Persistence pays off...eventually

[big Neil]

So I have developed a "bucket list" of fish species which I haven't yet caught. Most of you would know that much of my fishing is for native species in freshwater rivers and dams. I have fished some amazing places in the salt and had some notable results at times. Most of these successes have been with family and friends who are no longer with us. More recently, as a direct result of being on Fishraider, I have been fortunate to develop friendships with some really successful anglers who have been overly generous with their time and expertise. I am honoured to fish with these people whose capabilities far exceed my own. At times I have thought myself to be a bit impertinent for asking these people for help, but they have responded by providing me with some very memorable experiences. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't caught any world record fish, but I HAVE been taught many new experiences and techniques, and had the pleasure to learn from some very qualified people. Ricmarlin, Ryder, FrankS, DerekD, Dirvin21 and Pickles have all shared their knowledge and time with helping me to reach new goals. So I would say to other Raiders, share your expertise with others and don't be afraid to ask for help from others who have more or different expertise. Nobody knows everything and this site is amazing in that it has so many individual expert anglers who seem willing to help others to improve their fishing experiences.

Recently I have spent quite a few days picking the brains of DerekD, who has showed me (with some success), how to catch Blackfish on fly fishing gear.

I also spent some quality time with Dirvin21 at Nambucca learning to catch Bream, Trevally and other species on soft plastics and hard bodied lures.

Even more recently I have been out with Pickles chasing the elusive legal Kingfish. I now have a good sense of the difficulties which you pursuers of Kingfish have to deal with. Many obstacles present themselves...weather (mainly incorrect forecasts), availability of bait (live bait species) and (worst of all) Kingfish which are there but not prepared to play. In the few outings which Pickles took me, we encountered all of these obstacles. However, Pickles knows what he's doing and that leads me to ticking off one of my bucket list species. I had only ever caught one Kingfish previously and never a legal sized one... that was with DerekD.

The latest assault was last Thursday and Friday. Thursday saw Pickles, James Clain and myself facing some unpleasant conditions for James to score a 72cm Kingie when none of the charter operators were successful. Well done James.

Friday saw Pickles, Greg and myself head out for a shorter session which went something like this: Collect Yakkas and Slimies then move elsewhere to try for squid (unsuccessful). We then moved around to areas where there were bait fish and we berleyed hard to keep them there, in the knowledge that the Kingies would turn up. I learned a lot from reading the sounder. When the bait ball moved, it was quite likely because Kingfish had moved in. It took a bit of time but we managed to entice a few to take our baits and we landed 5 rat Kingfish. The biggest was only 67cms but it qualified as a legal Kingfish and enabled me to reach the objective.

I want to say a very special thank you to all of the very generous anglers who have helped me to experience hunting down and catching numerous species. In return I can only offer to show anybody who desires to catch Murray Cod how it is done.  Cheers, bn

 

ps. AN INTERESTING PIECE OF DATA RELEVANT TO LIVING IN THE CITY. When I headed home from Richmond, I keyed in the GPS details for an address in Goulburn, where I was going to stay overnight. The GPS advised me that the ETA at destination was 2 hrs 50 mins. Not bad, I thought...that will get me there in time for a shower, a beer and a meal at a pub. I set off feeling quite happy with myself... UNTIL the GPS advised "TRAFFIC JAM AHEAD!" I moved at a snails pace from one set of traffic lights to the next, copping them all on red. After a while, I hadn't even reached the M7, I realised that I had travelled 20 kms but my new ETA at destination was 3hrs 45mins. So my mathematical brain set to deciphering this newly gleaned information... I had travelled 20kms yet my trip was EXTENDED A FURTHER 55mins. As Professor Julius Sumner Miller used to say "Why is this so?"

Cheers again, bn

Edited December 5, 2020 by big Neil
incorrect info.

[Rebel]

Great report and story.

[Green Hornet]

Great write up big Neil.

The Raider crew are a terrific group. You certainly won't find that kind of camaraderie on social media.

[Pickles]

DOH - Sorry you hit a traffic Jam Neil - "Joys" Of city life (not). Hope you arrived AOK 

Julie is still admiring the pots - Many thanks mate and hope the kingfish tastes nice.

 

[Yowie]

Good work B.N., the joys of trying to catch a legal kingie.

[Keflapod]

Hi Big Neil,

In the words of the indeed great Julius Sumner-Miller "Give the gentleman a hand".

