wazatherfisherman Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 One of my best mates started fishing later in life than most of the rest of the guys. Nearly all the boys were pretty keen from an early age, however, John, although interested, had always found other ways to spend his time and barring a couple of "family" fishing days, had little experience. One of the aspects of fishing that appealed to him, was the idea of obtaining one's own food from a free bait source- such as using cabbage for Blackfish, cunjevoi for Drummer, crabs for Bream and live bait such as Yellowtail to chase larger fish- of course you needed something to catch the Yellowtail on first, but as they were readily obtainable on a variety of baits, they fitted into the criteria of the experience. So where to take him? As John lived at North Bondi, it would be logical to go rock fishing. Hard to beat going down the cliffs only a km further north and make it a long trip, so we could try a variety of methods. With this in mind, we planned a three day trip, climbing down on a Friday morning and staying until the Sunday afternoon.The trip went pretty well, we caught a variety of fish and John decided fishing was indeed a good pastime. A few years later, he married and moved up north, from Sydney to Murwillumbah and with a new family, fishing of course took a backseat. As time went by, fishing came back to the fore. I made a couple of trips up to see him each year and we mainly went spinning for Flathead with lighter tackle and hard body lures, before broadening our species range by going both Bass fishing- mainly around Clarrie Hall dam and the upper Tweed River- and also beach fishing on one of the many great fishing beaches the far north coast has to offer. Flathead spinning remained pretty much the "go-to" choice though, as there are countless productive areas and you could get a few somewhere, pretty much any time of the day, regardless of the tide or conditions, if you put in a bit of time chasing them. At holiday's end each time, we would have done at least a few "trifecta days"- when we'd go Bass fishing on dawn, then Flathead spinning during the day, followed by a late afternoon session on the beach. Later this changed to a "quaddie day" after we discovered Mangrove Jack and added the red devils to the agenda. Other than the Flathead, most of the fishing centred around bait fishing. Live Shrimp for Bass, Pippies, Worms or Nippers for the beach and live Mullet or Snub Nosed Gar for the Jacks. Tailor fishing from the beach with Garfish was about the only form of fishing we wouldn't use some form of live bait for. Flathead remained the sole lure only target and as we mainly used hard body lures, were always trying out different types of mainly "minnow' patterns. Deep divers, Shallow runners, jointed styles, suspending types, slow rollers, soft tails, stick baits- we tried heaps before narrowing the selection down to a few "reliable" favourites. Murwillumbah doesn't have a specialty fishing tackle shop, although a few of the shops do sell a small range of tackle, only the old barber shop had a few different, quality items, including a small range of lures, many of which were pretty old. While having his hair cut, John would often talk about fishing with the barber and of course the subject of catching Flathead on lures came up. After talking to the barber- who was an old fisherman himself, and checking out some of the ancient lures on the wall, the barber suggested that his "go-to" lure for Flathead was a Rapala Husky Jerk minnow and it just so happened that he had only one left. Hard to get he said. The gold one on the wall also just so happened to be the "best" colour for Flathead he said, and pretty much gauranteed some good fish in the nearby Tweed River he said, so John took the advice and bought the old lure. Wasn't cheap, but the barber insisted it was a good investment. It was about 6 inches long, gold sides, white belly strip and a black line along the top. A shallow runner with the short, clear plastic bib. Dived about 3 or 4 feet. Over the next couple of years, every time we went out Flathead spinning, usually within the first half hour or so, John would try the Husky Jerk, but sadly, not one Flathead succumbed to it's charm. He caught his share of fish, just not on the old lure, always on something else and it started to become a bit of a ritual. Arrive at location, tie on the Jerk and give it a go until one of the group caught a Flathead on something else, then he'd change to one of the other favourite "proven" lures and usually get himself a few fish. Just not on the Jerk. We started fishing with two other good mates-Wayne and his son Matt- and after a couple of trips, they suggested that maybe we should try trolling for Flathead in Mooball Creek, which empties into the sea, through a tiny breakwall on Pottsville Beach- which is about 20 odd miles south of the Queensland border. The creek itself is barely 100 yards wide and mostly less than about 10 feet deep and meanders for a few miles parallel to the long Wooyung Beach. The first few times we fished there, we caught heaps of Flathead. We'd just troll along in the nice clear water over a very sandy bottom, until we got a fish, then cut the motor and all switch to casting the lures