Neil, I noted your earlier comment about catching a fish on film is Murphy's law. Now that is subjective and I can't explain why this should be.

I haven't kept score but last season I made about ten videos for YouTube, I blanked once. My main aim was to hit the beach fishing for rays, that is what English viewers love, they find it unbelievable I (we) can catch very large fish almost at will.

However, lets forget rays for a moment and just look at general fishing. In no way am I bragging and I would hate you to think so, but I had an excellent season and all caught on film. I had two snapper, just small shoalies but that was two more than most. I had several kahawai, tope, small sharks, some really large YEMS, some nice eels and I can throw in a small trev.

Several posts on this board say there are no fish in the Bay, well I never left the Bay. Whilst most were unhappy, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Who is right and who is wrong. I have no interest in people who proclaim all I caught were sh*t fish, I enjoyed myself, and those fish were far better than blanking.

Over the years shore fishing has certainly changed, but this is not the first time it has happened. Forty years ago the local beaches were a bloody disaster area, snapper, what snapper? Same with gurnard, virtually unheard of but Kahawai were a little more plentiful. Food for thought, believe me in those days there were a lot more trawlers working this area than there are now. For several years the Pania open was won by a single small fish or the snapper prize was shared among other fish landed.

If I was given a rod to test I am confident I would have a fish on film within a session or two. When I wrote for publication I was freelance for Bay Fisher magazine, I did this for about four years. I was given gear by companies to give an honest appraisal, and that was exactly what they got. The difference being I wrote a report from an angler's point of view, not a sales pitch, believe me there is a huge difference.