Does fishing run in the genes?

If so, it skipped a generation. My grandfather was a champion fisherman - back in the days when there were plenty of healthy fish to catch. His specialty was Flathead, Tailor and Bream. As a small child I accompanied him on many many fishing expeditions, he made me my own line, and a little fishing basket with my gear. I also trawled along the beach for prawns, yabby-pumped, gathering weed and made burly with my Pop. None of this fine apprenticeship seems to have had any lasting effect though. I do not have the patience to fish and not a scrap of the skills I once had.

My son Mason, seems to have got the fishing gene. He is so keen and I will never take him (mean Mum!), but today I relented and joined him on the jetty just near our house. He had no bait so I took some bacon (I don't recall using bacon as bait when I was kid) and helped him put it on the hook.

Take a look at the view. I took my Sudoku puzzles and sat with him.

Eloise tried her luck with a hand reel.

With the first cast he caught one. A baby tailor, about 10cm. It wriggled and jumped and flopped straight into ... my bag ... eek, that wasn't the plan! We were squealing with delight, and forgot to take a photo. We tipped him out of the bag and back into the water.

Bait up, try again. He hooked a bigger one - 15cm this time. Still so excited we didn't get a photo.

Some time later we decided to give up and go home, and just then he landed his third, even bigger fish! 20cm this time! Still not a legal size, so off the hook, kiss goodbye and back in the water. This time we got some photos ...

That was fun...

dls