Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 145 2021 May

May – July 2021

TASMANIAN FISHING and BOATING NEWS — ISSUE 145

Jumbo Bluefin Fever Tamar River Snapper Whiting Tactics Elephant Fish Bream Tournament Lessons Wilderness Walk Preparation

Print Post approved 100003074

Deep Dropping Technique

$5.95 Mike stevens with a final trout fort he season.

Perspective — Todd Lambert

3

Autumn Ghosts – Elephant Fish — Nathan Huizing

8

Tamar River Snapper — Damon Sherriff

13

Preparation for Wilderness Walks — Craig Rist

16

Bream – Tournament Lessons — Jack Gillespie

22

Targeting Whiting — Jarvis Wall

27

Young Gun – Finn McDowell — Lubin Pfeiffer

30

Jumbo Fever – Bluefin — Kelly Hunt

34

Deep Dropping — Jonah Yick

39

Recreational Marine Fishing News

43

Liberal Party Election Promises for Salt and Fresh Water Fisheries

45

A

nother trout season has ended on May 02, just as we were going to press. I have had, for many years a season-end challenge. It is just a personal challenge to catch a trout on a dry fly on the last cast of the season.

The only real parameter is that it must be after 3pm. As the days are short at this time of the year it seems fair to have that time as the measure.

To do this one should choose a location where one has a good chance: a lake is not a reasonable choice, and the Western Lakes, or Nineteen Lagoons are definitely out - given the daily catch rate is under one fish per person per day.

Most will know I am a great lover of small streams — in fact the smaller they are the more fun I get from them. Some people love searching for big fish, I am not one of them, but more on that later.

There is another very big factor on the last day as well though — weather. If it has

been raining and everything is in flood the challenge can be extraordinarily difficult.

For the final day I would like to order up: two weeks prior without heavy rain, a warm sunny day, light or no wind and a small, healthy headwater stream. Bingo, that is what I got.

My wife Jules and her friend Julie both competition fly fish and I promised to take them to a special place, but they had to participate in my challenge. They are both great fly fishers and these were very different conditions to how they usually fish, but they rose to the challenge.

There is no need for an early start if fishing dry flies on small streams in May, so we left home around 10am, took a wrong turn as I day dreamed driving, but got there in the end.

Fishing started around 11.30am and the first fish was caught within 10 minutes.

Small streams take considerable casting skills and the girls soon adapted.

We took it in turns catching, releasing and spotting fish for each other. It is such a bonus to get good sun on the last day as little trout stand out waving their tails on the golden sand of our little secret creek. It is a delight to sight cast to any fish and see them take your bait, lure or fly. I love this fishing.

We caught and released twenty or more gorgeous trout — and then completed the challenge of one each after 3pm. We then wound our lines up and celebrated with a very good whisky.

I also have another personal tradition.

I like to fish with gear from friends that have passed away and remember them as I fish. This year I did that with Andrew Harker’s Hardy reel and line and Rick Keam’s beautiful Australian made cane fly rod. They were good friends and I miss them. It is a lovely way to remember and celebrate their friendship.

Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Published by Mike Stevens: PO Box 7504, Launceston, 7250.

Mike Stevens – P: 0418 129 949 or E: mike@tasfish.com 0r Field Editor Lubin Pfieffer - editor@tasfish.com Stevens Publishing, ABN 79 095 217 299 All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. Print Post approved; 100003074

Fishing News - Page 2

The cover shot I mentioned earlier I don’t normally go searching for big fish, but one hooked me just a couple of days before the season’s end. I was fishing Blackmans Lagoon from a boat, had cast my fly then lazily laid the rod across my lap. It sat there for a couple of minutes while I chatted and suddenly was nearly ripped out of the boat. After a considerable time I boated a superbly conditioned brownie of 7 ¾ pounds. I have landed bigger fish, but this was in superb condition — and remember it caught me. It was released, so is still out there and growing.

I had a great and productive trout season and eagerly anticipate the next.

