies.Spindles

[gunna]

Crikey Spindles - they obviously haven't seen any old footage of Fraser fishos shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the day.

[pescados]

Aaggg the good old days ;D

[PinHead]

some classic trips with the fishing club to the Pin and Caloundra and Moreton , gunna. Got busted by the cops one trip for getting grog out of hours at the Landsborough pub...another time at Byron Bay..the blokes tried damn near all night to light a house stump cos it was wet and cold( they were all drunk)..in the
light of day it was a house stumop all right..a concrete one.

BUT..I do not miss doing things like rowing though Whalleys Gutter in the middle of a storm or rowing anywhere else for that matter.

[finga]

I remember when I was a lad fishing in the Richmond and Evans rivers....
Oh, hang on....bugger I just remembered I'm old. I can't seem to remember much at all :(

Actually I can remember having to drag net the swimming pool at Tewantin when I was a kid to get the shovellies and stingrays out before we could go swimming.
Can anyone remember the pool that was basically a holding pen built on the river at Tewantin? It was walls built out of fence paling's with little gaps for the mullets and such to swim in and out.
There was a bit of a deck that went around the top as well.

[TimiBoy]

Tommy Ruffs and Salmon Trout off the jetty at Rapid Bay in SA. I was born in '64, and I reckon I remember doing this at about 4... I also remember there was a dunny on the jetty, and some fella took a dump in there, and I watched this blind mullet float away. Just the sort of thing a little kid remembers!

We did the same at jetties all over SA. Wool Bay was a good 'un - my Mum was pulling YET ANOTHER fish, and some bloke started whingeing about her, and Dad let him have it (verbally of course). She was the only one catching anything, she could catch fish in the toilet. I might have been 6?

But Mum fell ill and died when I was 10. Given fishing was such a great thing we all shared, it made Dad very sad to do it after that, so I didn't get to fish again until I took it up with my kids 20+ years later. RIP Mum, love you.

Cheers,

tim

[gunna]

BUT..I do not miss doing things like rowing though Whalleys Gutter in the middle of a storm or rowing anywhere else for that matter.

Now thers a memory Greg. Twenty or so row boats lined up in double file behind those baby tugs and getting pulled from Jacobs Well to the Pin. Row round all night then get picked up next morning for the tow back.

[Slider]

They're just about to demolish that pool at Tewantin Finga.

[Heath]

I love reading and hearing old stories like this.
Keep them coming.

[jighead]

Thanks for this thread, it got me thinking. Back in the early sixties mum and dad would take us to the mouth of Narrabeen lake for a seafood smorgasbord.
On summer evenings we would drag net prawns while mum and sisters would wade on the shore line of the surf beach and collect pipis. Mum would bring a big pot and cans of tomato soup she would soak the pipis in fresh water to expel the sand then cook them in the soup on a fire we built on the bank.Dad would boil the prawns in an old kero drum on the same fire and we would eat fresh prawn sandwiches and pipi soup we would use live prawns to catch bream,whiting and flathead on handlines. Can't do those things now, hell people want to stop us fishing and putting a feed on the table. times seemed a bit simpler then.
Cheers Mal

[gunna]

I love reading and hearing old stories like this.
Keep them coming.

One for your neck of the woods Heath. Dad built an old plywood dinghy. We would pitch the tent at Tallebudgera for the 6 week school break at Xmas. Mum and the kids. Dad would work during the week and spend the weekends with us. I would be out every day rowing that little dinghy. In those days you could go to the shore upstream and walk into Fleays for free - though entry was only a donation anyway. That whole area was a mass of yabbie banks and I pulled some terrific whiting out of there. The main basin at Tally at night would produce soapy jew as well as nice bream. They had just built there first canal estate - which people didn't think would be any good as they would all sink lol.

[tropicrows]

Born in 1959, I remember like you Tim (post 11) fishing off Rapid bay, port Giles and Wallaroo jetty. Good times catch Tommy Ruffs, salmon trout, mullet and Squiding at night.
All good times, my dad would drive my brothers & me or a friend to a jetty and off we would go.
My fondest memories are camping at Port Rickaby in the old caravan, getting your water out of a well with a bucket, cooking over a camp fire and spear fishing with a length of dowel with a 4 inch nail fixed to the end. We had some great times, we would have breakfast disappear until lunch and then again till tea. Mum & dad never seemed to worry about what we were up too, everyone there in the camp looked out for each other kids.

