Monday 23rd May 2016

Tackle specials and angling politics

from Downrigger Shop

Early winter and the big news locally is the run of deepwater monsters around the continental shelf. Up until a couple of seasons ago a pro fisherman targeted blue eye trevalla at the Browns Mountain seamount, off Sydney. Commercial droplining extremely effective on this species. A friend who went out with the bloke on his Steber witnessed nearly 200 fish caught in just one day out there. Not sure why he’s gone over the last couple of years but the reduced pressure has meant a bonanza for rec fishers able to range the 21nm east. Matt Cassar sent through pics of a beaut day he had out wide recently. That’s our Tanacom 1000 combo in the pic:

 

 

Here’s Kayden Dhyon at Browns on Saturday 7th. That’s what you want:

 

 

Managed 2 nice ones today biggest going just over 20kg, conditions were perfect for it all day few other boats getting amongst them as well

 

 

Slade Langley, back from Browns. The Botany cleaning table in the background, caged to prevent attracting seagulls near the airport:

 

 

Chris Colvin out wide over the weekend of 14/15 May. That’s a solid trevalla:

 

 

Nice blue to christen Gus's new electric gear. Happy days!!

 

One more monster from the deep. Good job Tanacom 1000, and thanks to John Neylon:

 

 

Hi guys just thought I would share this photo of a bass groper that was caught off the Gold Coast in 500 m of water....

 

Beautiful. There are millions of these fish around southern Australia. With the reduction in commercial pressure they’re more available than ever to rec fishermen:

 

 

Strict bag limits, tough enforcement, and most of all rough winter weather out wide keep the annual take low. If you haven’t tried it, get yourself a deep drop combo and give it a try when you’re next out there:

750-electric-reel-combo

tanacom-1000-combo

 

Because if you haven’t tried fresh blue eye on the barbecue you don’t know what you’re missing J Needless to say lots of other impressive reports have arrived. This time of year so hot, for anything from freshwater to the salt. Paul Johnston sends these killer kingie pics. Well done bloke and thanks so much for writing:

 

 

Andy. Just to prove i can catch something other than big dolphinfish. These are a few photos of a couple of kings caught locally here at Forster.

 

 

So good! Craig Marsay nearby, on the mid-north coast Friday 20th May:

 

 

Hi Andy, the results of a hard night out fishing the moon

 

Top job, Craig. Night fishing offshore can mean some special challenges. Action machine and adventure addict Ed Aspden finding success with his new boat. That’s a fantastic first:

 

 

We tagged our first blue yesterday out of Gold Coast on the Malekula II. Good fish!

 

Murray and family making the most of a charter at the Rocks. Good king! Thanks Muzz, very grateful indeed:

 

 

Andy, had a long weekend at south west rocks at the beginning of May. We caught a heap of fish including kings, most around 90cm, Jew, snapper and spotted and Spanish mackerel. Great weekend on a good charter

 

Brendon loving his Top End micro jigging. Good stuff:

 

 

Andrew, this is me (with Jew) and my brother (with golden snapper & jig). We caught these at Groote Eylandt (NT) Dec 2015. In 2 hours we got about 10 Golden Snapper and ~7 Jew fish in ~10-12m of water using 40g jigs from you – crazy fishing. Shallow water so it was good release the fish. Am heading back in Nov. to do more.

 

Excellent. If you’re needing an old tired bald tackle sales guy to carry your bags, you know who to call. That's fantastic, Nick Chee! Really interesting. Just like with carp we’ve got to make the most of a problem introduced species:

 

 

Hey Andy hows things? Iv found the alternative to carp up in brisbane the grommet and iv have been catching 30+ a session raging from 10cm to this stonker, they hit lures as well great fun on 4lb even get busted off on the bigger tilapia

 

Dan Anderson at the Peak last week. How are those conditions! He scored a nice teraglin too:

 

 

Andy we headed out yesterday a bit late to find the heards of boats at the peak, a lot of good soundings but our bait were being bitten in half! No kings for us but we did get a nice Trag and a couple of reds

 

It’s been a bit tide sensitive! I took new guy Dan out for a run to that spot too. Plan being to see if we could find his first offshore kingfish. Sounded around and located some promising mark:

 

 

Down went the jigs, and Dan was tickled pink with this 87cm:

 

Westerly dropping away nicely as the day warmed up so it was on to Browns. I rigged the port side Tanacom with twin droppers and bonito strip baits. Starboard side, a 420 gram lumo jig with a small bonito cube on the assist hook. After a few teething (baa haaa) difficulties Dan brought two gemfish aboard:

 

 

Dan Abadirv sent a video of us jigging offshore. Didn’t realise the camera was running! Didn’t realise I talk so much, either:

 

Met old friend Ron Camp while giving a talk at St George Anglers:

 

 

He was telling me how hot fishing at The Peak was, back in the 70s.

