Gettin’ Hooked – By Luke Galea

Can you remember the very first fish you ever caught? I bet many of you can. Despite the fact this is likely to have been many years ago, it is crazy how that pivotal moment remains etched in our memory banks decades later. Personally, I struggle to remember what bloody happened last week, but the memory of catching my first ever spangled perch in the old farm dam a long time ago now is engrained in my memory as if it happened yesterday.

I would have been only 3 or 4 years of age and the old man doubled me on his ag-bike down to the farm dam. He baited up a small hook with some red meat (likely mums expensive steak) and cast it in. It was unweighted, the water was gin-clear and you could actually see multiple spangled perch fighting over the bait, trying to eat it. We literally caught dozens that day and I was hooked from that very moment. It was visual, exciting and you literally only had to wait a few seconds before one of those ravenous little fish was biting. That was all it took, and I have had the bug ever since.

Getting kids outside fishing and away from the devices that they are pretty much born holding these days, has got to be a good thing. Yes, fishing can certainly be expensive, but I’d much rather spend money on fishing gear for them than electronic gadgets or worse habits when they get older if you know what I mean. The memories made while fishing, camping or a whole manner of outdoor activities will remain with them for a lifetime, just as it has done with me and I’m sure many of you as well. In addition to having an absolute whale of a time, you are teaching them skills to provide fresh fish for the table later in life, and with the price of fish lately, any money spent on gear is an investment and is re-couped.

Ruby with her long-awaited dart which gave her a great run for her money

If you are trying to get the kids into fishing, one thing I’ve learned is that the bites need to be forthcoming at regular intervals. There is nothing worse than trying to get them into it, only to wait around for hours without a bite. This is a sure-fire way to kill any excitement or hype that may have been built up and could well be enough for them not to pursue it again. If the water is clear and they can see the fish swimming (like it was my first time), then this is a positive as well.

Don’t underestimate the fun kids will have catching bait either. I have taken my young nephews to pump yabbies before and after we had collected enough to go fishing, they wanted to continue pumping yabbies. Same for cast-netting actually. I recall the anticipation and excitement wondering what the old man would catch in the cast net. It was particularly exciting when the old man could feel something kicking in the net and you could see the rope vibrating. Sometimes a legal flatty or bream was caught in the net and I thought that was just tops.

My daughter Ruby has joined me on quite a few of my fishin’ missions lately and to be honest she has loved fishing since she was young also. She even caught her first barra earlier this year which was a hell of a lot younger than when I caught my first one let me tell ya.

One of my favourite moments recently was when I took my nieces and nephews fishing off the beach. Amelia and Leo commonly go fishing with my brother-in-law Ray so they are certainly picking up the bug, especially Amelia. Amelia had mentioned to Ray in recent weeks “when can we be on YouTube?”. You see, they love watching my YouTube clips and wanted to be on there themselves.

Ruby and Caroline soak up the sun on the beach

I took them all down to the local beach, we flung out a few bait prawns on a small size 2 Gamakatsu long-shank and began the waiting game. My nephew Jett got bored with it after about 5mins and thought he would be better off investing his time building sandcastles. Hey, its not for everyone so all good. Amelia and Leo persisted and were rewarded with a little sand flathead each and you should have seen how excited they were. It’s moments like this that they will remember forever. The weather absolutely turned it on as well. Light winds and crystal-clear water made for a very enjoyable experience.

My daughter Ruby was starting to get a little bit grumpy because she wasn’t getting any inquiries but I told her to remain patient and I bet you she will catch the best fish of the day. Oh, and she certainly did. She got a nice size swallowtail dart and geez they fight hard. She had a ball with this fish and she thought she was pretty good.

You know what’s crazy? A senior producer from Channel 7’s National TV Show –Sunrise, actually saw the YouTube video I made from this very trip and asked to interview Ruby and myself about family fishing. I mean this video, only received just over 250 views (at the time of writing), yet someone from Sunrise viewed it and thought highly enough of it to do a story. Ruby thought this was awesome and we reinforced the message about getting kids outside off devices and making memories.

I thoroughly recommend getting kids out there and having a crack. To view the little YouTube clip I made from this day, simply visit my YouTube channel. No monsters were caught but to these kids, that didn’t matter one bit. Just catching a fish absolutely made their day.