[nigelr]

Hey Mal, started fishing at Narrabeen Lakes in 1962.
Elderly gent next door took pity on me being an only child and took me with him and his Mrs up to the Lakes one Saturday arvo. (We lived in Pittwater Rd. Manly)
First throw with the handline, complete with pudding bait, was handed to me and shortly after a good bite and pulled in a bream for dinner that night.
Hooked on fishing from then on!
We fished on the northern side of the bridge, between the main drag and the beach. Place was full of fish in those days!
From then on I fished Queenscliffe lagoon just about every weekend the weather was good, the amount and variety of fish even in there was amazing.
Bream, blackfish, flathead, whiting, mullet, herring it was not difficult to take a bit of a feed home. The water was clean near the beach end, I think they let the tide in in those days........used handlines on oyster bottles, and oyster bottles with bread in them to catch poddy mullet for bait.
Was only 10-15 years later I became aware of the chemicals that must have flowed into there over the years with 2 major Golf courses and untold playing fields etc all draining into the lagoon. Small industrial area at North Manly as well, the mind boggles........still we survived so far at least!
Graduated to fishing Manly Wharf about 1968, then Fairlight and Forty Baskets rocks. First surf-fished at Queenscliffe that year, 9' glass rod and 5" Alvey, caught a surf-bream first outing, and managed to bury a hook in my finger as well. From there onto the rocks at Shelley Beach, then at Queensie.
Moved to DY in '68, neighbour took me to Long Reef one morning (the northern side, adjacent to White Rock) got swept along the rocks so learnt the most important lesson early! They still used to take really good snapper and jew from there in those days.....
Remained my favourite spot for many years, along with the rocks at South Curl Curl and the beach at DY. It was really good fishing in those days, about '74 or so it became very popular all of a sudden and the 'glory days' became pretty much a memory.......ya' get that I suppose!

[gunna]

From then on I fished Queenscliffe lagoon just about every weekend the weather was good, the amount and variety of fish even in there was amazing.
Bream, blackfish, flathead, whiting, mullet, herring it was not difficult to take a bit of a feed home. !

Those fish are still there - they glow in the dark though !!!

[jighead]

Stop Nigler you"re making me all misty-eyed used to fish fairlight and Forty Baskets with live yakkas for monster John Dory as kids. All we had during school hols was fishing and clambering around the rocky foreshore. grew up in Fairlight
now residing Sunnycoast.All the spots you spoke of held great fish populations
now friends tell me some of those spots are almost barren
Cheers Mal

[Jarrah Jack]

Early seventies used to go diving at this place called blanket bay at the end of Cape Otway in the far south of Vic. Its just a shallow protected little place where crays were everywhere. Those big red southern crays that taste much better than the northern variety. I remember one weekend we got 90 and didn't know what do do with em. We just gave them away at school. The're $100 a kilo now.

There were also a few houses built at the bottom of the cliff where the owners used a flying fox to get their gear down. Now there are no houses or crays.

[Haji-Baba]

Boy "o" Boy Gunna, you have had me sitting here thinking about all the stories I could tell about Fishing.

It all started for me when I was a little tacker about three years old.

My first fish was a little "Bobby" caught in a wooden trap made out of sticks driven into the mud on a dam bank. I met the older lad who was with me on that afternoon a few years ago on the same property and we had a great yarn.

From that point on I have always had fish. As a young lad we fished mainly in creeks and dams and spent most of our non school time catching bait and crayfish for tucker.

My farther was great fisherman and if anybody could best him at freshwater fishing I never met them.

Yellowbelly, Jew, Cod, no carp in those days.

I had my first taste of "Blue Jacket Rum" on a Cod trip with the Men down the Condamine one winter, they were all off down the river bobbing every log they could find for a cod and left me in the camp.
Probably using frogs for bait, we could then.

Leaning up against a tree in the hot sun was this bottle of Rum, so I took a good slug, my god, nearly burnt my throat out.

We always fished for cod about the first frosts in April and again early September.

Lures came into the lime light about now and big aeroplane spinners were all the go.

We also started to make "wobblers" out of cypress pine on the wood heap, attach a tin bib and paint them all colours, maily black with white stripes with a couple of trebels.

Boats became popular, so Pop made one with rolled up ends out of corrugated iron, it worked ok but you needed a horse to pull it down to the water and out again. Everything he made was strong with 4x2 hardwood for for bracing.

When we were younger my brother and I made a number of tin canoes, the big one was about 12 feet long with a wooden transom and sharp bow with a spreader across the middle. Well sealed up with melted battery casing and we were away.

Great fishing in the creek untill one day when the creek had a good fresh we decided to shoot he rapids, great fun until the canoe folded up in the middle and we were lucky to get out.