 

‘I’d drop down a jig and it would go thump thump thump ten times, before I hooked up.’ Me: ‘what do you mean, thump thump thump?’ Ron: ‘bouncing off the kingies’ backs on the way down!’

 

Now that’s a bit hard to believe! But I gotta believe this pic:

 

 

Hi Andrew, attached is a pic of my latest big flathead as requested, which was 836 mm long and 4.09 kg caught on 1kg Platypus pretest line. Not good enough to win estuary division of Sydney ANSA Comp but I didn’t do too bad taking out second, third and fifth places

 

To tackle, and a reader writes:

 

I've done a lot of estuary fishing with my reliable baitcaster. Now have a bigger boat. After a rod and reel for fishing Sydney harbour and hawksebury river & also give some jigging (want to give micro jigging a go) outside of Sydney heads. Do you have a versatile combo or would the micro jigging combo be ok?

 

 

The snapper combo better for casting. Having said that, some very nice fish caught on the light jigging combo lately. Here’s feedback from 702 snapper rod owner Seth Wright late last month. Both good outfits, it just depends on what your primary fishing style will be. The other option is, use the same reel for both. The second rod would only be $70 and you’d be covered for casting and jigging, including offshore. No extra postage for the second rod, which is good. Your call, Andrew

 

 

Gday Andrew, heres my 8 year olds first Mulloway. Caught in 21ftms at Jurien. He weighed 12kg and was caught on your indestructible 702 snapper rod and your Diawa Exceler reel with a 6inch paddle tail softy. One happy boy.

 

Too kind of you, Seth! That’s a credit to the lad’s fishing skills. Not a tackle item but I’m going to mention it because it’s great for fishing and towing and it deserves a good home. We’re selling our 1998 Holden Suburban:

 

 

Before I get into the specifics of this awesome car there’s something really important to explain about its biggest benefit. This Suburban has been blue slipped with a ninth seat installed, meaning it is FBT free. For any small businessman thinking of a purchase keep in mind the huge saving this represents? We have saved tens of thousands of dollars in tax on the car, over the fifteen years we have owned it.

 

 

The car is fitted with a Hayman Reese towing system and UHF CB radio and HID daymaker driving lights. Super comfortable for long range touring or towing. The car has a new transmission installed April 2016. That cost $4500, over half the sale price. When the middle seats are laid flat and the back seats are removed there is nearly 8 feet x 4 feet of clear space. You can even sleep in there. For carrying bulky items like carpet rolls, skis, fishing tackle you could hardly find a better vehicle. And because it’s a station wagon rather than a twin cab you don’t get dust or condensation on your load. Reason for sale: we’ve bought another Suburban! Price $8900 for quick sale, you could leave it hooked up to your boat trailer at that price and get a smaller car for everything else. J Please send an email for further details.

 

Downer of a story but it’s gotta be told. Geoff Wilson:

 

 

As the Darling dries out, so do the large Murray Cod trapped within the, now isolated, water holes (Photo: Sam Donaldson).

 

That’s just sad, but I guess it’s been happening for a zillion years. Killer pic from Sam Hunter. Mac tuna have so much power:

 

 

chased the macks on fly. Not easy until we worked it out. Here's my son Pat with one

 

Craig Wilson after them in the Top End:

 

 

Hi Team I caught this 105cm Jewy on Saturday off a Darwin reef Plenty going on and got a nice Macky also

 

Jamie Illistom back from PNG with one hell of a tale to tell. Glad you scored some good ones cobber:

Hey Andy, got to head over to Papua New Guinea, up the top at a place called Kavieng in the new Ireland province for 9 days. Had a ball.  I took some clients diving but headed out in the local banana boat in the afternoons. The Tuna fell to a sinking stickbait. Largest boated was 17.8kg, lost several even larger to sharks at the boatside.

