Future Of Fishing In Younger Hands
Illawarra Mercury
Friday March 12, 2004
THE future of recreational fishing now lies in the hands of tomorrow's anglers.
They are the kids of today who can be found on any school holiday sitting on a wharf or a bank in a estuary, with a handline dangling in the water hoping to catch a fish.
We owe it to all these kids to teach them all we have learned over the years and at the same time instil in them a code of ethics on ways to preserve fish stocks for their kids' future as well.
Most of us old blokes picked up our knowledge fishing off a jetty like the ones you can find in the Port Kembla Harbour.
Most of the kids of yesteryear who lived around Port Kembla caught their first fish, either a blackfish, bream, or leatherjacket, fishing off a jetty in the harbour.
Their cousins who lived in the northern suburbs probably caught their first fish off either the Bellambi or Sandon Point coal loading jetties.
Both of these jetties have long since been demolished, while fishing from any of the Port Kembla Harbour jetties was banned some time ago because of vandalism.
Most kids today are learning the art of fishing by sitting on a bank on the shores of Lake Illawarra, the Minnamurra or Shoalhaven rivers.
The holding jetty at the Bellambi ramp is another popular spot and so are the Wollongong and Kiama Harbour wharves.
I know of three young kids who are on their way to becoming expert anglers.
One is James Donald, 14, from Campbelltown.
James and his dad travel from Campbelltown to fish Lake Illawarra for bream, flathead or what ever else they can catch.
Then in the northern suburbs we have Patrick Mulryan, a junior angler with the Corrimal Leagues Fishing Club.
Patrick always goes fishing with Sam Anderson and Dave Smith, a couple of old salts of the club and young Patrick caught the best fish of the competition, a 6.7kg groper.
But he's not letting on where his secret hot spot is. He reckons there's a couple more big fish still left in the hole.
Now Brenden Dunshea has it made - he's a student at Warrawong High School, which holds its own fishing class in conjunction with the school sports program.
When I went to school and the fish came on the bite I had to wag to go fishing and then got a belting the next time I turned up .
Meanwhile, Ian Phillips, better known in NSW sportfishing circles as the Big E, will be a special guest speaker at the Albion Park RSL Club on Monday to give a talk on the use of soft plastic lures.
The Big E has had considerable success with them over the last three years.
Everybody interested in honing skills in the use of these lures is invited to attend the talk which starts at 7pm.
Meanwhile, entry forms for the Kiama Blowhole Big Fish Classic on April 3 and 4 are available from Fishing & Aqua Pet Centre in Kiama, The Outboard Doctor and Angler in Unanderra, The Tackle Shop Shellharbour, Ern Webb's Sport Store and all fishing club secretaries.
The Kiama Game Fishing Club will meet tonight at 7.30pm at the Kiama Leagues Club.
© 2004 Illawarra Mercury
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