When the creeks got down a little way we would puddle up the water until the fish surfaced and then catch them for release into a nearby lagoon.

That lagoon was never filled from Charlies Creek from about 1950 untill early this year when the wall was breached by the latest floods to hit Chinchilla.
I was there to see the damage one month ago.

Some of those Yellowbelly we transfered could have still been in there as it never dried out even through the latest big drought. 1968 was the worst and another in the 80's

As I stated earlier this story of my fishing life could go on for ages but we all have our history so I won't bore you with any more of mine.

Suffice to say I have fished in almost every watershed in Queensland.

My wife is probably a better fisherperson than me and we travel all over the country side fishing both fresh and salt for something like 6 months of the year.

This year we are booked into a few places but with the fuel prices and bad fishing reports I am getting we may need to change our plans.

We will still go fishing no matter what. Life goes on.

Have plenty of Fun Haji-Baba :) :)

[Lucky 1]

When I was 6-7 years old (1976) I remember snorkling for abalone in SA with my father and Uncle. It was very easy to get a feed those days, as I recall getting abalone in only a few feet of water. Even at that age I can recall my father drumming it in to turn the rocks over to leave them the same way I left them, to allow the smaller ones to grow.

[gunna]

I was just thinking about the late father-in-law. He absolutely loved his blackfish fishing. We have a letter signed by Federal Immigration Minister Billy Wentworth back in the sixties allowing him to fish the rocks at the Quarantine Centre at North heads.

When he moved to Brisbane he decided to target them down the Pin. Man - could this bloke catch fish. I only chased blackfish with him a couple times but boy he got results. Made his own floats. He would first drive to Sandgate to collect his secret weed. Mulched it into a sand base for a good berley trail. Double hook rig under a float. Usually fished along Short Is or Tiger Mullet. He had spent a fair bit of time at the lowest tides finding the best weed covered underwater structure then fished that on the top of the tide. Fish around the kilo mark were common as was double hook-ups of fish that size. That was one hell of a fight. Those fish were pretty good on the tooth too if bled and cleaned straight away.

Funny thing - back then it was really common to see blackfish fisherman - along the Tweed rock walls and other walls they were nearly as commom as the bream fishos. Nobody seems to target them these days - but I expect the fish are still there. Not so long back I watched a bloke clean up on them at Ballina. Ah well - something to think about doing when I want a change from the current target species.

[GAFYM]

Hey Gunna,
Got a few years on you but remember the place well. There used to be an old submarine base down there where we used to catch bulk Tailor of the rock wall at the entry (They put a rock wall across the front of it to stop people bringing boats in). Was a favourit
e place to dump stolen cars/bikes etc. They used to drive them straight off the top of the cliffs into the water. Bloody long drop too.
Sharks by the thousands
Ahhhhh memories
Cheers

[jighead]

Hey Gunna
My old man and his mates would fish for blackfish (they had a differnt name for them that you can't use now) at North Head and Middle Head but as young tackers the climb was considered to dangerous for us to go. When we got older we continued the tradition man those fish used to pull hard them and Silver Drummer. There is still a core group of guys that still target them along the rock wall at the mouth of the Noosa river.
Cheers Mal

[gunna]

Hey Gunna
(they had a differnt name for them that you can't use now) Cheers Mal

Can't use blackfish either - we are very naughty. Luderick !!!

[nigelr]

Went to Manly Primary and had a mate Eric Palmer whose Dad worked at the Quarantine Station on North Head. Think they may have lived up there even.
A gang of us kids used to go up there on the weekends sometimes and shoot air rifles and slingshots, about '68 or so. What a piece of real estate! Was like a tract of bush back then. Manly was a fantastic place in the 60's!
Cheers.

[craigie]

I too like to reminisce of days gone by when life was simpler and the fishing very good.
Starting in the early 70's, my family were regular campers at Loder's Ck Caravan park at Southport. Something we did year in year out for over 20 years straight. Taking the Van down in late November and packing up after Easter. The fees were much cheaper compared to today, was only a minimal fee for leaving the van on site unoccupied during the weeks we were not there.

Dad always made sure we had access to boats, usually various size rowboats (Pram Dingy), later being equiped with a 2hp Suzuki. Spend all day every day on the water, fishing the close sand banks and weed beds, always bringing home a feed. Only basic tackle, 4inch alvey, one size hook for all fish.........Always a few sandcrabs to be caught in front of the park and a few muddies in the creek, especially if we had a night on the highway bridge that crosses Loders Creek.

