Fishing report #2: 9/11/2021

Date: 30/10/2021

Participants: My neighbour, my brother and I

Weather: Cloudy 

Location: Captain Cook bridge (near Princess highway)

Having learnt from last time, this time we decided to go back to the same place we fished last time, but after sunset. My brother also joined me, we were hoping to at least get the fish to bite, not catching, just biting is enough. We arrived at Captain Cook bridge just as the sky went dark. 

We were more hopeful as we saw an angler there, still fishing. His friends also joined later which made us a little bit more hopeful. We initially chose a spot right under the bridge but it was too dark there, we couldn't see our line so we switched to another place, with more light as we were afraid that we would not be able to retrieve the line if it got stuck in the rocks. 

Right after we got out, we saw fish jumping from the surface of the water! They were snappers. We casted our lines and excitedly wait for our catch. We kept waiting and waiting but while the experienced angler already caught another flathead, we could not get any fish. 

The angler asked us to take a photo of him. Thanks to that, we took our chance and asked the angler for his advice. Turn out that we were using the wrong bait (squid and prawns) and the hook was too small, he gave us some of his Pritchard bait and a bigger hook. We casted our line again, this time at the spot he pointed at under the bridge's light, and we immediately could feel that something is biting. It was very exciting. However, I pulled the rod to early and the fish wasn't hooked properly. It escaped with my bait and the hook. We got another hook from the kind angler. My brother, using his advices, got a baby snapper! Had to return it but we felt amazing. 

By the end of the fishing trip I couldn't get any fish, but every time I casted, I could feel its biting. Another angler told me that I was pulling too early and should wait until the fish is hooked. We learnt a lot today. What a fun night out! 

Fishing report #1: 30/10/2021

Date: 30/10/2021

Participants: My neighbours and I

Weather: Cloudy in the morning but sunny at noon; Windy

Location: Captain Cook bridge (near Princess highway)

A family member gave me some rods and reels, as well as hooks, lures, swivels and other essential gear for fishing. Seeing that the weather forecast for today was quite cloudy, I decided to head out for my first ever fishing trip with my neighbours who were also very eager to try something new. We picked Captain Cook bridge as we had heard that it was a good spot for beginners. We kept our expantace low and predict we would not get any fish since all of us were newbies. 

The moment we arrived at Captain Cook bridge, we noticed that the wind was quite strong and it was also quite cloudy. Although I know that a cloudy weather is perfect for fishing, but not sure if windy is good. Will have to do more research about this in the future. 

We put everything we need in a tackle box, along with baits in a bucket and rods and reels, and headed to the rocky shores. Although we could saw other anglers, they was in their process of packing up. Something didn't seem right here. 

We were aiming for breams, since we thought its size is suitable for a beginner. While looking at fishing rigs for others species such as flatheads or jewfish, the size of the hook is noticeably very big, and we thought that those were for advanced anglers. No one in our group has experience with fishing before, so we decided to go with the good old trial and error, sounds fun. 

The rig that we chosen for this time was baited bream rig using squid and prawns, with a small swivel and size 3 sinkers. We also tried the clinch knot, the most basic fishing knot. I had a lot of fun learning how to cast the line. Everything was well up until now. 

1 hour then 2 hours have passed, we have not had any fish. Although it didn't bother me much, since I do like just sitting there doing nothing enjoying the wind breezes, we caught a lot of seaweed and our line also kept getting stuck in the rock, mostly mine. After some quick brainstorming, we found out that it must have passed the fish's feeding time and with the sky being very sunny now, our line must be very visible to them. Also the wind was very strong so another possible cause?

That's it for the day, we decided. A very valuable lesson learnt for fishing, only fish early in the morning or at night, and be mindful of lines getting stuck in between rocks. I would definitely go back here and try again.