Thursday 13 SEPTEMBER 2012
Tackle specials and angling politics
from Downrigger Shop
G’day lads,
More good news, from the NSW North Coast. Sean writes:
Started with the jig in close, second drop I nailed a great kingfish, only to have him drop boat-side. BUGGER! I estimate around 1m, perhaps slightly larger. We moved out wide and same deal, although I lost this one about half way to the boat. Terry then hooked up on a nice bar cod (15kgs) and after a pretty good tussle from 170m he had the gaff planted in.
There were some great shows on the sounder but things went pretty quiet. We decided to move slightly and try a wider drift. Terry had a very solid hook-up, almost instantly I had simultaneous hook-ups; one on my jig and one on my bottom rig (live yakka). I cracked the switch on my electric and started the ascent while I fought the fish on my jig rod. Terry had a great bend in his rod but called it snagged. Told him I couldn’t help him until I had my fish up, which ended up being a lovely pair of kingies.
I grabbed the fish bat and wrapped Terry’s braid, then got him to motor off slowly. Managed to pull the cod off the bottom and out of whatever he was hiding in, we killed the motor, and unwound the braid off the bat and Terry was back on. After a good tussle the line went slack at 40m to go, disappointment all around, lost fish. We re-baited and started motoring back to the start of our drift point, Terry pointed and yelled, and there in front of the boat was his bar cod, floundering on the surface. Some careful driving and a good gaff shot, a 17kg bar cod, thank you very much!
Terry’s still got the smile on his face, his first bar cod (well, his first 2 bar cod!)
By crikey you’re putting some points on the board, Sean! Terry’s fist pump of accomplishment is nothing short of awesome. And is that one of our jigs I spy, on the baitboard? Coincidentally (he he J), we just received a shipment of Daiwa electric reels. Here’s three worth considering, firstly the Daiwa 500MM Leobritz:
Nutty name, great reel. Spooled with 400 metres of 50-pound colour change braid, and mounted on a matching Strudwick overhead rod. The rod has a Fuji gimbal, heavy duty reel seat and Fuji guides. Sinker and rigs included, all that’s needed is the bait. Price $740 + delivery. Next, the Daiwa Tanacom 750 reel, with matching rod:
Ten second video of mine in operation here:
We’re offering it on a bent butt rod, spooled with 500 metres of 80-pound braid, for $980.
We’ll add a sinker and rig, so all you need is the bait J.
This combo can be mailed, so delivery’s not expensive.
Reel only, $850.
The big plus with the TB750 is its auto jigging program, and its light weight. Unlike the TB1000, it’s comfortable to use as a regular rod and reel. So after catching your bag limit of gemfish or blu eye you can rig a jig and drop the jig down 250 metres or so. The auto jig function will work the jig back to the top. When a strike comes, disconnect the cable and fight the tuna in the normal way. Here’s Daiwa’s specs on the reel:
Line Capacity (Lb. Test / Yards):BRAID: 60/770, 80/550, 100/440
Programmable jigging function
Brass and Aluminium Bronze gearing
4 ball bearings
Daiwa’s unique Power Lever for instant control of winding speed and power
Digital readout measures line let out and distance retrieved from the bottom
Programmable Auto Stop feature stops winding when lure reaches the surface
Manual winding option
Convenient 12-16.8 Volts DC operation
Maximum winding power 22 kg. continuous/momentary 64 kg.
130m/min per minute winding speed in "speed" mode
Washable design with sealed electronics.
The TB750’s big brother is the Tanacom Bull 1000. Here’s pricing on that one:
Reel only: $940.00
In a combo with bent butt rod, 1000m 80-pound colour change braid, sinker and rig: $1100
In a combo with braid, sinker, rig and Daiwa Saltiga Dendoh SA-B56HF-DD: $1250
Call or email for more details?
From further north, Marc writes from Ballina with an update on activities from the Cherry Street FC:
Ray Fox, Scott Thew and Tom Bowers were all in the running for the offshore comp. Ray was the lucky winner of the dinner voucher for the offshore category. Ray is also had his first attempt at soft plastics on snapper and I think I can safely say he is now a convert
Saturday was the pick of the days to head offshore. The conditions were ideal after the morning breeze dropped off and glassed out conditions were experienced for the rest of the day.
A few whales got up close and personal to us at one stage, as can be seen in the pictures. Sunday it sounds like nobody was game to head offshore and take on the strong winds.
Once again some great raffle prizes were on offer from Wade at Cherry St Butcher, Brett from Ballina Bait and Tackle, Brad from Chicken Mania, Cherry St Bowling Club and a new prize offered from Andrew at the Downrigger shop.
Max Thew won a tuna bag supplied by the Downrigger Shop.
Mate, we will always support you, please let me know if you need any further raffle prizes. Very glad to hear Club numbers are building fast, I attribute that to your energy and commitment.
Craig and Sarah stopped by for some tackle and sent me a pic of the morwong they boated, last weekend:
Hey Andy Headed off Long Reef last weekend for a quick drift an got this Moe in 60m Cheers Craig
I got out for a couple of runs this week but didn’t exactly set things on fire, in terms of results. Chasing squid on Monday afternoon, with Darryl:
Fiddling with the buttons on the HDS and found a setting I never knew existed, ‘Night Mode’:
Space Invaders, anyone? Then on Wednesday Rico, Mev, the Professor and I headed up to Long Reef, and points north. We got excited on checking out the amount of bait on the Birchgrove Park wreck, off Avalon:
But the only predators it produced were Sergeant Bakers. L On the way back in, Rico spun up a salmon:
Tough day but at least, top weather.
