Blackfish Social Day

[Flightmanager]

G'day All ,

Finally got the car unpacked after attending the Blackfish Social day at Lambeth Park.

What a terrific event , a great turnout of raiders (40+) , but sadly , only 2 Blackfish landed

We arrived at Lambeth Park at about 0645 , to find The Swordies and several others well set up , and breakfast cooking ( thanks George !! ) . The weather was looking very promising , very little cloud , not too cold , and only an occasional breeze.

As more Raiders began to arrive , Stewys School of Blackfish Catching opened for business . We were all guided through rigging , berlying and how to attach the weed to the hook. Most departed fro the footbridge to try thewir luck , I remained to finish some of the setup for lunch , and then decided to have a go for myself!

Nothing too exciting to report , Im afraid , there were just no fish where I was !! ( situation normal for me ) Shortly before lunch the cry went up , someone had caught a Blackfish !! Well done Jim , on a nice luderick , I wandered over to have another go myself , with the same result I had earlier! Never mind , there were Raiders to meet , and lunch to cook !! Caught up with many folk whom I knew by name , but had never actually met. Also caught up with some of the Raiders from the Hairtail social.

We enjoyed a nice BBQ lunch on the riverbank , many thanks to the Raiders who brought drinks , bread rolls , chairs , tables etc. As Stewy said in his summing up speech , without you it could not have happened.

Thanks also to Rohit ( SAQA) for his kind donation of a beautiful blackfish rod , also to ABA for the fishing rod donated for the ladies. Your genorisity is greatly appreciated !

All too soon it was time to pack it all up and go home , but there are plans for many more events , and we hope to meet a lot more of you in days to come !!

Ross

[mrsswordfisherman]

What an event it turned out to be!!

We arrived at 6am to be greeted by george s and his sons with a trailer loaded with tables and chairs and a bbq. We started to set up the Fishraider camp. Others arrived and the carpark started to fill.

George fired up the BBQ and cooked up a sumptuous breakfast of sausages, bacon and eggs on fresh bread rolls. Coffee and tea were available at this snack bar and all raiders hooked in.

Swordfisherman commenced the arduous rigging up session with all the raiders, some mono, some braid rigs. Most were first timers and all were eager to learn the setup and weighing of floats for blackfish.

Stewy demonstrated and rigged rods for over 1 and a half hours. Each group as they finished proceeded to the boardwalk for tuition from OutdoorDan and Tony (soon to be a member). Dan worked tirelessly to ready all the berley in 4 buckets. 5 kilos of weed was dispursed between all anglers and for the burley.

The boardwalk was packed to the rafters with fishraiders and guests eager to take out the prize rod, supplied by KingRods Rohit.

Raiders continued to arrive en masse armed with food and drinks filling the carpark to capacity. The women and children received a free raffle ticket for the blackfish rod supplied by our sponsor Australian Bass Angler.

The blackfish were certainly not on the bite and the going was tough, with precious little action for anyone. Raiders tried everywhere from the wall to the boardwalk and finally the call came via mobile that a blackfish had been caught by Jim (femalefishos hubby) . Finally someone had potted the black!! Jim must have been in the right spot at the right time as he scored another blackfish a little later. That was to be the end of the blackfishing captures.

Swordie made the call for lunchbreak around 12.30 to feed the hungry masses. The guys and ladies started up both bbq's and we all enjoyed sausages and onions on rolls, chicken kebabs and cold drinks. Raiders sat around and chatted and socialised. The kids all played and enjoyed themselves whilst all the women and men mingled.

Another quick session after lunch and we pulled up stumps at 2pm.

With the day's fishing over it was time to draw the raffle. Chris (crazedfisherdude) had the honour of drawing the winning ticket and the lucky winner was Quinfish's wife Janet who was over the moon. Next on the agenda was the biggie of the day, the inaugural blackfish social day winner was Jim. Rohit presented him with his brand new custom made blackfish rod which he was ecstatic about. Big congrats and a well deserved winner.

We concluded at 3pm with a quick clean up of the area to leave it as we found it. Goodbyes and handshakes all around.

The day was a resounding success in many ways. The weather gods smiled upon us with reasonable winds and fair skies. Over 50 people attended this social and it was great to meet all the members and their guests and families. It was very satisfying to see so many women and children attend today.

There are many people to thank for today. Swordfisherman will make a special post to thank all involved.

Pics to follow

Cheers mrsswordfisherman

[Flattieman]

What a great day it was , even despite a lack of underwater action . Thanks again Stewy, Donna and everyone who made the day what it was (too many to name now). Are there any pics of the blackfish that Jim caught?

Flattieman.

Edited August 6, 2006 by Flattieman

[Little_Flatty]

A great day indeed!

No we didn't get many blackfish but I didn't exactly expect to...the expectation was to meet a few raiders and have a good time and I did

Cheers to everyone involved.

Mike

[Stillrockn]

What a terrific day at Lamberth Park. Tom, Melissa and myself had a great day (even if we

didn't catch any blackfish at all) It was great to see raiders get together and put faces to names,

what a friendly bunch of people.

Thanks for all the raiders who put together the scrumptous BBQ lunch and drinks. We found it a great

family day out and the weather was kind to us.

A big thank you to Stewy and Donna and everyone who made this day a wonderful success.

Tom and Elena

[OWZAT]

G`day Fellas ,

It looks like you guys had a total ball .

It makes the heart glad , to see the youngies there and fishing with the mums and dads .

Nothing keeps a family closer together , than a man and his family , standing together , watching the sun set after a marvellous day fishing togheter.

Did anyone fish the rocky foreshore opposite Sandy Point for blackfish ? , Or was that too far awy from where you were.

Mick

[The Iceman]

Looks like it was a great day I wish we could have been there but unfortunately we had other stuff on

Did anyone try fishing off the beach we used to get quite a few there

Hope to make the next one

[femalefisho]

This is Jim

I would love to say thank you to everyone at the social today. It is so hard in life to meet

good friends. The magic thing is that one big group of friendly and wanderful people gethered today

with one simple passion in life - and that is fishing with fun and laughter. There was no secrets or

obsessive competition but just a simple day out with family and friends.

All I can say is that everyone today was awesome. The day was simply awesome.

I would like to give one big thanks to my partner Alsion. If it was not for her I would not have

come today as I did not know what fishraider was until she told me about it. And that is the beauty

of fishraider. It is all about everyone and not only for those fisher"men" who believe they are elite

or a step higher in the human race than others.

Secondly thanks heaps Stu and Donna. Bloody awesome - You both are blessed and it is great to see

you both bring people together with a common ground. Fishing should not be about size and numbers

but what you learn and the friends you make in your journey. I am looking forward to more events

from you guys.

I don't mean this to be cheesy but I was really touched by today.

Now to me - All I can say is all "arse no class". I walked towards the footbridge and found a little eddy.

Thought to myself hmmmm - there must be something there. Then I got hungry and guess what - so

did the fish. Caught 2 fish then ran for the BBQ for some snags. Luckily no one else caught anything else

and I was the winner. I have spent 15 years fishing for jew. Have taught many people and moved on.

This was the first time that I ever got something back for my willingness to teach both adults and kids.

And it was awesome.

Anyway I took my new KING blackfish rod that I won for another quick fish with some worms - could not help myself - I caught 4 bream and a whiting and gees it really performed. For a 1-3 kg rod it was

awesome. Very light - nice soft tip but nice strength in the butt section. Will definately look into

buying a few more KING rods - I used to be a rod builder and these rods are of excellent quality.

Have to go now -- Australian idol is on.

Thanks Heaps to everyone and big kisses to my partner.

[Flattieman]

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? WANTED IN ALL STATES OF AUSTRALIA...

MASTER OF DISGUISE...

GOES BY THE ALIAS "HARAKA"...

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: HUGE, GREEN HANDLEBAR MOUSTACHE...

DEAD OR ALIVE...

REWARD: $ 1 000 000 000 000 000

Edited August 6, 2006 by Flattieman

[Flightmanager]

Jesus? I had heard He was into fishing , must have missed him amongst all the other raiders!!

Ross

[Flattieman]

Jesus? I had heard He was into fishing , must have missed him amongst all the other raiders!!

