Thinking Back

[happyas]

Hey I even remember cat gut fishing line when I was very little. I think you had to soak it in water before you used it otherwise it was brittle and would break. The other was the green cord line that you can still see around occasionally. Oh and playing cards held with spring pegs on your bike frame so they clicked in your spokes as you rode along.

[Digger]

Hey I even remember cat gut fishing line when I was very little. I think you had to soak it in water before you used it otherwise it was brittle and would break. The other was the green cord line that you can still see around occasionally. Oh and playing cards held with spring pegs on your bike frame so they clicked in your spokes as you rode along.

Yeah we did that card on the spokes thing too....sounded cool!

We (Mum & Dad and I) hired boats out of Kananook Creek Frankston and fished down towards Mt Martha when I was 8 and we always used handlines made of green brickies cord rolled around a piece of wood. Patenosta rigged with a pyramid sinker on the bottom. In those days the Flathead were bigger but still voracious. We would often catch Rock Cod and frequently Coota. If things went quiet dad would either try to eat a bit of toast or light up his pipe as that would always cause the fish to bite....and it did seem to work! If you didn't get the tide right for your return then you were literally in the sh!t coming back into the creek.

I remember "Rangoon" cane surf rods, one piece and tied down on the roof both front and back on the roof of the car, and I even owned a tapered spring steel rod (square section) that I caught a lot of fish with. Alvey sidecast reels of course! Spinners were usually homemade from spoons After that the surf rods were made of solid fibreglass, heavy things that I still have a few of in the shed.

I can remember Dad shovelling "Bay Trout" from the car boot into wheelbarrows and distributing them to neighbours after fishing at Werribbee. If only we had understood conservation in those days, things might be better now.

[Steve_R]

I even owned a tapered spring steel rod (square section) that I caught a lot of fish with.

The spring steel rod was most likely an army tank whip aerial. Possibly a Dunks. Apparently, the yanks had plenty at the end of WWII and some bright spark (Mr. Dunks, I presume) decided they'd make good fishing rods. Apart from the weight, he was right. They were as strong as... Am I remembering right that their was a join between butt and rod? If you still have it, put me in your will

[Digger]

I even owned a tapered spring steel rod (square section) that I caught a lot of fish with.

The spring steel rod was most likely an army tank whip aerial. Possibly a Dunks. Apparently, the yanks had plenty at the end of WWII and some bright spark (Mr. Dunks, I presume) decided they'd make good fishing rods. Apart from the weight, he was right. They were as strong as... Am I remembering right that their was a join between butt and rod? If you still have it, put me in your will

No mate I lost it when I was a kid. A failed cast flicked it out of my grip in the surf and it disappeared unfortunately. It caught heaps of silver trevs off the works jetty in the entrance at Lakes!

Sorry!

[Steve_R]

I even owned a tapered spring steel rod (square section) that I caught a lot of fish with.

The spring steel rod was most likely an army tank whip aerial. Possibly a Dunks. Apparently, the yanks had plenty at the end of WWII and some bright spark (Mr. Dunks, I presume) decided they'd make good fishing rods. Apart from the weight, he was right. They were as strong as... Am I remembering right that their was a join between butt and rod? If you still have it, put me in your will

No mate I lost it when I was a kid. A failed cast flicked it out of my grip in the surf and it disappeared unfortunately. It caught heaps of silver trevs off the works jetty in the entrance at Lakes!

Sorry!

Maybe you'll live a few years longer, then

[Patroller]

Hey I even remember cat gut fishing line when I was very little. I think you had to soak it in water before you used it otherwise it was brittle and would break. The other was the green cord line that you can still see around occasionally. Oh and playing cards held with spring pegs on your bike frame so they clicked in your spokes as you rode along.

Lol...my Dad cut a piece from a dish washing liquid bottle and wired it to my bike. It sounded like an airoplane and so loud the neighbours asked him to remove it or take the bike off me!

[mazman]

I'm currently 17 and find this very interesting to read. The thing I find most interesting is that when I get older there is a good chance I will look back at the past with the same sort of memories you have. How life was simpler and we used such old/basic technology to do things, we even fished with fibreglass rods none of this *insert space age material here* business etc.
As far as concerns for the future go even I am able to look back at what I did when I was younger and compare it to what those younger than me do today and see a huge contrast, now I'm not sure if this is just me and the friends I grew up with or if most people my age experienced it but i suspect the former and this worries me quite a bit.

Cheers Alex

[Digger]

I'm currently 17 and find this very interesting to read. The thing I find most interesting is that when I get older there is a good chance I will look back at the past with the same sort of memories you have. How life was simpler and we used such old/basic technology to do things, we even fished with fibreglass rods none of this *insert space age material here* business etc.
As far as concerns for the future go even I am able to look back at what I did when I was younger and compare it to what those younger than me do today and see a huge contrast, now I'm not sure if this is just me and the friends I grew up with or if most people my age experienced it but i suspect the former and this worries me quite a bit.

Cheers Alex

Alex, some clear thinking for a bloke of your age! Really when it comes down to it in this country, your future is still in your hands (mostly). As population grows we are bound to see some curtailing of liberties, or things we can do now, and you need to plan and provide for yourself and family from early on. With population growth governments will be unable to maintain the benefits and services we enjoy now, and for some those standards will decline. To that end they will perceive the past as being better.

If you plan from an early stage and work hard, your perception of the present may well compare favourably to your memories of the past.

It's all in your hands my young friend.

[happyas]

Hey Digger, I used to work at Palmers Boat Shed in Kananook Creek when I was a teenager. They were the white hulls, yellow trim and aqua decks. I could start those Chapman engines by flicking the flywheel against the compression by hand.

[tonystott]

Seeing bread, ice, milk and veggies all delivered by horse-drawn cart
Watching crayfish boil in the copper
Seeing a new wringer washing machine arrive
Watching the glee on my folks' faces as they turned on their first fridge
Seeing the "sparrow-starver" collecting horse-manure, and making a living from it.
Helping dad load Malley-roots in the boot (they burn forever)
Being overjoyed when my Dad brought home his first new car (FC Holden)
Throwing a jar half filled with kero into the lit backyard incinerator to see how high the lid would fly
Getting taken to 4 events at the Melbourne Olympics by the American family friend who came here to design the Holden dashboard.
Watching the 1956 Australian Grand Prix live at Albert Park
Travelling by boat over to Churchill Island and then riding the luggage sled behind the tractor up to the farmhouse
Shooting bunnies on Churchill Island (being trusted with a 410 double-barrelled pistol at 10yo).
Lying on sandbags on the veranda after lunch, and firing .222s, 303s, Garards, 1856 Winchester (black powder) etc at targets set at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards in the passionfruit orchard
Watching pine-needles jump a foot when my rellies fired the ship's cannon into WPB on NYE (don't worry, the stopped years ago!)

Luckily we tend to remember the good bits...