Learning to fish from a fellow fishraider (DerekD)

[Denisfisho]

After about a month of many failed lure fishing sessions with no bites, and no action at all around Lake Illawarra I was feeling abit disheartened and made a post reaching out for help.

Fellow Fishraider DerekD was nice enough to reach out with some much needed advice about my gear, and other techniques and after following advice from him and a few other pros on this forum I managed my first ever two fish on lures (a small tailor and a second legal tailor). I still remember fist pumping after catching that small tailor and a waiter nearby just looking at me bemused :D.

After that me and Derek exchanged some messages and we managed to meet up last Sunday near Mosman so he could teach more in person.

Funny enough, I think in the first 5 seconds of shaking hands and meeting up he was able to point out to me how to properly travel with a fishing rod and lure.

The first part of the lesson was about casting which we came to realise was in serious need of correction, as I wasn't loading the weight properly before casting, some old habits die hard but towards the end of the day I was definitely getting better casts out and we were progressing towards accuracy on aiming casts, which was great :D.

The second part of the lesson was how to properly create action on surface lures, which I saw was pretty much an artform in itself because of the life like swerving action Derek was able to create with his bassday sugarpen lure. Another useful tip was that he was able to point out to me when to spot a surface lure having interest from fish which was good to learn.

We then swapped to atomic hard crankz and he took me to the side of the ramp to practice more of my casting where I managed to land a Tarwhine which was awesome, as I'm on abit of a mission to tick off a few common fish species and got to add that to the list that day.

Alot was learnt and our next session will be soft plastics (If I remember right).

We parted ways at 6pm but with all the newfound information and a new casting technique that needed practising I drove 30 minutes to a favourite spot of mine which I'd seen fish in but never caught before and lo and behold I was able to use my new casting technique to precisely aim in a few good looking spots and managed to land 2 small fish which I think are snapper that were let back in promptly.

My battle to catch the elusive flathead (to me) took a serious turn when a hooked fish which I initially thought was an eel because of the way it was shaking the line, turned out to be a flatty, however, the day was lost as my leader snapped... another day.

All in all a great day of fishing and was great to finally meet up with and speak with someone with alot of knowledge to pass on.

Teaching doesn't come without it's risks though as I accidentally grazed Derek's arm during a cast but he was a legend and just laughed it off as a memory to look back on.

People like Derek make this forum a really great place to learn and I'm greatful that he took the time to help me out both in person and online.

Cheers 

Denis

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Denisfisho

[GoingFishing]

Welcome to Fishraider Denis.

@DerekD is a gun fisherman and has a wealth of knowledge that he is more than happy to share. Good on u fellaz

[DerekD]

Hi @Denisfisho,

It was a pleasure to meet you on Sunday. The wind made it a bit of a challenge so I was extra impressed at how your casting confidence and distance grew over the limited hours we had. You are right in that we want to focus on soft plastics (and probably squid jigs) in the next session. Looking forward to see how quickly you can get the sub surface walk the dog.

If the hook had set when it grazed my arm I'm not sure I'd still be considered "the catch of the day" but that is the occasional hazard of flinging sharp bits of metal around.

I went back a few days later and picked up this nice little 28cm bream on an OSP bent minnow. As the weather warms up we will be heading back to those bays to see if we can get you to tick topwater bream and whiting off your to do list.

Regards,

Derek

PS: We still need to find you a lucky fishing cap

[mrsswordfisherman]

Thank you @Denisfisho for this post. Our community is made all the better by the members here who are proud and happy to share and help others. 

You have been helped by a fisherman who knows his stuff and is willing to share it with others who want to learn.

Thanks @DerekD for your generosity with your time and efforts with others in our community. It is greatly appreciated. 

I can’t wait for you future posts. 

[Rebel]

Welcome to the real world of Fishing.

Fishraider.

[corro]

Nice one mate! You never forget your first 😉

[DerekD]

Hi @Denisfisho

Due to some work issues I got the day off and went back to the same spot again and scored this one on the same topwater lure. and pretty well the same spot we met. Have to go back there when you have some time free. Went 34cm.

Edited December 3, 2021 by DerekD

[Pickles]

Great report Denis - Derek is a great bloke and always on the forum giving help and advice. Really good to hear you’re enjoying lure flicking - its very engaging, some might say “addictive”

[jenno64]

Good on you Derek for sharing your expertise! It's very valuable to teach someone the basics on the water and I'm tipping that spot will produce fish at different times with you putting some hours in Denis!

[GordoRetired]

Great to hear that the advice you received paid off. If you combined all of the experience of the posters on this site it would add to thousands of years.
Does not matter how long you have been fishing you are always learning. 🙂 

[Denisfisho]

Hey all,

Its been a few weeks since I last posted and I have to say, I've been having a blast fishing and feel so much more confident now thanks to all the help I've received from this forum, especially from Derek.

Since I made this post, I can proudly announce that not only have I finally caught my first flatty, I've actually caught about 8 in the last two weeks, including an approx 49cm flatty (picture included). 

The funny part was the biggest flatty came after I had given up fishing for the day and just wanted to be an idiot and let my lure drop along the boat ramps water and just walk back to my car..... felt a bite from what I thought surely must be a bream or something small so I stood still and bang.. I couldn't believe it something was hooked up and out comes a big 49cm flatty.

In the last two weeks I've also managed to catch two bream about 20ish cm each and I know for sure I only managed to catch those after Derek's advice on how to present topwater lures and what behaviour you are trying to replicate -- used that in the soft plastics and it worked nicely!

I also recently went on a fishing trip a few hours west of Sydney and caught 5 redfin on lures and also convinced my friend to try lure fishing, gave him some lures and he caught 5 too on a light $25.00 kmart rod, so it was a great trip for all. I have to say I probably enjoyed fishing for redfin more than saltwater fishing.

I also think swapping from Lake Illawarra to instead scouting new places in Sydney also helped, atleast for me, I don't think I was having much luck at all in Lake Illawarra but I'm keen to try it again sometime with abit more knowledge.

Looking back a few months when I was struggling with motivation to continue lure fishing to where I am now is an honestly great feeling and look forward to keeping up in the hobby.

Special thanks to everyone in this forum with the advice they've given and special thanks to Derek for seeing someone struggling to fish and putting him on the path to catching fish and enjoying the hobby.

Also a thanks to Shroom for his youtube videos which I enjoy watching.

Cheers

Denis

 

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by Denisfisho

[big Neil]

What an excellent thread you have provided Denis. It emphasises what this site has to offer, especially when super generous members like Derek get involved. I have been the beneficiary of Derek's tutoring and have to say that he gets more out of passing on his experience than actually catching fish himself. A rare quality indeed!

The whole range of anglers is represented on this site...absolute novices, who have no idea what to do, through to ACE anglers who are masters of their craft. Fortunately, this site provides one and all the opportunity to improve. bn

[Rebel]

Well done Denis.

Happy fishing.

[Little_Flatty]

Some superb results there @Denisfisho. I think you should be congratulated for sticking with it and gaining enough knowledge and experience to become successful.

Some spots seem to work better for lures than others. I'm not sure what it is. However, I find that if you fish an area regularly enough, you eventually work out what works, provided the fish are there of course.

[DerekD]

Well done @Denisfisho

When I started on soft plastics I picked up a book by one of the fishing personalities in Oz. One of his comments was that if you can't catch flathead on plastics give up. The second comment which is more relevant comment for you was that if you can catch bream pretty consistently on plastics then you have nailed it.

Two bream so far and I suspect many more to come.

Looking forward to hearing about more of your successes.

Derek