On The First Day Of School Holidays.

Hi there,

Yes last Monday was the first day of our winter school holiday.
I had asked my little one what she wanted to do on this glorious day…
And she said fishing!
The gods of parenting must have been smiling upon me.

We dropped Mum at work, and fishing we went.
To a very secret spot, that my good mate Mr Mud had told us about, a few year ago.
How secret is that spot?
Well if you live in Darwin, you will recognise the place very easily from the photographs.

On our arrival we noticed that not one but two people, were sitting exactly on the spot that we intended to fish!
So we decided to fish a few metres from them, as after all, the sea is full of fish, no reason to fret.
We asked them if they caught anything, they said no, nothing took interest in their bait.
Mmmm…
Were we to be there on an unlucky day?
This as never happened to my little one yet, and I was really hopping that we would not have to go home with a donut.
But fear no more, plenty of fish she caught.

In fact the first one was just a few minutes after we arrived. The two other guy started to exclaim that it took just a few minutes for a seven year old girl to out fish them…
Oh the pride in me, oh the joy in her…

Here comes the first fish of the day:

First fish of the day.

From what I was told, this fish is a Cardinal fish. It was so cute and pretty, that we did put it back in the water.

Then a car with an elderly couple pulled over, and they started to fish too.

The place was getting crowded , and we needed to catch another fish, the pressure was on.

Well not for my little one, as in no time she caught another fish.

And this time it was a Bream! This one we kept in the esky, hoping  for another one to have a good dinner…

But in all the action, I did forgot to take a photo of the first Bream.

Yes you read it right, the first one of the Breams, other were to follow.

As the two fellow who were there first, hadn't caught any fish yet and started to look at my little one fishing ability in amazement, she was on it again!

Screaming, shouting and jumping up and down, saying that this was a Big Big fish!

And a nice big bream it was:

Second Bream of the day.

This was in fact the nicest Pikey Bream I ever saw being caught from this spot.

Now I knew what we would have for dinner, I was happy. My little one was even happier than I.

But she said, that she now had one for her, one for me, and needed one for Mum.

I did try to temper her optimism, but she wouldn't get any of it, she was to catch one for Mum…

We fished some more… But now fish came to be caught.

Grand Ma came to see us, and brought some little snack.

The elderly couple left, without any fish…

I said that maybe we should go now…

But no, the little one wanted a fish for Mum…

The two guys who were there when we arrived, decided to left, and just as they passed us, the little one caught another bream!

Third Bream of the day.

That was it!

We had a fish for Mum, a fish for Dad, and one for the fishergirl!

We folded the chairs, put the esky back in the car, a last biscuit for the road and we headed back home.

This had been a great day, for the first day of the winter school holidays.

And yes, it might be time to change the line on the little one's reel, as it was broken twice by bigger fish, during the morning. 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The Darwin Dart.

Hi there,

The Darwin Dart is a lure close to the heart of many Territorians. Yet it was made in Narooma, NSW. So, why so much love in the North?

To start you have the name: Darwin Dart, clever marketing …

And then came its fish catching ability.

A quality due to the passion for fishing from its maker: Mick Elliot.

Mr. Elliot started to make his own lure as a teenager in Queensland. After his family had moved to NSW. With the help of his father and brother, Mick started to produce his lures for the commercial market, in 1983. First carved by hand from White Beech wood, the success and demand for the Darwin Dart quickly become too much for the trio. They had to use a copy lathe to respond to the popularity of their product. The ever-growing success of the timber lure prompted the Elliot family to finally decide to change the whole process and start to make plastic molded lures. The metal bib was replaced by a plastic one, and become integral part of the lure. A rattle was added in the belly of the lure. The success continued.

The Darwin Dart. 

The production has stopped a few years ago. The word on the street is that the molds have all been destroyed when the production ceased.

Portait of a Darwin Dart.

This was a popular lure for Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and other Top End scaly critters. 

An old timer, once even told me that he loved to troll them at speed for Mackerels. Saying that the lures would then flip over and come skipping on the surface, this was how he caught some of his best Macks. Until one bigger than usual, who swam in the sunset with it, took away his last Darwin Dart.

