KEY POINTS:
The more time you spend on the water the more you become attuned to your surroundings and a lot of the pieces of Mother Nature's jigsaw puzzle fall into place. Looking back now I'm so grateful I had such neat parents who made time to do family things,
such as camping and fishing.
I can still recall as a kid arriving at a campsite, busily clearing the ground of rocks and branches before pitching the old canvas tent.
When a caravan would pull up nearby and that family was instantly ready to go and have fun I used to wonder what it would be like to have rich parents. The same thoughts presented when all we had was a 12ft plywood dinghy and the big flash boats would charge past as we putted off fishing, doing 6 knots top speed as the poor old Seagull outboard worked its heart out.
Looking back, I wouldn't trade my parents for quids. I'm so grateful we were taught independence, to make our own choices and to take the consequences of our actions.
The life skills learned early from those camping holidays and fishing trips were more than just fun. they helped shape the rest of my life.
Sure it was more by the grace of God than good management that I never fell off some big cliffs when rock-fishing on my own, but getting trapped by the tide did make you learn pretty quickly how to climb out of trouble.
And climbing also helped find a whole lot more potential fishing and diving spots which became obvious once you moved away from sea level and took time to study the area from a higher perspective.
That was how I learned that good fishing and snorkelling is all to do with rock structure and bottom type that create environments that hold fish life in the local area.
Essentially, habitat is where it's at.
An early lesson was that the types of seaweed and kelp differed from location to location and had a particular influence on the type of fish life in an area.
As a kid, life was all about having fun. For me that was being in or on the water. I'd jump on my bike and head to the local beaches to check out what was under the water.
And pretty soon I could build a picture in my mind of where to target the local fish.
Later, no matter where I went around the country, I could still draw on that knowledge to ascertain the best places to catch fish or snorkel for a cray or two.
The thing that still amazes me is that, despite huge population growth over the years and electronic advances, with GPS chart-plotters taking us exactly where we want to go and depth sounders giving such a clear picture of the ocean floor, people still struggle to consistently catch fish.
