My name is Bradley Heath. As you can see from my page my main interest is fishing both for fun and in competition. I am a member of the Tea Tree Gully Angling Club and since joining the club I can say quite honestly that my fishing skill and knowledge has jumped from very little to fairly reasonable, also I am a member of the Adelaide Sportfishing Club . By joining the club I can now chase many fish species with relative amounts of success.
I started fishing when I was just under 3 years old in Port Lincoln. I still have a muffled memory of that first fish I caught at 3 when I was on the Kirton Point Caravan Park Jetty with my Dad who had caught some "huge" (to a 3 year old) Tommies that were swimming around in the bucket. At that moment I remember my handline tightening rapidly in my hands and the line tracing the fish's movement through the water. I pulled and he pulled eventually getting it onto the surface where my Dad lifted it up the jetty. My first fish was an absolute whopper (to a 3 year old), it was a small (40cms or so) Mulloway. Dad kept this fish even though we now know it was undersize as it was my first fish. That fish tasted pretty damn good that night for dinner, I can tell you!
Since this first fish I have had many ups and downs in my fishing life. I still have memories of living in Port Pirie and chasing Whiting and Crabs. I remember one day out I had a double header of a big "Shitty" and a nice Salmon Trout on. In those days I didn't use the drag or have much technique but I do know that I could only pull it halfway up because of the fight they were putting up on my primitive rod and reel. 
My first Carp was very similar on the old rod'n'reel, I brought it in until 5 metres out when I couldn't budge it. Dad took over and my first Carp of about 1.5kg was landed.
By the way, I'm the little bloke in the middle holding the line.
Over the years I had a couple of good fishing trips when I was 7 and 8. At 7 I went to Streaky Bay where I caught many fish including my first Snook. On that trip I also had my biggest Snook at 3.6kg and my first experience with Sharks out of the boat. We saw an oceanic blue shark and a 7ft or so Hammerhead. At 8 Coffin Bay was the venue of the family holiday where I also experienced some good fishing. In particular I remember I had one of those cheap K-Mart breakable fishing combo's. I caught my biggest Flathead to date on this with one of about 3lb, a Southern Sand Flathead.
The picture is my father keeping a watchful eye on me as I catch another Mackeral Trevalla from the school that invaded Port Pirie's Fishermans Wharf.
At the end of 1988 we moved to Adelaide and as a result Dad had had to sell our boat. In Adelaide he took up sailing again and as a result fishing became a very rare activity. Maybe 6 or 7 times a year. I remember when Dad went sailing I caught my first Bream from my Grandma and Grandad's pontoon on West Lakes on the same day I also lost a big bugger to! My first memorable the-one-that-got-away story. Believe me there has been many more since. Like that first decent Mulloway getting off after a long fight when I was 10 years old. He was not a huge fish but around the 25 pound mark, coming in nicely until it spat the hooks 10 metres out from the rocks.
For a couple of years fishing was limited very much to the odd occasion when we went back to Port Pirie to visit our friends. Then when I was about 13 the Tea Tree Gully Angling Club came along. I still remember some of the first trips with the club when I was not so much competitive but just there to have fun and learn. In my first season ('94-'95) I won the junior club champion award. In the '95-'96 season I learnt a lot more about fishing and won a very tight junior championship again. I say very tight becuase there was just 4 points separating me and the runner up coming into the last competition. In the '96-'97 season I came 4th in the mens championship and runner up in the aggregate fish weight. Over these 3 years in the club I have been very lucky to win so many trophies with others not mentioned above being the club Meritorious freshwater award, meritorious saltwater, heaviest other freshwater excluding all species of Carp, club records and the junior aggregate champion in 94/95. In the '96-'97 season I won the state's most meritorious capture award with a Carp on 1kg line. Another memory I have is coming runner up junior champion in the state freshwater championships in 1996. I was even more pleased with this seeing as it was my first state championships. The '97/'98 Mens championship came my way as did the Men's aggregate champion, meritorious saltwater capture and the SAPC Meritorious Freshwater award with a 6.78kg Carp on 1kg line. My dad tells me I'm a trophy hunter. I cannot deny the fact that I do like to win awards if I fish hard. I have put the above achievements in as they are some of my best memories in my relatively short club fishing career. Now with my sportfishing tendencies and a change to the Adelaide Sportfishing Club I have more of an opportunity to use the boat and catch some decent fish on light lines. My line class preference is 1 and 2kg.
The purchase by my father in 1996 of a Savage Tasman half cabin has also helped in the catching of some species and it has only bolstered both of our fishing lives as I believe that fishing ALL forms from the river to the offshore reefs is the only way to go, for me anyway and I believe that my fishing knowledge benefits from these experiences.
This catch was from the first time we took the boat out off Adelaide. I'm on the right.
I have some favourite fish to chase and catch and I guess of these the most special would have to be Snapper in the salt and Callop from the Murray River. Snapper look great, fight hard, taste fantastic and grow big which puts them high on my target list. Callop are just a special fish to catch from the lower Murray since the Carp invasion. I release the majority of Callop that I catch but keep a few as well as there are few better eating fish in my opinion.
This Murray Cod is the only one I have ever caught and was a very special fish to catch. Definately a memorable moment.
OTHER PICTURES OF ME, MY DAD, CLUBBIES AND MATES.
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© 1997 bradheath@hotmail.com
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