queensland Trying to get the bug to bite early

[The Mad Hughesy]

After a few successful moments of taking my 2yo out in the kayak for very short paddles, decided its time to try and have a fishing session with him on board. Only paddled about 200m from the launch point incase it all went sour. It all started with tears as he wanted to play with the car instead...but after a fire truck going screaming over the bridge some clever distracting by dad, we were off! My game plan was simple, servo prawns and one rod. catch anything at all to show him and go home happy. Turned out the bream loved the servo prawns. Caught a few legal fish and a few under sized. Not bad for a 1.5 hour session, 200m from a boat ramp and using servo prawns. Little bloke had a few nerves and was happier to see the fish released "bye bye fish, BYE BYE FISH!!!), but he loves to keep looking back at the photos of the trip so ill take that as a success. On the plus side, it means i can get more fishing in as ill just take him with me now.

any tips on how to get kids not to hate wearing their pfd?

 

[GregN70]

It can be a hard thing to do, I wish you well. Sadly my kids have almost grown up now, and despite my best efforts they hate fishing. Boy (12) & Girl (16) both describe it as "Boring", I feel kinda sad, thinking if only I brought them up in a better fishing area like the Gold Coast or Coffs where they could have caught some decent fish and gotten excited about bent rods and screaming drags like I did growing up near Bribie Island/Moreton Bay. My fault as due to my work I brought them up at Yeppoon with only undersized cod, tiny bream and the ever-present & always unwanted catfish their only fishy experiences to date. I can see why they got bored. I'm bored too.

[ellicat]

Good going, Chris. You're much braver than I was and found them a handful on the boat until they were in school. haha

Good times. I expect you will enjoy looking at the photos even more as the years progress.

[Angry51]

Good onya Chris,

                             You gotta admit those jackets would be the most uncomfortable to wear, probably

a neater fitting/or when he grows a bit more/ it would fit a bit better, are there any other sort of 

jacket for kids.

But anyhow that's a start, and a good day out.

[kmcrosby78]

Awesome effort Chris, you're braver than I am ..... . I remember when I first took my kayak up to Noosaville for a holiday and my youngest fella George wanting to paddle it solo when I got back. Had a rope tied to it at first till I had confidence he could control it then took it off, which increased the wife's nerves substantially ....... The jackets certainly would be annoying for kids, I know mine complain occasionally, particularly when it's hot, but necessary evil. Possibly the ones without the neck support might be more comfortable? Enjoy those photos mate .

[Rick Ludd]

Thats fantastic, the photos are great now to look at but in 10 years ... 20 years time they will be even more special. And that time will go very quick.

[benno573]

hey mate,

going through a similar phase with my wee one who turned two in jan.

i got a burke jacket and it seems less intrusive than some others.  I also did a lot of practice wearing the "special boat jacket" before going on the boat and then just saying the whole "the boat doesn't work when the special jacket isn't on".  she tolerates it pretty well now actually.  haven't tried fishing with her on the hobie yet but she loves going for a ride - the more waves and splashes the better!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Nice one Chris. I'm glad you and your son got onto some decent bream. 

Cheers Hamish

[Ed.]

On 26/04/2022 at 11:54 AM, christophagus said:

After a few successful moments of taking my 2yo out in the kayak for very short paddles, decided its time to try and have a fishing session with him on board. Only paddled about 200m from the launch point incase it all went sour. It all started with tears as he wanted to play with the car instead...but after a fire truck going screaming over the bridge some clever distracting by dad, we were off! My game plan was simple, servo prawns and one rod. catch anything at all to show him and go home happy. Turned out the bream loved the servo prawns. Caught a few legal fish and a few under sized. Not bad for a 1.5 hour session, 200m from a boat ramp and using servo prawns. Little bloke had a few nerves and was happier to see the fish released "bye bye fish, BYE BYE FISH!!!), but he loves to keep looking back at the photos of the trip so ill take that as a success. On the plus side, it means i can get more fishing in as ill just take him with me now.

any tips on how to get kids not to hate wearing their pfd?

 

Assuming that the jacket can be tightened reasonably well, I would take your 2 yr old to the local heated swimming pool a few times, put it on them and let them float around in it. Let go of them and entice  them to paddle towards you, so they get comfortable with having it on, they get to safely paddle around on their own,  and  what kid doesn't like a paddle in water? This will be a prelude to teaching them to swim and water safety, and if you mention that you may be going to the pool I will bet you that they will grab/ask for their jacket first. Eventually they will associate water + jacket, so no jacket equals no water, whether it's the pool or the kayak. You might have to let them have a paddle in the water after a trip on the kayak, still it will be a win-win for both of you.

 

 

[Bob9863]

One trick I learnt early on is not to buy bait prawns, I buy Aussie caught prawns from Coles or woolworths as they are much better bait and actually cost less then bait prawns. 

A bloke I used to see fishing one of my favourite spots up in Darwin used to do that, he would fish a leader, no sinker and a whole pealed prawn and used to catch some big bream like that. 

It made me a convert, although the downside is when fishing light gear you can hook some much bigger fish like that. 

You can buy big Australian prawns for around $26kg or buy many little bait prawns for $12 a 400gm packet. ($30kg)

I know what I'd rather eat and the fish do too. 

But getting the kid out fishing with dad is a win no matter how good the fishing is.

[Angry51]

I've always got my prawn bait from local seafood shop.

Fresh green local caught prawns. And you can buy 6/8/10 or what

you want, you don't have to buy by the kilo.

