Thought this would give everyone an idea of how far we have come when it comes to fishing gear technology. Picture is taken on the rocks at Elalie beach, south of Clairview in Nth Qld. Small dude is my Dad. Others are uncles. Mind boggling the amount and size of fish they caught on the rocks and beaches in the 1940's and 50's. Big cod, barra, and plenty of salmon. Anything else like flathead, jack, grunter, jew seen as rubbish fish and thrown back.
The mullet
gee that would have been fun back then
Particularly impressed with the non existant drag system and cat gut cord line(mono too expensive back then)Big bamboo poles with about 15ft of catgut line on a huge cork float. I was laughed at when I took my first rod and reel there(bit rough as I was only 8 at the time). Dad was almost excommunicated from the family when he sized down from 80lb handlines, wire trace and 6/0 hooks.
The mullet
Heres my Grandma fishing off rocks at Newcastle in 1952. She taught me to fish and still fishes today from her wheelchair.
Cheers
James
Great stuff Big Unit
Fish on
The mullet
Big-unit that area has changed a lot over the years i take your gran is fishing near the fort bloody hell it has changed heaps isn't there a beach there now with a surf club as well you can't drive up there either now use to be able to drive all the way up to the fort Denison years ago and the fishing was great just around from were your gran is fishing i use to catch heaps of black fish and i think they still do havn't fished that area for 30yrs but have fished Stockton bridge last year my first fishing line was an old oyster bottle with line on it and a nut for weight and my old man made the hooks.
cheers squidgie
Hey sqidgie I think she is actually fishing on the stockton side of the harbour and fishing into the harbour.
What you see in the background is Nobby's and nobby's breakwall is on the left head out to see.
I have actually fished very close to this spot as I have been told there is a bit of a jew hole there. Is this right big unit?
Also big unit i have seen a photo of you holding a big shovel nose elsewhere very recently. Did you post it or has someone knocked off your photo?
Yeah I think Alex is right but I will see if I can find out where exactly the pic was taken, they spent a lot of time at Stockton. I thought maybe it was around Merewether near the ocean baths. Newcastle has changed a lot, I have some great memories as a kid fishing there.
Dont know about any Jew hole though cause I havent fished the area since I was about 17.
I put that photo on the fishing Newcastle website just to stir my Uncle up, cause he came up here and caught one about 2 ft long and told everyone it was huge. So I showed him what huge is.
Heres another photo of them at North Stockton beach in 1951
Cheers
James.
Heres my Grandfather chopping a tree down at Chain Valley Bay Xmas 1951. Imagine the trouble you would be in now if you did that.
Cheers
James
He sure would be in trouble now mate..no safety boots..no shirt and no hard hat..WHSO would crucify him.Originally Posted by Big_unit
MY first fishing rod was a bamboo bream rod. When we cleaned out the parent's house after they departed, we found that dad still had 2 bamboo rods in the shed...despatched to the tip
Yep Pinhead thats true too but I more meant just chopping a tree down at a campsite. Saw a guy at Inskip recently get a dressing down and fine over cutting off a couple of limbs.
Cheers
James
Hi Big Unit,
Your grandma sounds fantastic. Good on her. I often wonder about when I get old and how long I can do all the things in life that I enjoy.
Cheers to you and your Grandma,
Saphire.
Squidgie,
That is Nobby's in the background. Ive got some more really good pictures of the Oldies fishing in thier younger days, will post them once I have them scanned.
Cheers
James
I remember my dad making a fishing line from the old coke bottles.
He would wrap the line around the middle of them and put the hook swivel and sinker on it.
Would would go out on the rock wall at the mouth of Wynnum Creek to go fishing.
This was my very first memory of fishing.
saphire.
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