So I was talking to a client in beautiful Kurrimine Beach (FNQ) on Wednesday. He enjoys the email report even though he’s never seen a kingfish and lives maybe a thousand kilometres from the nearest one. Gotta mention - I can only post reports that are sent in! And our readers are interested in everything and everything to do with fishing. So if you’ve been chasing garfish in Geelong, yellowbelly at Yantabullah, or queenies wide of Derby let’s hear from you. It’s a big paddock, the fishing world, and we want to know what’s happening in every corner of it. Here in the home paddock we’re in the transition phase between autumn kingfish and winter tuna. It’s one of my favourite times of year offshore. Heading way east to do some deep dropping, then cubing or sharking once the chiller bag’s full. Sascha sets the bar:

 

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Hi Andy, do you have any of the heavy sinkers for Browns left, we lost quite a few yesterday but was worth it with this blue eye

 

We do! Congratulations, Sascha. Sami scored this beauty on Monday:

 

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Chris Colvin checked out some new country, didn’t work out but you gotta try:

 

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How'd u go at browns mate? I went wide from broken bay on Friday on my own trying to find some cod. Was seeing fish on the sounder but they weren't taking the baits!!? Nice and flat out there though!

 

And Dan Falanga came home from the Mountain on Sunday with these solid gemfish:

 

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Only managed 3 gemmies yesterday (40 boats out at browns)

 

So with a near perfect forecast for Friday it didn't need much urging to phone around the crew and prep the gear and the boat. The night before Peter N phoned to say he was going too, meaning we could share intel out wide. Just on the water and Pete sent an SMS to say he’d found good live bait between Clontarf and Chinaman’s beach. Straight over we went and the schools were huge, but the bait not so willing to bite:

 

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For those fishing this area the mark is 33 48.647 / 151 14.979

 

With the bait tank full of prime slimy mackerel it was out to Twelve Mile reef to catch the 10.30 tide change. Down went both jigs and live bait but nothing found – except leatherjackets. This chap in a beautiful Grady-White disappointed he’d come so far, for so little result:

 

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The current was ripping at Twelve Mile, so strong it pushed us south into a moderate SW breeze. Worried that factor might make it difficult for deep dropping I radioed Pete, who told me the current at Browns was strong but manageable. So out we went. On arrival I checked in with Pete and George who had one nice gemfish on ice already:

 

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Second drop, and we had one for ourselves:

 

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Some excitement heard from Mako V, so over we went to check. The boys had scored this big blue-eye but were unable to weigh it. I passed over my Boga Grips which it bottomed out, at 50 pounds. Not surprised because Pete’s a big lad:

 

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So good to be back out there, only four boats in the fleet but I’m guessing with near perfect weather forecast it’ll be pretty busy out there on Sunday. All good, so many quality fish that anyone who can go should be over the mountain enjoying themselves. Some good reports from up-and-down the east coast, too. Craig Marsay reports from Nambucca:

 

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Another top day out. Peter Jones into PB pearlie 5kg

 

Some good reports from kingfish jiggers up and down the coast. Beau in Port Macquarie:

 

Hi Andrew I gave one of your jigs to a mate of mine and ha caught 17 king fish on the one trip he loved it, in the 250g size pink

 

Excellent, I’d be mounting that one on a plinth. Ben Buckley:

 

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Hi Andy, you 250g jigs work well on the Kings at Montague Island

 

Good to know Ben! Dan had a great session at Kingfish Central too:

 

Hey Andrew. We received the gear on Thursday afternoon and got down to Bermi on Friday to fish montague Island on Saturday and Sunday. We caught about 20 kings on Saturday in a couple hours before heading home after lunch to get a few flatties on the way home. Went out Sunday with good results again, we bring home 8 kings and lost a few. The kings were going off!!! Double hook ups on the jigs you sent and a couple on squid. The rod and reel combo was awesome and so where the jigs. Thanks for the gear.

 

You’re very welcome indeed Dan. To the Apple Isle, and I always thought porbeagle sharks were a north Atlantic species only. Trust Leo Miller, to prove me wrong. Check out that serrated dorsal:

 

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On Saturday I managed this Porbeagle! 93.2kg and pending record for 37kg and Australian All tackle. Good eating too!

 

Never heard of one Downunder, Leo. Trust you to put one on the deck. Well done. To tackle, and with the blue eye and gemfish season cranking up fast the phone’s running hot with deepwater tackle inquiries. Received a shipment of Tanacom 750s this week:

 

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These are the new black model:

 

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A few cosmetic changes only, identical in performance to the Tanacom Bull 750. These are my preferred electric reel now. They did the job last Friday:

 

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The jig function really handy on these reels too because, after you’ve bagged out on gemmies and blue-eye (hopefully!) you can do some auto jigging around the 200-metre mark, for albacore. The joy of the 750 combo is that, as well as being great for deep dropping, you can also use it as a regular rod and reel. You can’t do that with the Tanacom 1000 combo (which we also offer.) Here’s twelve seconds showing both my outfits in action at Browns last Friday:

 

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Here’s our deal:

Tanacom 750 combo including:

Daiwa Tanacom 750 reel & cables

1000m x 50-pound colour change braid

24-kilo 2-piece bent butt rod with roller tip

 

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2-pound lead weight and two deep drop rigs for $990 the lot.

Twelve months warranty on parts and labour and yes we do carry motors.

Give me a buzz or send an email if you have any questions whatsoever?

 

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Our waterproof lockable dry box. I load mine up with one jig bag of 250s, one jig bag of 100s (18 jigs total), two sets of cables for the Tanacoms, and then 3-4 reels on top. If I need a reel I take it out of the dry box and it doesn’t go back in until it’s been washed after I get back home. Meaning the gear in the box gets no salt spray, no moisture and no sunlight – the three biggest enemies of fishing tackle. Then I use another one to keep all the safety gear dry and secure – duct tape, EPIRB, v-sheet, flares, med kit:

 

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But the boxes are bulky and take up a lot of storage room here. So now Tim’s come up with a great offer to thin out the herd. If you’re ordering:

 

250gram jigs;

50 or 80 braid;

Any reels, or rod/reel combo;

Tuna bag;

 

We can put them inside a lockable dry box and send for just $20 – including delivery.

Once you’ve got one, you’ll never know how you got along without it. Mention you need one in the ‘note to merchant’ section, of Paypal? I’ll do a Paypal request for $20 and we can send both orders, same day. News of the Weird, and Adam Chamberlain sent a pic of this 3 kilo mangrove jack:

 

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Baa haa. We were fortunate to have a big name fishing celebrity aboard on Friday. He was a bit highly strung, here’s 7 seconds:

 

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And as a few readers know, I’ve gone commercial and am selling the catch now. Starting off at entry level, of course: https://

 

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Les Palmer sends a pic of a heavy duty launch:

 

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Bloody boat ramps. They're never made big enough are they.

 

Just hoping it’s not the wife reversing that trailer, Les. J Shocker trailer frame in my local boat service bloke’s yard last week:

 

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With mine showing early signs I went on the Facebook page to ask reader advice:

 

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Good feedback as always, which I’ll follow to the letter. Alan Goggin out of the kayak and onto the rocks, at Coffs Harbour:

 

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Not far away and an old friend writes from Hat Head FC. Just thinking of all the top times I’ve had up there gets me misty. Foremost amongst them chasing pearl perch with Peter and Maurie east of Fish Rock, and coming home with some monsters:

 

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Hi Andrew! Just starting to learn how to use this iPad. Peter and I are still fishing out of our Seafarer. It's over 40 years old and still going well. We're on holidays at Dunbogan and Peter has been showing us up off the bank with a 500gm whiting and a 1.250kg bream. Kind regards, Maurie Britten. p.s. He is still using the reel you gave him and we weighed the fish on the scales you gave me.

