Darwin cup day

A public holiday in Darwin last Monday - time for SWOFFING!!!!

Had 20 grey over white clousers tied for the pelagics
Why tie one when you can tie 20..........
I tie these very rough and untidy - adds to the subtlety of the fly

Peter and I head off early for Dinah Beach ramp, on the water by 6:30am as sun peaking over the horizon - and then to Lee Point again (why not, as fish always there on dropping tide)

Forecast was for strong winds all day so we thought an hour at Lee Point and then onto creeks to try for some Barra and such on mud flats as last of tide dropped out. the low was just after lunch at just a little more than a meter so we would see a lot of structure we hadn't see before or for a while so a great opportunity to explore when the inevitable wind started howling across the harbour

However, the fish were all over the reef at Lee Point.
At first with so much water over the reefs (max spring tides to 7+m high at eight a.m.) the fish were spread out and tentative

But still we caught fish and were the only boat out there, other boats off in the distance but we had the whole of Lee Point close in reefs to ourselves

As the tide dropped the fish started to get more aggressive towards the fly and the bait hugging the reef

By 9am the water had glassed off (see video at end of this blog) and the fly fishing just got better and better. At times a fish a cast.
I needed a few fish for a school subject (dissection and identifying gut contents) and the variety of species proved fortuitous
Large stripies, goldens, GTs, grey macks, small narrow barred macks, queenfish, yellow tail pike, longtom and even one foul hooked garfish - a large one good enough to even fillet.

Till 1pm we had calm seas, mirror calm, and fish action all around us. Then in seconds the wind came up, shifted, and white caps pushed us off the reef

We then headed for the creeks, however with a stopover at Cullen Bay ferry ramp for a pit stop (me) and the most awesome hot chips i have eaten in a while. Which Peter's lovely wife brought to us. We headed back out to the wind towards the creeks and we heard a loud whistle.

Initially we thought it was the plethora of birds of prey (Brown Buzzards) swirling above us and the entrance to Cullen Bay Dock area, but it was Peter's wife again (man! Has she got a whistle) - in that wind, with us almost out of the small bay....

She had forgotten to gives us the prime reason for the stopover in Cullen Bay - the remote for the electric Peter had forgotten this morning. they live on the waterfront at Nightcliff but the water was too far out to get in to Nightcliff wharf, let alone the silted up boat ramp there.

Now off to the creeks....
Fairly slow fishing, tide was already rising - we had missed my favourite time of tide for creeks - the very last of the outgoing tide. Just love casting to the ends of 'snake' drains and the muddy plume that flows from them as they are perfect ambush points for the predators - namely Barra and Threadfin salmon.

For the next few hours we cast and cast but to no avail. We sighted a few disturbances of bait being harassed. But only had one half take from the boil, flash and location a Barra - my Barra nemesis issues continue!

Before we knew it it was 5pm and we had been going since hitting the water 6:30am
Long day. Lee Point proved awesome again! We learnt more about Darwin Harbour creeks - soooo much more to learn .

20150705 - Lee Point and glassy baitfish

Started off this last Sunday morning in Peter's boat at Dinah Beach Ramp before the sun was up

The wind that was in our faces was so way off the forecast that someone should sacked. The wind was howling 10-15 knots rather than the 1-5 knot forecast and in the opposite direction! The 30cm chop that pounded the boat ramp as soon as we were in the water – was not encouraging! Given it was supposed to be a lot calmer.

Still we headed out to Lee Point with no stops along the way - getting pretty wet in the wind swept and choppy harbour as we headed out to the front of the harbour and Lee Point. we wove through a large number of naval boats here for exercises in the Timor Sea in the next couple of weeks, even a large black submarine off Talc Head was seen. 

Once we arrived at Lee Point, while the water was very clear, we were still about an hour before the top of the ‘springish’ tide – and absolutely nothing was showing fish wise - and worse there was still lots of wind and a heavy chop coming all the way across from Shoal bay.

We moved around a bit searching the various spots near Lee Point. We hung around the area because we knew even though nothing was showing at the top of the tide as soon as it dropped a bit the baitfish would be funnelled around and over our favourite reef and its Spot 'X'.

It was pretty boring with nothing happening fish wise - so I was being lulled into sleep mode by the chop and wave action waiting for the pelagics to start slashing at the water surface.

