Cosy Nook

Felix and I were keen to try out the new rod and reel combo we purchased for him last weekend and consulted with Vaughanie about what might be best. Entirely understandably, and much to Felix's delight, this led to Vaughanie offering to take the two of us off down to the river this afternoon. Vaughanie advised that the boards at the Kent Street weir had been taken up earlier this week and that, as a result, larger bream were finding their way up above the weir more readily and that we were likely to find plenty of likely spots. Above the weir we need to look for the rising rather than the falling tide as the bream will ride this flush of salt water up river underneath the fresh water running down over the top. We checked the tide charts and discovered we were going to be hard pressed to make it in time for a high tide due at around 2pm. This meant we would need to start fishing just above the weir and then follow the retreating salt waters down below the weir as the food moved downriver.

Vaughanie had spent much of the week preparing a couple of fishing boxes for me. One with suitable rigs and gear for estuarine fishing and the other for surf or ocean fare. The kit came with cloth fish bags, a sausage bag for gear, a belt with pliers and cutters, knife, towel... He also very kindly and generously handed me a very handy extendable, folding landing net. Now if only I'd had one of those when I was in my teens fishing Wilsons Inlet at Denmark and lost a huge salmon trout just too heavy for me to land on my light line and tackle!

The object of the journey was to give Felix an opportunity to try out his new telescopic rod and reel. The gear in the box extends from the compact arrangement into a neat little 1.8 metre rod and reel. While a little stiff, the rod is an ideal size for Felix. We rigged up the rod with a small barrel sinker and spent an hour or so practising casting and retrieving on the front lawn in the morning.

The reel is pretty clearly not up to much. This was to be confirmed during the course of the afternoon. Vaughanie has assured us that local fish (blowies in particular) are entirely undiscerning as far as the waggly plastic baits are concerned and that the various little bits of coloured wobbly bits in the box - with or without a generous application of scent - will readily attract the attention of flathead, flounder and a variety of other fish.

While Felix has several times cycled with me down to the Kent Street weir and back - a 7 km round trip along the cycle paths - he wisely agreed that it might be better for him to ride in the child seat behind me in case he was worn out from fishing. We first dipped a line in the river a few hundred metres up from the Weir. No burley above the weir as Vaughanie was concerned about distracting fish above the weir from spawning. Within ten minutes Felix's new reel was squealing as he struggled to land our first bream of the day. It's a bit tricky for a small boy fishing from a river bank with tree limbs and other snags on either side, both in and out of the water, but he coped beautifully and stuck at it trying to land a second bream. Again, the reel was squealing and Vaughanie interceded adjusting the drag.

We moved several times, eventually fishing below the weir; just above where a backwater joins the main channel. As the shade spread across this patch we started to take some sizeable hits. Vaughanie was seriously concerned, and with good reason, that Felix's cheap little reel was going to explode trying to land the lovely 35cm bream pictured above. The reel squealed loudly as the bream got a little air under its fins and Vaughanie could feel the reel skipping as he madly paddled the handle extending at full reach with the rod to try and keep the bream from running under a nearby fallen tree. Felix's arms had tired pretty quickly and he was happy just to watch and help take the fish off as they arrived. Between the three of us we came close to a bag limit, returning a further five that were borderline for size.

While Felix clearly loved the fishing trip I'll look for somewhere that a budding young angler can be even more hands on involved next time. Felix was working up a reasonable cast on the lawn and would have done fine from an open jetty or groin. But casting between the trees on the river bank and aiming for particular patches of water didn't really give him much of an opportunity to excel. Retrieves are pretty frantic as well when you're trying to prevent a bream from racing under cover. A more leisurely retrieve from jetty or groin will prove just as exciting.

All in all, Felix's new rod is very serviceable, surprising us with reasonable quality ceramic inserts in the wire runners.  Performance wasn't helped by the ridiculously heavy 10lb line wound very tightly on the spool. I'll replace it with some 6lb (0.205mm) line at the next opportunity. The little box with lift out tray is a very handy, compact arrangement. The rod should definitely outlast the reel, which will disintegrate sometime soon, but at $15 the little combo is great value regardless. I imagine I'll have to buy one for Eliza next!