Wednesday 5th October 2016

Tackle specials and angling politics

from Downrigger Shop

Air warming, sea warming, but those strong spring winds making fishing difficult. That hasn’t dampened the mojo of our readers. Here’s Snapper Whisperer Craig Marsay on Monday (Red) October 3rd:

 

​

 

craig marsay snapper

 

Beautiful day off Nambucca Heads enjoying the long weekend and the great weather

 

Thanks, Craig! It’s happening in The Bay, too. Geoff Wilson sends this top Vic pic:

 

​

 

Chris Stamalos with a good size snapper that he caught near the channel junction off Curlewis in Corio Bay on Sunday night.

 

Regular reporter Glen Cadoo writes from Moreton Bay. Gee you’re a funny bugger, Glen. And you’re a bloody good fisho too:

 

​

 

Hi Andy, would have loved to stay at home and mow the lawn or even help the misses with the ironing but I had to do the mans bit and put food on the table. Besides, not sure if we even own an iron. Glen

 

Bevan loves his Head Starts – because he and his crew are always catching good fish on them. That’s a pretty good reason:

 

​

Andrew, here is our latest head start capture - another new species for us. Ashley picked up this Spotted Mackerel whilst trolling in some ordinary weather to Fitzroy Island.

 

Closer to home, and Ross Ireland boated a giant skipjack on the troll:

 

​

 

G`day there Andy, Rossco here cobber, thought i`d send you a pic of a nice stripey i got chasing Yellow Fin yesterday, weighed on uncertified scales. Just over a kilo over the Australian record. Thought you`d appreciate a pic of a nice fish

 

Always do, cobber! Anthony Levi upholds Sydney’s reputation with this quality king:

 

​

 

Hi Andy, we picked up a nice 92cm king downrigging just outside the heads on Saturday.

Whenever the rod on the downrigger goes off it is always a good fish!  Before this was a good mako just off South Head.

 

Good one Anthony. Jason Judd working that area too:

 

​

 

Here’s some South Head Flatties from the other weekend – Released why I chased Dolphin & Kings… so much work to fillet!  So big tigers in there. We caught well over 60 all legal just kept 15 big ones between 3 of us. Its big esky so size is deceiving

 

Aye caramba! Hamish Read rockin’ the FNQ jig scene:

 

​

 

G'day Andy, good to chat & to top up the jigs with that order after the weekend session I just had with some good mates from down your way. "Jiggin Mission" we called it. Mission Beach in FNQ turned in on with GT's to 15kg, an assortment of trevally to 12kgs, a great sized small mouth nanny, coral trout to 60cm to name just some of the fish we could stop. The 40g jigs they ate like jelly beans & the 100g jigs they also ate with gusto, we lost plenty of both to the toothy reefies. My cousin is coming up from Sydney next month for a weekend session, I hope he brings up a fair supply or he brings his A game out to play. Bring it on!

 

​

 

I would kill to be up there doing thaqt, cobber. Seriously. Some good overseas reports this week. Here’s Grizzled Kevin Olsen with a blue trevally from the Cook Islands. Downrigger Shop jig, of course:

 

​

 

The lads have such a top time over there. Friendly locals and big fish, that combo’s hard to beat:

 

​

 

That is a big beautiful mackerel and I’m super grateful to you for this pic, Bevan:

 

​

 

Hello Andrew, I caught this 21.2kg Spanish Mackerel on the weekend on a trolled minnow lure at Wetar Island, Indonesia.

 

To boats, and David stopped by for a stack of gear for his big new Noble. Have been on a couple of these and found them to be weaponized fishing platforms:

 

​

 

We’ve been following the progress as Craig Baier builds his big, beautiful 8.5m. Kind of hard, when you’re looking at bare welded aluminium, to imagine what the finished product will look like. In this case, a masterpiece:

 

​

 

Hi Andy, its finally painted the 8.5M, and sitting the custom drive on alloy trailer, its being fitted out at the moment, Regards Craig

 

Posted up a pic of the new electric outboard on the Facebook page and questions flooded in:

 

​

 

Hey andy is this motor one similar to what the bream fisherman use when flicking plastics in the oyster leases or something more for holding ground out at 12mile for example? If so could u fill me in on some info about it as i saw something similar made by minn Kota but I am unsure if it is suitable for my boat

 

Hello mate, yes it is. I have a big issue in that department, being that 90% of my on water time involves the engine running – but either in neutral or, dead slow. Downrigging, reversing into the breeze when jigging, backing into the current when deep dropping, that sort of thing. But servicing is every one hundred hours, and service costs are near $1000 a time. Meaning that, I pay more in service costs than I do in fuel. Meaning that I have paid more in service costs, than the original price of the outboard. Don’t think I’m being overcharged, and very pleased with the motor, but something had to be done.