Memories.

This timber Darwin Dart, might not be in perfect condition, but I will sure take care of it, and it won't swim no more.

Yes they are missed in many fishing tackle boxes.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Never High Stick On A Fish ...

Hi there,

As the title says, never high stick on a fish, especially if this fish is resting on a step mud bank... Because this is the story of how I broke one of my favourite fishing rod.
But let's start from the beginning.

on a Saturday morning, I received a phone call and a text message from my good mate Seano, asking if I wanted to go fishing with him latter on in the afternoon.
If you know me, you could easily have guessed that I said yes.
So of we went, to one of his secret spot, and rest assured that his secret spot is safe with me. As we had to drive for a relatively long time in the four wheels drive, through the bush, with the aid of the GPS unit to arrive to the location. Definitively not a place I could go to on my pushbike.
Once the car had stopped in the middle of nowhere, we made our way to a mangrove, and started to walk through it for a little while.
I always found walking inside the mangrove a bit eerie and pleasant at the same time.

Mangrove trekking.

If it wasn't for the mosquitos that would have been a very pleasant walk, but they were out in numbers and apparently starving. We had to reapply insect repellent at very regular intervals.

But in the end we arrived to this beautiful fishing spot, and it was well worth the effort.

The river.

The river was nice and calm, with now and then some ripples on the water, indicating that life was abundant under the surface.

Before the first flick of my lure, I found a lure, a B52's from Reidy's in a colour that I had never seen before, stuck in a tree. Someone must have fished here not that long ago.

In the first few cast we started to have some strikes, but no hookups. 

Then Seano got unlucky and snagged his lure on the other side of the river. 

This is not a large river, and any average swimmer could crosse it in no time, but with the number of crocodiles that live in there, in no way someone would try it. So he had to break his line and loose the lure.

I had decided that for this trip, I was only going to fish with the Duo Lures that I was sent by Duo Australia not long ago, this was going to be a test. And what a test it was going to be.

At first I put a Tide Minnow SLD-F at the end of my line...

And it worked so well, that I left it on the line t'ill we went back home, and haven't yet tested the other ones.

Has Seano was re-rigging his outfit I casted this new lure in the water, and got my first fish of the day!

Now this was not a huge Barramundi, but I will still remember this fish for a long time...

As it is the one on which I broke my fishing rod...

It was only 53cm (20.866142 inches), not even of a legal size! I could not have a revenge on it by cooking it, I had to release it...

Ha!

The rode breaker.

In fact, it was sorely due to my own fault. Has I had the fish on the mud, standing a few metres from the water edge, because of potential crocodile, I high sticked the rod instead of having it at a low angle, and tried to pull the fish which was stuck in the mud...

The result was a great fishing rod, full of good memories for me, snapped in three pieces.

That was really upsetting, but we had just been driving and walking for long enough to arrive there, and we had just started fishing. So I could only try to take it as best as possible, and continue to fish, with a very very short rod...

At least, even if I was to not catch anything else, I knew that the lure worked.

And it continued to work.

Seano was now ready to fish and we were both casting our lures all around the place.

And getting a lots of hits, and loosing many fishes, but we got a few little one, all just under the legal limits.

Here are a few of my fishes:

Fish number two for me.

Fish number three.

With Seano hard at work, in the background.

Barramundi number four.

Yes I didn't need to change the lure, it was working very well.

We were fishing and now and then, walk a bit along the river.

At one stage Seano pointed out to me a Bull shark cruising in front of us, another good reason not to enter the waters.

Not long after the appearance of the shark, the fishing slowed down in a big way.

We walked a bit further down, Seano got the only legal fish of the day at 59cm (23.228346 inches).

And me, guess what I got?

Yes I did get a hit from a very nice Barramundi, that would have been more than legal, but lost it on the first half jump...

Now what I finally got on the line and hooked proper, was a little shark...

Little shark on the lure.

I brought it up on the bank, and looked for my pliers, I had lost them.

They were old and rusty pliers, but would have come very handy at this very time.

