G’day lads, some fantastic extended reports this week, starting off with Alex’s trip to Lord Howe Island:

But before we get rolling can I just mention something to our 500+ downrigger owners, many of whom read the weekly report.

Alex, his dad, and his gorgeous fishing buddy went to Lord Howe with kingfish on their minds. The trip was a classic:

Hi Andy, I recently got back from a ten day trip to Lord Howe Island, just a two hour flight from Sydney. We managed to fish four days while on the island, which was excellent considering the weather at this time of year.

Day 1: We spent our first day fishing with island legend Crom from Oblivienne fishing. Not only was Crom a great down to earth guy, his knowledge of the island’s lagoon system and rock fishing locations was second to none. Unfortunately the tide was too high to fish for the elusive double header so we decided to tackle some oversized “stinkies” or silver drummer.

Day 2:  On arrival to our first spot I couldn’t help but feel déjà vu after watching countless fishing shows and Youtube videos of fishing Balls Pyramid in the month leading up to the trip. As we approached the mark the sounder was not showing any fish so we had a few drops with the jigs to no avail and then off to the next spot. As we found out later the issue was that there was too much krill in the water and the fish were following the bait and not holding on the pinnacles and reefs they normally call home.

With this in mind we had to find a new technique and fast so instead of sounding the bottom for fish we chased diving birds and horizontally ripped jigs in the hope of finding a school, SUCCESS! We fished like this all day for a total of 8 kingfish and 1 trevally. Not the start I was after but nonetheless one of my most enjoyable days fishing ever.

Day 3: After a slow start we decided to increase our chances of big kingies by fishing the local reefs. As we neared Spot X the sounder started to show solid markings of fish and the jigs were deployed almost immediately. After two quick flicks of the rod we were on, DOUBLE HOOKUP! As my reel screamed I noticed the fish headed for the surface and was not fighting like the kingfish I am used to at Allmark. Minutes later and my doubts were confirmed as an albacore started doing donuts boat side.

Day 3: After a slow start we decided to increase our chances of big kingies by fishing the local reefs. As we neared Spot X the sounder started to show solid markings of fish and the jigs were deployed almost immediately. After two quick flicks of the rod we were on, DOUBLE HOOKUP! As my reel screamed I noticed the fish headed for the surface and was not fighting like the kingfish I am used to at Allmark. Minutes later and my doubts were confirmed as an albacore started doing donuts boat side.

This was more what we had come for! The largest fish for the day went 17kg cleaned with many larger models that couldn’t be stopped.

Kevin had some wahoo success off the Tweed on Sunday:

Further south, and Ross found snapper success north of Port Stephens:

On the topic of downrigging, I’ll be giving a talk this Thursday night at the SGFC meeting in western Sydney.

All welcome:

In regards to bait for kingfish, we all know there’s nothing like a fresh live squid. Especially early in the season, when the kingies are a bit fussy:

I was randomly Googling squid fishing the other night (as you do!), to see if any new techniques are being developed.   Amazed to see just how big commercial squid fishing is. From giant ships with tower lights in the Falkland Islands:

To mid-size squid boats in Thailand:

To row boats in Malta:

They all have one thing in common, lights suspended over the water to attract squid. When I walk along the marina there’s a big boat in one of the pens, whose owner leaves his underwater lights running. The amount of bait attracted is phenomenal:

And some blokes have installed LED lights in their trailerboat transoms, for that purpose. But I hate drilling into my hull underwater and also, LED lights are pretty expensive. So I thought we might try a little experiment at the marina, on Thursday night. I removed the bombs from two DRs, and attached two of our new LED camping lights. Apologies for my lousy photography:

The camping light has a three position water resistant switch, with a lantern above and a powerful pencil spotlight on the bottom:

Handy folding ring on the top, which I used for suspending from the downrigger:

That gave a piercing light which penetrated deep into the water and made the bait swarm, darting in and out of the light beam:

So the thought is, if you’re on the water early to get squid for a kingfish session, or fishing for jewies overnight, clip our camping light onto the downrigger or even just the back of your boat. If you have a downrigger, drop a light rod in the rod holder and put the squid jig over the back. It will drift along just outside the light cone, where you want it:

Meantime you can cast with your normal squid outfit and double your chances, of success.

$27 each

or two in a dry box for $65.

$8 postage to Syd, Newcastle and Wollongong,

$20 to Melbourne and Brisbane.

These lights are handy for much more than squidding:

240V and 12V chargers included.

How good is that?

Stan and #1 son Scott hit the river:

Dear Andrew, photo of son, Scott with 35 cm bass. Great day, 4 canoes, about 50 bass. 1st 2 fish were flatheads in the rapid in near fresh water. Is that common? Stan

Beautiful! As to flathead in fresh water, it’s not uncommon. The reason being is that, in the margin between fresh and salt, the fresh sits on top of the salt.

Kevin Lithgow emailed an amazing photo essay on his eight day charter out of Thailand. Sensational stuff Kevin, and I’m so glad you took the time:

Hi Andrew, well I’ve just gotten back from a 2 week trip to Thailand with a couple mates on an 8 day jigging charter of which it took 36 hours just to get to the first spot we could drop a jig. We predominantly fished the 60-110m range but then headed to the 200-300m range to fish for black co, mainly on electric reels but I refused and managed to jig up 3 of them from 210m until my body told me that was enough and had to let the electric boys finish up the day.

There is just so much to tell but I’ll let some pictures do most of that thought. One thing I will never forget is a mate hooking a marlin about 100-150 kilo on a jig and pe3. We just heard the drag screaming off at a rate of knots and then suddenly this black marlin launched itself out of the water 3 times but as I reached for my camera it broke free and was out of there. It’s a sight I’ll never forget and there were high 5’s and shouting going on all around the boat. We finished up the trip with a day fishing in Bangkok for Giant catfish, we only managed “baby” ones around 17-22 kilo. I can’t wait to do it all again, Kevin

 300-350kg Thresher shark:

Apparently excellent eating, this fish was auctioned off:

Dog tooth tuna

That’s not a doggie……this is a doggie:

A taste of Thai jigging:

Breakfast before we left land for 8 days

Small selection of the fishing gear. Each combo is about $2000

This was the first night we got there.

My first Doggie of the day

Getting my arms stretched by a black cod 210m under the boat.

Mekong catfish:

Kevin, that is absolutely incredible and I can’t tell you how grateful I am, that you would assemble such a fantastic report for our readers. Truly in your debt!

The unstoppable Tony C went to Victoria to take advantage of the top run of snapper in the Bay:

To Queensland, and John W was kind enough to send me an update and pic on a big black jewfish he caught recently:

Hi Andrew. I’m in Qld and enjoy your fishing pics. Attached a photo of a 130cm. black jew that was just able to be lifted. This was caught in central qld. Prior to this have caught same species in N.T. and cape york. They run like a shark (train). But if the initial runs are controlled they are quite easy to boat. Some people liken their initial bite to that of a “picker”. It is fatal to strike too soon. The bag limit is 2 fish, but 2 like this soon fills the freezer Caught November. Cheers john

Thanks Johnno!

Scrolling down the email I stopped at this bit:

The Conservation Foundation? They’re no friends of fishos. Further down, the Council’s take on the Murray-Darling plan, cheering on the Greens and the Wilderness Society – both of whom lobby hard, for marine park lockups:

And lastly this, the ‘Council of Freshwater Anglers’ fretting about the NSW government defunding a notorious sheltered workshop for greenies, the EDO: