Fishing for Facts



Kayak fishing at the mouth of the Kolan River ©2008 Wojo12

Now let me say from the outset that I am not a fisherman, I am not a “greenie” nor am I an anti-cruelty activist. From my perspective, it seems that there are basically three type of fishing – fishing for food for personal consumption, fishing for fish for sale both as they are, or processed, and then there’s the so-called “sport-fishing”.





Now for the sake of the debate, let’s assume that the birds of the air were wonderful to eat. Can you picture a man in his backyard or in the bush somewhere, with a rod and reel with a hook and a worm, trying to capture a particular species for dinner. His first catch for the day happened to be a sparrow, hardly a good size for one man. He rips the hook out of the poor bird’s mouth and encourages it to fly away.

He baits his hook again and dangles it in the breeze, awaiting a larger species. This time he reels in a honey-eater, which as you can imagine, put up a bigger fight than the sparrow. The man says to himself “caught one of those last week, didn’t taste too good” and again removes the hook from the stricken bird and sets it free, not knowing or caring if it survives.

Undaunted, the man goes to the beach- “seagulls are biting this time of year, and they taste better as well” he says as he loads his hook with a tasty morsel. This time success, after 3 attempts he finally catches his lunch.

If this were really happening - can you imagine the outcry from the RSPCA, Greenpeace and Earth-Watch, from Bob Brown, the CWA and the Animal Liberation groups? I have no qualms about anyone fishing for food, but can we continue to allow sport fishing where marlin angling is the equivalent of the now-outlawed foxhunt. The stress to the marlin or any other fish is unknown, the damage to the health of the fish is not known, but we continue to allow this cruel “sport”. Does anyone have any research on the survival of big game fish after being hooked, hauled aboard, and severely stressed and then being thrown back into the water and forgotten?

That’s it for me – let me have your views by writing a comment below.

My First Post ....... and not My Last Post !!!

Well, here I am, finally. After much encouragement from a good friend of mine, I have dived in!!!!
Here in sunny Bundaberg, it is another beautiful morning. From my home here (when the baby next door stops crying!!!), I can hear the waves of the Coral Sea breaking on the rocks some 500 metres away. The sugar cane harvesting season is all but over, and next year's crop is rising from the stubble which remains in the fields to the west of my house. This time of year, I can see about a kilometre to the west, but in a few months the cane will be high enough to restore my refuge from the noise of the traffic on the surrounding roads.

This week, I had one of the best days of my life - having recently had a successful month in my small business, I decided to shout my son and myself a rally car experience at the Gold Coast, after all, it is nearly Christmas. After an almost 5 hour drive we arrived at the track at Pimpana to be joined by about 8 or 9 other participants. The cars were 350 horse-power Subaru WRX STi's and our package was 2 lots of 5 laps, with an instructor beside us telling us about the correct lines, when to brake and when to floor it (the best part - the noise was fantastic under full power).

It was a hot day and the cars are not air-conditioned (saps too much power, I guess) and I was sweating like a pig!!!! After 5 laps, you just start getting into the swing of things, get most corners correct, and are more comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings. But then you must stop to give the others a go.



Car - by WRX Drift Experience, Driver - WoJo12                                        (Photo ©2011 WoJo12)



After we had all completed our laps, my son and I were called into the training room. I thought "what have we done". There were very strict rules laid out at the initial drivers briefing, and warnings of severe and costly consequences if a driver, for example, hit the tyres on the edge of the track or did not obey the instructor's directions. But  soon I was relieved to find that they were making a presentation - my son had recorded second fastest time of the day .... I was presented with a trophy for fastest time of the day. Neither my son nor I had ever driven an all-wheel-drive car before. I was so excited that I wanted to do another session while we were there, but time and money prevented that. If anybody ever has the slightest chance to do something like this, grab it with both hands - you'll never ever regret it. Many thanks to my instructor, Jess, for her patience and perseverance with me. http://www.wrxdrift.com.au/

Well that's it from me,  for my first post - see you here next time.

Captured by Coonarr Charisma

One of the best walking beaches around Bundaberg is about 24km south at the  most exclusive locality that is Coonarr Beach. I say exclusive as it is surrounded by nature reserves, and there are but 6 houses there and probably 6 vacant blocks of land. It physically cannot expand.

Nature's architecture - 20 Nov 2011                                           ©2011 WoJo12

Walk to the beach and look in either direction - to the north in the distance one can see the township of Elliott Heads some 4km away, on the other side of the Elliott River. To the south, all one can see is 14 km of sandy beach, beyond firstly Coonarr Creek which is fordable at low tide. Then one can walk all the way to Theodolite Creek near Woodgate, after crossing One Mile Creek which is approx 12km from Coonarr Creek.
If you are contemplating walking here, take a large hat, sunblock and water - with our perfect unpolluted skies that sun can really burn, and there is little shade along the way.

Undaunted, I sauntered south into the wind.,

Unthwarted by thongs or thrifty tourists, I sallied through the shallows in the sand and shells and shingles.

The only souls around were the soles of my feet.

 Twisted tossed trees trimmed the beach, stranded without soil or strength.

 Eroded sandy cliffs remain after the scouring by the recent tides.

The sea eagle soars, searching for a single scrap of scaley seafood.

Small birds swiftly dart into the scrub on my approach.

Crabs speedily scamper for seclusion.

Shellfish draw delightful designs in the damp sand, only to have them washed away in the waves of the incoming tide.                                                    ©2010 WoJo12

Deep-rooted survivor under a Bundy sky - 20 Nov 2011              ©2011 WoJo12

  

That's it for this edition - I feel like going for a walk !!!!!!