Many a keen angler will remember their first time catching a fish.
It may have been as a kid, with a relative or trusted adult taking them through the steps of how to bait and lure, before sweeping the line.
But for many parents, including single mother Stacey Bennett from Bendigo, Victoria, teaching children how to catch a fish can be a bewildering or unenviable task.
After searching for a new way to hang out with friends, her son Jesse Bennett, 13, and his mate, Max Scandolera, started heading to Lake Neangar near Eaglehawk to catch fish.
They want to start a junior fishing club but need older people who have a working-with-children’s check to volunteer their time and children how to fish.
“I enjoy hanging out with friends and it’s good outside time,” Jesse said.
“We’re not stuck on screens and our phones all day, and it means getting out of the house.”
Jesse said he and his mates wanted to learn more about fishing from older people.
He said the hobby had taught him to be more patient and persistent.
“I want to go saltwater fishing and be more organised,” Jesse said.
Ms Bennett said it had been up to her to teach Jesse how to fish, and seeing other young mothers in the same position, she had the idea to start a junior fishing club.
“We’ve met lots of other families that seem to be in that same situation,” she told ABC Central Victoria Breakfast presenter Fiona Parker.
“They have kids who were really keen [but] they might not have the fishing knowledge or the equipment.”
Mentors needed
Bendigo is home to several lakes and reservoirs that are stocked with fish.
Jesse and his mates have managed to catch rainbow trout, silver perch, red belly, Murray cod and carp.
“He’s pretty much had to teach himself through YouTube videos, and the help of the local fishing stores have been amazing,” Ms Bennett said.
“People have seen him fishing at the lakes and stopped by to give him some help or different bits of knowledge, and that’s been great.”
The City of Greater Bendigo has given the club a grant to buy equipment and bait.
It comes as the Victorian Fisheries Authority gives away 95,000 “little anglers kits” to grade five primary school students who want to take up fishing.
Lucas Starick, who runs Hartley’s Hunting and Fishing shop in California Gully, said he came to know Jesse after he lost his fishing rod.
“He’s basically all self-taught, which is great to see, but you can always take a bit of advice from people,” he said.
“I’m not saying I’m a professional fisherman anyways, but I have been a fisherman since I was Jesse’s age.”
Mr Starick said not every parent or guardian was a fisher and the group would enable children to take up the hobby.
“We’re looking at having between 15 or 20 fishing rod set-ups as part of the group,” he said.
Fishing holds early memories
Central Victoria is no stranger to fishing or catching a big one.
The Koondrook Barham Fishing competition hosts 300 anglers who come to fish along Gunbower Creek and the Murray River each February.
The Gunbower Creek breaks away from the Murray River near Torrumbarry and re-enters at Koondrook.
The creek has been the site of big catches, such as Beck Horsburgh’s giant Murray Cod in 2020.
She caught the 110-centimetre fish near Cohuna and told ABC Central Victoria then that it took a few goes to get it in the kayak.
Koondrook Barham Fishing Club member Barry Stewart said he remembered the time he caught his first fish.
“My first memory of catching a fish on a lure was up at Robinvale with my old man, and I was probably 15 when I caught my first decent one, and that got me hooked on it,” he said.
“I’ve caught more than 40 or 50 over a metre long and the biggest one I’ve ever seen was 1.46 metres and about 120 pounds [54 kilograms].
“Best one I’ve caught was 1.3 metres out of the Gunbower Creek.”
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