Saturday 17th August 2013

Tackle specials and angling politics

from Downrigger Shop

ANOTHER weekend of good weather! And that means action offshore. Adam K:

 

 

Hi Andrew, fished the Peak yesterday and got a monster.  Couldn’t weigh it but hit 115cms.  Your outfit I bought for my son is now called Tyson.  It was the Hercules house brand.  What a top combo. She handled this fish with no probs whatsoever.  Drag smooth, rod perfectly balanced.  Got it on your jig as well

 

 

Wow. That’s the best I’ve seen from The Peak in a long time. Here’s the combo Adam used:

 

Craig Booth went to Texas Reef, off Terrigal:

 

 

Hi Andy, jigged around the north of Texas yesterday, Bagged out on kings ranging from 66-83cm average around 70-73cm. Landed a few nice Snapper & Mowies too.

 

I jigged the day with one of your silver/blue/pink jigs, even jigged a legal snapper on it. No jackets or seals all day. I'll have to put an order in soon for more jigs & hooks, I am keen to try the micro jigs in summer.

 

Please do, Craig! Kingies seem to have bailed on the 40 metre reefs temporarily, we couldn’t find any on Friday. Dan Gatt fished near Craig, at the Perch Grounds:

 

 

G’day Andy, tried my luck at the Perch Grounds yesterday. Unfortunately I didn’t find the kings thick. My cousin, on his first venture out there, was working a knife jig and lands a 2kg red. I’ll take that for by-catch any day!

 

Definitely! Marc Sams got a young lad onto an unforgettable fish at Ballina last week:

 

 

Thanks for the mini jigs Andrew. They worked a treat this morning. My young neighbour caught his first big snapper. Fish of a lifetime.

 

Typically generous of you Marc, he’ll remember that one when he’s in the retirement home. Sarah and Craig fished off Sydney. Now this is a good metro snapper:

 

 

Just beautiful – the snapper, that is. J Sam Higgins with a nice trev from Middle Harbour on the weekend. These fish were the apex predator at Musgrave Street Wharf where as a kid I fished obsessively, back in the Sixties:

 

 

Been taking mates and kids from youth group out to catch kings on 10lb gear, heaps of fun all round!! The kings are few and far between but we have caught a couple every time we have been out! Trevally and salmon have been around too. My trev went 50cm!! Biggest I've caught

 

 

 

 

This fish was shared amongst a number of families to be eaten. The fish actually tail wrapped itself 3 hours into the fight and died deep at about 400m. The guys took over an hour to bring it up after it died. Well done boys, great fish not normally caught this time of year out of Bermi.

 

Just incredible, a 209 kilo blue off Bermagui - in August. Leo Yu was out wide too, giving his new Tanacom Bull outfit a workout:

 

 

Hi Andrew, made it out to Browns Mountain to test out my new electric reel I got from you last week. What an incredible piece of kit! No problems at all with winching up gemfish that were fighting all the way to the surface, including this beast that went 110cm. Heaps of line capacity too, I managed to get over 1000m of 80lb braid onto it. Don't know what Fisheries are going on about with gemmies, there must be millions of them there. We were hooked up within 30 seconds of hitting the bottom every time, regardless of where on the Mountain we drifted to.

 

Did I say workout? Oliver Evans bought one of our Rapala Jig Day rods, and couldn’t wait to get on the water to test it out. Instead, he tied it to his couch and started dragging that around the living room:

 

 

Rod feels great loaded up and dragging the couch around the lounge. Absolutely dying to test it out it out with those new jigs I picked up. The two other guys I picked up jigs for were very happy with what I got them. And I dare say all 3 of us will be back in the future. cheers Ollie.

 

Sheesh. Nice load profile! Anton picked the perfect weekend to travel up from Melbourne:

 

 

First, thanks for the advice! Hit Browns Mountain bright and early on Sunday and managed a nice bag of Gemfish including my first ever! Ever thought deep dropping could be so fun:) Then came in closer to jig the Peak for some Kings and was rewarded first drop! No monsters but great fun with most fish between 80-90cm long

 

 

Mate it is I who want to thank YOU, for sending in some pics we can all enjoy, and a report we can learn from. Ed Aspden sent in a live update from last weekend’s Geoff Woolley Shark Tournament, for which I’m just as grateful:

 

 

Just got a 75cm King at the 12 Mile on a jig on the way home from shark tournament. Have a 2.5m Mako to weigh caught by Jerome (12.y.o) on 15kg, great fight around 45 min. We also had another smaller Mako come up on the electric deep drop fishing for Gemfish and put a tag in it as well but unfortunately could not count it for points as the tournament line class is 15kg, but it was good tagging practice anyway.

