Jewfish Fishing in the Glenelg River Friday 6TH July 2018 with Matt Cini
Well what is a fishing trip alone without a tale or story to tell, after a very trying few weeks with some battles that I had to face in life nothing that this old boy couldn't handle I should say, but it seems that when your life is revolved around your job and your passion becomes your business you seem to just let the important things in life slip away, like having time to your self and being inspired by life's many amazing natural features, in today's world with running a business and keeping up with social media, websites, Maintenance and then finding time to actually think about your job which is catching fish it was only to perfect to go sit in a river and embrace nature and find out what a little bit of me time and meditation would do for the soul.
So with all that said, from Thursday I had my thoughts working on catching up with work and getting things ready to hit the road by 2 pm Friday, hoping to fish the afternoon into the night than resting and doing it all again the following day, with some Proper Meditation in between, with the weather forecast not even a thought in my mind I wasn't going to be stopped or interrupted, during my journey both preparing and driving to Nelson and than again on the river I was very lucky to have some pretty special signs along the way, which is a fisherman's world no matter what you think its all in your head and knowing how to fish is only half the battle, the rest is exactly this Knowing, using your imagination, what you have learnt and backing yourself and even following signs that you may not even consider generally, fisherman have a gift and when you become aware of them you can make some pretty accurate decisions.
With the above said, I will use this as a chance to teach and pass on some very wise words to the fellow fisherman starting his journey, as it is the perfect time to tell it how I feel it should be told, when you aspire to be the great fisherman you want to become, you look up to people who may be doing very well and catching plenty of fish, as your aim is simply to catch that fish, and this is fine to be given the exact tools needed the correct GPS location, what bait to use, and the list goes on, the very most important thing here is none of the above, in fact, its the exact opposite, should you consider fishing and learning the peaceful hobby or pastime, start from the very basics, this will allow you to begin programming your mind slowly capturing every little event that happens along the way, being told is great, but learning from your own mistakes and endless effort will in the long run reward you ina way that I cant explain, it will become second nature to you and each species that you master will be your very own, using the technics you have mastered witch may be in fasct far better than the normal methods being thrown around!
I will quickly use my brother as an eg, he is 4 years and 1 day older than me, never liked fishing up until a year ago, in fact, he is driving me up the wall LOL, he refuses to ask me for advice and only tells me of his methods and I remain quiet, and adore his every step learning along the way, I too am learning from him as he is back to basics and his journey in fishing has become very fast-tracked by his dedication and ability to 5s his every movement and tactics, he continues to make mistakes and resolves them every day excelling against himself, this is very special for me to watch, as I write this he fishing in the Glenelg River with his sons and making Uncle Matt envious of his mulloway captures on very light line with should i say Kmart special Rods and reels hahaha it goes to show that you don't need the best gear to catch that fish but only the passion, if a fish is meant for you-you will catch it!
Back to the getaway.....
in the meantime, I had set up things and popped my vessel Undercover into the Nelson boat ramp to begin my journey fishing and relaxing on the Glenelg River, I refer to signs, well this was no coincidence that from that morning I was pounded with the most amazing Rainbows, and in each and every direction I was headed there would be a rainbow pop up insuring me that I was on the right track, I'm no hippy by any means but I do believe in signs, I take every chance to absorb each and every moment that nature will give me the chance to experience, so i just basically let myself follow the rainbows and not confuse myself with to much fishing stress, meaning I had no interest in worrying about tide, moons, baits, I just let myself be and flowed and did what had come naturally to me without force.
Once I found the location that I felt was safe and had that feel to it that it would be a likely location to camp and perhaps catch a Jewfish, I had set up camp, now it was time to pop my rods out and perhaps relax for the night.....
Ummmmm that didn't happen until 6AM the following day, with the first rod in, not even getting a chance to put the second rod in i hear a sound of a buckled rod creeking along with the line peeling of the reel a Shimano Speros 6000 with 12 pound line, so I proceeded to grab the rod instantly knowing that it was the targeted species and as you are all well aware iv caught a few fish in my life LOL BUT for some ungodly reason my knees where shaking I felt a feeling that I only remember when I was a child and captured some of my very first fish, nothing compares to this feeling and this is why I say speeding up the process of learning how to master the hobby, can be a way to not enjoying it.
After a very majestic fight and with the added bonus of being along and embracing the backdrop of the Glenelg River than to see a perfect 88 CM Mulloway surfacing like an eel, reaching for the net that was no were to be seen, the joys of being alone and might I add you never have anything ready when a good fish seems to pop up, I managed to lay the fish on its side and sneak into the cabin to get the net, then landed this amazing smelling and just amazing looking fish had been laid on the deck of my boat as I stood there in OR of it, with not a soul around me and feeling that sense of everything I did lead me to this point and I basically had put in zero effort and just let what I had learnt my whole life take me to this place, don't think I feel this way with the thousands of fish I capture each year, it says something about this location and its serenity, with the ability to let your self-indulge in what fishing is meant to be!
As the night proceeded, the fish just kept on coming at this stage it was fairly calm and light winds, with a constant flow, know of Jews coming in the boat and each and every one around that 70 to 80 CM Mark, I took notice of the elements and realised that what was happening was very special, the barometer was crashing hard, and with that came thunder, lightning, and then the inevitable a front hit about 10 PM that night, with the barometer crashing, the Mulloway bite became intense another learning curve happened that evening and that was the biggest lesson from this trip that will now be programmed into my head, very similar to the Yellow Tail King Fish in Melbourne as I have found over the last 5 yrs.
With the Wind set in and the Rain, Hail and lightning and thunder becoming almost severe I proceded to move the vessel and find a slightly sheltered location and with some help from a friend I felt confident beaching the boat into the reed beds and therefore not having to worry about the vessel swaying and moving through the night while I tried to sleep, the main word here tried lol, with the boat now sitting perfectly even in this crazy wind, I had to start fishing again and from about midnight to 6 AM when I packed it up I managed another few nice fish but nothing as intense as that bite prior to the storm hitting.
All in all, from the moment I woke up Friday morning, everything went to plan and happened the exact way it should have just by simply letting myself be uninterrupted and be in tune with the experience, at this stage I had been awake for too long and these days I don't handle any sleep very well, so I settled for a nap witch unfortunately lasted 1 hr LOL I was unable to sleep with my body clock being out of wack, i than went to town and bumped into a friend and his family and he was very very keen to catch a jewfish I tried to tell him that I was tired and needed to rest but the fish in the box and all the pictures he has seen he wasnt going to take no for an answe haha so as I do, here we go again back out with his lovely gem kids and his wife trying our luck at a jewfish, while we enjoyed our time on the water I was most definelty not in a frame of mind to be applying myself and the fishing is NEVER the same as it was the day before in the same area as the following day, let this be another lesson learnt to you all leartning how to fish.
Never the less we had an amazing time and his lovely daughter pulled me aside and said that she had the best day of her life, me being tired I didn't really capture it as I did later down the track, but it really made me happy!
Well, that was a glimpse of my wonderful few days away in Nelson with the following evening making a half-arsed effort to fish and then spending time with Frenchy the owner of the Nelson Pub telling fishy stories and sharing a few pots over a warm fire and getting a wonderful nights to sleep in a heated room, ready to then wake head back to my Portland home and prepare for a Portland Tuna Charter Monday Morning.
I hope you enjoy my story I felt the need to express this as I wrote it on a pad with pen and paper when I arrived home in Melbourne today 10/07/2018 as it was a special fishing trip for me and one I would like to keep in my Memory bank for the rest of my life.
Take care and Happy Fishing Matt Cini ()(
