SOMETIMES Steve Smith leaves his own fishing rods at home.
Instead, the Manly West dad packs up the gear for his six-year-old son Tye and takes his pleasure from watching the next generation cast a line.
“We go all the time. I just go for Tye. He’s fishing mad,” Mr Smith said.
“He gets so excited and jumps up and down when something grabs the bait.”
The pair are regulars at the jetty near the Redland Bay car ferry, where Mr Smith said they fish for bream, whiting and snapper.
Recently, Tye even graduated to bigger equipment, upgrading from a 1.2m rod to a 1.8m rod.
Mr Smith said the jetty was his favourite local spot, although he sometimes caught the ferry across to Karragarra Island for a bit of beach fishing.
Despite the excitement of the catch, none of the fish go home with them.
“My partner hates fish. It’s just a catch-and-release situation. Or I give them to fellow fishermen,” he said.
“It really is just for sport.”
Mr Smith uses a herring jig to catch larger bait, while Tye has already developed a taste for more adventurous catches.
“His favourite is sharks,” Mr Smith said, adding his own biggest catch was a three-metre bull shark landed at Hervey Bay.
“I’ve always lived near the water.
“I’ve been fishing since I was a kid.
“You just learn as you go.”
Another familiar face on the jetty is Redland Bay local Robert Managing, who fishes there weekly for bream and snapper.
“I’ve been coming for 10 years. It’s a pastime really,” Mr Managing said.
“No one taught me. I decided to do it,” he said.
Mr Managing said his biggest snapper caught at the jetty so far measured 52cm – proof that patience can pay off.