In the end it was with the help of my fish scaler that I was able to unhook this little critter. 

This was my last fish of the day.

And now, here is a photo of my broken rod, to give you an idea of what I was using to fish after it broke.

R.I.P dear fishing rod.

Yes this short rod, didn't had a lot of flex to fight the fish that I hooked after it got broken. At one point we even joked with Seano, that anyway, flex was for soft anglers, and that I was going to fish hardcore, with no flex and a full on drag.

Sometimes you have to make the most of what you have, and laughter often help.

So to me this was a trip from which I came back without a feed, despite the very good results obtained with the DUO Tide Minnow SLD-F.

Where I lost my pliers, and broke one of my preferred fishing rod. The one that Double Haul had got for me at the opening night of the Barra National 2010.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me. 

Some more fishing Australiana.

Hi there,

Not long ago, I received some more fishing Australiana. In the form of a parcel sent to me by no one else than the great Australian lure designer Mr. Rob Gaden.
Thanks again Rob, this is a very kind gesture from your part.

And what was in this parcel?
Well a very cool framed photograph representing a guy holding a massive catch of two Barramundi over the magic meter marks, both of them...

Here is the photograph:

What a catch!

And as you can see the happy fisherman had written a personal note to Rob Gaden on the print.

It reads on the left of the photograph:

" Angler  Clint Jebbink

Location East Alligator Arnhemland N.T.

Date 28.5.98

Weight 14.5 Kgs 109cms

           13.9Kgs 107cms

Lure Classice Barra

by Rob Gaden

Colour Bleeding Mullet"

How good is that? 

Two metery on the same lure! I know a lot of anglers who as soon as they get a metery on one lure, would retire the lure to the trophy room and not risk it in the water anymore...

The top right corner of the photograph reads:

"Great lures Rob

Best Wishes from...

Peter & the boys 

at Guns 'n' Tackle

Darwin N.T. "

So when the people from a tackle shop are saying directly to the designer of a lure that his lures are great, you know that this is the real deal.

Yes, you may have noticed that the lure in question is not only visible on the photograph, it is also glued to the print. 

So, here is a close up of it:

A lure loved by the big Barramundi.

The lure is a Classic Barra without the rattle, one of my favourite to collect...

This present came to me with just one condition: That if ever Rob Gaden or a member of his family ask for it to be returned I would sent it back. I ardently agreed to this, and would sent it back at the first request.

But for now, it is on a wall in my office.

And every working day, I can look at it and admire the effort made by this happy chap, two very large Barramundi, that a lots of us are still just dreaming of.

Every time that I set my eyes upon this great piece of fishing Australiana, it is also a reminder that I am yet to catch a Barramundi over the mythical meter mark, yes...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Another crocodile at my fishing spot.

Hi there,

Yes today I saw another crocodile at my favourite fishing spot.
And I also believe that this the first time that I may have been stalked by a croc, and that I was aware of it. I say may because maybe it was just curiosity from his part, but it freaked me out all the same...

So this is how the story goes.
I went to East Point one of my all times favourite land based fishing spot.
It was a bit late in the morning, but it was good to be on the water edge, and to do a bit of fast spinning, with light gears and some 40 gr. chrome slices.
When I saw what seemed to be a rather large crocodile swimming a few hundreds meters away. I try to get a photo of it, but by the time I got the camera ready, he had dived and I could not see it any more.
Being on the rocks, I told myself that every things was ok because he was way too far to be dangerous...
So I continue to cast my little chrome slice in the sea in front of me, when just 4 or 5 minutes latter this big croc surface just a few meters from me. He was looking straight at me, close enough for me to see his eyes.
It seemed to me like if the distance between us was less than his size.
And I honestly got frankly scared and used some expletives that I would not write on this blog.
I very quickly walked backward on the rocks, keeping eye contact with it and trying to get my camera out of my belt bag at the same time.
He then turned away still on the surface, dived and swam away.

So I did not get a good shot of him, but decided to go home any way, didn't feel like staying there.
This crocodile was definitively not shy.

So here come the photos, not very good I know, but have you ever tried to take a photo has you walk backward on some rocks?  The first one as he just had turned his head away, yes I was not fast enough to get the camera ready, sorry about that...
And the second he's underwater by then, but it gives you an idea of how close of the rocks he had been.

He's just turned away.

To get a bit of perspective...

On the bottom right corner of the last photo, you can see a bit of the rock where I was standing not long before.

So yes I went fishing and came back without a fish.

But hey, it could have been worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Some fishing photographs

Hi there,

Just a few fishing photographs.
With the rain still sticking around, and my push bike yet to be fixed, I start to show some serious signs of cabin fever...
As I miss being on the water edge fishing under a big sky, I decided to have a look at some of the fishing photos that I have made over the years.
Here are just a few, which I still likes after all this time, as the newest one must be around 6 or 7 year old.
All these ones date from my time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The spectator.

Rods in the way.

He's on!

The catch.

So yes, looking at the photos is not exactly like actually doing it...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time,

There was this little boy that kept saying to his dad and mum: I want to go fishing! I want to go fishing... All day long...
The kind parents were thinking that this child was way too young to go fishing, and neither of them were really keen on the fishing thing anyway...
They were saying that if they took him fishing, after a few minutes of waiting and no fish he would want to go home to play with his blocks of lego and that it would have been a lot of driving around for nothing, for these city people...

Till the beautiful day were the father could not take it any more, all the I want to go fishing! had finally done their work and he said to the little boy: "Ok, I will take you fishing, but if ever you get bored, it wont matter and we will stay there as long as I see fit. Ok?"
The little boy had won and was over the moon.

So off they went father and son in the car, found a river flowing quietly through the countryside and a nice little spot where to sit on the grass.
The father rigged his child rod and line, and told him to be patient, that eventually a little fish would take the bait and be hooked. Then he got his own line in the water. Side by side they were now fishing with high anticipation, both hoping for a fish to bite.
And they waited, and waited, and looked at the clouds in the sky, and the wind in the trees, and the cattle on the opposite bank, and waited some more.
But the bite never came. So after a few hours, the father told his son, that this might not be their lucky day, and that they should go home. But the little boy would have none of it, he wanted to stay...
And the rest of the afternoon was spent with the father trying to persuade his son that they could come back another day, when the fish would be on the chew. But no, the little boy was sure that a fish was going to be caught in the next few seconds. And the next few seconds lasted till the end of the afternoon. By then the very bored out of his brain father told the child that it was really time to go and off they went back home, without a single fish...
Not only it was the father who wanted to leave the first, but all along the the return the little boy kept asking when would they come back.

Yes this little boy was me.
Honestly I am not even sure that I would remember the story if it had not been told a copious amount of times how the roles had been reversed and the adult was bored and the small child absolutely captivated, if not hypnotised by his fishing float.

This was a long time ago, and I still love fishing.
Here are a few photos of my fishing journey so far:

Circa mid 1970s

Circa mid 1980s.

Circa 2010s.

Yes fishing has been a passion of mine for a long time now.

And the more it goes, the more I love it.

I have even overheard some people saying that I was slightly mad about it...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My first Rapala

This was my first hard body fishing lure, a Rapala made of balsa wood, and I forgot about it...
During my last holidays in Europe I went to my Grand-Ma house, where one of my aunties lives now.
As I was there I went trough a few old fishing bags, in search of an old Mitchell reels that I did not found. But I did found a box of old Mepps spinners, and among them was quietly resting this little Rapala.

My first hard body lure.

When I say little, little it is...

It fits in an honest hand.

The tiny little thing.

This was the first and I think only Rapala I ever bought.
But it lasted pretty well, considering that I must have bought this one in 1985...

And in seeing it a big load of memories came back to me.
The youth and care free now gone, the long afternoons fishing with my buddies talking and recreating the world.
The girls that made us dream.
The future waiting for us...

And in the blink of an eye I now live on the other side of the world, still fishing, but missing the carelessness of old times gone by.
Still dreaming but mostly of peace and quiet times.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.