 

​

 

So I decided to get an electric outboard and use that instead of the 150HP, wherever possible. But the Minn Kota and MotorGuide are so expensive! After doing some research, asking on Facebook, and talking to blokes who have them, I decided to give a Chinese brand a try. Imported an 80lb thrust 24V model directly. Will be giving it a big work out between now and Christmas and, if all good, might import a few for our clients too. The saving is huge and they have had very good reviews. More to follow and here’s a super short video of its first power up:

 

​

 

To tackle, and Paul M pleased with his reel knob upgrades:

 

Hi Andrew, I replaced the handles on my old Shimano Stradic 5000,Sustain 4000 and Twinpower 4000 ,following your instructions . I needed to drill out riveted shafts as explained which proved relatively easy to accomplish and then installation of new shafts and knobs was quite easy. The carbontex  drag material has made a huge difference to both power and smoothness of operation in all three reels.  Worth the effort!

 

​

 

Andy Knox upgraded his Tekota, with Tim who works here advising – and, following our how-to video:

 

Thanks Andrew I forgot to specify the thickness, it’s for spinning reels i.e. Daiwa Certate Catalina & Shimano Sustain. so you’re probably the best judge of what I’ll need.  Great instructional video mate.

 

​

 

​

 

If it hadn't been for that really helpful tip from Tim regarding drilling-out the tab on the Shimano handle, I think I would have been stumped. But replacing the Tekota handle was a breeze, and what a difference it makes. Thank you, and I will be upgrading more of my reels in the near future. Cheers

 

G'day Andrew Got some carbontex sheet from you previously and just today bought a couple of line counters as well. I was wondering if you would sell only the spin rod in your 30lb jigging combo, if so, how much would you charge? I love my Gomoku pe2, but I am also keen on using your pe3 jigging rod for slightly heavier jigs

 

​

 

No problem! $90 + postage at cost – which won’t be much, because it’s a 2-piece and can be mailed. Say, $25. Such a great bit of gear (note the larger guide size, to prevent braid-to-mono knot hanging up)

 

​

 

To News Of The Weird, and Lionfish are one of the most hideous invasive species in the world. Not only have they infested Florida waters, but any kind of control method has to take into account how painful the poison in their spines is. There are videos of divers being accidentally stung where you can hear big fit blokes screaming like little girls. But the pests can be controlled by divers. Now some helpful gun nut has come up with this fantastic idea. He’s converted a Glock for underwater use, by fitting a muzzle brake to dissipate the back pressure. Shots are taken at very close range, so muzzle velocity doesn’t need to be high. This is a great idea which will help to protect the reef and obviously a lot of guys would get a big buzz out of it. The downside being it probably voids the warranty on your Glock:

 

​

 

Investment banker captures UK record carp. Then it’s revealed the fish was raised to giant size at a farm and released into a pond - so that he could catch the ‘record’, without making the effort. Pretty disgusting: read it here

 

Bloke celebrating a mate’s 50th on an Indonesia charter boat goes up on deck in the middle of the night, to chunder over the side. Instead, he goes over the side – for 29 hours, without a lifejacket.