Ross

GREAT ONE, MATE!!!

Flattieman.

[jewnut]

what a great day

im so glad i was able to make the trip down today (only remembered it was on at 8 this morning ) so i grabbed my gear, opened the street directory and was on my way. as already stated the fishing was slow but nobody really cared, it was fantastic to be greeted by such a welcoming bunch of fisherfolk all willing to chat, help with advice and just relax and enjoy a beautiful day. this was my first social attendance but will definately not be my last!!

many thanks to all those who have already been mentioned, it was way beyond my expectations and the generosity of these guys and girls is outstanding. we are so lucky to be part of a genuine group of people (the fishraider family as Stewy put it ) and i urge all members to come along to these days whenever possible-you will be welcomed straight in.

on a personal note, thanks also to Sammy and Chris for the albright knot pointers and company, Dan for showing me how to rig up and Jim for invaluable jewie advice that i hope to put to great use, and most importantly all the members who were more than willing to have a chat and make the day a pleasure.

this site is run by a top bunch of mods and owners, Stewy and Donna are legends and i am proud to say there are no ego problems in the fishraider family.

Congrats to Jim on winning Rohits superb rod, a deserved winner and a great bloke. thanks for the company mate. great to see you already putting the baby through its paces

once again a BIG thankyou to all and thanks for a top day.

Edited August 6, 2006 by jewnut

[Flattieman]

i bet it was soaked in rum

I bet. Or injected with scotch . I thought I'd include the fact that this shady "Haraka" fellow has a GIANT GREEN WEED HANDLEBAR MOUSTACHE just in case nobody noticed in the picture... No, really - his crimes are a serious matter.

Flattieman.

[jewnut]

got it down pat mate, thanks again, now i just need to test it out with a jewie on the end

[femalefisho]

Jim joined............aka pacemode??? for anyone that cares

DOnt ask me why????

Thanks for great day!

Cheers

[femalefisho]

....................Why?

CFD

Ask him...........

The only name that wasn't taken lol....

[Flightmanager]

Jim !! Great to have met you today , congrats on your well earned win!

Ross

[femalefisho]

Jim !! Great to have met you today , congrats on your well earned win!

Ross

He liked it so much he dropped Ay and I off and went fishing with it till 7pm.

Boys and their new toys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Flightmanager]

Its a man thing Ali , its what we do.......

Ross

[Guest madsmc]

Well done to all on yet another succesful FR social day. Looks like everyone had a ball.

The fish may not have been there in numbers, but as has been mentioned, the social days aren't just about the fishing.

Shane

[Outnumbered]

What a great day

thanks again to all who put in the effort to make it a great time for all . i have still to meet a raider that i dont like

it was great to see so many families turning up.

i heard a few positive comments from the public about how good it was that we didnt block the walkway with our numbers.

heres a few pic's we took

Edited August 6, 2006 by Outnumbered

[slayman1]

hi every one, its very pleasing to see that everyone had a great time and everything was well set up.

Its also good to hear that 2 blackfish were caught. I couldnt make it today because of other commitments

but i do regret not coming. I really do want to meet the fishraider family in person as I only read good things about you all. So far now I have missed out on 2 socials but as every person that reads this post as my witness

I promise to attend the next one as well as contributing anything I can from a fishing rod for a prize as well as providing food and refreshments.So mods remember this post and you will see that I will keep 2 my word but until then its just good to be part of this very friendly club known as the fishraiders.

Bye for now!!!

[pekingduck]

Like everyone else has said the Blackfish social was a great success.

There was way more "social" than "blackfish" and that's the way it should be.

Good to see some old and new faces and especially great to see all the families there.

Well done to all involved.

[Martin]

If you were a passer by, and saw so many people you would think it was a hot fishing spot, alternatively a day out for fishaholics

Cheers

Martin

[dazzassj6]

Aww even though i didnt go, i knew it was great fun. lol i told my friend to go down and check out the social and see how it was like aahah and he woke me up wif a call saying theres so many people down there and told me swordfisherman was really nice "its hectic". Yeh i will be coming next time if theres anything up. No exams i hope anywayz great to see there was alot of socialising.

Fishraiders rock!