To the uninitiated, Professor Julius Sumner-Miller" was a very nerdy looking "mad professor" type of person who was actually quite charismatic when conducting experiments live on film. He was famous for getting a chicken egg into a milk bottle without breaking the egg. Well OK, some trickery as well as some physics involved, and the quote above was aimed at young students who were observing his experiment and correctly answered his perplexing questions.

So now we give you a hand BN. You have openly praised other fishraiders for them making such a positive impact to your fishing career. You have given them some recognition which I'm sure they will enjoy.

So the travelling of 20km extended your time by 45 minutes? I think car GPS systems are worse at predicting ETA than weather forecsters are at predicting weather. Either that or you were driving in reverse. Or possibly the rotation rate of the earth has changed by 20% thereby confusing the 24 GPS satellites in orbit at the moment. In any case, if it knew there was a traffic jam, why the hell did it send you that way anyway? Car GPS systems hate people I reckon.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Keflapod

[dirvin21]

Good stuff knocking off the kingie.... the jacks are eager for round 2, I reckon they want a few more of your lures for their trophy walls😉

[big Neil]

32 minutes ago, Keflapod said:

Hi Big Neil,

In the words of the indeed great Julius Sumner-Miller "Give the gentleman a hand".

To the uninitiated, Professor Julius Sumner-Miller" was a very nerdy looking "mad professor" type of person who was actually quite charismatic when conducting experiments live on film. He was famous for getting a chicken egg into a milk bottle without breaking the egg. Well OK, some trickery as well as some physics involved, and the quote above was aimed at young students who were observing his experiment and correctly answered his perplexing questions.

So now we give you a hand BN. You have openly praised other fishraiders for them making such a positive impact to your fishing career. You have given them some recognition which I'm sure they will enjoy.

So the travelling of 20km extended your time by 45 minutes? I think car GPS systems are worse at predicting ETA than weather forecsters are at predicting weather. Either that or you were driving in reverse. Or possibly the rotation rate of the earth has changed by 20% thereby confusing the 24 GPS satellites in orbit at the moment. In any case, if it knew there was a traffic jam, why the hell did it send you that way anyway? Car GPS systems hate people I reckon.

Thanks for your reply Keflapod. Funny thing this. I had a chemistry teacher in high school who was a dead ringer for JSM. The only difference was that my chemistry teacher was younger and had a size 13 sand shoe which he used as a substitute for the cane...one whack with that and you couldn't sit down all day. He was a bit whacko too. We blew up a section of the playing field fence and also burned out the lab prep room while he was in charge. Wish I could remember his name. bn

[big Neil]

1 minute ago, dirvin21 said:

Good stuff knocking off the kingie.... the jacks are eager for round 2, I reckon they want a few more of your lures for their trophy walls😉

LOL. Give it up Dave. After school hols may present an opportunity for R2. bn

[big Neil]

2 hours ago, Pickles said:

DOH - Sorry you hit a traffic Jam Neil - "Joys" Of city life (not). Hope you arrived AOK 

Julie is still admiring the pots - Many thanks mate and hope the kingfish tastes nice.

 

THANK YOU Bob. You are a wealth of knowledge, not just on fishing and GPS locations either. Question for you. What was the name of the succulent which you showed me and does it ever flower? bn

[Keflapod]

7 minutes ago, big Neil said:

Thanks for your reply Keflapod. Funny thing this. I had a chemistry teacher in high school who was a dead ringer for JSM. The only difference was that my chemistry teacher was younger and had a size 13 sand shoe which he used as a substitute for the cane...one whack with that and you couldn't sit down all day. He was a bit whacko too. We blew up a section of the playing field fence and also burned out the lab prep room while he was in charge. Wish I could remember his name. bn

Julius Bombner-Miller?

[JimT]

re your ps. the GPS deemed your new ave velocity was to be a lot less hence it was going to take you a lot longer even though you were closer ...... or something like that

Jim

[James Clain]

Great write up Neil, I am happy to hear you got your legal kingfish! I guess its onto the metre kingfish or even a metre muzza! It was a great time fishing with you!

Cheers

[big Neil]

4 minutes ago, James Clain said:

Great write up Neil, I am happy to hear you got your legal kingfish! I guess its onto the metre kingfish or even a metre muzza! It was a great time fishing with you!

Cheers

Thanks James. Lovely meeting you too. Keep up the videos, I enjoy watching them. Good luck with your next year of school and into the future.bn

[Triple G]

Congratulations again Big Neil,

It was a pleasure to meet, fish along side you and witness your elusive Legal King. Although it was a very early start and somewhat short of an outing the objective was executed well.