instead. Whenever we got a couple more fish fairly quickly, we'd stay for about 15 or so minutes, otherwise it would be about 6 or 7 casts each, then resume trolling. Over time, we learned to try and find the poddy Mullet schools, which could be anywhere along the length of the creek, the Flathead schools were almost always close by and once found, we'd stay and catch enough for a few feeds. John of course persisted with the Jerk each trip- it looked great in the water, but didn't dive deep enough for trolling, however, as the Flathead were usually lurking near the Mullet- which were usually in shallower water anyway, he would continue with the Jerk for the casting part anyway. Besides, he was convinced it was going to get fish. As time went by (a couple of years actually) we started teasing him with all sorts of banter about the lure, often making up stories about what we'd seen or heard in relation to the Husky Jerk, like "just heard downtown that the word was out, someone had finally bought the old lure the barber had- they're going to have a street parade to celebrate" or "heard the barber could finally retire happy, got rid of the lure" or "see the local paper? on the cover the headline says 'Jerk buys Jerk'" or "hear about the barber?- found another one of those lures and sold it to a city slicker, told him they're great for Blackfish"- this sort of rubbish talk always went on, with poor John on the end of what became more and more elaborate stories about the Husky Jerk. Still he persisted with it, seemingly immune to all the joking at his expense. Then we went on a trip to Wooli, staying in a nice holiday house right on the beach. Wayne, Matt and their family and another two groups of friends came also and hired caravans in the van park just across from where we were. It was the first week of the Sydney Olympic Games and Wooli seemed pretty much deserted- It's primarily a holiday town, pretty small and "sleepy" with really nice beaches and an estuary that runs along parallel to the beach. Great fishing spot. Looked extra good for Flathead spinning, with a couple of miles of sandbanks spilling into a deeper channel, with plenty of weed patches fringing the sand. Wasn't long before John, Wayne and I were off wading and casting these banks, a box of lures carried in one of those beach shoulder bags each and one of those short handled landing nets that trout fishers hang from their belt. Looked promising and we waded out about thigh deep and started casting the most likely looking spot. No fish at the first spot, however John spotted some bait fish showering a little further away and we quietly moved through the water until close enough to cast at a nice sand patch with some weed on the deeper channel side. We stood in a line, probably about 10 yards apart, with John in the centre, flanked by Wayne and I. Outfits were just 6 ft light spinning rods fitted with 1000 size spin reels and we all used 6 lb mono with 10 lb leaders. We had about 20 or 30 lures each, comprising mainly of the ones we regularly had success with. John as usual, tied on the Husky Jerk. The method was pretty much standard Flathead fare- cast, give the rod enough of a sweep to pull the lure down so it touched the bottom and work it slowly back- everyone has their own retrieve style. Work the immediate area with half a dozen or so casts, then all move slowly about 10 or 15 yards down the bank and repeat. Often moving down like this, when you find a concentration of bait, there'll be a school of Flathead very close by, sometimes just a few fish, sometimes a lot- particularly in springtime spawning aggregations when big numbers of smaller males mass around the big females. After moving a couple of times, we found ourselves standing just upstream of a small weed bank that lay in about 4 feet of water, with small sand patches all around it. The telltale flashes of poddy Mullet on the shallower land side were what we'd been looking for and we all nodded to each other and cast. John hooked up! The Husky Jerk had finally fooled a fish! The grin covered his entire face! Wayne and I of course ribbed him and said it was probably a Toad or maybe he'd jagged a Mullet, anything other than a Flathead until it was safely in the net. John was jubilant and the curse of the Jerk had finally been broken! Wayne and I continued casting while John unhooked his fish and transferred it from the little net to his wading bag. He cast the Jerk again and hooked up almost immediately. This time he was a bit more cocky as he played the fish and soon Flattie number two joined it's mate in the wading bag. Wayne and I kept casting. With fish number two safely in the wading bag, out goes the Husky Jerk again, a few winds and bang! John is on again. This time, as he plays the fish, he starts to return fire some of the old "Jerk" banter- touche! Fish number three secured and out goes the Jerk again, to be taken almost straight away! John is in his element, laughing and joking, playing the fish so casually, enjoying the moment. Neither Wayne nor I could believe it- as not a strike between us and all casting the same small patch. Better change lures. Lures changed, more casts, still nothing. John meanwhile has finally got the Jerk out of the latest fish, which had really engulfed it and took