[ellicat]

Fisheries now request you not even use Aussie caught prawns, but rather the ones that are sold as 'bait'. I took a snapshot of their Facebook post a year or so ago. I'll try to find it and post later.

[Kat]

5 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Fisheries now request you not even use Aussie caught prawns, but rather the ones that are sold as 'bait'. I took a snapshot of their Facebook post a year or so ago. I'll try to find it and post later.

I would just love to know the reasoning behind that request.  I will ask the ex prawn farmer later today. I can only presume that the processing of prawns as bait somehow removes white spot?

Rather use yabbies lol

[Kat]

On 26/04/2022 at 3:58 PM, kmcrosby78 said:

Possibly the ones without the neck support might be more comfortable? Enjoy those photos mate .

I did some research when purchasing kids jackets for my boat.  I am pretty sure the ones without the neck support aren't recommended.  Apparently the design, although uncomfortable to say the least is to prevent the child floating face down.  

[Bob9863]

19 minutes ago, Kat said:

I would just love to know the reasoning behind that request.  I will ask the ex prawn farmer later today. I can only presume that the processing of prawns as bait somehow removes white spot?

Rather use yabbies lol

It makes little sense, if the farmed prawns sold to people have white spot, then the ones in the water definitely do too. 

I'd say it has more to do with shops selling imported prawns as Australian prawns, but as dodgy as the big two are when it comes to price fixing they are usually pretty good with local produce. 

But what could they do to bait prawns that would make them any less likely to have white spot then the fit for human consumption ones? 

[Kat]

1 minute ago, Bob9863 said:

It makes little sense, if the farmed prawns sold to people have white spot, then the ones in the water definitely do too. 

I'd say it has more to do with shops selling imported prawns as Australian prawns, but as dodgy as the big two are when it comes to price fixing they are usually pretty good with local produce. 

But what could they do to bait prawns that would make them any less likely to have white spot then the fit for human consumption ones? 

I have no idea.  Just not sure the two big ones are big enough to have the government in their pocket

[Kat]

Like I said I would love to know the reasoning behind this?

[GregN70]

1 hour ago, Bob9863 said:

It makes little sense, if the farmed prawns sold to people have white spot, then the ones in the water definitely do too. 

I'd say it has more to do with shops selling imported prawns as Australian prawns, but as dodgy as the big two are when it comes to price fixing they are usually pretty good with local produce. 

But what could they do to bait prawns that would make them any less likely to have white spot then the fit for human consumption ones? 

Bait Prawns are dipped in solution of Sodium metabisulfite Na₂S₂O_5.

Sodium met-b is used extensively as a disinfectant, anti-microbial & fungicide. In bait prawns it prevents the heads turning black and is widely used by bait shops and bait suppliers alike.

[Bob9863]

Ah, that's the same stuff I use when sanitising home brew gear. 

 

[Ed.]

And also removing chlorine from town water, I used to use it in my aquariums.

[ellicat]

I couldn't find the snapshot but here it is from DAF -

https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/checkyourbait/checkyourbait?msclkid=12d2b7a4c69211ec926a59f173461f46

 

 

 

 

[ellicat]

Here's a well presented live prawn I prepared earlier when I used to chase threadies. Netted by myself at Colmslie.

[GregN70]

51 minutes ago, Bob9863 said:

Ah, that's the same stuff I use when sanitising home brew gear. 

 

That's the stuff.

If you catch your own prawns and want to stop them going black quickly, dip them in a solution of that, and drain before packing.

[Angry51]

Brian, They refer to " supermarket" prawns. I was refering to

your seafood retailer as in seafood shop which catches and

sells cooked/raw green aussie local caught prawns. Well most fish shops up here

are owned by trawler owners and hence they sell their own catch.

[ellicat]

That sounds like the place to get them. Especially when you've given up the net.

[Bob9863]

I used to buy a massive shopping bag full off the trailers in Darwin for $50 a bag. 

Them fellas like a bit of cash in hand beer money. 

[Angry51]

Yeah, When I used to cart prawns from the duckpond to Townsville

I used to get the leader prawns off the boats, 10 prawns for a box of beer.

1 or 2 was a good feed for most people. And they always threw a couple of boxes of prawns extra on the load.

Used to get the same deal out of Karumba.

[kmcrosby78]

My guess is that on top of the cross-contamination potential, they want to simplify it for fisheries officers so that they can differentiate between 'supermarket' prawns and 'bait' prawns. The grey area then of course is green prawns from a seafood retailer or trawler. Not sure what they're thoughts would be on that but it'd probably be worth keeping a receipt as proof. Not sure if they're actually fining people currently for using 'supermarket' prawns?

[Angry51]

What's their take on self caught prawns as in your cast net?

There green as in the ones off the trawler.

[kmcrosby78]

Your guess would be as good as mine ....... .

[Old Scaley]

8 hours ago, GregN70 said:

That's the stuff.

If you catch your own prawns and want to stop them going black quickly, dip them in a solution of that, and drain before packing.

One of my brothers-in-law used to work on prawn trawlers and I remember him telling me how they used to add sodium meta bisulphate to the catch while singing “one tonne of meta” to the tune of “Guantanamera”.   They did it to stop the heads and feet from going black.

[Angry51]

10 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

 They did it to stop the heads and feet from going black.

What? The sodium adding or the singing.

[benno573]

20 hours ago, ellicat said:

Here's a well presented live prawn I prepared earlier when I used to chase threadies. Netted by myself at Colmslie.

i love a good super tuned prawn.  amazed this didn't land you a thready...

[Drop Bear]

Great trip mate well done. I am not sure why but my kids never complained about jackets... I guess I got lucky.