At the reef we mostly target, the tidal current goes the opposite way you would expect given the swirl from Shoal bay and the flow in and out of the main harbour. High tide was 8:15am and at around 10am we started seeing action around the area. We chased a few in the area around the reef but quite flighty and inconsistent. So we kept heading back to our Spot X about 500m North-West off the tip of the beach of Lee Point. It’s a semi-circle reef section  that corrals the baitfish to gaps in the reef. Sadly for the bait fish the pelagics gang up on them in front and behind the reef as they slip though – but awesome fun for us. as it tells us where to cast.

Plus the wind had started to back off - so it was feeling quite nice out on the point 

For the next two hours it was if someone had touched a switch changing the attitude of the fish in the immediate area – total mayhem after a hour or two of nothing. Macks to 50-60cm, queenies were small 40-50cm but the odd big one over 60-70cm mixed in. 

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There were some absolutely huge slashes at times in the distance and once a large number of meter plus macks and queenies were right under the boat in very clear water easily seen harassing the big garfish and yellowtail pike who were also gorging themselves on the prolific numbers of small baitfish. The 20cm size garfish and pike were jumping everywhere to get out of their way.

The pike were also jumping about and flicking out of the water - right at the back of the boat. I was wondering why, when I finally had a closer look I saw a patch of the small baitfish next to the prop of the outboard, seemingly sheltering for safety near it. Thousands and thousands of them were in the area between us and the reef. I even scooped a few up to feed my large tropical fish at school. 

See video here for a clip on the bait hiding at the back of the boat around the motor.

We kept a few macks for the table and a couple of the bigger queenies. Off the side of the reef Peter got a nice 35cm stripie - one of the biggest I have seen since coming up here to Darwin, and we both caught a plethora of other reef species. There was a short period when the golden trevally were about but we only got one of them to hand. It was so brilliant in its yellow hues. I think the flies never got deep enough for them, with the queenies and macks taking most flies we cast

Once Peter was on a hot streak with the macks and as the new Deckie I would net the fish, and as we wanted a few for the table, I would wack its head to calm it down (that is kill it!) and head to back of boat to de-head it, bleed it and clean it. But before I had time to finish he had cast again and was hooked up again. He had three in the net and the one I was cleaning all in four casts. and the poor deckie wasn't getting any fishing in!!! wah wah wah!  poor me!

We used closuers of any type and colour – only size seemed the main criteria – if the fly equal to the size of the bait fish (4-5cm) and you got follows and hits. I mostly was using a grey over white clouser on size 1 hooks with beadchain eyes. We also used a silicone based surf candy I made up 20 of last week - which were if a touch longer than the actual baitfish - were an almost perfect match texture, colouring and size for the glassy baitfish everything was eating. note: I feel the silicone has a different sink rate to an all epoxy surf candy. Adding a different bite and feel in the mouth to the predator fish too.

After over two hours of great SWOFFING with fish after fish, and multiple double hookups - we left the fish biting and slashing at the bait and our flies as sadly I had to be back home for afternoon family stuff and we had a change of shift at the boat ramp between myself and Peter's wife and her daughter - for their family time (a picnic on the low tide sand bar off Cullen Bay). I hope the wind stayed calm for their outing.

Adding to our excitement of our SWOFFING was that it was another time when the fly reigned supreme with Peter and I being to only ones catching fish of any numbers of the 6 or so boats working the area. You just cant match the size and action of the targeted baitfish with metal slices or soft plastics which sink too fast - most of the takes we got where on subtly stripped flies rather than rapidly stripped ones. Casting the flies across the tidal current to drift the across the edges of the reef worked the best. It wasn't just cast long and strip fast - you had to think about it and cast accurately to the actively feeding fish. Longer cast were made almost full line length (wind assisted in my case) but most casts made were only 40-60feet. Even caught a few fish after dehooking a fish and tossing the fly to sink slowly right at back of the boat while washing hands of fish slime, such was the aggressive mood of the predator fish.

So now to clean a few fish I kept and cook them up for dinner.

See you on the water.

NT Swoffer 

Got an email from Jeff Watson - a fellow Darwinite SWOFFER - with this photo asking if this was me and Peter fishing. That's Peter up front and me in back with yellow shirt right on Spot X. Twice now he has been on the beach at Lee Point and seen us getting into the fish. He was land based and targeting sand whiting on the beaches. 

20150622 – All over Darwin Harbour – Twice

First Day of school holidays and first time using my own boat in several weeks

Was going to take out the volunteer bus driver from school but he was a bit under the weather

So it was just me fishing, which was fine…..