A special thanks to Pickles also for allowing me to board and enjoy the day and gained some great knowledge from the master of King himself.

No Hook up for me, so my goal and objective still stands. That is also to catch a legal king in the distance future. If not this year, there’s plenty of time to fish next year or the year after that.

Thanks again Lads!

 

[Scratchie]

Wow! Just wow! That is so good BN that you have ticked another thing off the list but even so better that you accomplished this task with a fellow raider. @Pickleshats off to you mate! Champion effort!!! 
 

cheers scratchie!!! 

[big Neil]

4 hours ago, Triple G said:

Congratulations again Big Neil,

It was a pleasure to meet, fish along side you and witness your elusive Legal King. Although it was a very early start and somewhat short of an outing the objective was executed well.

A special thanks to Pickles also for allowing me to board and enjoy the day and gained some great knowledge from the master of King himself.

No Hook up for me, so my goal and objective still stands. That is also to catch a legal king in the distance future. If not this year, there’s plenty of time to fish next year or the year after that.

Thanks again Lads!

 

It was great to meet you too Greg. No doubt you will have plenty of opportunities to get out and practice what Bob showed you and to get your entire family on board. Apparently Jan / Feb are usually more fruitful and the seas more conducive to getting out on the water too. Sorry the session was cut short to fit in with my schedule. Good luck with the family outings on your boat. I'll look forward to reading your reports as you put it all into practice. Cheers mate, bn

[61 crusher]

Congrats on your first legal kingy hopefully better & bigger to come 

great read👍

[DrRaymondSnapper]

Your original GPS measured and calculated ETA based on your average predicted speed on your journey. When the traffic became congested and your velocity decreased below the predicted value then a re-calculation of the ETA was made based on the new speed value. As you had not reached a certain distance within the predicted interval , further time was added to your journey`s duration based on the discrepancy. In short , even though you were moving forward , it wasn`t fast enough to satisfy your predicted ETA and so time was added to your journey as a result.

[big Neil]

The strangest thing happened the other day. First though, some background information. 

I had become very aware that my memory was failing me. I do trivia puzzles, sudokus and crosswords every day, usually in the morning when I am at my brightest. You know when things aren't right, or have changed. So I spoke to my doctor who arranged an appointment for me to be tested, so that I could determine whether early Alzheimers was kicking in. The test consists of 30 questions which most people would know most of the answers to. Anyway I got 29/30. The question which I got wrong was "what is today's date?" In defence of myself, I am retired, and thought it unreasonable that they should ask TRICK QUESTIONS of an old guy. Anyway, the doctor assured me that I was not losing my memory.

Back to the story: The other day I was doing one of those video link things with my sister in law and niece in the UK. I asked my sister in law whether she could remember the name of the chemistry teacher from our old high school...the one who looked like Prof. Julius Sumner - Miller. She knew who I meant but couldn't remember his name either. We changed subject and were rambling on about "the good old days" when it came to me...MR. ATHERTON. That's who my old high school chemistry teacher was. Just appeared out of nowhere!

The brain and the mind are (indeed) very strange in the way that they function. Where did that come from? Obviously the knowledge was there...

Anyone else got an ODD story to relate? Cheers, bn

[kingie chaser]

7 hours ago, big Neil said:

The strangest thing happened the other day. First though, some background information. 

I had become very aware that my memory was failing me. I do trivia puzzles, sudokus and crosswords every day, usually in the morning when I am at my brightest. You know when things aren't right, or have changed. So I spoke to my doctor who arranged an appointment for me to be tested, so that I could determine whether early Alzheimers was kicking in. The test consists of 30 questions which most people would know most of the answers to. Anyway I got 29/30. The question which I got wrong was "what is today's date?" In defence of myself, I am retired, and thought it unreasonable that they should ask TRICK QUESTIONS of an old guy. Anyway, the doctor assured me that I was not losing my memory.

Mate I also think thats an unfair question as well, after being off work for 8 months due to covid(now back thankfully) If they had have asked me what day it was I would have said its "groung hog day 🥴"

A Groundhog Day Wake Up - YouTube

 

Glad you did well.

 

Great write up mate & great to see you out there & enjoying yourself 

 

Re sydney traffic, I try my best to plan trip & not to travel during certain times or depending on where I go I swap to public transport, not always possible of course but it mean you dont have to deal with the twits on our roads. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by kingie chaser

[rickmarlin62]

Congrats on the kingy neil  wots next

[frankS]

Well done Neil on getting your Kingie, sorry I wasn't there to see it. Didn't even know you were in Sydney.

Frank