Let' s celebrate the scurrying squid, the bearded mussel and the swimming sardine and then eat them.

It is my habit to eat sardines. In  fact I'm a bit of a sardine connoisseur. I'd prefer fresh sardines when I can get them, but will settle for the canned stuff.

As canned sardines go I dips me lid to the Spanish  brand, Escuris. I will eat the contents of  other cans but Escuris is particularly good -- Portuguese sardinillas..

My two little dogs lick out the leftovers in the cans and get a nutritional 'hit'.

The point of such consumption is that sardines  are great tucker. Nutritionally one of the best the sea has to offer. Cheap. Plentiful. 

...and sustainable. That's the key element: those massive school fish -- anchovies and sardines --  are still out there in multi billion fish numbers. Generally, to eat fish other than a few species fosters marine extinction.

I don't recommend the activity... generally.

But...

Among locally caught species  kosher tucker comprises: 

1. Whiting
2. Australian Sardine
3. Mussels
4. Calamari/Squid
5. Blue Swimmer Crab

I hardly ever eat  crab but the rest I do. (But then I see so many Blue Swimmer Crabs in local waters...?) I love mussels more than I do sardines and the new live mussel packs that are available offer delicious fare.

And Whiting -- given its price -- is a special occasion fish.

Unfortunately, fish farmers harvest and grow sardines just to feed  Tuna. And so much sardine is simply churned into fishmeal for industrial style farming on land and sea  that its carefree use is obscene.

We are now able to supply frozen South Australia Sardines for sale via this website.
18kg Nude Blocks.$0.85 kg plus GST minimum order 1 pallet approx 1 tonne.[Lukin Fisheries]

Better to harvest the invasive Carp.

Australian blue mussels

I used to collect mussels in Port Philip Bay  for take home eating. That was many moons ago...(sigh) Mussels were then seen as poverty food and my mother always protested when I forced her to cook them. Nowadays with the mussel farms along the southern coastline  it's great to get back to the unique taste of  this bivalve.

In Scotland, were there is an extensive mussel farming industry, you can go to restaurants which serve only mussels in so many different ways.

It is yummy tucker. Ith gu leòir! (Eat plenty!)

This brings me to squid. I call it squid because I'm sure that not everyone knows what  fresh "calamari" looks like. I've been preparing squid for years and it lends itself to many approaches across a wide range of cuisines.

Squid is special. More giving and amendable than octopus (which is so darn difficult to prepare and cook). Delightfully squishy and coloured to gut and trim.

Like Whiting, prepared squid freezes well.

I used to fish and while I may not have caught much in the way of finned critters,  the problem with fishing is that you more often than not eat what you catch, regardless of species. Unless you do catch and release...but what's the point if you can't eat what you hunt.

Around where I am, people fish and catch stingray by accident and separating your hardware from the ray isn't an easy call. The Estuary  Stingray is also in challenged numbers on the Easy Coast of Australia and I'd be mortified if I hampered its lifestyle in any way...

So...I'm giving up fishing: the drop-a-line, catch-what-you-can, fishing and instead and taking up squid jigging.

Jigging is very targeted and species specific.

Fishing for squid is not a major activity this far north here in South East Queensland. But we have the prawns/shrimp in our seas and the squid eat them. So I'm thinking: Nightime. Torches. Squid jigs. Handlines....

The world is my mussel...

Local Squids:

Northern Calamari 

“Sepioteuthis lessoniana”

Gould's Squid:

 “Nototodarus gouldi”

---

Fishing Vest for Handline Fishing Out and About

Previously in regard to handline fishing  I have waffled on about my various experiments with fishing rigs -- the irony being that handline fishing is supposedly about travelling lite.

My last few times out the creel I made up for carrying my wares -- and catches -- is proving a real drag on my shoulders.

After my last handline fishing expedition I scooted back from Nudgee Beach on my wee Mibo  which has no carrying shelf or basket and the creel road very uncomfortably upon my person.

So after contemplating my problem, I decided that what I needed was a fishing vest upon which I could load my stuff rather than rely upon a bag I draped over my person. But bona fide  fishing vests don't come cheap. The archetypal fly fisherman's costume is a wardrobe item for hanging fishing paraphenalia. If you want to keep your chest ware simple , thought I, maybe I could approach this  creatively. 

