Lucky Rod

After all the excitement the night before, I did not intend to do any serious fishing. Tide also not looking good. However, D wanted to cycle as she didn't get to cycle last night. So, for a user friendly spot, we decided to head for Elias Park again. We laid the mat away from the bridge, nearer to the breakwater. I just rigged out my loomis 9 footer for a bit of casting practice nearer to the river mouth. I hadn't been able to cast very far with it yet, so figured that I needed to practise a little. Might have been that my reel had been not well adjusted and wounded up too tightly. I tried it out without any bait and it did managed to go a decent distance (maybe 50-80 metres).



The area around there didn't look that clean and I stepped on something smelly. Must be some rotting leftover baits from some irresponsible fisherman. From the breakwater edge, I spied a few "fisherman" of another kind. Kingfisher Birds :). A bit of nature channel here. Tide was really low and the rocks were all protruding out. In fact, I lost a few rigs when I retreived and had to cut off the line. Luckily it wasn't any expensive lure. The water around the bridge area was so low that you could see the sandy shore.

Some people (a man and his boy) were casting to the left of me nearer to the beach area. His was a short rod and his cast could only hit about 10 - 20 metres from the beach. Like this, where got fish? I would really be surprised if they can catch anything. But then again, I remembered this funny incident. When I started picking up the hobby, I only had some old rods and handlines. During that time, I read that we could fish in Macritchie reservior. We went there and actually just throw the handline with some sotong bait about 5 metres from the ground and waited. Thinking about this, want to laugh. Where got fish so stupid to swim so near the edge to take our bait. Also then, I saw a notice board that said only can use artificial bait. At that time, I didn't even know what is artificial bait. I certainly have come a long way from those days. And, actually, it wasn't too long ago. :)





Anyway, I didnt pay too much attention to my rod as the conditions were all wrong. I had bought a bag of live prawns but was silly enough to have forgotten to bring my pump. The prawns would be dead soon enough without air. D went to borrow her bicycle and went off cycling on her own. Seeing the poor conditions, I decided to pack up after a short while and I reeled back. I now have this habit to yank before I pulled back. You never know what you could get sometimes, if you are lucky. Well, this time, I was. There was this little crab hooked on my line. Wow, not easy to get a crab on a fishing line you know. Amused by my "catch", I took some photos and later released it. Haha, that would be my first crab. My this Loomis rod is getting to be a very lucky rod indeed. Everytime I used it (so far), I had caught something.

I packed up and joined D with her cycling. I borrowed a bicycle myself and led her all the way to the end of the park and back again. Stopped for some icecream and then to the other end finishing at the maze. It was time well spent with my speedily growing daughter. Seeing that she was already so steady on the bicycle, couldn't help feeling proud about her as along the way, we past many a father trying to teach their children how to cycle. All in all, we had a fun day indeed.