I was fairly young and inexperienced compared to others that fished the area. I well remember one chap the regularly returned with large catches of Flathead. 20 or 30 fish for one solo session, used to blow my young mind !!!
Wish I new then what I know now..........We didn't even fish the Nerang for whiting........How good would that have been !!!

Keep the stories coming........

Regards
Craigie

[gunna]

Went to Manly Primary and had a mate Eric Palmer whose Dad worked at the Quarantine Station on North Head. Think they may have lived up there even.
A gang of us kids used to go up there on the weekends sometimes and shoot air rifles and slingshots, about '68 or so. What a piece of real estate! Was like a tract of bush back then. Manly was a fantastic place in the 60's!
Cheers.

We used to sneak rounds the paddocks at the back of Carina State School with 22's. Wonder we were never dobbed into the police.

[craigie]

We used to sneak rounds the paddocks at the back of Carina State School with 22's. Wonder we were never dobbed into the police.

You most probably scared the crap out of me as a youngster !!
There are a few ex. Carina students on the site.

[Gazza]

we used to collect Mushrooms in them-there paddocks!! (legal ones!! ;D I think :-? )

Dad worked at that Tannery for a few years, and we had a few quality "Steer" rugs on the floor (a few Kangas as well, before rugs-a-million was even thought of :D )

[Gon Fishun]

This was originally posted under a leather jacket heading, but I thought it would go ok in here as well.
My first experience with fishing was on Western Port Bay when i was about 10 or 11 " i think ".http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/Original%20Smilies/tongue.gif My dad passed on when I was 13.Any way it was 4 in the morning and cold, left Templestowe for the long drive down, Dad was showing me how they bite by tugging on my shirt sleeves and thought he might pull my sleeve off. I learnt quick. At a place called Tooradin I think , memories short these days, we got on a small timber clinker fishing boat with an inboard and 5 others. The night before dad told me to ignore the cussing that would go on. More experience. Any hoozle half way out the channel , low tide, yep you guest it , sand barhttp://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/Original%20Smilies/angry.gif . We had to sit there for about an hour with fog drifting around us and bloody cold feet. But we got out on the bay and comenced fishing.
Now I don`t remember to much but it was fast and furious,http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/Original%20Smilies/tongue.gif these leather jacket ripping into hooks and lines. I do remember we put hollow tubing on the line and over the eye of the hook to stop the line being ripped to bits. Had to change it regulary. My first fish ever caught was on that day and it was a baby shark about 18 inches which swam in circles under the boat and tangled all lines http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/Original%20Smilies/undecided.gif The guys were ok about this http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/Original%20Smilies/wink.gif the kids just a learner. Any way I was allowed to steer the boat back while the others cleaned the fish. That night I remember sitting down and eating our catch which was sweet and tasty.
Really what I wanted say was leather jacket are ugly, ferocius, and mongrels but bloody good eating.http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/Original%20Smilies/grin.gif

[PinHead]

We used to sneak rounds the paddocks at the back of Carina State School with 22's. Wonder we were never dobbed into the police.

You most probably scared the crap out of me as a youngster !!
There are a few ex. Carina students on the site.

I was there...1961 - 1967

[finga]

My dad was a builder so where the work was we went...easy as that.
We've lived in most places from Bundaberg to South Gundurimba.
My earliest remembrance of fishing is in dad's boat called Idle Hours.
I must have been about 4 or 5 then and we lived in Murwillumbah. Attached is a picture of Idle Hours.
The rod I used then was a broken-repaired-broken-repaired glass rod my grand-dad made and a cracked, wobbly wooden 4 inch Alvey.
This rod I used until the early 80's. It's still around in dad's shed still with 1 handle on the Alvey.
It's by far my favourite rod and reel.

I've lost count of the number of schools I attended but that's another story.
Anyways dad's last job before retiring (yeah, right) was doing the maintenance on all the tick gates in northern NSW so every school holidays was with dad.
Somehow the tick gates at Tweed Heads always needed some work during holidays in the warmer months and they were in a prime spot. Right on the river.
Then we borrowed a small glass dingy made by Williams Fiberglassing at Alstonville. It was 8' long and we thought we had it made.
We'd row and row and row and row all around the Tweed river and explore for our big catch.
On some of our very few family holidays we ventured to places like Iluka and Woody Head (before power and septic) where we borrowed Uncle George's bondwood boat and you guessed it....we'd row and row and row and row looking for the big one. God it was heavy.
At Woody head we'd explore all the rocks looking for bait. Little black crabs was prime bait for us as it was there and we could catch them. Easy as.