 

 

Got the Dolly Pictured on the little black poppers i bought off you.

 

 

 

 

To politics, and Phil Cole sends a timely story on the dangers of crossing the Macleay bar.

 

 

Timely, because the NSW government is just about to unleash another blitzkrieg on fishos and boaties, with more marine park declarations. Also timely, because a friend of Maritime Minister Duncan Gay has sent me copies of correspondence between the two on what a disappointment this government has been for our interests. Let’s not forget that while Maritime are hassling boaties over paper charts and ropes on fire buckets, genuine threats to life and limb like these widow maker bars are ignored. While at the same time, BS artists like Gay rabbit on about how they’re going to focus on ‘rural & regional NSW.’ If you want to bring jobs to South West Rocks – and from what I hear, the place is desperate for them – why not fix the launching facilities?

 

 

If that was done holiday visitors wouldn’t be lost, like they have been here:

 

John Smart sends a stunning pic taken from Providence Portal Lodge, looking down to the Eucumbene River.

 

 

Would you believe the parkies are now planning to close off 4WD access to the river? John writes:

 

Andrew, the Eucumbene river was firing with all the group getting mutliple freshly run fish to 7 pounds myself excepted.

 

 

As the lake is down about a kilometer below the Lodge there was lots of banks for all to share and the fishing was very civil. It looks as if the 4wd access will be restricted for next season.

Heavily weighted nymphs were needed. The river was too high to walk the gorge.

 

Kosciuszko National Park is full of wild pigs, foxes, feral cats, deer, brumbies, blackberry, and (the horrible invasive plant) St John’s Wort. It’s regularly swept by wildfires that turn thousands of hectares to an ashtray, thanks to little or no hazard reduction burning.

 

 

 

Wilderness declarations made in the 1980s have utterly failed to increase numbers of any endangered species. But what do the parkies worry about? A few 4WDs, on a track that’s a century old. How pathetic, and how typical. Epic fails at doing their job, but extra good at bullying the public. Let’s stay vigilant because where one fisho is threatened, all are threatened. Until the next report and as I always say, deep thanks to those generous who send in the reports we all enjoy. I just assemble them into an email, it’s you blokes doing all the work. Cheers,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director

 

Early winter and the big news locally is the run of deepwater monsters around the continental shelf. Up until a couple of seasons ago a pro fisherman targeted blue eye trevalla at the Browns Mountain seamount, off Sydney. Commercial droplining extremely effective on this species. A friend who went out with the bloke on his Steber witnessed nearly 200 fish caught in just one day out there. Not sure why he’s gone over the last couple of years but the reduced pressure has meant a bonanza for rec fishers able to range the 21nm east. Matt Cassar sent through pics of a beaut day he had out wide recently. That’s our Tanacom 1000 combo in the pic:

 

 

Here’s Kayden Dhyon at Browns on Saturday 7th. That’s what you want:

 

 

Managed 2 nice ones today biggest going just over 20kg, conditions were perfect for it all day few other boats getting amongst them as well

 

 

Slade Langley, back from Browns. The Botany cleaning table in the background, caged to prevent attracting seagulls near the airport:

 

 

Chris Colvin out wide over the weekend of 14/15 May. That’s a solid trevalla:

 

 

Nice blue to christen Gus's new electric gear. Happy days!!

 

One more monster from the deep. Good job Tanacom 1000, and thanks to John Neylon:

 

 

Hi guys just thought I would share this photo of a bass groper that was caught off the Gold Coast in 500 m of water....

 

Beautiful. There are millions of these fish around southern Australia. With the reduction in commercial pressure they’re more available than ever to rec fishermen:

 

 

Strict bag limits, tough enforcement, and most of all rough winter weather out wide keep the annual take low. If you haven’t tried it, get yourself a deep drop combo and give it a try when you’re next out there:

750-electric-reel-combo

tanacom-1000-combo

 

Because if you haven’t tried fresh blue eye on the barbecue you don’t know what you’re missing J Needless to say lots of other impressive reports have arrived. This time of year so hot, for anything from freshwater to the salt. Paul Johnston sends these killer kingie pics. Well done bloke and thanks so much for writing:

 

 

Andy. Just to prove i can catch something other than big dolphinfish. These are a few photos of a couple of kings caught locally here at Forster.