Up a little later than normal due to dropping Youngest daughter off at day care. Found out later in day she told everyone who would listen that Daddy was fishing today. Must teach her a new word – SWOFFING! As far better than fishing or dangling let alone trolling!

Having fueled up and iced up the day before so as soon as daughter was tucked into day care, it was a straight road to the boat ramp. Was on water by 7:45am. Would have been earlier but left chain on boat and after three attempts to jolt the boat off the trailer I remembered I stopped undoing chain as bolt had rusted frozen and needed pliers to get it undone.

Once up ramp a bit, undid the bolt – at least I had put the bungs in (who hasn’t at one time or another done that!) Steering free and easy, motor starts first try – awesome (has the school holiday curse been lifted????)

Quite windy, chop short and messy – I must have toughened up since my last sook about windy conditions the harbor seems to be producing, because I head out quite optimistic (unusual I know!)

Headed out to Shelly Island first – tide had two more hours of inflow before reversing, so the wharf side of island usually holds a few fish as this stage of tide.

Fish not in the usual tide line but out the front of the island, every few minutes bursting the surface attacking bait pushed up against the island shallows. Trevally, queenfish the main but a few of the typical slashes that suggest small macks mixed in with them. I hook up almost instantly, lost a few flies to macks, kept a bigger trevally for dinner. Tossed the rest back. A half hour of fun and they just disappeared as if they were never there.

Sorry pic not in focus - only one I took for the day too! have to pick up the standard.

Next stop was Caitlyn bay – nothing

East Point – macks about and lost two flies to them, Then some BIG queenies zipped in and out without taking my flies and scaring me as to their size and potential fight (that didn’t happen!)

With only a bit of incoming tide left, I raced out front to Lee Point (Deckie Peter in his boat in the previous afternoon wind lull got into a heap of fish, so I was hoping  they were still there)

On arrival very windy and subsequent swell and chop, no fish seen. After a half hour of blind casting I got two macks, and a queenie. But thought I would head back into main harbour to see what was about out of the wind

Would find a few birds working make a few casts catch a fish or two – then quite again. So off to another spot, rock bar, reef or current confluence. I made it all the way to back of Harbour and the Elizabeth River and an island just at mouth. Caught a few macks here, one with a perfect V cut behind its anal fin – just like one its mates had taken a chunk out it.

Back to Shellie Island, a few more fish on the outgoing tide. Next was Wickham point – now this was a great time

The water levels were dropping so the sand bar at the back of Wickham point was funnelling the water and thus  the bait through a narrow chute, confused and disorientated as they transverse the sandbar making them easy takings for the queenies and trevally waiting for them.

By the time I caught three the tide had dropped too far and the bait moved else where as too the predators.

First time for the day visit to Weed Reef – not much showing at usual halfway down tide locations. A few more of the usual for some blind casting.but that is boring. I love casting to fish busting up the surface. So off to Mandorah T bar reef south of wharf. Only very small stuff here.

Wind had been dropping off all morning – so headed for East Point. Nothing here of note. So out to Lee Point again.

Water was bubbling all over the reef. Mostly larger macks to 70cm, under them some 40cm goldens.

Was losing heaps of flies to the macks, so added on a haywire twist of 20lb single strand wire in front of the fly. Figure eight knot on end of wire to tie the mono leader to with a uni knot (slides down to figure 8 knot). Not much wire just 5cm or so. Still it impacted strike rates on the small white clousers I was using.

Caught 6 macks and a couple of goldens before it was time to head home. I have no nav lights so had to back at ramp before sun went down.

Had a 70cm+ golden on but lost it on second netting attempt after 15 minutes of struggle - where is the deckie when you need him!!! oh that's right working!

On way back in I fished East Point, Caitlyn bay, the area in front of the Deckchair Cinema and Shellie Island again for a few fish each location. Nothing huge, nothing constant – at least 50 fish over the 10 and half hours on the water but it seemed a hard day.
Averaged out to five fish an hour but lots of travelling time to and fro.

Twice around the harbour. Well maybe not around twice but at least it was out and in twice and lots of swerving from one side of the harbour to the other side and back.

It was almost the holiday curse back as I pulled the boat out. While the boat was on the trailer half way up the ramp I stopped and pulled the boat bungs - SADLY about 20 litres came out - damn! another keel crack!*^&*&%&#$^%#

But on filling it up with water when home not a leak (one very very tiny one (not near keel either) but certainly not 20 litres worth. So why why why...?????

