Fishing for something

I've been fishing through photo albums for any photographs that I might have that could relate to the prompt this week, but without much success, which doesn't surprise me. I know my late father-in-law enjoyed fishing when staying at the simple beach house at Malua Bay on the NSW South Coast, which he built himself in the early 1960s, and which is still standing, now amongst a lot of much more recent and more permanent homes, but I don't have any photos of him fishing, and my own father was never a fisherman. Gardening was his recreational activity of choice, and the only fish we had were some goldfish in an ornamental rock pool in the back garden. I remember one unfortunate occasion when the pool had to be covered with netting after some large birds flew in and decimated the resident fish population.

This photograph in my mother's album was taken when Jean was about 10 and her aunts Flora and Bess had taken her to visit their sister Ruby and her family at Invercargill, down at the southern tip of the South Island of New Zealand.  A suited gentleman, who I think may have been Ruby's husband William Berry, appears to be using a line or rope, either to fish or to pull something out of the water, and the process is being keenly watched by half a dozen boys. No rod to be seen. The boy in the hat standing next to the gentleman looks like Will's son and Jean's cousin, Jack Berry.  This and the next two photographs appear on a page that Jean has captioned "Picnic at Invercargill".  In the background you can see what looks like a white tent, with possibly several more a little further away. Perhaps the boys were attending a camp or some similar event, especially as another boy is wearing what looks like a scout hat. My mother's older brother Ken might have been attending the camp, but but without the benefit of any further explanation from my late mother, I can really only guess at who is in the picture and what they were really doing. Taking the photograph from across the water enabled good reflections to be captured.

The next photograph shows Jean, Flora (behind), Bess and Jack relaxing on the grass after their picnic. Will might have been the photographer.  Son Jack's full name was John Waldwyn Berry, He was aged 23 when he was killed when serving in Italy with the NZ forces in 1943. He and his older brother Doug were two of my mother's favourite cousins and I've previously written a little more about him here. 

In this photo Jack is surveying the rural scene, with the river and the tents or huts in the distance.  Another photo which I haven't included shows him attending to a boiling billy, no doubt so that the picnickers could enjoy a nice hot cuppa. Perhaps they had a bacon and egg pie for their lunch, as that was always one of Jean's favourites.

I remember taking out a fishing licence one summer when we were spending time at Hawks Nest NSW with the children, but our overall lack of success at catching anything did not encourage me to renew it the following year. Here in Victoria holders of Seniors Cards do not require licences, but despite hearing enthusiastic reports of where the fish are biting on the bay and elsewhere, every Saturday morning on my favourite radio station at around 6 a.m., I'm still not tempted!

Here is a collage of photos taken last evening near Dendy Beach, Port Phillip Bay. A lone fisherman had a couple of rods in place, but we didn't see him hauling in any fish.  We sat on the step of one of those bathing boxes to watch the sun set. I saw someone catch a sizable fish last Sunday over on the other side of the bay but didn't think to snap off a photo.

To see photos posted by others who have better lucking at fishing or perhaps entertaining tales of the ones that got away, just cast your line in at  Sepia Saturday #253