 

 

So good! Craig Marsay nearby, on the mid-north coast Friday 20th May:

 

 

Hi Andy, the results of a hard night out fishing the moon

 

Top job, Craig. Night fishing offshore can mean some special challenges. Action machine and adventure addict Ed Aspden finding success with his new boat. That’s a fantastic first:

 

 

We tagged our first blue yesterday out of Gold Coast on the Malekula II. Good fish!

 

Murray and family making the most of a charter at the Rocks. Good king! Thanks Muzz, very grateful indeed:

 

 

Andy, had a long weekend at south west rocks at the beginning of May. We caught a heap of fish including kings, most around 90cm, Jew, snapper and spotted and Spanish mackerel. Great weekend on a good charter

 

Brendon loving his Top End micro jigging. Good stuff:

 

 

Andrew, this is me (with Jew) and my brother (with golden snapper & jig). We caught these at Groote Eylandt (NT) Dec 2015. In 2 hours we got about 10 Golden Snapper and ~7 Jew fish in ~10-12m of water using 40g jigs from you – crazy fishing. Shallow water so it was good release the fish. Am heading back in Nov. to do more.

 

Excellent. If you’re needing an old tired bald tackle sales guy to carry your bags, you know who to call. That's fantastic, Nick Chee! Really interesting. Just like with carp we’ve got to make the most of a problem introduced species:

 

 

Hey Andy hows things? Iv found the alternative to carp up in brisbane the grommet and iv have been catching 30+ a session raging from 10cm to this stonker, they hit lures as well great fun on 4lb even get busted off on the bigger tilapia

 

Dan Anderson at the Peak last week. How are those conditions! He scored a nice teraglin too:

 

 

Andy we headed out yesterday a bit late to find the heards of boats at the peak, a lot of good soundings but our bait were being bitten in half! No kings for us but we did get a nice Trag and a couple of reds

 

It’s been a bit tide sensitive! I took new guy Dan out for a run to that spot too. Plan being to see if we could find his first offshore kingfish. Sounded around and located some promising mark:

 

 

Down went the jigs, and Dan was tickled pink with this 87cm:

 

Westerly dropping away nicely as the day warmed up so it was on to Browns. I rigged the port side Tanacom with twin droppers and bonito strip baits. Starboard side, a 420 gram lumo jig with a small bonito cube on the assist hook. After a few teething (baa haaa) difficulties Dan brought two gemfish aboard:

 

 

Dan Abadirv sent a video of us jigging offshore. Didn’t realise the camera was running! Didn’t realise I talk so much, either:

 

Met old friend Ron Camp while giving a talk at St George Anglers:

 

 

He was telling me how hot fishing at The Peak was, back in the 70s.

 

‘I’d drop down a jig and it would go thump thump thump ten times, before I hooked up.’ Me: ‘what do you mean, thump thump thump?’ Ron: ‘bouncing off the kingies’ backs on the way down!’

 

Now that’s a bit hard to believe! But I gotta believe this pic:

 

 

Hi Andrew, attached is a pic of my latest big flathead as requested, which was 836 mm long and 4.09 kg caught on 1kg Platypus pretest line. Not good enough to win estuary division of Sydney ANSA Comp but I didn’t do too bad taking out second, third and fifth places

 

To tackle, and a reader writes:

 

I've done a lot of estuary fishing with my reliable baitcaster. Now have a bigger boat. After a rod and reel for fishing Sydney harbour and hawksebury river & also give some jigging (want to give micro jigging a go) outside of Sydney heads. Do you have a versatile combo or would the micro jigging combo be ok?

 

 

The snapper combo better for casting. Having said that, some very nice fish caught on the light jigging combo lately. Here’s feedback from 702 snapper rod owner Seth Wright late last month. Both good outfits, it just depends on what your primary fishing style will be. The other option is, use the same reel for both. The second rod would only be $70 and you’d be covered for casting and jigging, including offshore. No extra postage for the second rod, which is good. Your call, Andrew

 

 

Gday Andrew, heres my 8 year olds first Mulloway. Caught in 21ftms at Jurien. He weighed 12kg and was caught on your indestructible 702 snapper rod and your Diawa Exceler reel with a 6inch paddle tail softy. One happy boy.

