I just love fishin!

Hi all....

My fishing exploits started from an early age, and I was really the only child of 3 that showed a particular interest in the sport. Countless days were spent with my dad bait fishing for Flathead or spinning for Salmon. The Tamar River in Northern Tasmania was only a quick stroll from the front of our house, and safe enough so that my parents would let me go down there by myself. I cherish the moments at that tender age fishing in solitude, and observing Mother Nature’s daily routine – every now and then I even caught some fish! Generally Flathead, Cod and Salmon.

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It was a bit out of the way for us, but a couple of times a year I would get to head off Trout fishing with my old man, drowning a wattle grub and spinning with ‘Tassie Devils’ and ‘Ashley Spinners’. I personally had more success on the grubs but Dad would land some nice Trout which left me in awe of his experience. I recall one time when I was roughly 10 years old, we were staying at a shack at Arthurs Lake in Tassie’s highlands. Dad and his mate ‘Jimbob’ had slept in a bit, more than likely after a boozy night around the campfire drowning grubs – as the fish keeper was looking healthy when I awoke. Anyway, I headed off on a cool, overcast morning for a ‘shore bash’ with Dad’s spinning rod, and a few lures. Aaah, there’s that feeling again – to be on a solo mission to tangle with a wild fish. I guess had been spinning for around 30 minutes when I noticed a fish follow my lure and swirl at it at the last moment. This got me very excited and I persisted until I found a submerged log amongst the heavily timbered shoreline. A loud ‘twang’ dampened my enthusiasm briefly as I thought I would get in trouble for losing dad’s gun lure. I knew I had to make it up to him so I re-tied. On went a green and gold Ashley Spinner and I found success in a few minutes. This fish was pulling like nothing that I had ever felt, and instantly made me very nervous. I managed to keep my cool and played him until he was only a couple of metres from my feet, when he launched in the air and threw the lure. I was shattered, and made my way back to the shack soon after, dragging my bottom lip on the ground. I told Dad my story before telling him about the lure, crafty little fella!

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I continued this style of fishing for years, and hooked up with some good mates that had a boat, and we began trolling and spinning for Salmon in between some bottom bashing.

It’s not until about 4-5 years ago that I discovered Fly Fishing with the help of a good mate. After landing a little Brown on my first outing I was instantly hooked, and purchased my own outfit not long after. More often than not, I would head out to one of my favourite little rivers and wade for a few hours, landing fish here and there and pushing myself to become more polished along the way. I recall one afternoon the stage was set for a perfect afternoon with Spinners hatching and Grasshoppers plentiful. My previous personal best on this river was 18 fish in one afternoon, over about 4 hours. I was having a ball landing little Brownies on dry fly and releasing them with care. I knew I was on my way to smashing my PB when I was at 16 fish. It’s from here that there appeared to be a lull, much to my disappointment. Although I had been having plenty of success on a Royal Wulff pattern, I began getting refusals from fish so I changed to a Coachman fly which eventually brought a few more undone. I guess we all like beating our Pub’s and getting a new species etc. but I was stoked to break the 20 mark! You could imagine how jubilant I was to continue on to 34 fish for that afternoon…… and I probably could have caught more but I ran out of light!! Trout fishing in small streams and rivers is a fantastic way to spend your day, and is generally overshadowed by Tassie’s great Lake fishing.

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It was only natural that my fly fishing hobbies would see me have a crack at the salt. This year I started some shore-based SWFF and have not had a lot of success! Although, I have mainly been targeting a fussy fish in the Black Bream. I suppose I have been focusing a lot on other methods but after a dozen or so sessions – I landed my first Bream on fly! Only a little fella, but stoked all the same.

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On Anzac day last year, the opportunity came to fish with Soft Plastics – which I had never used before. We were up for the dawn service at Arthurs Lake and instead of ‘flogging’ wet flies in the frosty morning, the offer to use SP’s was too much to resist. It was a first for me and good mate Andy, and it was only a few casts into the session that we were into ‘em! We caught something like 20 fish between 3 of us before 9am, which would’ve been fairly difficult on fly. We literally had a ball that day with some great fish landed and even a couple of double hook-ups to get us all excited!

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It was obvious from there on, that a SP set-up was required also – Jeez fishing can not only be addictive but bloody expensive too!! Once I had a decent rod and reel combo, it was time to get into some Bream with a few mates. We all hooked up down the East Coast at Scamander for the inaugural ‘Council Won’t Pay’ world tour (Secret mens business!). There were 9 of us, and after an extremely seedy night and subsequent morning, we hit the water. It was a slow start but we managed to smack a few in the end with most blokes snaring their first Breambo on placcies. Since our first mission we all get together a couple of times a year, generally one journey up the lakes and another down the east coast – we love it!!

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I guess the past year or so has seen me do more fishing than I’ve ever done, with more passion, more mates, more destinations, more species, more tournaments, more photos and a bigger bloody hole in my pocket!! But I wouldn’t give it up for the world – I love fishin!! And after a our last few sessions – so does my girlfriend:

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Cheers,
Beevor

Sensational read there Beevor and great photos to match. Love to hear about fishing adventures from someone who is truely passionate of the experience. And great to hear the girlfriend is addicted too. What a bonus.

Eric&Deb

grate read, and some very good pics's. That good it was worth a egrell rod, keep the good posts comnig

mat

Nice read Beevor, thankyou for sharing..