Making do

[Little_Flatty]

Morning Raiders,

I have a suspicion a majority of us anglers are 'morning people'. But I personally believe that there isn't really any such thing; there's just people who go to bed earlier, or people who get less sleep, all in the name of doing whatever we need to be do at that time of the morning. Personally, when I rise before the crack of dawn, I feel positively sub-human. Somehow I stumble out of bed, put shoes on my hands, pants over my head, then come to my senses, fix myself up and get out the door.

So such was this morning. Up at five, pile all my fishing gear in the car and get out the door. The tides looked good for Meadowbank, so that's where I was headed.

Get to the spot, start unloading the gear. Fly fishing was planned today...until I realised I'd forgotten to put my fly rod in the car! What to do? Well, I do have my trusty 3-5kg telescopic outfit in my boot (it's always there). Or I could go home and get my fly rod (and lose a bit of fishing time).

After a bit of deliberation, I thought let's just use the telescopic and see if I could somehow cast my flies on it.

I did have a plastic tied on in the beginning, so I started out with that. But it quickly got snagged and lost

So now I had no option but to try the Great Spinning Fly experiment. I tied on my faithful fuzzle shrimp. With its medium brass eyes, it probably weighs a little less than a gram. But the spirit of the morning was to make do. Obviously with my light fly and no sink tip line to help get the fly down, ultra slow presentations were the name of the game. I know from experience that this can be very effective anyway.

First cast, I realise I can get about five metres from the shoreline. Not much, but enough.

Cast on. About ten mins in, I come tight on a fish. A baby flathead:

Put it back. A few casts later, I get another one. It feels distinctly better, but still a very small fish.

Put it back as well.

That was pretty much the end of my session. Nothing remarkable about the morning, except for the choice of gear.

Moral of the story is: even if the gear you have isn't perfect for your desired application, just give it a go and see what happens. Use a little common sense, adapt (e.g. I was using flies with enough weight on them to cast) and sometimes you might be surprised with the results.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

[Larkin]

Nice going Mike!

worst is forgetting something, especially if you realise only once you get there.
Well done with the improvised back up!

These days I load up the night before and if I need to grab bait out of the freezer, I’ll write a check list that I go through in the morning.
Forgot my large brim hat last week - thought the same, if I should go back. Lucky I had a cap with neck flap in the ski - sun blares out there on an open ski.

[bessell1955]

I like the have a go attitude! Which worked out!

[kantong]

You got out and got the fish, that's a win! well done mate

[Green Hornet]

Nice going Mike, Macgyver would be proud of you.

+1 on @Larkin and his checklist. I learnt that the hard way after a 1.5hr bash into backwater bass country without a reel.

[FishingFables]

Well done Mike, sounds like a good session. Enjoyed hearing you keep a telescoping rod in your boot ‘at all times’ made me think of an assassin who keeps snipers rifle and fake passport in their boot ‘just in case’

You are clearly a professional 😁

[Restyle]

4 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Morning Raiders,

I have a suspicion a majority of us anglers are 'morning people'. But I personally believe that there isn't really any such thing; there's just people who go to bed earlier, or people who get less sleep, all in the name of doing whatever we need to be do at that time of the morning. Personally, when I rise before the crack of dawn, I feel positively sub-human. Somehow I stumble out of bed, put shoes on my hands, pants over my head, then come to my senses, fix myself up and get out the door.

So such was this morning. Up at five, pile all my fishing gear in the car and get out the door. The tides looked good for Meadowbank, so that's where I was headed.

Get to the spot, start unloading the gear. Fly fishing was planned today...until I realised I'd forgotten to put my fly rod in the car! What to do? Well, I do have my trusty 3-5kg telescopic outfit in my boot (it's always there). Or I could go home and get my fly rod (and lose a bit of fishing time).

After a bit of deliberation, I thought let's just use the telescopic and see if I could somehow cast my flies on it.

