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A week of firsts


Rah

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G'day Raiders,

Had our first family holiday last week up at Nelson Bay. Work had been manic lately so we were all really looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and some great weather. The weather really didn't want to play its part though.

Cautious of all the marine zones up there I headed to a local tackle shop to get an idea of some spots that we could take our 3yr old twins to and was told that the break wall was the go.

Headed down armed with some prawns hoping that the rain and wind would hold off just long enough to get the kids interested. Chucked a line in with one of my girls while the other was off getting ice creams. Handed the rod to the little one and said hang on tight. Before I could get a prawn on the other rod she was almost going over the rocks. Down I scramble to try and land this fish which isn't the easiest of tasks in thongs. Get back up the top and here comes the other little one screaming you’ve got one already???? They were so excited to see "big bad Barry" up close and have a few quick snaps.

Daughter No. 1. 27cm bream and first fish = cheering.

Prawn on again and handed the rod to No.2 and within 15 seconds the reel is screaming and she is doing anything she can to hold on. Down the rocks I go again but this time the fish was trying to cut away on the rocks. Figuring that it was all over I let the line go slack and off the fish goes again. Finally get him up and it’s a Black drummer. A first for me and first fish all together for No.2 as well. Back up to the top to show the girls and a pelican has come over to have a look. Turn around and there is 3 or 4 on the other side I’m thinking by this point I better hurry up or they are going to try and get the drummer, look other way and there is even more. It was like something out of a monte Python movie. Quick pic and measure at about 28cm and back he goes.

By this stage it was getting really windy and all snags. Called it a day.

Headed out to Salamander bay the next day with the same prawns. Few old bloke fishing there but not much happening. Kids are happy feeding the fish. Winding in to call it a day and some thing has taken the prawn and gone for a short run. Get it up and I’m thinking what the hell it, maybe a long tom. I had no idea really. Swam it over to where the old blokes were and asked for a hand as I didn't know about spikes or anything and he said it was definitely a long tom with no spikes but some hell teeth. Another first. Pretty happy with that. Few snaps with the camera and not his teeth and back he went.

The rest of the fishing was for naught but to have both girls catch their first fish and it not be a 10cm bream was fantastic. They asked every day if we could go fishing so hopefully they now have the bug too.

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I swear it was this big......

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Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Tara

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great read. top part of the world port stephens. don't quote me on it but pretty sure that's a juvenile brown groper not a drummer. cheers.

Could be mate. Never caught anything like it before and I was just going off the big sign that is there on the break wall. :)

Cheers

Tara

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Good report.

Good to hear the little ones both got fish nice and quickly. Might have put them off a bit if there was a lot of sitting around doing nothing.

That photo of the long tom teeth is great too.

Some of these sea birds can be a real pest, we had an albatros harass the boat a few times - chasing the bait down and harassing anything we caught on the way up. One time we released a 15cm snapper over the side and the albatross dove down and ate it whole...

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