Andrew Westlake fished on Sunday too:

Have had three trips on the tuna, the last one on Saturday off Warrnambool. Plenty of 12-15kg school fish on the sounder and plenty of bird action too. I thought I would add a sounder shot from the HDS 5, I tried out the sonar log option on Saturday for the first time, it is brilliant.  I was impressed that it allowed me to review water depth, boat speed, temperature etc even the individual fish depths. This was daybreak and these fish were not looking at lures, but an hour later they fired up and the birds came from everywhere.

We managed 4 from 7 hook ups, with one lost to a seal.

Andy, I will be down there at the end of June and am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS. I see the barrels are starting to appear:

Now lads I know you’ve probably had more than enough tuna news, but this clip has to be seen to be believed. Thousands of Panama yellowfin, attacking bait balls:

A little further up the east coast, and a chap speared a monster kingfish at Tathra wharf:

28.5 kilos, that’s the fish of a lifetime. They got three in the session:

A bit of silliness, fishing video made after I watched one too many episodes of ‘Cops’ and ‘Most Shocking Police Pursuits’:

Click here, more to follow if our readers enjoy them:

Two stories from Jervis Bay this week. Firstly, Greg fished offshore:

…… fished the banks early Friday looking for kings but no luck. We then headed out to the kink and trolled a mixed spread of lures, got a double hook up of albacore, landing one, but unfortunately couldn't raise anymore. Saturday and Sunday were a bit of a letdown, just trolled the cliffs and only managed a few bonito, did how ever get smoked by something to big to stop.

A tough three days Greg, but I’m taking that nice albacore as a promising sign of better times to come.

 Al McGlashan is heading down the NSW South Coast chasing bluefin and swordfish, this week. He writes:

hey buddy can I order some more line counters they are awesome check out the giant squid we found the other night

Of course you can cobber, popped two complimentaries in the mail on Monday morning. Good luck down south and please – send me a pic or two! Film of a blue shark feeding on the squid here:

Across the country, Peter H sent in an image of his beautiful Red Emperor, caught in WA:

Andrew, just a quick pic of this nice 10kg red that I  caught last week at Gnaraloo in WA’s north. Just did a quickie 4 day trip with my son and 2 mates to try my mates new 7.0m Swiftcraft boat before our more serious trip in 3 weeks. Got some smaller 4-5kg reds on those $59 dollar 10bb reels that I got from you earlier this year loaded with 30lb braid. This one I got by floating a slab bait down a berley trail in 65m. Had 4 perfect days of weather as you can see, with temps in the low 30’s and flat calm. Got hammered by sharks all trip getting a few bronzies to 3m alongside but others we couldn’t even slow down.

What a beauty, Peter! Glad to hear the light reel works so well for you on 5 kilo reds, because I’m heading back to Nambucca with a couple of them in mid June.

As to Nambucca, Mr. Cobia has been into them as usual:

Hi Andy, things were a little quiet here over the weekend but still managed a nice 3kg Snapper and a Mack tuna on the 3000 combo. A couple of mates did alright though, one got a 7kg Snapper and got smoked twice while the other landed a 5.5kg and a 4kg with two casts and then came home! Things are shaping up for a great Snapper season. Might go and chuck some plastics this arv......

….. no need to thank me for using your combos, I'm having a ball seeing how far I can stretch them. I'll use them right through the snapper season and see how they're standing up at the end for salt intrusion, main gear wear, bearing failure and general rough and tumble. At this stage they're going well with the rod bent right to the butt on the tuna and bigger snapper and the reels still smooth. They're a real pleasure on the soft plastics when you're launching hundreds of casts in a session too.

Alright champ well that’s great. Keep in mind that two months usage in your hands is like three years worth, for most other fishos? Including me!

Confession time – when it comes to handyman stuff, I can barely change a light bulb. So when someone really capable drops by the office – like Spiro, from Bluebottle Reel Repairs – we drop everything and pay attention. This time he’s made a bracket for holding our (quite heavy) electric reels, during servicing:

We drive hundreds of klicks down to the Melbourne Boat Show (yes we will be there next month!) or up to Nambucca, and rods in the back rattle at every bump. Here’s Spiro’s answer:

Just drop the centre back seat in the station wagon, and rest one of those cheap foam rod holders on it. No more rattles. Thanks, Spiro. He did a top job upgrading our Daiwa Windcast 6000s to aftermarket reel knobs, too. These reels hold 660 metres of 30-pound braid, have 14 kilos of drag and are ideal for albacore jigging or school bluefin.

Before:

After. The pic doesn’t do the upgrade justice, they look and feel great:

Windcast comes with two spools, so you can select two line classes from 30, 50 or 80-pound braid. That’s really handy because you can use the same reel for trolling and deepwater bottom fishing.

John Mac ordered another one of our light reels, and sent some pics of the trout he and his mates have been scoring recently:

Trout fished at Sofala a while back for 3 good rainbow. Two weekends ago up the Nepean for 2 small rainbow & one solid 48cm 920 gram rainbow, top little rod.

As mentioned I have a couple of interested people for this rod but would like the smaller reel. Please let me know how much for the little reel & I'll grab one of those to show them & see what I can sell for you.

$58 John, and that includes your choice of braid *and* delivery. Terrific 4000 size reel, we’re really pleased with it:

To politics, and I’ve been thinking about the Dodo this week:

Here’s what the Internet has to tell us, about this extinct bird:

.... the Dodo was about 3.3 feet tall and 20 kilograms in weight. The more artistic definition of the bird may be a brownish or dirty green feather appearance, 9 inch long bill with a hooked point, small wings, and large body appearance, white feathers attached with the tail and stout yellow legs like a pigeon. The Europeans described Dodo as a fat and lazy bird.....

Remind you of anything? How about a fat and lazy shark, which lies around on the sand all day and  is also too large for predators? And like the Dodo, probably destined for extinction, due to its inability to evolve? Check this article out, sent in by reader Andy Ford earlier today:

Can you believe it. One of the stupid things has eaten an anchor rope!

Call me harsh and judgmental, but what would the human equivalent be, of the grey nurse shark?

Here’s one that ate a gaff, for crying out loud:

Homer: ‘Mmmm, pork chops.’

Grey Nurse shark: ‘Mmmm, gaff.’

The gaff was removed by a vet. And here’s one that ate a bright shiny circle hook on a bright yellow line, the same morning a Greens MP arrived for a photo (shop) opportunity:

Did the silly shark below swim into a propeller at Terrigal Haven? You decide: