Go Behind the Scenery
Tasmania SOUTH COAST SPRING SHELF Eagle Hawk Neck has been fishing very well during early spring and as we head into October we can expect more of the same. The water temperature has not yet started to climb – just as the water temperature is slow to drop it is slow to rise. The season and sun can be out but it takes a bit longer for the water temperatures to rise and for the east Australian current to have any influence on our offshore water. This does not mean that it is not worth venturing out offshore and having a crack. Sometimes you need to be the leader of the pack and not just follow what you have heard or seen on Facebook.
If you see a good weather window and can organise a trip at this time of year it’s best to just pull the trigger and have a go. Jonah Yick and his crew headed out in his vessel Mustang Sally and had a great day. They thought they would try and target some of the cooler temperate offshore water species. Butterfly mackerel or porbeagle shark were deemed to be the options. They had not heard about too many gamefish being caught in the area, but they had noticed far less boat traffic off the fishing grounds. They studied the weather and it looked pretty good on the forecast, but once they were out there it was not as
ideal as they had seen. This is how Jonah described the day: “The conditions once hitting the shelf were average despite the forecast, with 15 knots of northwest winds continuing through until midday. Luckily a patch of bluefin made for a good start to the day, with fish averaging 15-25kg. The 6” Brown Prowler in the shotgun was the standout, as it has been almost every trip this season on the spring shelf. Despite the sloppy conditions a berley trail was set, with one deep and one shallow bait deployed. A few ooglies were pulled up from the depths, while the blue sharks moved in as the trail started working. Late in the afternoon the deep bait was taken in 610m of water and young Sammy
Keeping a keen eye out is a must for success when offshore. EAST COAST GEORGES BAY I mentioned in the intro that our estuaries come alive here in Tasmania during October. They have had a good
flush out, the water flows are slowing and they fill with heavily laden salt water on the incoming tides. This triggers fish to spawn or finish spawning and there
Sam with another snapper that is destined for the oven. 54
OCTOBER 2018
are post-spawning fish and pre-spawning fish, all in different stages of hunger and school sizes. It’s a great time to get down there and try your hand at all the great fishing the place has to offer, and the many and various species you can encounter there. The accommodation is as varied as the fishing as well in St Helens, and at this time of year it’s very well priced as well. This whole area caters for shore-based anglers as well as those who have access to a boat. Beach fishing at this time of year is a great way to pass the time and kids love it as well. They get to play in the sand and check out all the wonders a tidal sand line has to offer, and if a fish is caught well that is just a bonus. The well-known spots at Swimcart and Beerbarrel beaches are always worth drowning some bait at for a few hours. I like the area off Swimcart close to Old Man Rock. Matter of fact I have had some good days casting with a 9’ rod and a 4500 reel pegging metal slices off there as a 20 year old. It would be a sensational spot nowadays to throw stickbaits and poppers. The trout fishing just down the road at Scamander River is a good option should
Michael Haley caught a few nice bream on a Zerek Tango Shad. Nichols was loaded up. After a 20-minute fight with a couple of cracking runs, the hooks pulled. Bait returned relatively unscathed apart from being ripped down a few centimetres, with the bait leader and 450lb JEM Wind-on sustaining abrasion marks totalling 2m in length. This is what keeps us going back.” That is a great example of how to do it. Look at the forecast and pack the boat for plan A, but also have some gear as a contingency plan. October is the month when you should have some tuna gear and some deep drop electric gear on board, and maybe even a sword outfit. If the weather cuts up a little
you can troll some lures with everyone keeping a sharp eye out for bait or birds. If the wind drops out and you get a chance to hit the bottom with the electrics, then having the gear on board to do so is a great advantage. If it really glasses out it would be a shame if you couldn’t take advantage of it because you didn’t have a sword outfit on board. The new series of Penn 50 Inters make great all-rounders. They have a sensational bearing set that allows for effortless drops without issue. Loading them with 80lb braid whiplash and then top shotting them with 70m of 37kg makes them an option for swords, but also for tuna of any size. It’s
also a great outfit to have tucked away should a mako shark pop up and say hello at any stage in your fishing adventures. The closing thought here is to have your boat packed neat and tidy with a section or area set aside for each activity that you like to do once on the water. Everyone will learn where things are stored and where they go back to when finished. No point looking around for the blue eye rigs or the crimpers when you know they were on the boat last time you were out. Odds are they will be on the bench in the shed or in that bag of stuff in the car back at the ramp. Save yourself this disappointment.
Sam found a blue eye trevalla. the weather come in a bit windy. There are some spots on the river to get out of it and try all your normal trout catching tricks. Some of the slower retrieves with a pause and twitch will find some great bream as well. Hardbody lures that suspend are a good option here. You can stalk along quietly, cast
long, retrieve slow and pause for bream and trout but then cover the same ground with a faster retrieve for those trout that need a good bit of lure action to chase and bite. St Helens and back in the bay the species list is as long as your arm. Silver trevally have been getting bigger each year and those fishing
light have been having some great fun on them. A decent sized silver on light gear is fabulous fun and takes some landing. Australian salmon will be encountered while using soft plastics hopping and dropping for trevally, and so too will some of the estuary bream.