Tail of - bugger
Having just read a post in the "Swan River beginner spots in autumn" post and it had a mention of fishing the canning bridge for bream it brought a smile to my face as I remembered fishing (as a young teenager) for bream off the top of the bridge. Now this was in the late 50s when although it was banned fishing from the bridge it was not rigidly enforced and the traffic was no where near as it is today.
A mate and I would catch various trains and busses up to the bridge arriving late in the afternoon go to the rivers edge dig out some worms and then make our way to the northern side of the bridge on the road way. There you would join the other 10-15 other anglers doing the same thing Your stranded bream gear would be a rod made of Rangoon cane about 6ft long with latest in reels namely an alvey solid wood side cast reel loaded with 20ld mono line going down to a 25lb leader (can't remember the hook used) and a running ball sinker.
About mid evening my mate hooks into a real stonker of a bream, after a couple of minutes he starts to lift his great catch up to the top of the bridge, it is during this activity that everyone holds their breath as many a fine bream has been lost on the way up to the top of the bridge.
The practice then was when you got your fish level with the top of the hand rail you swung it over onto the road way close to the edge and completed the capture, now this worked fine in 99.9% of the time, but not this time.
My mate swung the big bream up over the rail just in time for a car to come close to the hand rail and run over the bream , turning it into a very good size flounder.
It's a very sad thing to see a young teenager coming close to crying and it has staid with me all these years.
Bugger
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17860
Date Joined: 11/03/08
Geez your showing your age
Geez your showing your age there. My time fishing the bridge was early 80's. Difference is we had walkways on both sides and a pipeline on one to sit on. The no fishing from bridge signs were there but many times we got a cop car pull up with light flashing only to ask if we had caught any. Them bloodworms were a killer for big bream and the cobbler.
Used to get home from school grab the fishing gear and on the bike heading to the bridge.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Gadsy
Posts: 1467
Date Joined: 01/05/10
Canning Bridge was my local fishing spot early to mid 70s
My mates and I would climb down the pylons across the channel on the Raffles side and we caught bream close to 6lb in the old scale. Lost some monsters too unfortunately that just powered into the pylons and busted you off. My old mate Kim Meldrum from Compleat Angler reckons he had a 7 pounder in his hands one night, but he somehow dropped it back into the water. Saw some good Mullas hit the deck over the years too.
The good old days
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17860
Date Joined: 11/03/08
Used to get some monsters
Used to get some monsters there. Biggest I got was 7lb6 . The climb down those pylons wasn't the safest thing to do but resulted in some good ones .
Also picked up feeds of prawns and crabs coming through the channel. Was nice clear water back then and you could see the bottom
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together