 

​

 

One hell of a story: here

 

Yours truly trying some new options recently. I’ve mentioned before that, with all the dirty weather we’ve had this winter, a bunch of friends have been complaining about how difficult it’s been to get offshore. And that problem’s been driving me round the twist too. But casting about (he he) in frustration for alternatives,  I’ve turned to carp. They check all the boxes including hard fighting, available just about everywhere, and pretty much fishable in any and all weather. Only downside being they’re not much on the plate. But seeing as their fillets make fantastic deep drop baits I’m happy to let that one go. Met up with Fitz down at the spot this afternoon with the first job being raking some weeds out, in front of our fishing position:

 

​

 

Before any fretting greenies get their hemp panties in a twist let me mention that this spot is just downstream from a heavily fertilized property? The pond gets way too much nitrogen and phosphorous, which is why so much of it is choked with weeds. Next development was when a bloke fishing nearby borrowed my landing net. He’d got into into all kinds of trouble trying to bring this giant eel on to the bank:

 

​

 

It went back in, after Fitz measured it at 1.4 metres:

 

​

 

Fitz had cleverly brought along some koi carp food. We threw a couple of handfuls in while we got sorted, with the gear. There’s a light current in this backwater meaning the burley scent moves slowly downstream. It wasn’t long until some big fan tails could be seen, breaking the surface. Time to rig up. When I first started carping I used pretty much any old hook, baited with a chunk of bread. Strikes came often, hook ups not so much. Then UK pro carp angler and friend, Roy, sorted me out with a gift pack of carp hooks called Kranks:

 

​

 

These have a curved shank but are by no means a circle hook. A small ring, and no barb. My hookup rate has gone through the roof, with these puppies. Bait can be bread, corn or worms. Here’s a quick and easy way of making the hair rig, using braid:

 

​

 

Using a float as you can see, because once the bait gets into the weeds it’s gone forever:

 

​

 

They were not biting vigorously but finally one slurped down the bait. It went 7.3 kilos/16 pounds on the digital scales. Check the tail on this thing:

 

​

 

Getting more into it every time I go. The sign of a big tail or dorsal fin breaking the surface, the scream of the bite alarm as the fish picks up the bait and charges away, and most of all the hard fighting slug fest when the hook sinks home is very addictive indeed. Love my jigging, deep dropping and downrigging, but when seas are up or winds are fresh I’ll be back on the river chasing carp.

 

To politics, and a reader writes:

 

hey, on the subject of politics. What do you make out of these proposed lockouts at long reef, nth head and north hbr?

 

There’s no easy answers, cobber. New South Wales is at a historical low point. Government is controlled by over privileged elitists. You have specimens like Duncan Gay running Roads & Maritime. He’s been in Parliament for 35 years, is paid $360,000 per year, became a Minister because everyone else either died, lost their seat, or was sent to jail after an ICAC investigation. He has not one accomplishment on his record – unless you count being responsible for a 25% increase in the road toll, an accomplishment. Meantime we have Mike Baird condemning thousands of greyhounds to death and destroying the livelihoods of countless voters who supported him - all in the name of cruelty prevention. Liberal World, where to prevent cruelty, it’s okay to inflict more cruelty:

 

​

 

But we do have one weapon they fear – our vote. Unfortunately it’s a weapon a lot of people on our side have no idea how to use or sometimes even turn on themselves.

 

Normally we have to wait four years to pull the trigger on this single shot. But as it turns out, in about six weeks, we have a big chance to show these turkeys what we think of their greyhound plans, their marine parks, their Game Council closures, their squid fishing bans, their grey nurse lockouts, and all the rest of it.

 

On November 12 a by election will be held in Orange. That’s inland NSW so, unfortunately not so many fishos will be voting there. But lots of blokes who were either raised in the bush or have connections there (like myself) might know someone, in the electorate. The dream would be a big swing against the National Party candidate. The government is rattled as hell after last months’ council election results, and the relentless attacks on them by previously supportive 2GB radio and The Daily Telegraph. There are murmurs against Baird’s arrogance already. More bad news could turn those murmurs into a full scale revolt.

 

If you know of anyone in the electorate you, personally, can do something which will help prevent the marine park closures being announced. That is, call your friend or relative and ask them not to vote National. We need this government to be shocked to the core by the election result in Orange. If that happens, I predict the marine park declarations – and maybe Bairds’ premiership - will be over.

 

​

 

There will be plenty of good alternative candidates standing. One of them being local Orange policeman, Philip Donato. He sounds like a commonsense bloke:

 

 

Thanks as always to our readers and double special thanks to the blokes generous enough to send through the pics and reports we all enjoy. It’s appreciated. Until next time,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director

 

Air warming, sea warming, but those strong spring winds making fishing difficult. That hasn’t dampened the mojo of our readers. Here’s Snapper Whisperer Craig Marsay on Monday (Red) October 3rd:

 

​

 

craig marsay snapper

 

Beautiful day off Nambucca Heads enjoying the long weekend and the great weather

 

Thanks, Craig! It’s happening in The Bay, too. Geoff Wilson sends this top Vic pic:

 

​

 

Chris Stamalos with a good size snapper that he caught near the channel junction off Curlewis in Corio Bay on Sunday night.

 

Regular reporter Glen Cadoo writes from Moreton Bay. Gee you’re a funny bugger, Glen. And you’re a bloody good fisho too:

 

​

 

Hi Andy, would have loved to stay at home and mow the lawn or even help the misses with the ironing but I had to do the mans bit and put food on the table. Besides, not sure if we even own an iron. Glen

 

Bevan loves his Head Starts – because he and his crew are always catching good fish on them. That’s a pretty good reason:

 

​

Andrew, here is our latest head start capture - another new species for us. Ashley picked up this Spotted Mackerel whilst trolling in some ordinary weather to Fitzroy Island.

 

Closer to home, and Ross Ireland boated a giant skipjack on the troll:

 

​

 

G`day there Andy, Rossco here cobber, thought i`d send you a pic of a nice stripey i got chasing Yellow Fin yesterday, weighed on uncertified scales. Just over a kilo over the Australian record. Thought you`d appreciate a pic of a nice fish

 

Always do, cobber! Anthony Levi upholds Sydney’s reputation with this quality king:

 

​

 

Hi Andy, we picked up a nice 92cm king downrigging just outside the heads on Saturday.

Whenever the rod on the downrigger goes off it is always a good fish!  Before this was a good mako just off South Head.

 

Good one Anthony. Jason Judd working that area too:

 

​

 

Here’s some South Head Flatties from the other weekend – Released why I chased Dolphin & Kings… so much work to fillet!  So big tigers in there. We caught well over 60 all legal just kept 15 big ones between 3 of us. Its big esky so size is deceiving

 

Aye caramba! Hamish Read rockin’ the FNQ jig scene:

 

​

 

G'day Andy, good to chat & to top up the jigs with that order after the weekend session I just had with some good mates from down your way. "Jiggin Mission" we called it. Mission Beach in FNQ turned in on with GT's to 15kg, an assortment of trevally to 12kgs, a great sized small mouth nanny, coral trout to 60cm to name just some of the fish we could stop. The 40g jigs they ate like jelly beans & the 100g jigs they also ate with gusto, we lost plenty of both to the toothy reefies. My cousin is coming up from Sydney next month for a weekend session, I hope he brings up a fair supply or he brings his A game out to play. Bring it on!

 

​

 

I would kill to be up there doing thaqt, cobber. Seriously. Some good overseas reports this week. Here’s Grizzled Kevin Olsen with a blue trevally from the Cook Islands. Downrigger Shop jig, of course:

 

​

 

The lads have such a top time over there. Friendly locals and big fish, that combo’s hard to beat:

 

​

 

That is a big beautiful mackerel and I’m super grateful to you for this pic, Bevan:

 

​

 

Hello Andrew, I caught this 21.2kg Spanish Mackerel on the weekend on a trolled minnow lure at Wetar Island, Indonesia.

 

To boats, and David stopped by for a stack of gear for his big new Noble. Have been on a couple of these and found them to be weaponized fishing platforms:

 

​

 

We’ve been following the progress as Craig Baier builds his big, beautiful 8.5m. Kind of hard, when you’re looking at bare welded aluminium, to imagine what the finished product will look like. In this case, a masterpiece:

 

​

 

Hi Andy, its finally painted the 8.5M, and sitting the custom drive on alloy trailer, its being fitted out at the moment, Regards Craig

 

Posted up a pic of the new electric outboard on the Facebook page and questions flooded in:

 

​

 

Hey andy is this motor one similar to what the bream fisherman use when flicking plastics in the oyster leases or something more for holding ground out at 12mile for example? If so could u fill me in on some info about it as i saw something similar made by minn Kota but I am unsure if it is suitable for my boat

 

Hello mate, yes it is. I have a big issue in that department, being that 90% of my on water time involves the engine running – but either in neutral or, dead slow. Downrigging, reversing into the breeze when jigging, backing into the current when deep dropping, that sort of thing. But servicing is every one hundred hours, and service costs are near $1000 a time. Meaning that, I pay more in service costs than I do in fuel. Meaning that I have paid more in service costs, than the original price of the outboard. Don’t think I’m being overcharged, and very pleased with the motor, but something had to be done.