Living in Lismore the Richmond was our haunt.
One of my grand-dad's mates was Sid Elfick who owned the tackle shop in Whyralla Road. He had a deal with us. 5c per gar if they were fresh. We think we made an absolute fortune off Mr Elfick and on the other side of the coin Mr Elfick did not really lose much cash as we never got actual money off him. He'd have a little tally book and we'd get buy fishing gear off him. I'm sure he used to fudge the books in our favour all the time :)
In Lismore perch were common then too. I'd hop on my deadly treadly (I even made a rod holder for each side of the back wheel. I don't know why I had two rodholders because I only had one rod) and peddle for miles upon miles looking for puddles of water to throw one of those spinner dodads to catch a perch. I can only remember catching one perch with one. Why I didn't use fresh bait had me stumped as we caught perch on bait. Maybe I was a prisoner for fashion??

And then there's Evans Head. Well this spot is the love of my life (sorry Cass).

My nana and pop lived there and their house is still in the family.
My pop was not so healthy so we were able to drive to about midway along the wall to make it easier for pop to get to his spot.

As a side note: When I'm dead and real crispy I want to be thrown from my pop's spot into the river.

We'd always fish the river, never the surf side and never the end of the wall.
Pop always used fresh prawns as bait (always donated to him by friends at the co-op) and nana always used mullet gut (also donated) and it always a contest between the two on who caught the biggest bream (never a question of number as they usually got 2 each (unless they had visitors).
Nana usually won.
I used to love fishing with them and they taught me so much about fishing, patience and sustainability.... and how to put new guides on the rod.

We would go down to the north wall about 3 times a day when we were there on holidays. Sometimes we'd go just to have a look. Most times we'd take a rod to have a throw to see what's happening and sometimes we'd go just to have a perve at the sheila's on the beach. Sometimes with prawns, sometimes with yabbi's we dug but at night we used mullet gut...always.

Now my nana was a great fisho. She could fish all night and all day and all night again but when she was at home she was out like a light before the news would come on telly.
She hated that. So I made her a little rod about 12" long. Problem solvered :).
Anyways I'm waffling on a bit so better end it.

The one thing I do remember about all my days of fishing is not the fish caught but the endless hours of exploring and looking and experimenting and been with family and friends.
But I'll never forget the look of expectation on Marlin Mike's face when I caught a cod when I was fishing with him one-day when I was using a teeny weeny rod. He was expecting the 'snap' that never happened. :D

So the pictures are...
1st. Idle Hours.
2nd. Pop's boat.
3rd. This picture to me is what fishing is all about. These are my two pops, who were also good mates, having a yarn whilst sitting down having a fish.

Things I don't miss from fishing years ago??
Only one thing really.
The cold wind blowing through the wooly jumpers whilst sitting in the front of the boat on a frosty morning roaring along the Richmond river. Fairdinkum I don't know how/why my testicles ever dropped down from my guts after some of the freezings I copped sitting in the front of the boat.
Thank goodness for the wind keeper-outerers we have now.

[gunna]

Great photos Finga

[Jarrah Jack]

We used to sneak rounds the paddocks at the back of Carina State School with 22's. Wonder we were never dobbed into the police.

I took my 22 wrapped in a school jumper on the tram once. The conductor pointed to it a said bang bang I just nodded and he walked away. Don't think it would happen like that today..

[aussiebasser]

I took my 22 wrapped in a school jumper on the tram once. The conductor pointed to it a said bang bang I just nodded and he walked away. Don't think it would happen like that today..

When I was 15 and 16 we had "Gun Club" for school sport. About 20 of us would ride our bikes to school carrying a shot gun. We'd lean them against our locker for the morning then bus out to the Wangaratta Gun Club for clay bird shooting in the afternoon. Hard to imagine that happening today.

[Haji-Baba]

What a great life we all had in those early years.
My family started going over to "The Bay" "Hervey bay that is" in the early 50's.

Two vehicles. A Marquette Utility and a Ford V8 3 tonner. Loaded to the gunwales. Dad could catch the Ford on the hills but he would get away from us on the flats. I think pop got the old ute up to about 50 mph on the flats.

The first Xmas we were there was after one of my uncles had been over In August. Heaps of fish, 14 foot sea snakes, whales that towed boats out to sea on the anchor line, and any tale he could think of, we believed him.

