Another Big Neil fishing day

[DerekD]

I was fortunate enough to be able catch up with @big Neil again today before his double birthday celebration in the extended family (and the reason he is in Sydney).

Today’s playground was McMahon’s point as it was out of the forecast winds, very scenic, and gave us the chance for some fish. My German friend Hannes was coming to join us after dropping his boss at the airport. New Raider @Ryan.f was available and eager to come down. Another Raider @Flop was also keen to join us but his wife had taken the car to go camping. Big Neil, Hannes and Ryan started with plastics. I took out the fly rod to see if I could tempt some luderick.

My morning’s fishing did not go to plan..... First thing to note is in this area you don’t need super long casts 3-4m can be sufficient at times. The other thing is I was moving around the others to get into an open area so was shifting the fly line by doing some lazy roll casts prior to actually casting properly. Just before I could start I had a gentleman call out to me and then said he had a gift for me. It was a bottle of Armour All. I can be a little slow on the uptake at times but it turns out that he had seen me cast and struggle to get any distance. He was a passionate fly caster and did to me what I have done to so many others and offer some pointers to improve my technique. Things started to click into place so I asked him nicely if I could demonstrate how well I could cast when I was ACTUALLY casting. I sent out about ¾ of a full fly line a few times with tight loops and pointed out that the reason I was not casting far was that I didn’t need to. This is when the conversation got interesting. His name was Manuel (or Manny at times) and he’d a combined Portuguese and South African history. Ex SAS. Married an Australian nurse. Moved to England and then later Australia. He’d invested wisely when younger and was in a position where he was able to travel across Australia multiple times (his four wheel drive had done over 1,500,000km). He made his own flies. Unfortunately, his wife had passed away but he still had a passion for travel. He then showed me how his vehicle was decked out and the many flies he’d tied as experiments. He gave my fly rod a try and struggled as it was not the fast taper he was used to. It turns out that the reason for the Armour All was to make the line more slippery and then easier to send out. The idea is to first wash the line in soapy water and then stretch it out between two hooks. I could then go down the line rubbing in the Armour All and then go back with another cloth to polish it off. He was pretty sure the improved smoothness would assist with casting. Now I can almost shoot a full fly line but am a couple of yards of actually doing so. I’ve got Armour All in the garage so am happy to give this a try. After a very interesting discussion I went back to fishing. I didn’t have any downs but was just enjoying casting out the fly line.

The wind picked up so I moved with the others to the actual wharf. I figured it was a good opportunity to work with Ryan on the nine foot rods while Hannes and Big Neil sat down for a chat. After about 30 minutes for this and the realisation some of us were getting hungry we made the decision to go for lunch at a nearby bakery that does amazing pies. What I’ve noticed on some of these fishing days with raiders at times it ends up to be more about the chats and the chance to reconnect than it is about the actual fishing. This turned out to be one of these days. Neil had some technical questions that the rest of us knew a bit about and took the time to explain to him. The food was good, the tea and coffee were hot and we were not in a hurry. Think we spent over an hour there just eating and chatting.

For a change of location we moved to Mosman bay. We were mostly fishing plastics and during this afternoon session we all caught at least one flathead. As we were out of the wind it was a very pleasant afternoon fishing. It was not a long session as we had been invited to fellow Fishraider Flops place for dinner. It turned out to be one of those evenings I live for. Great company, many stories, lovely food (and plenty of it too) and the wine was flowing (for the other’s at least – I don’t drink and was the designated driver). The time flew by and then before I knew it I was dragging Neil out the door to drop him off at his accommodation for the evening. We did make a detour by the Northbridge bridge to get some photos for friends of Neil.

All in all a lovely day and one of those ones that stay in the memory for years to come.

[bessell1955]

Wow sounds like a top day!

[masterfisho7]

Sounds like a ripper of a day well done 

[rickmarlin62]

Its not all about the fish  i spent a day with neil in my boat  great day great bloke  true gentleman of fishing

[Isaac Ct]

Super day with the raiders, well done.

Is this going to be the last report we see with BN or will we be treated to some more?

[Little_Flatty]

4 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Super day with the raiders, well done.

Is this going to be the last report we see with BN or will we be treated to some more?

I heard murmours that @big Neil was heading further north on this particular trip? I am sure he will report if he does 😎

@DerekD I'll note the Armour All trick!

 

[Squidless]

What a great way to spend a day. Well said, sometimes it's not just about the actual fishing.

[big Neil]

23 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

I heard murmours that @big Neil was heading further north on this particular trip? I am sure he will report if he does 😎

@DerekD I'll note the Armour All trick!

 

Not this time LF. I'm waiting for a substantial improvement in water temps before catching up with Dave and Amy plus Hoods. Also have a few health issues to overcome before THAT adventure. bn

Edited September 26, 2022 by big Neil

[big Neil]

A very comprehensive report Derek. I learned quite a lot that day. bn

Edited September 26, 2022 by big Neil

[Little_Flatty]

14 minutes ago, big Neil said:

Not this time LF. I'm waiting for a substantial improvement in water temps before catching up with SDave and Amy plus Hoods. Also have a few health issues to overcome before THAT adventure. bn

Thats a shame Neil. All the best with your recovery…hopefully in time for the water temps to rise.