I did have a plastic tied on in the beginning, so I started out with that. But it quickly got snagged and lost

So now I had no option but to try the Great Spinning Fly experiment. I tied on my faithful fuzzle shrimp. With its medium brass eyes, it probably weighs a little less than a gram. But the spirit of the morning was to make do. Obviously with my light fly and no sink tip line to help get the fly down, ultra slow presentations were the name of the game. I know from experience that this can be very effective anyway.

First cast, I realise I can get about five metres from the shoreline. Not much, but enough.

Cast on. About ten mins in, I come tight on a fish. A baby flathead:

Put it back. A few casts later, I get another one. It feels distinctly better, but still a very small fish.

Put it back as well.

That was pretty much the end of my session. Nothing remarkable about the morning, except for the choice of gear.

Moral of the story is: even if the gear you have isn't perfect for your desired application, just give it a go and see what happens. Use a little common sense, adapt (e.g. I was using flies with enough weight on them to cast) and sometimes you might be surprised with the results.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

did pretty good for forgetting the most important thing you need while fishing. Brings back a memory of having 2 of the same 2 pce rods in different sizes, so with a good trip up port Stephens i brought the 3kg bottom half and the 1/2kg top half

 

[Little_Flatty]

4 hours ago, Larkin said:

Nice going Mike!

worst is forgetting something, especially if you realise only once you get there.
Well done with the improvised back up!

These days I load up the night before and if I need to grab bait out of the freezer, I’ll write a check list that I go through in the morning.
Forgot my large brim hat last week - thought the same, if I should go back. Lucky I had a cap with neck flap in the ski - sun blares out there on an open ski.

Cheers Chris! Yeah I like the checklist idea. I recall Deckee having a feature to help with that.

3 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

I like the have a go attitude! Which worked out!

It certainly did Bessell!

3 hours ago, kantong said:

You got out and got the fish, that's a win! well done mate

Cheers Kantong, it’s always great to salvage a trip.

2 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

Nice going Mike, Macgyver would be proud of you.

+1 on @Larkin and his checklist. I learnt that the hard way after a 1.5hr bash into backwater bass country without a reel.

I’ve also been on a bike ride without a bike, and once without a helmet (we cancelled the ride!).

1 hour ago, FishingFables said:

Well done Mike, sounds like a good session. Enjoyed hearing you keep a telescoping rod in your boot ‘at all times’ made me think of an assassin who keeps snipers rifle and fake passport in their boot ‘just in case’

You are clearly a professional 😁

haha professional I am not, but ‘obsessed’ I will happily admit to😎 hence being ready for fishing at all times😀

22 minutes ago, Restyle said:

did pretty good for forgetting the most important thing you need while fishing. Brings back a memory of having 2 of the same 2 pce rods in different sizes, so with a good trip up port Stephens i brought the 3kg bottom half and the 1/2kg top half

 

Now that’s a great story! If you made that work, that’d have made for a pretty interesting rod action!

[Yowie]

Good fishos can make do with almost any tackle to catch fish (well, nearly always)

[Little_Flatty]

3 hours ago, Yowie said:

Good fishos can make do with almost any tackle to catch fish (well, nearly always)

I have a story to tell on that front. I had a fishing-mad team in my previous job (still miss them!), and my challenge to the team was to build a form of fishing equipment purely out of materials available in the office and catch a fish.

We got as far as building a rod, line and hook. There was a lake full of carp right outside our office.

The catch? Fishing was banned in the lake and we didn’t want to bring our company into disrepute by getting caught illegally fishing in the lake!

Some good anglers in our team, if we were more unscrupulous, we would’ve succeeded in the challenge for sure!🤣

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

 Fishing was banned in the lake and we didn’t want to bring our company into disrepute by getting caught illegally fishing in the lake!

 

You were not fishing, just testing out the new fishing tackle, and a stupid carp grabbed the bare hook.  🤣

[big Neil]

Well done. Creativity is the mother of invention, or so they say. Definitely is in your case. Memo to self...take the fly rod. '

bn