▲TopSquid Fishing Callala Bay

The wonderful part about owning a company such as Spooled which is solely and specifically a fishing website. Is the fact that my excuses to fish far outway (in number) the average punters. In fact it means that trips almost always take place on weekdays and in non-holiday periods, meaning less traffic on the water. So when my Father phoned and asked me to come down because he wanted to take me fishing my obvious answer was “Ok”.

Aligning my ridiculously busy schedule with anyone elses is always a nightmare though. Although in the lead up to Christmas I ducked away and travelled the two and a half hours to Callala Bay. I arrived around 9pm and we caught up. Invariably talking about Spooled, its success, future plans and the like. We headed off to bed around 12.30am with a 6.30am rise planned.

After organizing the gear we arrived at the boat ramp around 8am. There had been a strong wind warning although with such limited time available together we decided to chance it anyway.

I must say I am very spoilt when it comes to available fishing options. So fishing with my Father in his 6hp punt was going to be a very humbling experience. However this trip was not about the fish, or the pictures, or anything else apart from time with my dear old Dad (at only 72 if he read this I would definitely be in trouble for calling him old).

As we motored away from the boatramp (slowly) (obviously) we saw Turns and Frigate birds working the surface. While there wasn’t much action in the way of fish we decided to give them a bash. My Father generally concerntrates on deep sea fishing more then anything else. Chasing Tuna, Marlin, Kingfish, Snapper with his mate the owner of the local Bait and Tackle/Hardware store. Needless to say the punt isn’t employed for this purpose. I can hear the punt breathing a sigh of relief now.

As we headed over I rigged up, putting a large torpedo style Producer lure on. After multiple runs I riffled through my tackle box a little further and turned up what I had wanted in the first place, a metal slice. A few more passes affirmed our original suspicions. That due to the fact that the school working below the bait didn’t have the bait balled up we would do no good. So neglecting to raise a strike we moved on.

We motored to where we would begin our drift over the large weed covered stretches of Callala Bay. We were fishing for Squid which would later be used as bait for Dads next deep sea expedition (I told you it wasn’t about the fishing).

Although sitting there jigging our Squid Jigs as the boat drifted along, with the chop lapping tinnies hull, we stole a moment to just be Father and Son. Unaffected by the world, it was just him and I enjoying each others company. After about eight drifts and the same amount of small squid landed with the wind making our repositioning runs extremely wet and ever more uncomfortable, we called it a day.

After returning to the ramp while Dad couldn’t resist having a play on the FeelFree Nomad Kayak (www.activewatersports.com.au), I attempted to get a photo of an actual fish and decided to flick a Sqidgy around in an attempt to produce a Flathead. While my efforts proved fruitless the smile on my Fathers face was worth much more than any fish pic I can imagine.

Do yourself a favour and pick up the phone and arrange a trip out with you Dad today.

Tight lines guys…..

rick