This issue Our Field Editor Lubin has gathered some super stories this issue - Perspective from Todd, makes you think and Deep Dropping from Jonah makes you want to emulate him. Enjoy.

Mike Stevens

Mike Stevens talks fishing ABC Statewide Saturday mornings 6.40 a.m.

Subscriptions go to www.tasfish.com, phone Mike 0418 129 949 with your C/C handy or by Paypal to mike@tasfish.com - Two years $48

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Perspective Thoughts from a middle-aged fisher

by Todd Lambert

A

t around the time the last Tasmanian Fishing and Boating news was published, I found myself on holidays and spending a considerable amount of time on the Tamar River chasing King George Whiting. Alongside family and friends, this is something I do a lot of nowadays and I find the passion I have developed towards this form of fishing both relaxing and somewhat addictive. I have also become very studious in the art of tide and weather observation and this is offset by many early morning starts at what could only be described as unsociable and ridiculous hours. As with all forms of fishing sometimes my efforts are rewarded, sometimes they are not. More than a few of my most memorable experiences have been spent

watching a perfect sunrise with the water flat as glass, observing the local birdlife come alive as small schools of mackerel or salmon make their way in and out of this estuary on each tide change.

‘Kevin’ the resident pesky seal also likes to poke his head up now and again and although his presence means I will have to move to a different fishing location, I often wonder what he views in the depths below and what he makes of the strange looking creature floating above his head when he surfaces for air. It is here I find my perspective; it is here my everyday petty concerns and frustrations take a back seat for a couple of hours as I enjoy the company of family and friends or alternatively preferring the sheer solitude of fishing alone.

One Lucky Trip After exploring a new bit of fishing territory, my fishing companion and I decided to pull up at a small sand hole and drop a line in to see what it held.

Almost instantaneously it was grabbed by something big and my 2-4kg rod buckled under the strain, this was met with a series of 20 metre runs as I struggled to regain control. A battle ensued for around 5 minutes with myself none the wiser as to what it may be and I never at any stage of the fight, felt I had the battle under control. I remember turning to my friend Leigh Bailey and saying, ‘I just want to see what this thing is before it gets off’. Snapper, kingfish, gummy shark all crossed my mind as possible opponents until finally I caught a glimpse of the familiar silver flash

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associated with a whiting, this was not just any whiting, it was a whiting on steroids! I also remember holding my breath as the net was carefully slipped under it, hoping against all odds that it wouldn’t give that one final lunge for freedom that would ultimately see my trophy become all but a memory. My luck actually held up on this occasion and for a fleeting moment in my own mind, this overweight, average, middle aged fisherman became the King of the Tamar River.

I have caught big whiting before, in fact many over 50cm in length and probably a dozen over 60cm, I knew this one was a bit special as it had a very wide back, but that said, conservatively, I called it for around 62cm as I didn’t have a brag mat measurer onboard. I Fishing News - Page 3

One lucky trip. This whiting was more than 3 times the width above.

Perhaps one of the biggest King George Whiting caught by a recreational angler in Australia.

Leigh Baily with a flathead - baiting and cleaning by the author.

Fishing News - Page 4

suppose it’s a sign of the times but using the technology on my mobile phone, I posted a quick picture on my private Facebook page stirring up a mate who often jovially questions my personal fishing ability. “That will shut him up for a while” I said to my mate (Leigh Bailey) and proceeded to pick up the fish with the intention of filleting it and placing it immediately on ice as I am very particular about looking after my catch and feel by doing so it enhances the eating qualities of these great tasting fish. Leigh said to me, “don’t fillet it here mate, I reckon its bigger than 62cm, take it home and weigh it, I reckon you will be shocked”. Upon our return to Kelso boat ramp, we were met by a mainland angler fishing on the pontoon, his partner politely helped us as we pulled up alongside by grabbing the mooring rope.

A conversation ensued (as it does) and with fisherman being fisherman, it didn’t take long for the whiting to be pulled out of its ice slurry to be proudly paraded in front of our newfound acquaintances.

