I tend to be less concerned with the negatives of life and more content with the positives. Like, If only fate had intervened differently in my life, I could have been born on October 30 and not just two days later and been rewarded for that by getting drafted for National Service and a likely trip to Vietnam. But I was lucky.
However, most people usually think that fate deals them a bad hand as a general rule.
I am currently reading a book by a tediously miserable, laconic, but well known Aussie actor entitled, “That’d be right!” The very title engenders a feeling that the book is going to be full of stories about lost opportunities and bad luck stories generally. It is with trepidation that I even start reading this Christmas gift because the very title suggests that I am not going to be feeling uplifted after reading it.
Such sentiments come so naturally to us.
How many times have you heard about someone who could have been this or could have been that if only....?
In most recent times Al Gore won audiences over with self-deprecating humour when he opened his speeches by saying that he “is the man who used to be the next president of the United States.”
Or closer to home, some of us might remember the ABC radio show on Sunday nights called, “The Coulda-been-Champions” featuring a bloke named Greg Champion. It was a cute play on the bloke’s name for a radio show but nevertheless lots of people feel that their lifelong success has somehow been thwarted by the cruel hand of fate. So many people would identify with the title.
Just think of all of those blokes who could have won a gold medal for speed skating in the winter olympics a few years ago if only they had not fallen over and created the conditions for the creation of that marvelously quirky expression in the Aussie lexicon, “Doing a Bradbury”.
Ah yes - we can all find something in our lives to ponder on with the sentiment, “if only ...”
Like, take my mate, Dave. Dave is a nice enough sort of bloke. Life has generally been kind to him but he still wishes that he retired last year with his generous defined benefits superannuation rather than in mid 2008 just before the share market crash made a really big hole with what he did with it after retiring. Ah - “if only...”
But he does live with some naive anticipation that the world needs to adjust to his expectations than the other way around. He bought a big boat and has it in racked storage on the Gold Coast but never seems to be able to catch any fish in it. Probably because he only ever wants to fish “bankers’ hours” I reckon.
He is probably symptomatic of so many people who say that there are no fish in Moreton bay; that it has been fished out. All bloody “victims” - or “could have been - if only”s in my view.Put in the effort and you will catch fish. No doubts about it!
Now, as it turns out, Dave is a good friend of mine and likes to come fishing with me on my little tinnie. My little boat is nowhere near as comfortable as his “gin palace” but then again, fish get caught in mine. Usually not record breakers, mind you, but I rarely go home without a feed of fish, all the same.
But of course, he will only come if he can do it in comfort.
Take last night for example.
I sent him an email on Sunday night saying that I was thinking about launching my boat at 2 am this morning to fish through the 4 am high tide at Mud Island and he was welcome to join me if he wanted to. (Remember that I always supply everything and never ask my guests for any sort of a contribution. I also usually have to lend them a fishing rod. This includes Dave who always leaves his gear on his boat which, as we know, is not easy to get at. That is, the only effort that he had to make was to get out of bed and come!)
He initially responded that he would sleep on it and let me know, but his answer late yesterday was “I think I will give the fishing a miss.# 2 am is a ridiculous time to be out of bed.# Maybe we can put together an evening event when conditions are right.”
“When the conditions are right????!!!!”
What the!!!!!
What better conditions could you want at Mud Island than a pre-dawn high tide with a 5 knot wind forecast???!!!!!!
So alas, I went on my own to Mud Island this morning.
I headed out through the leads at Manly at 2.15 am into a very dark Bay in the most delightful boating conditions with a 5 knot southerly behind me, warm water, an exquisite air temperature and a star filled sky. Therapy for the soul!
One other boat sat at the fishing grounds and the sounder showed some nice arches below.
Pulled anchor at 7.30 am and headed for home with this lot ...
Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch
Like I said, I don’t catch record breakers but I do like a feed of grassies and my wife likes bream so I went home very content.
I did keep three trevally. I have never kept trevally before and did not know anything about them so I thought that I would take these home. They were fun to catch. However, on reading up about them, it seems that trevally need to be bled on capture. I did not do that so those three trevally will become crab-pot bait.
All caught on pilchards and prawns (and el cheapo ALDI fishing line!)
One interesting catch on a prawn was a 61 cm cobia but of course, at 61 cm, he swims again. Mind you, when I say “prawn”, I am talking about prawns that I have sent down on three ganged 4/0 Gamakatsu Gangsters. These were big prawns.
I did get a huge number of bites, though.
Mosquito bites.
The mossies were around most of the time but generally warded off with some mossie spray on my legs but there was a 20 minute period after dawn when they were in plague proportions. I would kill five at a time with one slap of my hand. They were not put off by shirt sleeves either. They just bit right through my shirt sleeves. At least they were not big fellas, though.
Anyway, my poor mate Dave would have had his best fishing experience in months this morning, if only ...
Ah. That’d be right!
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Originally Posted by PinHead
