• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Pastimes

Tom dinning

Registrant*


_D3S3487 by tom.dinning, on Flickr​

It's not really a sort, is it? More of a pastime, or a waste of time. It's a bit ritualized as well. Laying out of the tackle, blessing of the bait, standing on the pulpit and facing towards Mecca (the fisherman a version), casting into the waters and the gathering of the food. Isn't it cheaper and faster to get it at the local fish'n'chippy wrapped in yesterday's news and ready to eat?
 
Yup, it's way cheaper and easier to buy food at the local store, Tom. It is not nearly as much fun, though.

I grew up fishing in Lake Huron and the lakes of Northern Wisconsin with the intention of keeping and eating the catch. The effort was a wonderful excuse to get outdoors and the end result, mom grandma or aunt cooking a fish dinner, was its consummation. By comparison, catch and release fishing is just so much yanking of the crank, so to speak.

Oh, cool photo, by the way.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
It's not really a sort, is it? More of a pastime, or a waste of time. It's a bit ritualized as well. Laying out of the tackle, blessing of the bait, standing on the pulpit and facing towards Mecca (the fisherman a version), casting into the waters and the gathering of the food. Isn't it cheaper and faster to get it at the local fish'n'chippy wrapped in yesterday's news and ready to eat?





_D3S3487 by tom.dinning, on Flickr​

Tom,

This is a quiet spot and I think that's the whole idea of fishing like this. I think you meant "it's not really a s[p]ort, is it?" Actually it's very much a sport for fly fisherman. This fella is good, he's outwitted 6 fish by my count. It's not just a matter of dropping a lure into the water. It's the choice of the lure, where it's cast and how it moves, or not in the water, in an attempt to seduce and screw up some hungry fishes life! but you're right about the ritual. Each fellow has his own favorite poles, lures and jacket. I have no patience for this type of fishing. For me it's either alaska and snatching a salmon from the paws of a bear or else trawling in the Guf of Mexico with Chum or a pound or two of fresh shrimp and a half dozen hooks. This is fun fishing and apart from the accidental landing of the occasional shark, pretty safe. Just need a good radio to call the Tampa Marine operator and a club to whack accidental guest sharks that we didin't get to cut free.

I really think the main value of the obsessional sport of stationary fishing is the tranquility and ability to remove oneself from the rush of everyday life. I've done sports fishing for marlin but never enjoyed that. Neither of these are for my temperament.

Having a fast boat with 2 engines and a toilet is a must! It's efficient. One can have fun, pick up friends, drop in at a restaurant or take a nap down below. The great fun of trawling with bait is that one can sip chilled beer while the fish chase us and then come ashore richly loaded with fresh food, giving the innards to the clouds of voracious gulls and pelicans that appear, and then great dining with friends and family.

Still, this kind of stationary fishing is fun with little kids unless they fall in the water or don't get a fish! Then everyone blames me!

Asher

BTW, I'm a little wary fishing, (or swimming, for that matter), near effluent discharge pipes. If it's just hillside drainage from excess rainwater, no problem, but who knows? Along Santa monica Beach folk seem to be oblivious to signs of high fecal bacteria counts from sewage overflow discharge into the water! UGGH! No wonder there's lots of planton and fish there! It's a zoo under the water!
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
You are somewhat mistaken, Asher. The fish you see is the bait he would have bought with him. The fish he is likely to catch from this very spot could be anything from a barramundi weighing 20kg or a shark, barracuda or some other local species. This is the Northern Territory. We do have fly fishing here but usually in the billabongs for barramundi and Saratoga. The legal minimum size is 60cm and its not uncommon for a fly fisher to land a metre of fish.
I dislike fishing here. It's too much hard work. And expensive. Next to drinking its the biggest single pastime. Every second household has a boat and a 4x4. This bloke is probably filling in time until the wet season has passed.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
You are somewhat mistaken, Asher. The fish you see is the bait he would have bought with him. The fish he is likely to catch from this very spot could be anything from a barramundi weighing 20kg or a shark, barracuda or some other local species. This is the Northern Territory. We do have fly fishing here but usually in the billabongs for barramundi and Saratoga. The legal minimum size is 60cm and its not uncommon for a fly fisher to land a metre of fish.
I dislike fishing here. It's too much hard work. And expensive. Next to drinking its the biggest single pastime. Every second household has a boat and a 4x4. This bloke is probably filling in time until the wet season has passed.

Thanks, Tom,

Far bigger dish thanI imagined! So what about those giant effluent pipes?

Asher
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
I assume you are using the word effluent to describe the outflow and not suggesting its ****. These are the normal drains coming from the street. Nothing happens in small doses here. We have 2.5m of rain in 5 months and its got to go somewhere fast.
 
Top