Fishing: The net value of bait catching

When I was a young kid, our family was always heading off to remote parts of the coast on camping holidays.

With no refrigeration, keeping bait frozen was out of the question so we would take a piper net.

We would catch the bait as we needed it. There's nothing like fresh bait to get the fish biting.

It amazes me that so many people have no idea of how much "free fresh bait" is swimming around in the bays and beaches.

Dragging the bait net was always a family affair, with Dad organising the troops - the first job being the mixing of the berley to attract the bait.

Throwing stale bread out onto the water will only serve to attract every seagull within miles

They not only steal your bread, but they also scare away your bait fish.

The trick is to soak the bread in a little bit of water and mix sand into it.

When you throw it out the sand drags it down under the water, out of sight of the birds.

By now Mum and Dad would have proceeded to lay out the net and progressed to arguing over who was going to be getting wet on the deep end.

Funny how Dad won most of the time and stayed dry by saying "his voice was louder and Mum could hear his instructions from the shore more clearly".

By now the bait fish would be in a feeding frenzy and clearly visible on the surface and my job was to keep feeding them while the net was run out behind them.

Gathering two thirds of the net over her shoulder, my Mum would drag the rest of the net off the beach and then do a 90-degree turn and start letting the net go off her shoulder.

After approximately one third was let go she would turn directly towards the beach, letting the last third out.

With the netters crouching low, each end of the net would be slowly pulled to bring the net ashore.

The low, slow retrieve keeps the net from lifting off the bottom and allowing the bait fish to escape.

With piper galore in the net we would pull it ashore and quickly take what we needed then return the unwanted fish back to the water. I still think much the same way now - catching the bait was nearly as much fun as catching the dinner itself.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY