IT’S A BREAM CATCH
Nicholas is only 11 but he hooked this decent fish, reeled it to the edge of the boat and then scooped it up in the net too
HE might only be 11 years old but young Gold Coast fishing fan Nicholas Middleton is already feeding the family. Nicholas, who goes to Robina State School and is in Year 6, caught this fine bream recently, pulling it out of the Nerang River.
It measured 36 centimetres and he caught it on a live yabbie.
Nicholas, from Cararra, was out fishing at the time on a midweek trip with good friend Andre Hagedorn aboard his Quintrex tinny.
The pair along with Nicholas’ younger brother Jake, 10, were out on the river, anchored off the Isle of Capri, in a 14-foot aluminium boat on a Wednesday morning.
“We arrived at the spot at about 9am and he and his brother caught some smaller but legal-size bream,” Andre says, adding they also threw a few back that were under the 23cm legal limit.
“Then without warning, the tip of his rod hit the water and like a pro Nicholas worked the large bream to the edge of the boat where we managed to get the landing net under the bream and lift the fish into the boat,” Andre says.
Andre adds: “The look in his eye and the smile on his face when the fish came into the boat was the highlight of the trip.
“We were fishing with yabbies which I had pumped the day before on the Coomera River.”
All up, the trio caught about seven or eight that morning but none as big as the one that bent Nicholas’ rod back as soon as the bait hit the water.
Andre, who hauled one bream in measuring 33cm, says at 36cm, the catch by Nicholas is the biggest bream he has seen.
Andre, 66, says he has been a keen fisherman since he was a youngster.
“The bream are definitely running at the moment.
“He caught it on a whippy little six-foot rod. I always tell the boys ‘take it easy, take it easy’ and not to try to reel it in too fast.
“The challenge is to wear the fish out,” Andre says.
“Nicholas and Jake and his mother love to eat fish.
“After the fishing trip, I took the boys home and filleted the fish for his family.”
Mr Hagedorn, a maths tutor who has also been helping Nicholas with his studies, says it’s not just his fishing but his aptitude with numbers that’s come a long way over the years.
“He is now one of the best in his class. I am proud to say he achieved an A in his last maths exam.”
Have you caught a big or interesting fish lately? Send us your photos and tell us your story at coastweekend@news.com.au We can expect to hear of new views ad nauseum from globetrotting Ensign Ship Brokers’ Jay Lancaster during the next few months. The international broker posted a sunrise photo on social media last Saturday while at Hamilton Island. It’s one of his first stops on a trip of a lifetime, sailing a $2.5 million Bering Explorer from the Gold Coast to Turkey. Jay (above), the skipper with girlfriend Courtney Morgan as chef, was hired for the fivemonth delivery job by the new owner — after Jay sold the impressive vessel to him. Jay plans to continue in his roaming broker role for Ensign while on the water and says in many ways it’ll be of benefit to his job to be swinging through major international ports and meeting contacts. Jay’s social media post along with the photo notes to his friends and family: “A quick pit stop at Hamilton Island before we cruise to some of the other islands in the Whitsundays. I should apologise now for all the sunrise and sunset pics you are going to get over the next few months.” Indeed — from there he heads through Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and onto Europe.
Do you have some boating news? Email ryan.keen@news.com.au