Tuesday 2nd September 2014

Tackle specials and angling politics

from Downrigger Shop

With relentless bad weather right through August it’s been tough for Sydney fishos to get wide. You have to grab a weather window and go for it. For the last fortnight, those have been hard to find. But when the winds back off and the swells drop down, those who can go are in for some good fishing. Matt Loraway:

 

 

Horse gemmies still there. We managed a fatty blue eye as well in between No prob with sharks or seals stealing luckily but we almost collided with a surface cruising mako as we left for home at 20 kts I metre over and would have been thump

 

Nice gem, Matt! They won’t be round much longer. John Coleiro sharking down south:

 

 

Hi Andy battled this beast on Sunday on kiama canyons for 3hrs he measured approx 3m what weight do you think he would have been. He swam free it was our first shark caught him on an albacore head.

 

Couldn’t say, Johnno! It looks like a good one. My best 200 kilos and 9.5 feet. You can see the fight here, but don’t click the link if you’re upset by seeing a fish getting shot. That’s the way things went, back in the 70s

 

 

  Paul is the chap who had some beautiful tackle stolen earlier this month. Glad to hear he scored some partial compensation with a nice fish taken out wide:

 

Hey Andy, quick report for you. After losing all my gear earlier this week to some scum bag i needed to get out. On borrowed gear my good mate Mark Stables got me out to the shelf and onto this solid Albacore. Only fish for the day but went 98cm, didn't weigh it but the chart puts it at 19kg!

 

That’s a beauty Paul. We’ve only caught one but the season not over yet. Our Man In The Sand sends news from Jervis Bay:

 

 

Hi Andrew, a few boats from JB Game fishing club went wide yesterday{sat} and the Tuna came to the party. "Off-tap" trolled up a yellow fin.  Cleaned  and gutted it went 22kgs so 30kgs whole would be a good guess. All the boys got albacore and a few stripeys as well. JB is the place to be if you want Tuna at present but as you know Tuna are here today gone tomorrow.

 

Too right they are Dave. But you won’t catch them sitting at home. Here’s Mark Stables nice yellowfin, caught Friday 22nd:

 

Hey Andy just a report north of Browns today. Got 9 all up great day

 

Mate your great result got everyone so fired up, over the last week. Lachlan Bilston out there same day, and pretty chuffed with our Tanacom 1000 - Saltiga Dendoh combo:

 

Hi Andrew, got out to Browns last Friday and had a great day on the Gemfish with the electric reel.  Stopped at the 12 mile and nothing on the sounder so we pushed on to Browns in great conditions. Beautiful weather and multiple groups of whales cruising around the area.Fantastic day on the water with a big feed of Gemfish which I have been eating this week and giving away to mates and neighbours.

 

 

Excellent, Lach! Mark Way from Kiama GFC reports a good result from points south last week:

 

 

ProFishEnt fished on the weekend and came good on a solid Yellowfin tuna in 400fa with water temps at 17.3 deg. Unfortunately the lucky angler Lee Hopperton was not a Club member, so the fish did not count for Club or Zone. Looking at the photo the Fin appears to be approx. 60 plus kgs? great fish Lee, well done mate.

 

Beautiful! Such a good looking fish aren’t they? Dan sends an amazing video of a ravenous mako launching repeated successful assaults on a trolling dredge. As it happens our supplier sent me three samples of those, maybe time to give one a try:

 

 

But until then I’ll stick with tried and proven methods. Darryl and I grabbed the opportunity of a calm day on Monday to head to Browns Mountain. I enjoy fishing for makos so when I saw one swim up to the transom it didn’t take long to get a bait over. No gemmies had been boated so no belly strips available for bait. Instead I  grabbed four pilchards and threaded them onto a 15/0 Tuna Circle. Out the back that went and it wasn’t long until the ratchet started the steadily accelerating click we’ve heard so many times this winter.  Tried to fob it off to Darryl but he insisted it was my turn. So up went the lever and into it. The shark opened its innings with a crash dive:

 

 

Then it turned into your typical mid water slug fest:

 

 

Solid fight, maybe 45 minutes with the shark coming to the surface but not actually jumping. When we got him boat side he was tail wrapped which might have been why, but that made for an easy release.

 

 

Short video of the fight here

 

 

But I guess the catch of the week would be Josh Stuckey’s yellowfin, taken solo from a small trailer boat. A contact at SGFC Watsons Bay writes:

 

 

Here you go - small boat at Browns today - Josh got a barrel - 76kg we just weighed.

 

And here’s the boat:

 

 

Now that’s impressive. Not a lot of kingfish reports recently, which with the rain and wind is understandable. Jason Glass an exception, thanks Jase:

 

 

Hi Andrew, got a few kings at the Peak yesterday (Saturday). My son Josh is in the photo. Were taking squid strips and your 100 gram jigs. Nothing huge but fun anyway. Also nailed the flatties closer in. Heard a fair few albies and yellowfin at Browns over the radio but we were in a small boat and werent going to chance it with rain squalls and lumpy conditions in a small boat with not a lot of freeboard. Might chase the yellowfin next weekend in a bigger boat if the weather plays ball. Looking forward to receiving my order of 100 gram jigs which I believe are in the mail. Will try to put them to good use.

 

Please do champ and send me more of these great pics. To tackle, and Bill Falls from Calm Water Charters at Narooma pleased with his carbontex upgrades:

 

 

Hi The last sheet worked wonders on my reels It allowed me to fish my customers on lighter line and not worry about line busting on setting of the hook Time to do some more of my reels Thanks Bill

 

Glad it’s working so well for you Bill. The most recent shipment the best quality we’ve ever had, resin content just right. Mark L a big believer too:

 

 

I had carbontex put into a Calcutta for my annual barra fishing trip and caught the attached – the drag worked so well that I am upgrading my offshore gear.

 

Chas R putting one of our bite alarm rod pods to good use:

 

 

Andrew, the machine at work and the results from the last two excursions.

 

 

Dylan Hannah has a question for readers –which no one on the Facebook page could answer. Any ideas?

 

 

Hey andy any idea what type of fish this is. Got it in 60m off stanwell. Cheers dyl

 

Warrnambool, and Andrew Westlake’s brutal treatment of his light overhead combo:

 

 

Hi Andrew, will need some more of your crimped shark rigs after yesterday. A decent blue released boat side after some serious rod abuse.

 

 

Here’s a couple of minutes worth. The rod bend just incredible:

 

 

 Inquiries pouring in about the SP/spoon hook package mentioned in the last report:

 

Can you please send me the price and paypal details so I can purchase a SP spoon hook setup... keen to try them on the kings in Vic once the water warms up! Cheers, Brendan

 

 

5 x 40 gram spoon hooks: make the SP or squid strip sway like a lure;

5 x 7/0 HD short shank stinger hooks: set one back in the SP tail;

10 x 9 inch 2-tone SPs with eye; 5 baitfish type, 5 bleeding gills type;

$24 for pick up or $32, including delivery anywhere in Australia.

Send me an email if you’d like a Paypal request? Here’s one of mine rigged on 80 mono:

 

 

And here’s a video showing them in operation. Sure I’m biased, but you gotta admit they look pretty good:

 

 

  To warm climates, and Maurice putting his big electric reel to use in WA:

 

 

Having good results with your combo off Exmouth...........

 

Looks so good! Ruby snapper, Maurice? Sean jigs the Gold Coast Seaway:

 

 

Hey Andy. had my first ever session micro jigging today. Im addicted now. My mate had plastics n got nothing

 

Nice. I can only imagine how they would have sizzled, on light string. Jim Fleming heads north to get away from the cold:

 

 

Hi Andy, arrived at Town of 1770 late Sunday night for our Annual trip. Unpacked and set the boat up that night then headed out to Lamont Reef on Monday morning.  The plan was to overnight at Fitzroy Reef, however after 5 hours fishing and with the wind predicted to build in the morning, the wife and I decided to head back for a good nights rest instead. We had a decent catch of Coral Trout, Red Throat Emperor, Spanish and Spotty Macks and Green Job Fish:

 

 

Strewth and blimey, look at the seas. AND THE SUN. So over this winter and thanks for the reminder of how good it can get, Jim. Kevin up north too and fishing with way too light gear:

 

 

Hi Andrew, just got back from the Capricorn reefs.  Tested the light rig I bought from you.  Here is a picture of the spangled emperor and the rod.  Yes, the T-shirt says that I don’t give a rat’s ass. Had a ball up there and the jig rods I bought from you were used by the newcomers on the trip, who all had a great time.  The boat is the MV “Whimbrel”.