If you don't want all that opens and shuts (like the $80 Plano at right or hundreds of dollars more for more expensive vests) you can get the  MTI Calcutta Kayak Fishing Unisex PFD --pictured above  left -- (see descriptive video) for around the same price. As well as being  a vest it is also a Type 3 PFD.

More than just a life jacket, the USCG Type III approved Calcutta is prepped for fishing. It features five pockets: one mesh exterior pocket, two big tackle-box pockets and two interior pouches. There's even holders built in for pliers and a pin-on retractable to hold line clippers or nippers. D-rings on front and back are convenient attachments for motor kill switches. Hook-resistant shell. Three-buckle front closure. One size fits all. 

So with a mesh bag for my catch (I'm still experimenting with meshes and bags ) I'm now no longer burdened with carrying  gear for the sake of it.

And when I do finally get a paddleski -- I'm already water safe with my already worn in  PFD.

So unless I land something really big (huh!), getting to and from the water's edge on a scooter is going to be an easier business, and wading the sandbanks will no longer be a cause for  sore shoulders.

Next time I'll show you how I rig up my new vest. (Mine's red).

Paddleski complications

I spent a lot of online energy researching kayaks and surf skis -- seeking a portable craft I could paddle in the Beachmere environs. The kayak sit-on market place is large and various -- with prices that are tiered in $100 jumps.

It was a fun shop.

But suddenly a salient fact about  my proposed topographical existence dawned on me: where's the water when you need it?

At Beachmere, where I plan to live,  when the tide goes out, it goes out a very long way -- maybe up to a kilometre in places. Imagine if you will the complication of setting off for a day's paddling and trying to launch a craft when the shore line is a kilometre away -- or coming back from  the said day's paddling to find that you need to port the craft by hand over hundreds of metres of sand flats.

Even if there was just enough water to float a paddleski, I know from experience that the dip of your paddle has to submerge for  almost a metre to warrant the business of paddling worthwhile.Ramming a paddle blade into the bottom, even a sandy one, risks breaking it.  That's why,  in shallow waters, boats are poled along, and not paddled.

So unless  I plan to studiously embark  on a  high tide and return that way I'll need to ferry any craft across the shallows or mudflats another way.

That doesn't preclude the business of paddling my own canoe --  but it sure restricts it. I could carry the craft to the river and launch there at the boat ramp, but that is another kilometre + away -- compared to  the most  direct route to the beach of around 600 metres.

While I'm sure there is a splashing sweet spot that will suit me if I do indeed go down a paddling route  -- consideration of these factors suggests that anything I use has to be very light so I can drag and/or carry it over a distance.

So if I want to mess about in a boat -- and I do -- where I want to mess about is something I need to carefully ponder because that will determine how I do it.

My present handline fishing habits suit  this sort of shoreline very well indeed: wading and casting for whiting, flathead and bream. Along the river, the Caboolture River, some craft would be nice so I can get into any likely spot. Do I want to paddle up a storm and heave ho a few  kilometres along the coast above the seagrass beds and mess it among the dugongs? That would be nice -- long distance paddling/touring -- so long as on my return I wasn't stranded a kilometre from shore.

But then..., if the tide wasn't fully out I could simply walk the paddleski in, dragging it behind, me as the barge horses  did for barges, over the shallows. In fact that has a wonderful logic to it --   fishing  with my own golf buggy carrying my gear -- my mule, my caddy : I'd wade with this floating thing, a paddleski, attached to my person by a rope and use it as a platform  for my gear. If I wanted to move up or down the coastline, all I need do is hop on, pick up the paddle and start splashing seaward.

Best settle in first, then see...

Handline Fishing : a new creel and rig

My quest for a better setup for handline fishing continues.

This may be something of an eccentric endeavor on my part but  I find the challenges formatted by  the simplicity  of approach to be very satisfying and, in their way, rewarding.

I normally fish Nudgee Beach and when I  go there I enter the water inland  from the mouth of the Shultz Canal inlet and wade parallel to the northern shoreline, navigating along the sand bars and through the shallow water, casting as I go. This is very much like fly fishing but without the casting rig or the flies.

I move east and travel as far toward Moreton Bay and into it as I can manage depending on the tides.This distance I travel along the estuary  is often up to a kilometre.

By the time I get to the extremity of the sand bar that runs from the northern shore I can be 250 metres away from land and a metre deep.

This is estuary fishing  they way I prefer it. Standing still  on dry land , soaking bait  while waiting for Mr Fish to come by doesn't interest me.

So all things considered, mobility is key. We hunter gatherers need to be able to travel in comfort but with all our requirements on or about our person. I have also learned that landing a fish while groin deep in water does require the use of a fish grabbing device, such as a net.

I had been using a cheap fly fishing stripping basket which was falling apart. But today I found this sturdy, woven  cane basket at the  local Op shop and with a few plastic ties and by cannibalizing the stripping basket, I  now have a new setup with creel and portage. The depth of the basket also gives me a lot of work space and a useful surface area in case something falls out of my grasp: hook, lure, or a freshly caught fish.

Trials will begin tomorrow. This basket is in beta.

I've also been researching how best to explore further my interest in float fishing. I started to use floats because they seemed a great way to cast the lure further. With bubble floats -- which I can fill with water  as much as i want to add weight while sustaining  preferred buoyancy -- I get flotation and weight.. The mix of lure, jig head,and float enables a few options I can play around with. I also discovered a simple little tube and bung setup up which allows me to easily  locate stoppers above and below the float on the line so I can control the float's run.

By removing the bung I can slide the stopper along the line to a new position.

The problem with using floats is that float fishing is very much a European science and inasmuch as I have the wherewithall, and aptitude, I am advancing my float skills by experience and adaption alone. There are also very few float devices available here in Australia and virtually no float fishing culture that can match the European obsession with fishing for Carp with floats.

Nonetheless, I'd like to get my salt water encrusted hands on on these little numbers from the French company,  Buldo.

I can but yearn until I find a way of obtaining these devices.

 Nudgee Beach Estuary 

Looking east toward Moreton Bay. I usually enter the water at the jetty  and cast my way seaward. the green bits to the left is the southern border of the Boondall Wetlands (no fishing allowed) and on the right bank ( not shown) is the perimeter of Brisbane Airport

 

Handline Fishing Theory / Handline Fishing Practice

I haven't been seaside this week to fish so I make up for the lack of practice by developing my Handline Theory.

You may wonder why I choose to fish with  a handline when the whole world seems  to prefer rod and reel. But that is a misconception as there are some still active handline traditions in Singapore, the Pacific Islands,and  parts of Mexico and Puerto Rico to name a few locales. Hemingway's famous novella, The Old Man and the Sea -- which recounts an epic battle of wills between an old, experienced Cuban fisherman and a giant marlin -- is a fish story  tied together by  a handline.

But imagine, if you will, how easy it is to go fishing when you main item of equipment is a handline such as my beloved Streamline Handline  which can fit in my pocket. That was what first got me hooked. This is low tech hunter gathering.

Once I got into the swing of it -- and you need to swing it to cast -- I improved on the simplicity by using soft plastic baits.

I had no need to rely on fresh bait either dug up, caught  or purchased. I could be more ecologically considerate by not destroying nature to capture edibles of my culinary preference; and with soft plastics you are always ready to go.

With nothing between your fingers and the lure at its depths, it is like being a puppeteer imagining a show you put on underwater for Mr Fish. I had no interest in fishing if it meant dropping a line and waiting. Having to play  the lure and work it -- in the way fly fishing people do -- made fishing for me a very active and exciting  pursuit.

Handline fishing with plastic lures is never boring and with each cast who knows what messages may come back up the line?

Of course, you pay a price for using a handline. While I can cast 30 feet/15 metres, father with the wind behind me or with a heavier weighted end, a fishing rod and reel setup will carry your bait and hook further (in the same way that a sling shot will throw a stone some distance). I compensate for that drawback by entering the water and wading. Whereas your standard fishing person will position themselves on the shoreline or bank and stay rooted to the one spot I work a large area by advancing up to my waist and casting at spots that take my fancy. So on any given day I may work an area 200- 300 metres long, back and forth. I'll follow the sandbanks out on foot to explore the drop offs at close quarters.

[Safety note: I wear shoes to protect my limbs from stingrays, sharp rocks and stonefish and I shuffle forward as in the muddy waters of Moreton Bay estuaries you cannot see the bottom. ]


This has required me  to be mobile and self contained.  I work with a creel hanging from my shoulder and this carries the various knickknacks for rigging my line  and fishing.