First time over at "The Bay" pop hired a dinghy off the beach, 10 bob a week for three weeks. Out we go one afternoon me and my younger brother on the back seat, dad in the middle. 200 hundred yards out great spot, down with the pick, fishing away. Brother and I both saw this big thing surface, what was that?
Can't see a bl----dy thing says pop. Minutes later another deep sea monster, what was that? and yet another, a huge splash 15 foot high and 20 foot across.
The old man saw that one and we went straight in.
I think he started to believe the stories too.
A turtle, a dugong and I suppose a big manta ray.

Remember we were bush kids and had never seen the sea.

Digging yabbies with the old fashioned pump, 4 inch downpipe 3 feet long with a handle soldered in and two blow holes to let the air out and create the suction when you lifted the pump.

Fishing in Gattakers Bay for whiting, mum hooks something big, water going everywhere, head for the beach boys might be a shark, so off we go,
better go back and help mum, just in time to be met by a great big long tom, bit me up the back of the leg above the knee. What a hell of a fright that was.
We used that snake as the old man called it, for bait that afternoon, hooked a shark and it went right around the boat and tangled every line we had out.
What a mess.

Fishing out on the reefs off Scarness, pop with his wooden boat rod, hurles it out,
only way to catch a fish is to do something else, jams the rod butt under the seat and rolls a smoke. Bang, the rod breaks, baccy everywhere lands a good cod.
Carves the broken bit out of the ferrule puts it all together again, exactly the same story 5 minutes later. Bugger.

Fishing for "Blackall" (Morwong for you educated young blokes) 30 lb hand lines to light, finished up with 60 lb hand lines in ten foot of water to catch ten pound fish.

We had some fun over there. "School Jew" and "Mary River king" (Thread fin Salmon) in The Susan River.

As you know Scarness is open to a North Easterly, watched the old man coming in on afternoon, rows the dinghy in to the beach backwards, going to step ashore over the transome and keep his feet dry, all is well until a big wave drives the boat into the back of his legs and then flattens him into the sand, boat on top.
What a pantomine that was.

The thing I most remember about those times was the freedom, the fish, crabs,
fruit, learning to skate, friends, sand in your bed, possums on the tent roof,
& did I mention fish.

We all have the same stories, different people, different places, same fun.

Have plenty of fun Haji-Baba.

[TheGurn]

Memories...
I'm told my first fishing trips were out in Morton bay, stuffed up under the bow of my dads bondwood boat that he built, wrapped in a warm blankie in one of those old pine timber boxes that apples used to come in. And knowing dad, I'd have had a squid on a string for a dummy.

The first trips I do actually remember after I outgrew the apple crate were chasing diver whiting out the front of Brissy river on cork handlines from the same boat. I recall getting seasick all the time and must have ruined alot of dads trips. I clearly recall how he cured me. I lay dying on the floor of the boat, with mum unsuccessfully trying to force-feed me dry arrowroot biscuits. Dad caught
a huge sea-toad and slit it open from bum to breakfast on the floor about 6 inches in front of my face.
Over the side for one last almighty heave, expelled my testicles, permanently shredded my sphincter and left me needing glasses... ta da.. cured !!
Dad tried to justify it to mum as tuff love. Mum and I both didn't believe him. I think it was a desperate mans revenge. Either way it worked.

And back then Luggage point was a just a pipe, not a treatment plant. I remember a franger wrapping itself around dads line in front of me, and him waving his line around gently and smiling strangely at mum, saying "Get that off there for us, will ya son?". And mum playfully cuffing him behind his ear and
demanding we move to another spot.

And dad and me sneaking through fences at night to fish the river rock walls, trying to quietly keep the water rats away from what we'd caught, and the plagues of mossies out of our mouths, eyes and ears. 'No Mozzies, no bream' dad always said. Bait was an ice cream tub full of mullet gut (complete with onions!!), mixed with some other foul smelling oil and stuff, and left to brew in the heat until it bubbled. Nothing known to man could get the smell of that stuff off your hands and out of your clothes. Had to wait until it wore off. Huge bream loved the stuff. Mum despised it.

And fishing quietly in the dark, learning the basics and listening to dad's stories.
"Look son, just lob your bait out a few feet. Don't cast it or you'll get nothin' but bloody catfish. Let it drift. Don't wind in slowly or you'll get a snag. If you get snagged, leave it sit a while until a fish picks it loose. Don't knock my bloody beer over again or I'll take your head off at the waist and knock you clear into next week."
And..
"We used to catch bream here when we were kids. We'd get a stick, tie some
string to the end of it and loop the string through two holes in a piece of ply shaped like a kidney. We'd paint one side of the ply white and float it 'dark side up' with the tide along the wall. When the bream took the bait, the ply would flip over and we could see the white side, and we'd pole out as many big bream as we wanted one after another." Or so the story went..

