andrej351

Teamwork is dreamwork! Great Sambo!

Hi all, I've been lurking for a while now and decided to finally get involved and share a memorable capture: my first time bringing a fish home for the table! This was last week, so mid June. I'd had a rough morning working from home (1st world problem) and messaged the team saying I'm taking an extended lunch break, you know, for my mental health or something. I grab my fishing kit, which all fits in a backpack. I grab a cooler bag and ice packs, just in case the elusive catch and cook happens today. And I jump on my motorcycle and take off to the groynes at the south end of the Botany Bay beaches. The plan is to walk up the beach, flick up and down the groynes for half an hour or so, come home. I've been on doughnuts for a week or two, but feeling good about today. A quick shout out to the Australian Lure Fishing podcast. I've been listening to them religiously for the last couple of months and it is such an amazing resource. I can't remember the episode, must have been a Botany Bay one, but that podcast is the reason I chose this spot. I arrive and rig up. I chose a soft plastic at random. A 5 inch white jerk shad on a fairly heavy jig head. I'm not a good lure fisherman and I have a medium size combo with me so this heavier thing that can be thrown around feels good. I start working up the beach. The first groyne delivers nothing. Walking up the first section of beach delivers nothing. But I have my eye in now and am feeling more confident. The next groyne has no one on it so I start working my way up. Lot's of bait fish, lot's of flickers of action in the clear water, feeling more confident. I'm casting out as far as possible then mixing up my retrieves, fast jigs with big pauses, slow lifts, and little shuffles across the bottom. The little shuffles elicit a bite! At least I think it's a bit, the line is heavy, could be seaweed. Ok head shakes means it's definitely a fish! I think it's a flatty... It is! Fish went 40+, maybe 50. Processing on the rocks was fun 🙄 but I got it done. Waste was pretty bad. My filleting knife needs a good sharpen and i need to take my time a bit more. Threw the fillets in a zip lock and into my cooler bag and rode home. De-boned, crumbed and shallow fried. Was pretty good! So that's it. Something I've been looking forward to since I started fishing! Still so much to learn and improve on so looking forward to the next one. Thanks for reading and any feedback appreciated.

Hi all, My name's Andrej. I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to get involved. I started fishing during the September lock-down in Sydney last year. A buddy of mine started it by posting a picture on his social media. He was soaking a bait off a jetty, drinking a beer, patting his dog, and watching the sun set. I messaged him, as he lived close enough and was alone, and asked to join. We had the best arvo. I got some nibbles on the the hand caster! But wait, isn't fishing supposed to be expensive and complicated? My friend assured me that it absolutely does not have to be. A few weeks later I had my first beginner combo and was hitting the water. I've been obsessed ever since! I've just posted my first report so check that out and let us know what you reckon. Looking forward to getting more involved here. Cheers!