This focus on a limited range of equipment has caused me to study my methods in order to fine tune them.

I am also experimenting with bubble floats. Because I can run the line freely through one of the eyelets on the float (pictured above right) I can change the angle between myself and the jig head and lure. This allows me to instill more play in the lure's movement so that I can occupy any depth in the water column rather than being sentenced to the bottom or top layers depending on my lure weight and the angle of the line to my hand. This discovery is exciting as it allows me much more creative use of the handline even in situations over rocks and around snags. I have more control up and down when once  I was forced primarily to draw on  the line diagonally  at very acute angles. This is where the theory part kicks in as I'm trying to improve that last few centimetres if line that runs to the lure so that my free running float is protected from floating off when the line may be cut or when it's snagged.

I've experimented so far with various beads and strips, metal clips and such -- and am now thinking, since I want to preserve the  appeal of the lure, that a dab of  clear Superglue on the line  just before the jig head/hook may do the trick (or may not) as a sort of wax stopper.That or maybe a small clear plastic bead if I can locate a supply.

  These round bubble floats  can be filled or part filled with water so that not only  do you get a 'float' with each cast, but the added weight of the water increases the line load so that you can throw the lure further without having to wear the lure sinking to the bottom and staying at that depth -- as you would if you relied on lead weights for the descent.

It is also exciting to discover that in Eastern Europe, at international fishing tournaments and with garfishing (gars are  surface feeders) in the Aegean -- using floats like this is common. Carp in Europe are also often fished  using floats. But here, using floats doesn't seem to generate a following except among those who rock fish and support their lure above the rocky bottom by using cork to float it.

Floatfishing has some unique advantages that I am keen to explore:

• It helps cast the bait
• It carry's the bait in the swim.
• It helps to present the bait naturally or un-naturally, by slowing it down or speeding it up.
  
• It registers a bite visually.
  
• It can also help to land the fish. (guiding the fish out of snags)
  
• It can under certain circumstances attract the fish to the bait.
  
• It can now carry burley and other attractants into the swim.
  
• It can help you fish in the dark with a light on top.
  
• It can cast tremendous distances.
  

So that's the drum on handline fishing by a person who has no desire to take up a rod. Between me and the line (and the fish's strike) there isn't a darn thing.

Handline fishing

I've developed a specialty interest in handline fishing. Using light gear and by wading into local salt water estuaries. My appraoch is similar to fly fishing for trout. My rig is very portable .  I rely on soft plastic lures and use a creel to a carry my gear, strung over my shoulder. All I need do is  pick up my gear and go.And once on the shoreline strtr working an area by wading and moving across the sandbanks to work the shallows and drop offs.I always wear shoes because of stingrays and stonefish.

With the streamline handline (pictured above) I can cast > 10 metres  using various underarm techniques and devious weighing mechanisms.

When my coracle is launched I'll be able to cover a larger area and with that utilize  my other handline -- the Waycool Kyak Handline (below)-- without having to rely on casting.

Best resource: Handline Fishing (Singapore)

Moreton Bay Brisbane Northside Fishing Zones

After being in bed all day...I've cheered myself up by creating a zonal fishing map for my patch of Morton Bay.Since I don't have to travel far to get to the water  I wanted to know what locales where in my ambit.

Where I usually go -- where Shultz Canal forms an inlet at Nudgee Beach -- bottom right -- there is a slim fishing zone along the northern bank although the rest of the foreshore is protected all the way to the Cabbage Tree Creek inlet at Shorncliffe.

Not shown -- I can catch a train to Shorncliff and walk 150 metres to fish. Getting to Nudgee Beach is either by car or kickbike -- 5 kilometres -- although there is a bus service, it stops around midday and begins again at school knock off.Running from Brighton to Clontarf  is the old Horneybrook Hwy Bridge which is a much visited fishing spot by Northsiders.There's also Sandgate Pier and jetties at Cabbage Tree Creek and Woody Point.

All I have to do is  visit and fish.

Once I build the Thuyền thúng Coracle I'll be able to expand my reach although I doubt that QRail will let me take it on the train. (But that prospect  has my attention! Maybe if I made it with a smaller diameter...?)