And occasionally out in the dark we'd hear some annoying bugger fishing with the ratchet on. (Every one used Alveys). Dad would yell out, "That you, Ratchet George??" and occasionally Grandad would slip into view in his row boat for a quick yarn and a quiet rum, and then slip away again, ratcheting his way up river. I wondered for a long time how they stayed friends with dad calling him 'Ratshit George.' He used prawns with a splash of rum over them for bait. Story goes that he accidentally spilt some over his bait one night, caught his best shiteload of fish ever, and never looked back. I reckon he just wanted an excuse to always have a rum handy. He caught some mighty fish.

And every year without fail we'd holiday down at Burleigh Heads with the rellies, fishing the beaches all the way down to Fingal and beyond, and in dads boat from the mouth of Tally creek to well up past Fleays fauna reserve. Sometimes we'd just sneak through the fence at Fleays to get to the creek with those towering, frightening bloody emus, three times taller than I was, giving me the heebie-jeebies all the way. 'Listen squirt,' dad would say. 'Just don't let them see anything shiny and you'll be right'.
His reaction after one had several goes at him still leads me to believe he didn't know much at all about emus. Dad moved a damn sight faster than I imagined he could, but he never had a chance of outpacing that bird. So I never really felt reassured from any of his advice about animals after that. I did learn that emus don't scare easily. In fact they can get downright ornary when you poke them
with a fishing rod.

And then dad, year in year out, endlessly telling my sister to stop winding the bloody bait in as soon as it hits the bloody water. (She still does it and she's really old now !!)

And pulling up all manner of fish at night off the original wooden bridge across Tally Creek. Hardly any traffic at night back then, but Grandad still managed to break a cane rod or two every year on the occasional passing car or truck. He could swear, that man. Might have been the rum.

And always tripping over the buckets of pippies and freshly pumped yabbies in the kitchen and getting a quick belt around the ears that came out of nowhere. Dad had arms about twenty-five feet long that could go around corners.

And my brothers and me crabbing off the old wooden walkway that stretched across the tidal swamp where the Scarborough boat harbour sits now. And later from the highway bridge across the Pine river when it was being built. Our pots were made of one hoop covered with chicken wire, and a second hoop attached
by a wall of mesh netting. No top on them. They laid flat and the crabs would simply walk straight over them and onto the bait. The net wall would stand up when the pots were pulled and the crabs couldn't get out. We'd walk from one end to the other setting pots, then walk straight back to the first and start checking them. We'd do this for a couple of hours (in between smokes and beers) and we'd have a sugar bag full of crabs. We'd keep the biggest and best bucks for a feed and let the rest go.
Mum and dad must have known we'd been sneaking smokes and beers, but they loved a feed of muddies more than they loved belting us, so we were always allowed to go crabbing.

Ahh, I could go on for days. I've done - and still do - my best to give my kids (all growed up now) the same kinds of memories. It seems harder to do these days, but I hope they'll be as fond of theirs as I am of mine.


Cheers

[gunna]

Gee they are good stories.

It just reminded me of Cleveland Jetty. The old man would take us there fishing for whiting with garden worms. Great long jetty that was !!

[jighead]

Was talking to my old man yesterday (now 93 ) about this thread and he reminded me of the time I got kicked out of the pool down down at Manly Wharf for scaring the s%*t out of the swimmers cause I was in there with a hawiian sling spearfishing when asked by the lifeguard why apparently I told him cause there were sharks on the otherside of the net :o the old man LHAO. The pool was destroyed in a storm in the seventies.
Cheers Mal

[finga]

I have had the great fortune of listening to just some of Haji-Baba's stories first hand.
What a great family who have lived. I mean really lived :)

[Haji-Baba]

Thanks Finga, still got a few for more.

One other about Me and Dad walking in to a big deep hole in the river near Warra up rides the Squatter on his big horse and challenges my old man about our presence on his property.

That was it. After a long "discussion" about heritage and a whole range of things
they became good mates. Seems he was a retired Gov. officer who had just bought the place. We had been going there for years before he took over.

We did get some good cod in that hole over the years.

Blood worms and small bony bream were proven bait.

Another time, to keep his fish fresh, Dad hung them in a corn sack in the cold river water, later on, putting another fish in the bag he realised it was empty.
Water rats faced extinction in that waterhole thereafter.
You would think he would have known.

Over to the river for a Sunday family fishing day, B.B.Q. lunch, a piece of bird wire stretched over a forky log, fire under, mutton chops and snags on the wire, bounce the wire up with a stick, turns the meat over, hot dripping fat keeps the fire going,
When the snags and chops were black they were cooked.