Then I remember I haven't taken the boat out for at least four weeks which means the rain storm from three weeks ago was the culprit not a crack - thank goodness!!!!

It’s been a long time since I fished that long, let alone half the day in 5-10 knot winds.

What’s next? Thursday looks good for another time in and out of the harbour.

Until then..

One more thing on bungs -when I was pulling out after a long day - a couple of young blokes had left their bung out when they launched and by the time the ute driver got back to the boat the little tinnie was a third full of water. We hauled it up the ramp and let the water run out. Took four of us to haul it but tide was coming in so once water was out they wouldn't have issues relaunching it.
So make sure your bungs are in before launch next time out!

20150614 - Lee Point Trip report - Goldens, Macks and queenies

Spent late Saturday afternoon helping Canadian Pete, putting in a 24 volt battery system and his new toy - an 80lb motorguide GPS guided trolling motor.

What a huge electric thruster. You can even get 36volt version now. I remember buying one of the first models available in Australia - a hand tiller one I had on a canoe to fish Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast – it was a no combustion engine dam. Would have been late 80’s early 90’s

How things have changes. Track memory, anchor points, home points all at the touch of a button

The scary thing was drilling those holes to hold the plate down and getting it right!

 so absolute 

Once that was done – the rest was easy.

Still a few more things to do – wiring on trailer a bit iffy and get another 120amp battery (using one 

of mine at the moment)

So with that done a little sleep and up at 5;30am to get on water at Dinah Beach ramp before the sunrise.

Weather was going to be windy but manageable in Peter’s higher sided, thicker hulled boat when compared with mine.

We head out to Lee Point with a short stop in Caitlyn Bay – just in case some Golden trevally in that same corner on that same stage of the dropping tide – but not today.

Once out to Lee Point several other boats were there but none fly fishing

Around these boats, fish were readily seen busting up bait that was huddled for shelter over a reef that was being exposed by the dropping tide

The other boats were casting lures and baits for no effect except some small yellow tail pike

Second cast I was on to a mackerel, Peter not much later.

We had double hook ups and at least one of us hooked up most of the next two hours.

The other boats – almost nothing. You could hear them talking about how they wished they had taken up fly fishing.

we had a great time, watching the mackerel react to the flies in very clear water. they were just rolling around in amongst the bait. You could even pick the fish you wanted to cast to - awesome  fun!

It was almost embarrassing the fish numbers we were catching (when compared to the other boat working the same area – Golden trevally when you let the fly sink right down to edge of reef, - yellow tail pike, queenies and mackerel depending on the stripping action you put on the fly and location of cast. used clousers in white,  blue over white, and surf candies  blue, charteuse, and all white. I don't think fly type mattered as much as size, stripping action and location cast to.

While Nothing big - heaps and heaps of fun - Queenies to 45cm, mackerel to 50 (but quite solid in the hand not skinny like previous outings), Goldens to 40cm (kept a few of these Goldens for dinner)

We ventured off to find bigger fish. Found some tuna but they were quite sporadic and only in ones and twos. Bust up here, bust up over there – chase them and they wold bust up  where you once were!

No luck with the tuna - quite frustrating to see them and not get them!*(^*^$*^%#^&%#

Spent rest of day visiting our favourite spots around the harbor for not much else – a queenie or two, a Mack. Once Peter got a small Strippie that got muscled by a huge dark shape that stayed connected for a while before breaking the leader and shredding part of the fly line.

So tough day but plenty of fish early on – best part no one but  fly fishers getting in to the fish at Lee Point – GO THE FLY!!!!

When is the next trip???????????  

(four weeks of school holidays coming up  next week so should get more SWOFFING in - I hope as usually something goes wrong with the my boat in the first trip of school holidays and I don't fish for the rest of the holiday break!

Here is a very bad bit of filming of a small golden under the water just before netting and release

Juvenile Goldens are so vibrant in their colours and in their never say die fighting style that makes them  feel far bigger then what eventually get to the net!

Sunday report 20150329

Finally got back on the water - after 13 plus weeks

Took out regular deckie, Canadian Pete,
Conditions were great, just enough breeze to ripple the surface and keep us cool
But I think the recent 130mm of water over the last couple of days put fish off
Cause the fishing was HARD!!!!!!