 

Great to hear from you my friend and congrats to Peter on that quality bream. Looking forward to a catch up next time C and I are heading north. James' new downrigger delivering results:

 

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Hi Andy, Good to meet you on Tuesday. Took the new downrigger out for a bash around middle harbour and picked up about 7 rats, not biggies though..We got one rat that had a little 10g jig with 2 assist hooks on it, pinned in the jaw. Score!

 

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The only problem with the down rigger is that, now that we have used it, we're going to need another one!!!

 

Good result and I’m predicting many more to come, James. Andrew Westlake off Warrnambool last weekend. Well done, Westy:

 

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Managed a feed in 18 knot winds down here today. Nice 12 kg schoolies

 

Can’t WAIT until they arrive off Sydney.

 

To politics, and Glen sends an update on Maritime’s Coffs Harbour boat ramp, breakwall, and slipway disasters. We need an Upper House inquiry into this trainwreck of a department:

 

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The wall will be made of hanbars, so the tourists’ view will go, but also the fishing access. Same design as the south wall, which didn’t need fixing but they did it anyway. 19 mill largely wasted. Our million dollar hole in the ground has been dug, but not complete as yet. The groyne won’t be extended, which will mean getting in and out is going to remain dangerous. Everyone’s waiting to see the outcome, with consensus being that it won’t work and will just fill up with sand over time.

 

I hear ya Glen. Still trying to get a handle on the stupidity and waste involved with boat ramp upgrades in this State over the last few years. We all know the story. Big press announcements about million dollar improvements to be made at popular ramps which are groaning under the workload, especially on holiday and weekends. Signage goes up and the ramp access is reduced for months, usually a minimum of twice the estimated period.

 

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Then, when the work is finally complete, long suffering boaties find that launching is twice as difficult – because a large pontoon has been put down the middle of the ramp. Check this 18 second video out, Roseville boat ramp on the Monday of the June 2015 long weekend:

 

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Not only does that stupidity reduce launching lanes, but new chum boaties launch, tie their boat to the pontoon too close to land, then go to park their car and trailer. Meaning that the next trailer boat in the queue can’t get into the water, because there’s insufficient space behind its stern.

 

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Anyone who has launched knows the problems. And anyone who has launched at an ‘improved’ ramp knows the failures. Even given the incompetence – and, let’s be honest, the history of corruption – at NSW Maritime, it’s hard to get a handle on the scope of their failure.

 

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So when one of our readers sent me a heads up about an engineers’ seminar on NSW boat ramps scheduled for Monday night there was no way I was going to miss it. Down to the Australian Engineers auditorium at Chatswood for a seminar to find maybe twenty mostly engineering students (by their appearance) being addressed by Matthew Potter, a Maritime engineer:

 

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During the presentation we finally got to what I think is the key cause of failure. The question has always been, how could they get it so wrong? Building an efficient boat ramp isn’t quantum physics. One hour of observation on a sunny Sunday at Roseville would show you what the problems are. Another hour of talking to the boaties trying to launch and retrieve would tell you how to fix them.

 

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Guess what? There was no observation. There was no talking to boaties. The only people they talked to were the Boat Owners Association and the Rec Fishing Alliance. How pitiful. What a disconnect. I invite readers to imagine how long a business would stay operating if they never considered their clients’ needs, and instead went to some nonelected faceless men no boatie or fisho’s ever heard of. What’s even worse is that – as far as was mentioned – there’s been no follow up to check whether our million bucks delivered a positive result. I don’t blame the engineers involved, they were only following orders. A bucket of stinking blame can be

thrown over Duncan ‘Double Demerits’ Gay, the NSW Maritime Minister who signed off on this wasteful worthless farce. And the end result is the kind of shambles we saw at Roseville last week shown in the video above. If you’ve got your own story of ramp rage let’s hear about it? It’s only by publicizing our problems that we’ll ever get the government agencies responsible to give us a say in our own future.

 

In closing, can I thank readers and clients most sincerely for your support? We’re taking 330 new visitors to the website every day as an indication we’re on the right track:

 

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Thanks to you all and double special thanks to those generous enough to send in the reports we all enjoy,

 

Andrew Hestelow

Managing Director