 

​

 

So I decided to get an electric outboard and use that instead of the 150HP, wherever possible. But the Minn Kota and MotorGuide are so expensive! After doing some research, asking on Facebook, and talking to blokes who have them, I decided to give a Chinese brand a try. Imported an 80lb thrust 24V model directly. Will be giving it a big work out between now and Christmas and, if all good, might import a few for our clients too. The saving is huge and they have had very good reviews. More to follow and here’s a super short video of its first power up:

 

​

 

To tackle, and Paul M pleased with his reel knob upgrades:

 

Hi Andrew, I replaced the handles on my old Shimano Stradic 5000,Sustain 4000 and Twinpower 4000 ,following your instructions . I needed to drill out riveted shafts as explained which proved relatively easy to accomplish and then installation of new shafts and knobs was quite easy. The carbontex  drag material has made a huge difference to both power and smoothness of operation in all three reels.  Worth the effort!

 

​

 

Andy Knox upgraded his Tekota, with Tim who works here advising – and, following our how-to video:

 

Thanks Andrew I forgot to specify the thickness, it’s for spinning reels i.e. Daiwa Certate Catalina & Shimano Sustain. so you’re probably the best judge of what I’ll need.  Great instructional video mate.

 

​

 

​

 

If it hadn't been for that really helpful tip from Tim regarding drilling-out the tab on the Shimano handle, I think I would have been stumped. But replacing the Tekota handle was a breeze, and what a difference it makes. Thank you, and I will be upgrading more of my reels in the near future. Cheers

 

G'day Andrew Got some carbontex sheet from you previously and just today bought a couple of line counters as well. I was wondering if you would sell only the spin rod in your 30lb jigging combo, if so, how much would you charge? I love my Gomoku pe2, but I am also keen on using your pe3 jigging rod for slightly heavier jigs

 

​

 

No problem! $90 + postage at cost – which won’t be much, because it’s a 2-piece and can be mailed. Say, $25. Such a great bit of gear (note the larger guide size, to prevent braid-to-mono knot hanging up)

 

​

 

To News Of The Weird, and Lionfish are one of the most hideous invasive species in the world. Not only have they infested Florida waters, but any kind of control method has to take into account how painful the poison in their spines is. There are videos of divers being accidentally stung where you can hear big fit blokes screaming like little girls. But the pests can be controlled by divers. Now some helpful gun nut has come up with this fantastic idea. He’s converted a Glock for underwater use, by fitting a muzzle brake to dissipate the back pressure. Shots are taken at very close range, so muzzle velocity doesn’t need to be high. This is a great idea which will help to protect the reef and obviously a lot of guys would get a big buzz out of it. The downside being it probably voids the warranty on your Glock:

 

​

 

Investment banker captures UK record carp. Then it’s revealed the fish was raised to giant size at a farm and released into a pond - so that he could catch the ‘record’, without making the effort. Pretty disgusting: read it here

 

Bloke celebrating a mate’s 50th on an Indonesia charter boat goes up on deck in the middle of the night, to chunder over the side. Instead, he goes over the side – for 29 hours, without a lifejacket.

