Date achieved:
Monday 27th December 2021
Where?
Low Head, Tasmania, Australia
Why is this on the Challenge List?
I put this Challenge on the list because then it meant that at once I would join my Dad and brother on their fishing expedition, especially after my brother has been asking me to join them for so long. They go almost every weekend and always come back with a fish or a story of the fish that just got away. By making this Challenge something that I needed to achieve with the length it made the Challenge slightly more interesting.
Description:
ATTEMPT #1 – Friday 29th September 2017
Background I have been fishing before in the rivers and oceans but I was a lot younger and I didn’t really catch anything and if I did it wasn’t a keeper. So on this fine day in September, when we were holidaying in Rosebud over the AFL Grand Final Eve public holiday, my Dad, brother and a family friend were going fishing, I decided to tag along.
We hung around on the pier for a few hours, we watched the lines being cast out and come back in again. We watched as the rain started to roll in with a light drizzle and the return to show us a beautiful double rainbow. What we did not see at all was a fish, we didn’t catch any, we did catch a crab which scurried away pretty fast.
ATTEMPT #2 – Wednesday 3rd January 2018
A few months later, going into the New Year we were on holiday in Warnambool and I went out fishing again with my Dad and brother from afternoon until the sunset. We spent quite a few hours on the pier trying to catch some fish.
Success came after being at the pier for some time when my Dad and brother both were able to catch some fish each and announced that they were “keepers”. I watched on as I still wasn’t able to catch anything on this fishing adventure either. I manage to capture a picture of the resident seals that come up to the Warnambool Pier on a regular basis, from what I heard from some locals. Maybe the seals were stealing all my fish before I could catch them…
Whilst on the pier that it made for a greatly advantageous position to be in to watch the sunsetting over the water. This is the beautiful picture that I captured from that night’s fishing adventure.
ATTEMPT #3 – Sunday 25th March 2018
I decided a few months later to go fishing again, this time it was a whole day fish adventure leaving early morning and arriving back home at dinner. I was committed to trying to catch a fish and if I spent all day trying then I hoped I could walk away with a fish.
This time we were at a Pier in Geelong, where my Dad and brother frequented quite a bit and had declared due to its locality that it was one of their best fishing places that they were guaranteed to catch fish. During that day, sometimes the sun shone and other times it was replaced by stormy clouds and it seemed to be on a continuous rotation like that throughout the day but still, we prevailed and continued to fish. At one stage I snagged some seaweed and when I lifted it up to find a starfish.
Towards the end of our fishing expedition, I managed to hook a Flathead and reel the fish all the way in. My brother helped me to net it but what we realised when we pulled it up was it definitely was not a “keeper”. Even though it wasn’t a keeper and it wasn’t over 30cm I was still proud of myself for finally catching a fish.
ATTEMPT #4 – Monday 27th December 2021
Several years later, whilst on a holiday in Tassie my Dad and brother had been talking about how much fish they had been catching recently and that Tassie had some of the best fishing places in the world. Where we were staying in Low Head (just outside of George Town) just across the road was a jetty that we could fish on the rocks. I was determined that today’s fishing trip would be the day, it just had to be the day that I caught a fish over 30cm. Everything was in my favour the timing of the day, beautiful weather, great company, being in one of the best places to go fishing around the world and sheer determination to catch this fish!
Finally the moment came when I reeled one in but it was too small it was only 28cm, I couldnt believe after all that time of trying to catch one I was 2cm short of my achieving my goal. My brother and Dad continued to catch more fish that just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger than mine. I hooked another fish and then lost it on the rocks just before we were able to lift it up, so close yet again. A few more nibbles and winding of the line back only to find the bait all gone was all part of it. I needed all of this experience to learn what it actually felt like when the fish did take a bite of my bait. I continued fishing until I got another one snagged on the rocks and I lost it again. I was then put in charge of two fishing rods, one was enough but two rods doubled my odds of catching a fish. Then the bells started ringing and I could feel that the line on the rod I was holding started to jiggle, I was getting a bite. I yanked and reeled it in and I watched for the rocks this time and somehow managed to evade them and I lifted it up to show off my catch. My brother announced that he believed it was a “keeper” and pulled out the tape to measure the Flathead. The moment of truth had arrived and when I looked it was actually 32cm, I couldn’t contain my excitement I finally achieved the Challenge.
After I caught that fish you can say I was hooked and I decided to keep trying to fish. It was about 10 minutes later that I hooked and caught another Flathead that was also 32cm long. I couldn’t believe after all those attempts a single fish over 30cm I had just caught two!! Everything was working for me to be able to tick it off the Challenge List.
Would I do it again?
Well, I would go fishing again but I don’t know if I would put the same restrictions on it as to catch a fish at a certain length, only due to the number of attempts that it took. Fishing is a great sport that can be relaxing at times and then really spike the adrenaline when you get hooked.
Highlight:
That thrill of when you know you have hooked a fish and you start to reel it in, nothing beats it.
Getting to share this special moment with my Dad and brother, it was the reason for putting this on the Challenge on the list. I am so grateful for them letting me into their fishing world and for being able to spend that time with them doing something that they love so much.
Cost:
If you are fishing in Victoria or anywhere else in Australia you will most likely need a fishing licence. In Victoria, that will cost $10 for 3 days or $35.50 for 1 year, this is authorised through the Victorian Fisheries Authority.
I already had all the equipment that I needed as my Dad and brother were able to share with me. To start with you will need a basic kit tackle box for $40 and a basic fishing rod for $40 both are from BCF, which will be a good place to start you off on your fishing adventure.
Further information:
Please be sure to check the measurements of all the fish before you decide to keep them and take them home as most fish have a minimum size requirement otherwise they are to be thrown back to allow them to grow bigger and healthier. It’s better to know you have caught a “keeper” (as my brother calls it) as it’ll probably taste better and it helps keep the ocean population at a healthy sustainable point.
Something that I know nothing about even after all these fishing expeditions is what bait, lures, sinkers or floaters, rods types or what times give you the best chance to be able to catch a fish. For this I looked to my brother and Dad to set this all up for me as they are such avid fishermen, I was there just to tag along for the adventure in the hopes of catching a fish over 30cm. I would highly recommend you look into this before you just cast your rod into the water and hope for the best, there are ways to greatly increase your chances of catching a fish.