 

Blimey. What a season’s Jerome having, Ed. Speaking of father – son fishing teams and I was a bit shocked to hear the news that Arman’s selling Mr Magoo:

 

 

2001 5.8 metre Southwind SF580

Powered by 2008 Mercury Optimax dfi,960 hours, just out of warranty

Duel axle braked Dunbier trailer, foam filled hull, unsinkable, $28 500

 

This immaculate boat and the giant fish caught from it have featured in the weekly report many times previously. Contact Arman Cokun on Facebook for more details, if interested? Almost a week passed without any of our readers sending news of a maritime disaster, meaning a difficult time for me personally. Thankfully Mike Gleeson broke the drought on Wednesday:

 

 

Hi Andy, found this mooring sitter going down this morning in Pearl Bay

 

Saluting, Mike! We had such a good time at the Eden Gamefishing Club dinner, on Saturday. Here’s trophies ready for awarding:

 

 

Next morning Club Secretary Stephen showed us the local sights, including the home built cat Happy Dragon:

 

I asked our host Daniel at Eagle Heights who’d made the beautiful centre console out the front of his guest house. His answer: ‘me’:

 

 

Sam from Cape York Adventures has a job offer for an adventurous reader:

 

Hi Andrew, we have a job available, not sure if you can add it to your newsletter??

 

Qualified Coxswain needed for immediate start at the top of Cape York. Conducting boat tours from Seisia (mainland) to Thursday Island and guided fishing charters.

 

Work is demanding and the ability to operate trailer boats 5 – 9 metres in open conditions essential. Induction provided on the job. You will have a desire to provide customers with an exceptional experience in a remote location.

 

 

To politics, and when I was a lad my mates and I idolised Peter Brock, the race car driver. ‘Peter Perfect’ won nine Bathurst 1000 races, and his 05 Commodore was famous right around the country:

 

 

Not only was Brock hugely successful on the track, he started the Holden Dealer Team. They sold modified Holden muscle cars, which rev heads couldn’t get enough of. Then one night- I’ll never forget it - Brock appeared on A Current Affair, marketing his Energy Polariser device. As Wikipedia puts it:

 

 

 

Most of our readers laughed along, but a couple thought I was being a bit rough on Bodgy Hodgy. One even posted that maybe another few hundred thousand dollars wasted on grey nurse shark ‘research’ might produce something in our favour. Lads, let’s rehash. Firstly grey nurse sharks (correct name, sand tiger sharks) inhabit temperate seas worldwide. Here’s Wikipedia’s distribution map:

 

 

Note that grey nurse/sand tiger sharks range the whole Australian coastline. More from Wiki:

 

 

 

 

 

The argument that grey nurse sharks are endangered or even rare is a complete con. Yet greenies use faux concern about these sharks in their war on fishing, in the same way they’ve used other uncommon species to advance their cause:

 

 

Who’s playing Peter Brock, in this sorry saga of phoney science and outright lies? NSW Fisheries, that’s who. Because just like Peter, when you’ve trashed your hard earned reputation for – in this case, another $1.2m – you’ll never get it all back. Les Palmer was at the Wauchope Caravan and Camping Show on Saturday 17th August and found NSW Fisheries dishonestly advertising incorrect closure maps for Fish Rock:

 

 

Here’s a closeup showing a restriction zone of 500 metres:

 

 

Here’s the real story showing the 200 metres so many of us fought long and hard for:

 

 

 

The rules and regulations in relation to recreational fishing in NSW are so ambiguous and confusing as it is now, the last thing rec-fishermen need is the 'Law Makers/Enforcers' themselves confusing the rules even further. Why can't they just read their own rule book and get it right for once?

 

The worst thing about this 'NSW Fisheries Travelling Circus' is that they have been to all the 'Caravan, Camping, 4WD, Fish & Boat Shows' to date with their misleading placards and they fully intend to follow the 'C,C, 4WD, F & B Show' on its merry course around the country side misleading even more rec-fishermen. It's my understanding (after a few phone calls) that they have no intentions of changing their placards. What a joke....

 

Next stop...Armidale Show Grounds 16, 17 & 18th Aug..

 

 

 

That’s what the federal government’s dealt us. NSW Liberal-National government have broken their March 2011 election promise to restore the balance:

 

 

So I’m supporting the Shooters and Fishers Party in the Senate, this election. They’re responsible for the five year NSW marine park moratorium, the single biggest setback the greenies and anti fishos have ever had.  Heading up the NSW north coast in the coming week with a carload of election material, bumper stickers, signs and the like. Stopping in along the way, meeting with friends and clients, and hopefully getting a fish in too. If you need some posters or stickers for your shop, or front yard, just call or email? Will drop them in. Lots of fishos requesting bumper stickers:

 

 

And sending pics for our Facebook page. Dave T, our Man in the Sand at JB:

 

My car has joined the fight.  The sticker says it all

 

 

Todd Cameron:

 

Hi Andy, Stickers on

 

 

Good one, Todd. Lindsay T:

 

 

Just email your address and I’ll pop a couple in the mail, same day. Thanks most sincerely to all our readers and contributors, and apologies for the delay in sending this week’s report. PLEASE : keep the pics and news coming in. I get all the nice compliments but it’s the blokes who take the time to contribute who deserve the thanks. Until next week,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director