 

​

 

One hell of a story: here

 

Yours truly trying some new options recently. I’ve mentioned before that, with all the dirty weather we’ve had this winter, a bunch of friends have been complaining about how difficult it’s been to get offshore. And that problem’s been driving me round the twist too. But casting about (he he) in frustration for alternatives,  I’ve turned to carp. They check all the boxes including hard fighting, available just about everywhere, and pretty much fishable in any and all weather. Only downside being they’re not much on the plate. But seeing as their fillets make fantastic deep drop baits I’m happy to let that one go. Met up with Fitz down at the spot this afternoon with the first job being raking some weeds out, in front of our fishing position:

 

​

 

Before any fretting greenies get their hemp panties in a twist let me mention that this spot is just downstream from a heavily fertilized property? The pond gets way too much nitrogen and phosphorous, which is why so much of it is choked with weeds. Next development was when a bloke fishing nearby borrowed my landing net. He’d got into into all kinds of trouble trying to bring this giant eel on to the bank:

 

​

 

It went back in, after Fitz measured it at 1.4 metres:

 

​

 

Fitz had cleverly brought along some koi carp food. We threw a couple of handfuls in while we got sorted, with the gear. There’s a light current in this backwater meaning the burley scent moves slowly downstream. It wasn’t long until some big fan tails could be seen, breaking the surface. Time to rig up. When I first started carping I used pretty much any old hook, baited with a chunk of bread. Strikes came often, hook ups not so much. Then UK pro carp angler and friend, Roy, sorted me out with a gift pack of carp hooks called Kranks:

 

​

 

These have a curved shank but are by no means a circle hook. A small ring, and no barb. My hookup rate has gone through the roof, with these puppies. Bait can be bread, corn or worms. Here’s a quick and easy way of making the hair rig, using braid:

 

​

 

Using a float as you can see, because once the bait gets into the weeds it’s gone forever:

 

​

 

They were not biting vigorously but finally one slurped down the bait. It went 7.3 kilos/16 pounds on the digital scales. Check the tail on this thing:

 

​

 

Getting more into it every time I go. The sign of a big tail or dorsal fin breaking the surface, the scream of the bite alarm as the fish picks up the bait and charges away, and most of all the hard fighting slug fest when the hook sinks home is very addictive indeed. Love my jigging, deep dropping and downrigging, but when seas are up or winds are fresh I’ll be back on the river chasing carp.

 

To politics, and a reader writes:

 

hey, on the subject of politics. What do you make out of these proposed lockouts at long reef, nth head and north hbr?

 

There’s no easy answers, cobber. New South Wales is at a historical low point. Government is controlled by over privileged elitists. You have specimens like Duncan Gay running Roads & Maritime. He’s been in Parliament for 35 years, is paid $360,000 per year, became a Minister because everyone else either died, lost their seat, or was sent to jail after an ICAC investigation. He has not one accomplishment on his record – unless you count being responsible for a 25% increase in the road toll, an accomplishment. Meantime we have Mike Baird condemning thousands of greyhounds to death and destroying the livelihoods of countless voters who supported him - all in the name of cruelty prevention. Liberal World, where to prevent cruelty, it’s okay to inflict more cruelty:

 

​

 

But we do have one weapon they fear – our vote. Unfortunately it’s a weapon a lot of people on our side have no idea how to use or sometimes even turn on themselves.

 

Normally we have to wait four years to pull the trigger on this single shot. But as it turns out, in about six weeks, we have a big chance to show these turkeys what we think of their greyhound plans, their marine parks, their Game Council closures, their squid fishing bans, their grey nurse lockouts, and all the rest of it.

 

On November 12 a by election will be held in Orange. That’s inland NSW so, unfortunately not so many fishos will be voting there. But lots of blokes who were either raised in the bush or have connections there (like myself) might know someone, in the electorate. The dream would be a big swing against the National Party candidate. The government is rattled as hell after last months’ council election results, and the relentless attacks on them by previously supportive 2GB radio and The Daily Telegraph. There are murmurs against Baird’s arrogance already. More bad news could turn those murmurs into a full scale revolt.

 

If you know of anyone in the electorate you, personally, can do something which will help prevent the marine park closures being announced. That is, call your friend or relative and ask them not to vote National. We need this government to be shocked to the core by the election result in Orange. If that happens, I predict the marine park declarations – and maybe Bairds’ premiership - will be over.

 

​

 

There will be plenty of good alternative candidates standing. One of them being local Orange policeman, Philip Donato. He sounds like a commonsense bloke:

 

 

Thanks as always to our readers and double special thanks to the blokes generous enough to send through the pics and reports we all enjoy. It’s appreciated. Until next time,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director