Being from South Australia and with King George being a big part of that states bread and butter fishery, this fellow nearly had a heart attack when he first laid eyes on it. He asked if we minded if he held it so he could get his partner to take some photos to send back to his family. His words were, “how good is this? I can torment my family for years with this photo as I am going to tell them I caught it whilst here”!

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Upon our arrival home, I pulled out the brag mat, the fish measured 80cm, we couldn’t believe it, a fish of a lifetime and a mug like myself caught it, to say I was a happy man was an understatement!

We then pulled out the dodgy kitchen scales, A quick glance said it weighed something around 1.650 kgs and that was good enough for us, we really didn’t give it a second thought. Later I reposted the picture of my fish but this time laying on the brag mat to update my friends as to the actual size of this thing along with the weight we observed on the kitchen scales. People that know me, know I very rarely post photos of myself holding fish nowadays, I refrain from doing this for two reasons: 1/ I am an ugly old bugger.

2/ I prefer to see family and friends getting some recognition for a great catch when it occurs.

On many trips, I don’t actually fish, preferring to bait the rod and take the fish off the hooks. I mean who cares who catches the fish, as long as you all enjoy the day and if your luck holds out enjoy a feed for tea as a bonus, my personal fishing perspective has always been little more than that. Now this is where things started to get a little bit silly and I suppose upon reflection, sums up social media in a nutshell. A friend on my personal Facebook page, (who I want to say from the outset, I don’t blame for what unfolded from this point forward) saw my fish and asked if he could post the photos

elsewhere publicly, I reluctantly agreed, and Facebook exploded! The result of that post, forty thousand views, I even had enquiries from a South Australian radio station seeking an interview, as apparently people viewed this as some sort of record catch. I couldn’t believe it as in my eyes it was just a bigger version of the smaller versions we often target.

Many people were pleased for me and my good friends rang to stir me up and congratulate me on my good fortune, it was a great conversation point but, in my view, that’s where things should have ended.

Then came the trolls I received abusive messages calling me a liar, a fraud, the fish couldn’t have been that big and one even demanded I put a tape measure against the brag mat as it was apparently obvious that I had shrunk it in an oven to give a smaller calibration of measurement. The size of my hands in the photo were measured, the small fish I had next to it was called for being undersized and to top it off even when I produced two tape measures validating the accuracy of the brag mat, I was accused of producing a false one as a replacement. It gets even better; I was also berated for bringing the sport of “whiting fishing” into some form of disrepute! Unbelievable. At first, I found all this quite funny and laughed at the whole scenario, I mean I am a big boy, there will always be haters, but some of these people pursued me for a couple of days via social media both publicly and privately, it was just bizarre.

My point of perspective Many of the people I blocked on social media as a result of this tirade were young people. I often saw some of them holding up a great catch on Facebook and for a small moment in time it holds my attention before I scroll onto another page.

Before all this, it had never crossed my mind to analyse anything beyond that but now I find myself asking is this a maturity thing? Do some of these young people (I stress some, not all and want to be clear that this is only a small minority that I am referring to) actually enjoy their sport or are they that hung up on competing and envying the success of others that they view fishing as some sort of public status elevation wherein the measure and weight of the fish they land literally defines them as

Bill and Hughie are great mates the author loves to take fishing - and they usually get a feed. a person? I guess I am just looking at things though older and more objective eyes but after giving this some thought and if my observations are correct, I find this quite sad.

As you get older, you will witness friends and family, people you hold dear, pass before your eyes and along with all that you will begin to realise every day you have spent on the water with that special person life was a blessing. Be pleased for someone, not envious, it is a fish, it doesn’t matter how big it is or how many you caught on a particular day, no one really cares.That large fish you hunted for a week and finally caught that got you 200 likes, it may be special to you on a personal level but three days later it’s on the bottom of your Facebook feed and I repeat, no one beyond yourself really cares. It’s just a fish, a personal memory.

