Laurie Harrison
I remember I was about 6 years old when my father, my grandfather, and uncle took me to the Central Highlands in Tasmania. I didn’t own a rod that I can remember and as I watched them spinning and fly fishing with some success, I sat myself on a huge rock with a stick, some line, a hook and a sinker with some worms for bait… I tried my luck and I think that my first ever fish was a redfin perch! Some of my greatest memories were learning how to fish with my father. Later in life we even chased the bream in the Little Swanport River on the East Coast of Tasmania. I can clearly remember a day where we caught 152 bream ranging from 35 to 42cm to the fork! If only we could catch a bag like that in a tournament today!!
Fishing to me has always been and still is a huge part of my personal being. Fishing enables me an outlet to be able escape the worries and hassles of daily life and completely immerse myself in nature and relax. I simply love being out exploring the wonderful environment that we have in this beautiful country of ours! Being able to explore all the island waters, rivers, estuaries and lakes that we have and being to catch fish on the way is what it is all about for me. I’m very passionate about our fisheries and ensuring that the fishery that we have today is just as great in the future! This way the youth of today will get the opportunity to enjoy fishing and nature as much as I do. Then comes the challenge of tournament bream and trout fishing… this has created yet another level of passion again! Tournament fishing drives my desire to understand better how fish think, and why they bite sometimes and not others? I have found that tournament fishing is a fantastic way for me to learn all of this! There are so many great people that are involved in these competitions who have a real wealth of knowledge… The best part is that most are not shy in sharing information and helping others that are trying to learn. I’ve found that these tournaments are the best way for me to learn, better understand and read the fish on any given day. Then there is also the bonus of making some new lifelong friends from the many great people that I get to meet in these competitions.
Most of all my continued passion comes from being able to fish with family, mates and others that all share the same passion as me. This is why fishing is so exciting for me! I love being able to share my knowledge with others and watch them catch fish. It’s great when it all comes together... There simply is no better feeling in my opinion! It has been fantastic to introduce my kids to fishing also. Whether it be fishing with my son Bradley and watching his obsession grow, to spending quality father and daughter time with my daughter Daphne, or even drifting about in a lake with my beautiful wife Mandy! We have had some great family fishing memories together that I will cherish forever! Another enjoyable way to fish for me has been over the past 6 years, and that has been with my good mate and fishing partner Martin Exel. He has taught me a new way to fish and it’s great! One of my best fishing memories to date was fishing as a team with Martin in the hotly contested Tasmanian Trout Classic Series in 2014. Martin and I managed to pull off a 4th, 2nd,and 1st in each of the three rounds of the series, and we were ecstatic to find ourselves at the end of the series standing up in the number 1 spot holding that ‘Team Of The Year’ trophy above our heads, next to people like Steersy and Coxy who we have looked up to as mentors for years! That was a feeling that I will not forget for a long time. We’re yet to repeat that result, but hopefully this year will be our year again!