Mick has an inquiry:
Hi Andrew, I’ve received the downrigger and I’m happy with it but have a question regarding the release clips you have supplied. Either I am not using them right or don’t seem very strong doubt they would hold a baitfish or a lure like an X Rap, can you shed some light?
Well mate with a downrigger you are already controlling the depth. So you don’t need a deep diving lure with a huge bib, to go deep. Check out this pic:
At the top, a Rapala X-Rap. This big lure dives deep but also pulls like a two kilo trevally, especially if you’re trolling fast. A better option – for offshore – is the Rebel lure shown in the middle. Same size or bigger lure, good strong trebles, but with a small narrow bib that doesn’t produce nearly as much drag. For inshore work, the little Kokodas shown at bottom are deadly. Also, they don’t cost much. While talking tackle, I’ve always been a big fan of Wilson gear, but last week I sent them this inquiry:
Hello Wilson Fishing
Bought a few packs of your Fish Skin Leader With Luminous Beads rigs yesterday and was rigging them up this morning when I noticed that:
1. there’s no fish skin on the hooks;
2. the beads aren’t luminous.
Would appreciate a brief explanation when you have a moment to spare,
No reply yet, and I’m not holding my breath.
Kurt sent in some amazing pics and video, thanks champ:
K.N.R.B ( KURT, NIC, ROB, AND BRAD ) TEAM MADMULLET, hit the beautiful Urangan pier in search of some shoulder blade separating fish. We weren’t let down, here are just a few that we got ………
Here are a couple more if you are interested. Groper, shovel nose shark, huge cat fish and big lizards.
Here are a couple more if you are interested. Groper, shovel nose shark, huge cat fish and big lizards.
Here is a Youtube link to the footage....
Too right I’m interested and thanks so much for sending, Kurt. I thought the resident Queensland Groper in the mouth of the Starcke River was a big one, but yours makes him look like a tiddler.
Dave T had a lucky find, at Jervis Bay:
Hey Andrew...look what you find on the cleaning table down here!!! A lovely 3kg Snapper. Regards Dave
Blimey, someone had so many, they left one for the next bloke along! Dave also send in this kind of sad, kind of silly pic:
Hi Andrew just found this pic on Facebook, don't know any details but it sure looks painful.
Horrible! Are those electric downriggers on the transom, Dave?
Supposedly the second worst girly magazine cover of all time: 'Mermaid', from the mid-1960s:
Nice canvas shark you caught, hon!
Roger P had an adventure:
Hey Andy, been a while but thought I would let ya know about my trip
Onboard my mates 36’ Blackwatch that he is taking back to Brisbane, from Lake Macquarie. Left last Thursday. 7knt troll trip so our first stop was Broughton Island.
We then headed to Laurieton. What a magic place. Then it was Port Macq for 2 days then a speed run up to Coffs to get a fish in before docking. Fuel flow went from 10lts/hr to 82lts/hr and the snapper had gone off the bite from the reports we got the previous week. A very inquisitive whale spent awhile hanging around the boat near Coffs, and there are a stack of them heading south.
With the head winds predicted we decided to leave the boat there and head back to Newcastle on the rail rattler. Heading back up to Coffs on Monday and continue the trip north with Yamba being the next stop and better timing for a high tide bar crossing than a low one in windy conditions. Ballina after that then hit the Gold Coast.
The only red I got at Coffs is the one in the pic saying “I can’t feel my legs” as a nice shark nabbed a feed just under the boat. Cheers, Roge
Top stuff Rog, and good luck for the next leg of the trip.
To politics, and the big news this week is Labor’s backflip on the super trawler.
Here’s the Margiris (Abel Tasman) behind razor wire at Port Lincoln.
The scale of this trawler’s fishing system is incredible:
Environment Minister Tony Burke confirmed the trawler’s license to operate on September 10th – then effectively cancelled it, on September 12th. As always with this bunch, there’s an ulterior Green motive. Federal MP Bob Baldwin is a keen fisho himself and operates a game boat out of Port Stephens. Talking about Burke’s Bill to ban the super trawler, he told Parliament on Wednesday:
….what concerns them is the ad hoc way in which this has been put together. In division 2, subdivision A, at 390SC, the bill says:
What is a declared fishing activity?
(1) A declared fishing activity is a fishing activity that is specified in:
It goes through a range of measures and then says:
(2) A fishing activity means an activity that constitutes fishing.
From my reading and understanding of this legislation, these measures can apply to recreational fishermen. This minister, at a whim, without any science and without any consultation can shut down entire areas, not just for commercial fishing but for recreational fishing as well. The minister will no longer be required to go through the management processes for marine parks.
Baldwin is a top bloke and if he says Burke is trying to pull a fast one you can put your money on it. We’ll see how it all pans out over the next week or so, but sincere congratulations to all who fought so long and so hard to block the Margiris. Next week, a fascinating story from Dave in Brisbane about the way his local Council is converting trailer parking at the local boat ramp into general parking, meaning there’s nowhere for trailers to go:
Until then my friends, thanks so much for sending in stories or pictures and please: keep them coming! Cheers,
Andrew Hestelow
Managing Director