Started off trying to launch at Nightcliffe ramp but bottom half of it had a couple of feet of sand over it making it very very shallow for a long way out - the 2m+ low should have had plenty of water to launch - so we headed to Dinah beach ramp
The trip out to front  of harbour while not glass conditions was smooth

Hardly a fish seen at the first location  Lee Point - so after what seemed a thousand casts we came back into the harbour to check out a few rock bars for some scales or movement

We zoomed over to Mandorah T bar south of the wharf but again no sign of fish
By the time we got to Weed Reef it was almost covered with the rising tide but I have caught fish here in similar conditions tide wise
Still no fish

I heard about a land based angler on Friday seeing schools off swirling fish (goldens?) near the esplanade at the city so we head towards that side of the Harbour

Popping firstly into Kaitlyn Bay where I had previous caught many goldens
There was a couple of anglers and one Swoffer fishing from the shore
As we get there to the very first corner closest to the Naval base - a few fish could be seen swirling but were doing so inconsistently
Blind casting an area after the fish stopped showing on the surface - Peter, hooked one nice golden inside the first corner of the rocks that really took him in the backing fast. he was very impressed by the fighting strength of a golden when compared top the same sized GT.

This medium sized golden fought well above its weight class as it tried several times to wrap him around rocks and could be seen in the shallow water of the rocky area flash side to side - high sticking to rod high into the air minimize the damage to the leader on the rocks and allowed it to eventually swim away from rocks where we eventually netted it in deeper water.
(later a few nicks and abrasions were found on the running line section of the fly line)

Queenies, trevally and goldens - all eventually hit the net but it was still many casts between fish

After another few hundred casts later, we finally went to our last spot of Shelley Island near the shipping wharf and managed to get a double hook up on a momentarily swarming mass of attacking fish that disappeared as quickly as it started - minus the queenie and trevally of our double hook up - both fish intending to make macrame with our flylines as they fought around the boat and back and forth, but that was it not another sign of fish activity.

We hoped our day was only tough due to the recent freshwater deluge that might have changed the salinity of the harbour water
As we are planning another trip Easter Friday.
Always the optimists - are we Swoffers!!!!!
see you on the water

Video of trip report 20141002 - Darwin Harbour

here is some of the salt fly fishing action (20141002) on Darwin Harbour.
First it was small mackerel,
Then a heap of queenies and an inquisitive seabird.
Then a heap of Goldens tucked into a back corner of a small bay.
An awesome days fishing!
40 plus fish caught all up - queenies to 60cm, macks to 55cm, goldens to 50cm

Trip Report - Darwin Harbour 20141002

6am start to get on the water in the pre-Dawn light - so nice to go fishing midweek. The boat ramp was empty.
Met up with one fly fisher at the fuel pump on way to ramp (Wayne from Show Ponies team) -
Him to work, me to fishing - what can you say!
Someone has to do it!
He was muttering something about something being unfair, but what?
I can't see it!

First stop Shelly Is - nothing
Wickham Point - zip!
Weed Reef - a few splashes then nothing
Mandorah rock bars - very quiet!
I crossed over the harbour to Cullen Bay - quieter still
Headed towards East Point and a little action bird and slashing fish - hope rises

Finally, at 9:30am I managed two mackerel quickly in succession off the extreme outer edge of the reef now at the high tide level of 5.3m
A few more bust ups on bait on the drop off of East Point reef - a 60cm queenfish this time.

Then quiet again.......casting,,,,casting,,,,for naught!
The decision was then do I go to Lee Point knowing the wind would increase at lunchtime and it would be a rough ride back into harbour in the afternoon

I chose to go the other way (softie!) - and went round the corner from East Point into Fannie Bay.
Here birds were working, mainly in small groups but there was one large flock of birds worth investigation. Firstly I thought it would be mackerel - not the best to chase around as very skittish. But the slashes were different to mackerel.

It turned out to be large packs of 50-60cm queenfish, while very sporadic in their appearance and almost always out of casting distance when they did show up - I chased them around Fanny Bay amongst the kids learning to sail.