 

Too kind of you, Seth! That’s a credit to the lad’s fishing skills. Not a tackle item but I’m going to mention it because it’s great for fishing and towing and it deserves a good home. We’re selling our 1998 Holden Suburban:

 

 

Before I get into the specifics of this awesome car there’s something really important to explain about its biggest benefit. This Suburban has been blue slipped with a ninth seat installed, meaning it is FBT free. For any small businessman thinking of a purchase keep in mind the huge saving this represents? We have saved tens of thousands of dollars in tax on the car, over the fifteen years we have owned it.

 

 

The car is fitted with a Hayman Reese towing system and UHF CB radio and HID daymaker driving lights. Super comfortable for long range touring or towing. The car has a new transmission installed April 2016. That cost $4500, over half the sale price. When the middle seats are laid flat and the back seats are removed there is nearly 8 feet x 4 feet of clear space. You can even sleep in there. For carrying bulky items like carpet rolls, skis, fishing tackle you could hardly find a better vehicle. And because it’s a station wagon rather than a twin cab you don’t get dust or condensation on your load. Reason for sale: we’ve bought another Suburban! Price $8900 for quick sale, you could leave it hooked up to your boat trailer at that price and get a smaller car for everything else. J Please send an email for further details.

 

Downer of a story but it’s gotta be told. Geoff Wilson:

 

 

As the Darling dries out, so do the large Murray Cod trapped within the, now isolated, water holes (Photo: Sam Donaldson).

 

That’s just sad, but I guess it’s been happening for a zillion years. Killer pic from Sam Hunter. Mac tuna have so much power:

 

 

chased the macks on fly. Not easy until we worked it out. Here's my son Pat with one

 

Craig Wilson after them in the Top End:

 

 

Hi Team I caught this 105cm Jewy on Saturday off a Darwin reef Plenty going on and got a nice Macky also

 

Jamie Illistom back from PNG with one hell of a tale to tell. Glad you scored some good ones cobber:

Hey Andy, got to head over to Papua New Guinea, up the top at a place called Kavieng in the new Ireland province for 9 days. Had a ball.  I took some clients diving but headed out in the local banana boat in the afternoons. The Tuna fell to a sinking stickbait. Largest boated was 17.8kg, lost several even larger to sharks at the boatside.

 

 

Got the Dolly Pictured on the little black poppers i bought off you.

 

 

 

 

To politics, and Phil Cole sends a timely story on the dangers of crossing the Macleay bar.

 

 

Timely, because the NSW government is just about to unleash another blitzkrieg on fishos and boaties, with more marine park declarations. Also timely, because a friend of Maritime Minister Duncan Gay has sent me copies of correspondence between the two on what a disappointment this government has been for our interests. Let’s not forget that while Maritime are hassling boaties over paper charts and ropes on fire buckets, genuine threats to life and limb like these widow maker bars are ignored. While at the same time, BS artists like Gay rabbit on about how they’re going to focus on ‘rural & regional NSW.’ If you want to bring jobs to South West Rocks – and from what I hear, the place is desperate for them – why not fix the launching facilities?

 

 

If that was done holiday visitors wouldn’t be lost, like they have been here:

 

John Smart sends a stunning pic taken from Providence Portal Lodge, looking down to the Eucumbene River.

 

 

Would you believe the parkies are now planning to close off 4WD access to the river? John writes:

 

Andrew, the Eucumbene river was firing with all the group getting mutliple freshly run fish to 7 pounds myself excepted.

 

 

As the lake is down about a kilometer below the Lodge there was lots of banks for all to share and the fishing was very civil. It looks as if the 4wd access will be restricted for next season.

Heavily weighted nymphs were needed. The river was too high to walk the gorge.

 

Kosciuszko National Park is full of wild pigs, foxes, feral cats, deer, brumbies, blackberry, and (the horrible invasive plant) St John’s Wort. It’s regularly swept by wildfires that turn thousands of hectares to an ashtray, thanks to little or no hazard reduction burning.

 

 

 

Wilderness declarations made in the 1980s have utterly failed to increase numbers of any endangered species. But what do the parkies worry about? A few 4WDs, on a track that’s a century old. How pathetic, and how typical. Epic fails at doing their job, but extra good at bullying the public. Let’s stay vigilant because where one fisho is threatened, all are threatened. Until the next report and as I always say, deep thanks to those generous who send in the reports we all enjoy. I just assemble them into an email, it’s you blokes doing all the work. Cheers,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director