Living next door to a living fishing legend has its benefits. Ian J. Vaughan or Vaughanie to his friends and neighbours, keeps much of the district supplied with fish throughout most of the year. Literally. Most months and sometimes weekly there'll be a "Cooeee neighbour" from the back door and Vaughanie has arrived with a parcel of fish for our freezer. Each bag contains a foil wrapped parcel with small hand drawn picture of the fish for labelling purposes. Within the foil, wrapped in waxed paper, are portions of bream, garfish, trevally and herring - or tommy ruffs, as Vaughanie prefers to call them. They're always a sweet size; never overly large. Each is immaculately and beautifully filleted. I'll never forget the surprise on the face of one of the Vaughan children around for a meal of fish pie made with shop bought white fish, she took a mouthful and found a bone. While we occasionally make do and pick around the odd bone, for the Vaughan children raised on Vaughanie's exquisitely prepared fillets this was clearly an entirely new and altogether unpleasant experience.
So with a mind to introduce Felix to fishing, when a dodger arrived in the letterbox telling of 30%-40% off fishing gear at the local Big W, I begged for a little advice on what to purchase as a replacement for my 30 year old beach rod and similarly ancient reel inherited from Sharon's grandfather. Vaughanie kindly volunteered to accompany me on the shopping expedition and I'm now the proud owner of a very light 7" rod and reel perfect for estuary and light coastal/surf duties. For Felix, at five years of age, we found a neat little telescopic rod and reel combo in a box with a little tackle for under $15.