There's nothing quite like living close to a river, particularly when its summer, the bream are jumping and you've got a boat in the backyard. Story by Ted Rose. It is a good feeling living a mere kilometre from the river. And it's even better when the same river is rich in fishing opportunities and not far from the beaches of the Southern and Indian Oceans of West Australia. It is also kind of nice having a fine boat in the garage and an enormous amount of fishing tackle to indulge your passion. All of the above came to mind the other day whilst I was fiddling about with something or other in the garage and I realised that almost my entire life revolves around fishing and related equipment. Even my four-wheel drive vehicle parked in the carport was acquired with a fishing/camping purpose in mind. Anyway, it occurred to me that I had not wet a line for a couple of weeks, and it was high time I went fishing. Since the weather and time of year ruled out offshore fishing the river was the obvious choice. So after mixing up a batch of pilchard berley, and grabbing a couple of packets of prawns it was time to try the river for a bream or two. Now, bream fishing is one of the most popular forms of angling right across Australia and I'm kind of partial to it myself. There are times when the company of a friend is appreciated, and times when a solitary experience is mighty fine. But, mostly, I like to take the wife, and this was one of those times. Wives are generally better anglers than their husbands and are often successful when the hubby fails. So working on that theory I find expedient to equip my wife with top grade equipment. In fact, she is very fond of her bream outfit, a Penn 450 reel coupled with a shortish Ugly Stik rod. For more information log on to www.marinews.com Travel articles