some unhooking with one hand while in the net. Fish number four safe in the bag, not a word from him this time, just a cartoon-sized grin as the Jerk sailed from the rod towards the sand patch, stopping short of his usually distance due to the line being a bit "buried" from the pressure of the last hook-up. Once again, a couple of turns of the handle and bang! On again, even with the "false cast" not landing that far away from us. Flathead number five soon joins it's clan in the bag. "This bag's getting a bit heavy now" says cheeky John. No reply from Wayne or I, who were onto about our third or fourth lure change, still with no result. "Maybe you should let me choose a lure each for you guys" then "you'd better have a close look at my lure, could be the way I tie them on" etc etc. Two more Flathead making seven in seven casts and it had become ridiculous. Wayne and I had made about 10 lure changes by this stage, still without a strike between us. John decided to observe instead of cast, "giving you guys a chance to get one" his mantra. Wayne finally got one and the pressure was then on me. John decided to show me how he did it (I said I wasn't interested in watching, but secretly looked!) and he cast again, this time hooking a fish that really took off and had his drag singing. He played it for a few minutes and on getting it close, realised there was no way it was going to fit in the little net, so made the decision to walk it in to shore- probably about 100 yards or more from our watery position. Wayne being the good bloke that he is, said he'd help John with the big fish and they started the slow walk in. Great, surely I'm going to get one now. About 20 more casts and finally I hook up. About the same size as all the others John has landed- around a pound and a half. The net is with the boys inshore and even though it's not a big fish, I decide to walk it into shore as well- can't risk losing it and ending up with a donut! Wayne walks part of the way out and nets my fish and as we've got enough, we trudge back to the caravan park where all our companions are sitting having afternoon tea. John is triumphant! Not only did he finally break the "hoodoo" of the lure, but in fact caught eight Flathead in eight casts. The "legend" of the Husky Jerk was born 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Another good story. Reminds me of a mate's father who kept pestering me to take him fishing (he could talk underwater with a mouthful of marbles) I finally said "yes," so he would stop annoying me. Headed out to the deep water near Lilli Pilli, anchored up, I gave him one of my handlines to use, hooked up bait to the hook, threw the line out and said "hang on." I did the same for my handline and we waited. Well, not too long and I pulled up a school jewie, then another and another. The old bloke did not get a bite, although we were fishing 5 feet apart and the baits were nearly side by side on the bottom. Still whinging about not catching any fish, he wanted to sit in my spot, F.F.S., he did not shut up, so we switched spots in the boat. I used the handline at the front of the boat, and the old bugger used my handline at the back of the boat. Had no sooner switched, and I pulled up a jewie, then another and another, and the old bloke did not get a bite. "Take me home you f***ing fraudster, you have a SCUBA diver down there hooking the fish onto your line." I was happy to go home and he never pestered me again to go fishing. One thing that I was happy about was that his wife made the best chocolate cake ever, and I would call her to offer her a jewie, and she would whip up a cake for me. I spread the story that he could not catch shite in a toilet bowl. 🤣 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burger Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Great story as always Waza. Isn’t the friendly banter a great part of fishing with mates 😀 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Love it Waza! What a great read. Now I want a husky jerk in my lure kit....where is that barber again???? cheers Zoran 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 24, 2020 Author Share Posted July 24, 2020 50 minutes ago, Burger said: Great story as always Waza. Isn’t the friendly banter a great part of fishing with mates 😀 Hi Burger yes indeed, but we probably went a bit overboard with the Husky Jerk! Revenge was John's though and what a way to get it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 24, 2020 Author Share Posted July 24, 2020 50 minutes ago, zmk1962 said: Love it Waza! What a great read. Now I want a husky jerk in my lure kit....where is that barber again???? cheers Zoran High Zoran the barber really did retire! In all seriousness, it is a great lure for Flathead when fishing shallow water. Glad you enjoyed it- John still has the lure, it's been retired to his mantelpiece! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 The banter whilst fishing is one of my favourite aspects of our sport !!! Last time i went out i was copping it all day and 10 minutes before packing up for the day i landed the fish of the day...winning by a measly 0.5cm 🤣🤣🤣 Another great story Wazza. Felt like i was there with you 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 24, 2020 Author Share Posted July 24, 2020 Just now, GoingFishing said: The banter whilst fishing is one of my favourite aspects of our sport !!! Last time i went out i was copping it all day and 10 minutes before packing up for the day i landed the fish of the day...winning by a measly 0.5cm 🤣🤣🤣 Another great story Wazza. Felt like i was there with you Thanks GF ! We fishermen are a competitive lot, even in fun it's nice to win bragging rights for the day. John to his credit simply basked in the glory. I doubt I've ever been under as much pressure to catch a fish as that day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 A great read. It just shows, never give up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Funny story Waza. Reminds me of when my cousin returned from a trip to the US in the mid 70's and showed me a handful of Mr Twisters he'd bought back. I laughed my head of when I first saw them, but it wasn't too long before I ended up with my foot in my mouth on our next flatty trip. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 23 minutes ago, Green Hornet said: Funny story Waza. Reminds me of when my cousin returned from a trip to the US in the mid 70's and showed me a handful of Mr Twisters he'd bought back. I laughed my head of when I first saw them, but it wasn't too long before I ended up with my foot in my mouth on our next flatty trip. A funny looking lure at the time, but they caught flatties. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelm Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Funny how Barber shops used to be a sports store too, wonder how that happened? When I worked in Port Kembla years ago, there was two Barbers, Roy King, and Roy Walker, both had all sorts of fishing gear, tennis racquets (that they both strung in the shop) knives, guns, all sorts of sporting gear available straight off the shelf. I guess the Barbers was a kind of social event and was a shopping trip as well, it's a bit funny thinking back, being able to just wander into a shop and buy a gun, even Kmart sold guns, all just sitting on a shelf, complete with ammo, that could be picked up and "played" with. Ern Webb's in Wollongong had a huge range of guns and spear fishing gear, I bought my first wetsuit there, a "custom made" (which I suspect was just off the rack) Ron Harding with a kind of fleece liner, I must admit the girl who measured you up was a bit of a draw card..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelm Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 34 minutes ago, Green Hornet said: Funny story Waza. Reminds me of when my cousin returned from a trip to the US in the mid 70's and showed me a handful of Mr Twisters he'd bought back. I laughed my head of when I first saw them, but it wasn't too long before I ended up with my foot in my mouth on our next flatty trip. My all time favourite Flathead lure was a 3" twin tail Mister Twister, in either a sad brown colour, or that lime green/yellow, remember the advertising movies that used to be around, and shown in just about every tackle store 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelm Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 Just as a side note, some of the "older" guys might remember their first plastic they put in a tackle box, a couple of days later, the tackle box was eaten away, and the lure was a "blob" a melted plastic, then we started to see "worm proof" tackle boxes advertised, meaning the new type material didn't react to the lures and melt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 Once again Brillant Story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 4 hours ago, noelm said: I must admit the girl who measured you up was a bit of a draw card..... And that is why you bought it. 😂🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 4 hours ago, noelm said: that lime green/yellow, That was a sickly colour. I liked the orange colour . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 6 hours ago, Green Hornet said: Funny story Waza. Reminds me of when my cousin returned from a trip to the US in the mid 70's and showed me a handful of Mr Twisters he'd bought back. I laughed my head of when I first saw them, but it wasn't too long before I ended up with my foot in my mouth on our next flatty trip. Hi Pete I started using "Vibrotails" but in those days, Sydney Harbour was absolutely teeming with chopper Tailor and you could do a tail a cast- mostly without getting a hookup. Became too expensive for minimal results. Mr Twisters in curl tail hopped along the bottom lasted a little longer! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 6 hours ago, noelm said: Just as a side note, some of the "older" guys might remember their first plastic they put in a tackle box, a couple of days later, the tackle box was eaten away, and the lure was a "blob" a melted plastic, then we started to see "worm proof" tackle boxes advertised, meaning the new type material didn't react to the lures and melt. Hi Noel there's still plenty of cheaper tackle boxes that aren't worm proof and "blobs" still happen! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 4 hours ago, Rebel said: Once again Brillant Story. Thanks Rebel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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