 

Strewth. Kev, if you’re interested in adopting a tired bald old fisho and raising him as the son you never had, gimme a call. Overseas, and Ross Dive heads for the wilderness backblocks:

 

 

Hi Andrew, just got back from Mongolia for second time in 2 years fishing for Taimen. Beautiful country and scenery. Drifted 160 km of water just under Russian border. Got some nice Taimen again, fly fishing, dry fly (mouse pattern), no barbs, catch and release. This Taimen released himself!

 

 

Typical Gher we stayed in. I am the guy on the right, you photographed me at Browns some weeks ago with the large tuna. Regards, Ross

 

Blimey what an action man. July, big tuna at Browns. August, big taimen in Mongolia. I take my hat off to you champ, I really do. Ran into Kevin Olsen at the local tackle store last week. The lucky dawg is just back from a bluewater trip to Kiribati, where he had a ball:

 

Gday mate, Some pics from our Kiribati trip...barracuda, dolly, gt & Bruce with a coral trout. Fished mainly around Abaiang Island, Naa & Betio as the weather stopped us getting south to some of the Islands, sea mounts & trenches we really wanted to fish. Cheers, Kev.

 

 

Beautifully marked, isn’t he? The trout, not Bruce.

 

To politics, and has anyone noticed how quiet NSW Fisheries have been recently? Up until just a few months ago scarcely a month passed without some new outrage being inflicted on fishos. Proposing fifty percent bag limit cuts, a plan to declare gemfish (swarming in their millions) as ‘threatened’, fishos getting pulled over for squidding in North Harbour and all the other idiocy cooked up since Bodgey let greenies run rampant through that once reputable department. Then, it all came to a crashing halt. And now, with the election campaign for next March about to start, they’re cranking up the phony consultation. Next week, a meeting on one of their most farcical calls ever, the North Harbour squidding ban. Said meeting to be hosted by Bill Talbot, who is supposed to be the aquaculture manager and doesn’t even work in the Sydney region. But he’s the most hard core greenie in Fisheries, so he’s in charge:

 

 

Gee, Bill. I guess I value Forty Baskets Beach the most? Edwina and I used to pack an Onkaparinga rug and a bottle of Blackberry Nip into the VC Valiant, and head down there on a summer’s night to watch the submarine races:

 

 

But I digress. Have you ever heard of anything so pathetic, readers? ‘The request from the recreational fishing sector.’ How about *you* justify the ban on squidding, Talbot? Not invited to the talkfest of course but there’s some good blokes going, so we’ll have an update for you next week. Meantime our Man Down South sends an update on the Bill Athanellis case we covered in the last report:

 

Hi Andrew, There was a committal hearing on Friday 1st August. The dates have been set for a three day trial on November 3,4, & 6 with six fisheries officers giving evidence. The offences allegedly committed are as follows:

 

Charge Sheet and Summons: Charges:

 

1 - On 19-Mar-2014 at Point Lonsdale in the state of Victoria the accused did, in a marine national park or sanctuary, take or attempt to take fish being shark, without doing so under and accordance with a permit granted under section 21A of the National Parks Act 1975, contrary to the National Parks Act 1975.

 

2 -  On 19-March-2014 at Point Lonsdale in the state of Victoria the accused did, in a marine national park of marine sanctuary, use recreational fishing equipment, contrary to the National Parks Act 1975.

 

Bill wasn’t even in a marine park, he was on the Point Lonsdale Pier where you are allowed to fish. They allege he let his line out more than 50 metres from the pier into the marine park.

 

I ask you: A three day trial?

 

Six fisheries officers giving evidence?

 

Mate I share your outrage. Six officers giving evidence over a bloke who wasn’t fishing inside a marine park but allegedly let his line drift into a marine park – while the fisheries officers told him to step away from his rod. Maybe something similar happened in this case?

 

 

‘Yeah, I’ll run my bait out 370 metres, that’s where they’re biting.’ Puh-leez. And while this waste of time and money goes on, Fisheries have a carp-specific virus they could release into the Murray-Darling system which would be of more benefit to the environment and native fish than every single thing they’ve done since their department’s inception. But they haven’t. And they won’t. Lads, thanks so much for sending in pics and reports. Over five thousand people read this email now, not because of anything I generate but due to the excellent material you send in. Please don’t stop! And it doesn’t have to be big offshore trip, anything and everything is of interest. Keep it coming,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director