A Juniors Perspective
Jake Neilson:
I have found that being a junior of the Gold Coast Sport Fishing Club has been a great way to kick off my fishing interests. In 2006 my Dad (Paul Neilsen) and myself had our first introduction into the club. We fished the Flathead Classic and throughout the 3 days of fishing we didn’t really now much about where to fish and why we would fish there at those times. By joining the fishing club I met and benefitted from many people that new what they where talking about. When 
I was 9 David Green took me on a fishing trip and helped me with my fishing techniques, that was very helpful to me because It gave me a boost and showed me that you don’t need to be the best of the best to catch fish. When I was out fishing on the boat with Greenie he parked the boat on the beach and we went for a walk along the shore with our rods and we started casting lures from the beach. He showed me a point that you don’t even need to be in a boat to catch good fish. Ever since that fishing trip I have been keen and ready to try new kinds of fishing with my Dad.
In 2007 I finished 2nd in the juniors at the Classic, I was beaten by Joel Gartner who as a junior had won many previous titles along side Michael Green and Ben Job. It was a very hard 3 days of fishing where I scored 488 points and a total of 2693 flathead caught in the whole competition. In 2008 not all fishing went the way I was hoping and I only landed four fish that were all to the points of 5 points a fish this was a very disappointing 3 days of fishing for myself. In 2009 I was unable to fish, this was as a result of an operation that my Dad had to have, he had tumor in his back that had to be removed. I was unable to fish that year but I was able to go down to the club and help out with anything that needed doing. In 2010 I had a fantastic 3 days of fishing scoring 782 points which put me in first place in the Juniors this was my first year that I had won the Flathead Classic. Our team got a sponsor onboard Whitewater Marine and it gave us a boost at the end of the 3 days when team White Water Marine had placed 7thoverall .This was a placing that our team was certainly not used to.
In May 2010 my Dad and I competed in the Clarence River ABT Flathead Competition. Our team name was Team One and a Half men. When we got down to Yamba our team had one day of pre-fishing. In the morning we woke up nice and early and drove around to find the people that were running the competition. We eventually found them and were able to get the tag and start fishing. It started off slowly in the morning and we then found one spot that was producing fish. I cast my lure up under one of the jetties that were there and as I felt it hit the bottom my drag on my rod started going crazy. When I landed the fish it went 71cm and the end of the competition I ended up with 7 fish and Dad had caught nothing. There were 19 teams in the competition and my 7 fish carried our team to the position of 9th. My 71 cm flathead was the biggest fish of the competition and beat other high quality team like Bush and Beach. Now my dad and I fish the ABT flathead competition every time it is on. So now I continue t go fishing every chance that I get if it isn’t with Greenie it is with Ross Mccubbin if it isn’t with Ross it is with Tom Ryan or it is with the person who got me into fishing the man that I love the most my Dad. That’s my fishing experience