Never mind the zinc galvanizing sticking to the meat.

Eat it, there is nothing else.

Over to the coast, Dad, Brothers and I down at the Mouth of The Noosa River.
The old Man has his big hand line on a spool, a very big torpedo sinker and a slab of mullet on a big hook. Winds her up, 12 foot dia. circle, warp speed and all he has left is a loose line. The rest is on its way to Fiji.

Too windy on the surf side so younger Brother decides to fish on the "Old Woods" side. Big reel, good rod out she goes, we can hear him hollering so race across the dunes and he has hooked a rowing boat. He very nearly landed that boat but
we would have had to let it go, it was the wrong colour and under size.

Fishing down The River towards Surat, arrived 2 am. bitterly cold but I had to set my lines. Next morning lines broken and only one line with a fish on.
Pulled it in, up comes a good cod (26 lb.) on worms, very steep bank.
I am not going to lose this fish, so i kicked the peg out of the bank and cradled the fish in my arms and crawled up the bank for 20 feet to the top.
Over the bank I go and frightened the s------ out of one of my mates having a dump behind a bush.

Had to leave earlier than planned, one of the mates got too close to the scope on his .270 and split his eyebrow open.

We have all got the same stories, differnt places differnt times.

This post by Gunna has really got me fired up. Thanks mate.

Keep them coming Lads.

Have fun Haji-Baba

[gunna]

Spot on Haji.

Then there was the time we fished the Namoi near Manilla. We were camped on the river and rigged a rope across the river with dropper lines every couple yards. Next morning a bloody tinny comes chugging down the river. We crapped ourselves that it might be inspectors. Luckily not. Didn't catch any fish either !!

[Haji-Baba]

Many years ago we found a "crossline" and a net in the Condamine down from the Bannana Bridge.

Both finished up over a log very badly damaged when they fell over an axe and somehow the fire took over the log.

It is impossible to put out a fire in a tarred net and rope.

We did try but the more diesel we put on thinking it was water the worse the fire got.

Funny that.

Have Fun Haji-Baba

[Deelirious]

Guys,
This is the best post I've read on Ausfish - ever.

My only wish, that a few "genuine" old timers could post some yarns. A bit hard I know but if any of you blokes out there have some grandfather type yarns from the early 1900's they'd really compliment the stories that have already been posted.

Thanks for a great read.
Eddie J

[gunna]

My old man is 90 and tells great stories about the Logan and Tweed. I will get a few next time I see him.

[nigelr]

Sure was Mal, May 1974. Largest high tide on record! (coupled with the storm of the century...20m swell recorded at the North Head wave bouy)
Used to dive for 5 cent pieces on the northern side when the North and South Steyne ferries berthed......ah, tourists.......

[sandbankmagnet]

This is a great thread and I get so much enjoyment reading the old stories.

Myself? Well, I was born in the late 60's but as a youngster used to fish DI, Rainbow and Fraser pretty much every second weekend around the age of 8 through to 13. I wasn't allowed to fish when the tailor were on. Strictly my older brother and dad then. Caught my share of dart and bream though. God it was cold sometimes in that old canvas tent. And then someone from the back needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and I'm the one near the door always.

Also used to pull hession bags full of diver whiting out of Hervey Bay in the morning and spend the afternoon cleaning them. Burrum river was full of good bream and you'd only have to go across to the black banks on the right tide to clean up in a short session.

I remember we had an old cruiser tray back and my mum and dad and sister would sit in the front, my brother and I in the back in the ute on a cushion between some home made storage tubs and off up the Bruce highway to Tewantin we'd go. A knock on the back window meant we needed another columbine, which got handed out around the window. I remember waving to the cars driving behind us.

The thing that I think this thread has yet to discover is that the kids today will speak exactly the same in 50 years. I feel an obligation to take my kids camping up the beach and to Fraser these days, as I think my brother does. And I can tell you the fish are still there. Last time my 8yo and 4yo caught 8 whiting about 30 to 35cm in about an hour at Fraser. The delight in my youngest's face when she caught her first I will never forget and is better than catching it yourself, tenfold.

I think the general feeling of this thread is that you had a great time fishing with your parents when you were very young. Make sure you pass that on. Who knows what the world will look like in another 40 or 50 years.

[gunna]

Couldn't agree more. I have been introducing the grandkids to huntin and fishun and campun down Emmaville way. I don't know if they will continue as they get older but at least I am providing the opportunity for them. Love to think it would be passed on when I am gone. Might be ray guns by then lol.