Focus your energy on what really matters in life and that is having a good time surrounded by decent people. Enjoy our magnificent waterways for all they offer, creating some fantastic memories just by being out there. One final thing, if you really want to make a positive difference, get involved with our fisheries management, help protect it for your children and grandchildren, we need young blood to have a more passionate voice in the way things are managed and you can begin doing that by emailing politicians and representative bodies with your concerns, perhaps even put

A family day with wife Janet is always a good day.

This one was a cracker on the Tamar. your had up to be part of it all. Effort and passion focussed in this direction will serve you better than abusing a “wannabe” fisherman online who just happened to get lucky for just one day.

If you are one of these young people and what I have written above doesn’t

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resonate with you yet trust me, as you get older and life carves you out a different perspective, it will. Happy fishing to you all.

Todd Lambert

Fishing News - Page 5

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Fishing News - Page 7

Autumn Ghosts A

by Nathan Huizing

s the inshore water temperatures begin to decline after Summer, a rather odd-looking animal makes its way up into the bays and estuaries as part of its annual spawning migration. With its uniquely distinct features such as its shiny chromed up skin, extra-long dorsal spine, large pectoral fins that almost resemble wings and last but not least, the bizarre trunk-like appendage that protrudes from its upper jaw.

Callorhinchidea Milii, ghost shark or better known as the elephant fish is one of the craziest looking critters to inhabit the waters of Tasmania!

Fishing News - Page 8

Shore-based elephants are great fun!

These fish tend to start showing up at the start of January, but begin to make their presence known around early March till the end of April when they school up in big groups to begin spawning. Adult elephant fish typically gather near river mouths and estuaries where they will spend several weeks depositing their eggs in the sand or mud. These eggs will then begin to hatch roughly eight months later and the juveniles will spend up to three years in the shallower coastal waters before they eventually move towards the deeper water as they mature. Adult elephant fish can be found

along the edge of the continental shelf in depths of up to two hundred metres outside of spawning season.

Ghost Hunting Finding elephant fish can be relatively easy if you use the information I’ve already mentioned when planning your approach. Throughout Autumn focus on large mud or sand flats around river mouths or in big estuaries. I have had more success on mudflats, especially if there is a bit of rock and shellfish thrown in the mix. When it comes to the depth I have caught

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A 2/0 Octopus Beak hook pinned perfectly in the lip elephants, anywhere from four to thirteen metres is a good option and even very shallow after dark. While I have caught elephants on just about every tide phase I’ve definitely found a couple of hours on either side of high tide to be the most productive period.

However, South East Tasmania is the only part of the state I have chased these fish so I can’t offer any specific locations outside of this area, unfortunately. If you are based in the South I can recommend trying areas such as Port Huon, Woodbridge, North West Bay, Bull Bay, Kingston Beach and Old Beach.

Gearing Up Despite their rather dopey looking appearance, these mud bandits can put up a reasonable scrap on the right gear!

Generally, when chasing elephants I will use a 2.1-metre medium-fast or fast action rod with a rating of around 3-6kg or 4-8kg matched with a 3000 or 4000 size spin reel. If the location you’re fishing is rather snaggy and loaded with shellfish then I would highly recommend opting for the 4-8kg option as these fish, whether intentionally or not, have quite a reputation for busting leaders on snags. Although if the location you’re fishing is completely void of snags then you could even

downsize to bream sized gear and have some real fun!

When it comes to line, I typically run with 7 -10kg braid in snag-free zones or 20kg in more dangerous areas.

One braid I have found to perform particularly well for this is the Nomad Pandora X8 due to its incredible abrasion resistance compared to other braids I’ve used. Picking a leader is the next step and in the rough country, I will opt for 20 - 30kg leaders just so I can go hard on the fish at the start and pump them off the bottom and away from the nasty stuff. However, lighter leaders in the 10 - 15kg range are more than enough in cleaner areas as elephant fish don’t have sharp teeth. You can fish even lighter again if you wish but it is worth keeping in mind that elephant fish aren’t the only species cruising these areas and you do run the risk of hooking and losing less leader friendly fish such as big gummy sharks and even snapper!