I stop counting after 20 fish to hand, they all seemed to fight above their size and weight class. It was tremendous SWOFFING! heaps of fun!
I used clousers and surf candies on sinking lines - neither fly showing any dominance over the other. The fishing was so good I switched to a floating line and a crease fly but after only a few follows went back to the deep setup even though only in 3 metres of water (best for a faster stripping style)

I was looking around the area for fish with the fly hanging in the water and fluked a 55cm mackerel on the stationary fly I wasn't even looking at - don't think that one counts! (at least ethically maybe)

Interestingly when I was netting this mackerel, a large seabird dove into the net to grab the fish. I told him it was mine!

The bird (I think its name is a Brown Booby(?)) seemed quite lazy in its attempts to feed, just sitting on the water and occasionally putting its head under the water searching. I got focusing on fishing again and next thing the bird is sitting on my console not a metre from me. Eventually it took off after some rest time.

A few of the fish vomited up some bait, the bait varied in length from 3-5 cm - which help explain why the smaller candies and clousers were taken aggressively, rather then the half-hearted attempts of fish at the large flies I tested out.

Having had my fill of chasing fish around the bay, I needed a different fish under different circumstances - so headed up into the harbour, back towards my eventual take out point at East Arm Boat Ramp. It is not often I leave the fish biting in search of new horizons.

The wind was already starting to blow harder, so was thinking of heading back to boat ramp given the great Swoffing already experienced but around 11am about an hour after the turn of the tide, I stopped off in a little bay called (I think) Katlin Bay between Cullen bay and Larrakeyah

First thing seen was a couple of very small surface ripples in the opposite direction of the wind waves
Once closer the tell tail indication of yellow flash tells me Golden Trevally. There was a couple of schools the size of a small car, working the area.

To start with and from a distance, they looked quite small and right in the shallows, but the first hookup immediately told me differently. As usual the Golden's fought much harder than the same sized Giant trevally.

One took me into my backing very strongly in a matter of seconds. but my leader parted after a few minutes of back and forth. Bugger! would have liked to seen that one, definitely bigger than the others I had been catching, giving its determined long run with that tell tale trevally 'thumping' on the end of the line.

After fifteen Goldens to the boat up to 55cm, they didn't want to play anymore. But my day was done so no issue. The wind was increasing and it had been a great morning SWOFFING Darwin Harbour.

A little mischief to explain as well
Fished by myself this trip but I had asked a few mates to come - my regular deckie had to work (in Court all day so couldn't take a sickie), one on a course he couldn't get out of, another moving house, two others that didn't reply to my messages and emails - so all the time I was fishing, well when I caught a fish - a photo was duly taken and sent to them with a count of fish caught.
One said he hates me, one asked for a fillet or two from the Goldens, the one on the course sent back 'Grrrrrrr!" - me laughing the whole time! hahahahaha lol lol lol lol!
Love SWOFFING Darwin Harbour!

Enjoy the video - (up soon)

Goldens busting up Darwin Foreshore

One more video from earlier this year

So much wind lately - starting to get annoying, as by 10am, even by 9am, most mornings it is blowing 10 knots plus
I must be getting old or spoiled with the great fishing up here......as I find my enthusiasm wanes in the opposite as the wind gets stronger

So today I went through some old footage and reminisced about no wind days earlier in the year
We had full days of glassed out water and fish readeily seen as they harassed baitfish
Particularly, the video I post today, when I had some awesome action one very still day early in March

I thought to begin with that I was casting towards a rock but as you will see in the video I was mistaken

Fishing with daughter (4yrs)

The local waters can be hot and cold fishing wise for me so far this year.
But a recent trip with my 4yr old daughter was definitely hot - fishing wise

Just a couple of hundred metres from the boat ramp at East Arm the water was boiling with packs of fish harassing bait. We were heading to front of harbour (a 40minute run) but we stayed here all morning just puttering around on the electric motor.

For three hours we were hooked up to giant trevally to 45cm and if the fly got past them there were golden trevally to 65cm also present and eager to take the fly. The flies use were pinkish clousers and small surf candies about 4-5cm long. I used a full sinking line on a 7w TFO fly rod (one I won in a competition last year for catching a 53cm mangrove jack to win the category for Largest of Species - Snapper).

I just had to cast near the boiling mass of frenzied feeding fish to get a hook up. No long casts just a gentle false cast and land the fly 20m away - so easy. The one handed fast strip was interspersed with pauses here and there but once 2-3m away from the boiling fish, a quick water haul and back into the water near the fish.

Here is the video I did up for proud mum i.e. more of daughter than fishing but you can easily see the fishing action in between my cute daughter doing stuff like driving my boat and getting tangled in the fly line.