Sowing the Seeds

There is a beautiful beach just near where I live that has the biggest, fattest beach worms living in it’s sand. This particular beach has become known to me for its wonderful worms due to a lovely old fisherman who frequents my workplace and shares my passion for all things piscatorial. When it is time to go fishing I often go there to catch some with my brother, who is a master worm catcher. I have tried many times to catch them but cannot. There is certainly an element of skill involved that I am yet to possess.

This is the first part of catching a beach worm. You really need to go down to the beach at low tide. You will need a piece of old smelly bait or a fish frame tied to some string. You then need to drag the old bait or frame over the sand and through the water at the shore line. You can actually then see the worms heads as they pop up to check out what the food source is! They really only pop their heads up by about 5mm or so. When you locate a worm you need to put the fish frame in front of the worm’s hole and wait for it to emerge to grab the bait.

Now this is the part that I find tricky…. When the worm comes up and tries to feast on the bait you need to try and burrow your thumb and forefinger into the sand behind it’s head. The worm will arch up slightly and that’s when you grab him! Easier said than done, I say. The worms are very fast and super slippery! Some people actually use pliers to grab their beach worms but my brother thinks that if you have a bit of sand on your fingers to grip them and are very quick you can catch them ‘no worries.’ Once you have the worm by it’s head you need to pull it from the sand in one fast, steady movement.

This a very big beach worm, probably around 75cm long but it is the average sized beach worm for this particular beach.

See their feelers and mouth? Kinda freaky huh? They do have pearlescent kind of bodies too. Anyway we got around 5 worms which we thought was a good amount for a days fishing. You need to keep your beach worms in a bucket of damp sand and it is best practise to take only the amount of beach worms that you will actually use or need.

With our lovely fresh beach worms we headed off to catch some fish and we had a fantastic days fishing, catching two big sand flathead, one big Aussie Salmon, around fifteen big silver trevally and one lone wobbegong who was subsequently released.

Today I skipped work and planned to go fishing. One of the advantages of owning your own business is you can make decisions like that! Anyway, I thought that first I should go and try and do a bit of Christmas shopping. I drove around and around looking for a car park. I battled my way through other weary Christmas shoppers and over whelming shelves full of Christmas bling, to the point where I said enough! I drove just a little way out of town to this beautiful, serene and very lovely place.

I took mum too! Now I come from a long line of fisher folk. My grandparents were keen fishing people, so too was my mum and dad. They in turn passed on the passion to my brother and I and now all our kids are keen too. I think for me though, most of the pleasure is derived from just being peaceful by the waters edge. I love sitting in the sun on a quiet river bank, watching the birds flying by and all the little insects flitting about. It is often time just to unwind and relax. If I catch dinner then that’s a bonus!

It was just coming onto dusk when the fish started to bite. Now like every good fishing story, I have to tell you about “the one that got away.” I caught a really, really big flathead. Beautiful eating fish and they can grow very large. Anyway because we didn’t have a net, I couldn’t lift it onto the little jetty so my fishing line snapped and I lost it. I was happy to see him swim away, he was a very beautiful and very big fish!

We caught other fish too, such as trevalley, bream and luderick. But these were all too small too keep and so were released back into the water.

Now at this particular spot there are many pelicans who swim very close by when they feel there may be a feed of fish heads on the menu.

They have such amazing large beaks for holding lots and lots of fish. They also make the most amazing guttural kind of noise which I think actually resembles the noise a camel makes! Pelicans are much loved and admired.

Oh I nearly forgot! Mum caught a puffer fish too! Even the pelicans wont eat this one.

There are also lots of Australian Seagulls around. Many people are not fans of the seagull as they are considered to be scavenger birds. Personally, I think they are very beautiful. This poor one had a missing foot. This appears to be a common occurrence with seagulls and someone once told me it is because fish bite them off when they are sitting on the water. I don’t know how much truth is in that.

It was a beautiful and relaxing way to spend an afternoon and early evening.

Upon arriving home I decided there was no escaping my Christmas list. So I made a start on my traditional Christmas fruit cake. All the yummy fruit when into the bowl with a good splash ( or two or three…) of French brandy. I’ll let it macerate for a few days and then cook a big, delicious cake.

I guess things can get pretty hectic at this time of year, so I hope you can all take some time out like I did today. In fact, I reckon I might try and get back there tomorrow….