Now to the pointy end. Due to their rather small mouths, I run a relatively small hook and when it comes to hooks I find it hard to go past the BKK Octopus Beak in a size 2/0 or 3/0. A running sinker rig with a single hook tied to the end is my rig of choice when chasing these fish and for the sinker, you want to go as light as you can whilst still keeping solid contact with the bottom.

Elephant fish and gummy sharks are often found in the same areas

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Fishing News - Page 9

Bait Selection Naturally, elephant fish will actively predate on small crustaceans, shellfish and molluscs and will use their snout to detect movement and weak electrical fields given off by prey. This being said, they will also happily scavenge and respond well to the smell of baits and burley! Elephants will happily scoff down most oily fish such as mullet, mackerel, salmon, couta and tuna as well as crabs, octopus and my favourite bait, squid. Keeping in mind the smallmouth these fish have, I always cut my baits

Some of the terminal tackle.

3/0 Hooks, size #2 bean sinkers and 40lb leader”

down into small strips around 75mm 100mm long. Take your hook and just lightly pin it through one end of the bait and leave plenty of hook exposure.

Once a fish has found your bait they will typically inhale it quite quickly and steadily cruise away with it. As you begin to notice your rod loading up, wind into it with a gentle strike and you will find the hook will nearly always pin the fish in the chin or corner of the mouth!

Doing Battle While there are reports of this species growing up to a whopping 1.2m in length and weighing up to seven kilograms, the average fish you’re likely to encounter is going to be anywhere between one and a half to four kilograms which are still quite respectable! Most fish that weigh a few kilos are capable of putting up a good fight on the appropriate gear and the ghost of the estuary is no exception!

The initial hook up is usually followed by some good head shakes and a decent run or two and when fishing in shallower depths of five metres or less it is also quite common for these fish to breach and jump which can be hard to believe and certainly looks odd! Elephants will also use their large pectoral fins to glide through and hold their weight in the water. Not only that but they will also flap their pectoral fins while swimming

Ghosts after dark! and almost resemble a flying bird as they cruise along!

Table Quality The rating of elephant fish on the plate is always an interesting debate with some people suggesting they’re great and others not being a fan at all.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the softer

texture and flavour of them but each to their own. For those that are keen to try them, I recommend bleeding them instantly after capture and putting them straight on ice. I’ve also heard that once filleted, freezing them for a couple of weeks before eating them can improve the quality of the meat.

Nathan Huizing

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Fishing News - Page 11

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Tamar Big Reds

by Damon Sherriff The author with an 8kg fish taken from the river this season

T

he Tamar River is a tidal estuary that is approximately 60 km long. It has 3-metre tides which creates a very strong tidal flow in this narrow estuary which is also known as a river. The Tamar is mainly a mud-based estuary that is stirred up by the strong tidal flow and makes the river run discoloured, very similar to Victoria’s Western Port Bay. The fishing technique for Snapper is also similar to Western Port.

Running Sinker Rigs with a 3 to 6-ounce sinker is quite often needed to get your rig down to where the Snapper feed.

The last 20 years has seen the number of snappers explode in the Tamar. 30 years ago when I first started fishing for Reds I was catching between 4 to 10 fish per season. Nowadays the trend of my catch rate is around 50 to 70 fish per season with a lot less time spent. There

are schools of fish in the estuary now were back in the olden days I was fishing for ones and twos. It’s great to see this emerging species doing so well not only in the River but also increasing in numbers all over the state.

The size of the snapper in the Tamar varies from location to location and also the time of the year. If you are chasing big fish, 8kg plus you are best spending your time early season, just as the water temp starts to climb. Once the water temp hits around 18 degrees the big fish go off the bite and the small school fish move in for the summer. These fish are fish from 2 to 4.5 kg.

Once the water temp starts to cool off after summer the big fish normally turn up for about 4 to 6 weeks again.

Normally the end of April the water temp drops to around 12 degrees where their metabolism slows down

and they become sluggish and difficult to catch from not feeding at all, plus the amount of slimy rock cod which do the opposite in the cooler water temp. There are areas in the river which are nursery areas for young fish. Some of these fish are under the legal length to fish up to 2kg. These little fish are our future big fish.

One of the biggest nursery areas is the bays around Beauty Point. Lots of juvenile Reds inhabit this area.

The biggest fish are normally caught upstream. Where the mix of the fresh and salt draws them in. Mainly around the Batman Bridge is the best spot to chase a trophy fish. I was lucky enough to live at Batman Bridge for nearly 25 years. I caught some truly beautiful fish there, 13 of which were over 9.1 kg (20lb) up to my personal best which is 11.6kg (26 lb).

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Fishing News - Page 13

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A lot of the really big fish I have caught from the Tamar have been taken in the shallow bays just out of the mainstream of the current. Snapper can be lazy fish at times, grazing around these bays in the very shallow water of a night feeding on square back crabs and small toadfish which they love. Big fish are very rarely caught around structure out of the estuary and are normally on the dark or black mud bottom. Small fish tend to hang around reef and structure and are normally caught in the deeper channels.

The best time of the day to fish is the change of light especially if this coincides with a tide change, a tide change throughout the night also can be very productive. Try to find a slight contour edge, even if it is only half a metre deep. It is enough for fish to travel up and down this edge throughout the night looking for food. I normally don’t fish any deeper than six metres of a night and I have caught big fish in as shallow as two metres.

Baits For Big Reds Bait is one of the most important factors of catching mega reds. I can not stress enough how important catching fresh bait is when chasing big fish. I won’t go fishing if I don’t have it. Sure you can catch school fish on frozen bait. But once a big Snapper reaches 20lb it becomes a different beast, it’s over 20 years of age and has probably seen a few hooks, nets and other man-made fishing tackle in its lifetime. They become very fussy, sometimes crushing your bait and pinching from your razor-sharp hooks without even moving

Fresh bait is one of the biggest keys to success

Running sinkers of varying sizes and sharp hooks will help you land more snapper from the Tamar River

your rod tip. They become wise and wily and don’t make mistakes often. They often refuse frozen bait only biting on the freshest bait. So if you are serious about catching your trophy, become an expert at catching fresh bait before you fish, it makes a huge difference.

A big snapper normally comes about in 2 fishing trips, the first trip to catch your bait, the second trip to catch the big red.

Snapper will take a wide variety of baits. Some of my favourites are fresh squid, cuttlefish, octopus, barracouta, mullet, salmon, garfish and cod. Yes, that’s right cod, just because the fish is not shiny and pretty and silver does not mean it is not attractive to the big red. In the Tamar, normally after Christmas, the snapper starts to feed on toadfish. They catch them in very shallow water around the shores. Every now and then a big fish would be found floating on the surface of the river. In the early days, people used to think that pollution was killing them. But I know now why this was happening, now and then a big red would get an inflated toadfish stuck in its throat which would, unfortunately, be the end of the big red.

I am an old school angler, I have been lucky enough to have fished with some of Victoria’s most successful Snapper Fishermen. Geoff Wilson, the author of many snapper, whiting and mulloway and knots and rigs books, took me under his wing when I was a young man. He came over to Tasmania and fished the Tamar with me several times. I also travelled to Victoria and fished the Grammar School Lagoon with him, I loved reading some of his early snapper magazine articles, he wrote about the lagoon and him catching 20 pounds plus Reds from a small sand spit. It was truly inspirational. It was a dream come true when I got to do it in real life. Geoff and many other Victorian anglers mainly used overhead reels through the fifties to the nineties. So I grew up using overhead casting reels, I still

use and collect vintage Abu Ambassadors. I use 6500s, 7000s, 8000s and 9000s all for Snapper. Probably the 7000s are the most suitable for fishing in the Tamar.

I spool them up with 10 kg mono. I use a 2.1 - 2.4 metre double-handed casting rod. I don’t use braid for snapper. I find it can be too hard on them. A lot of the bigger fish are very lightly hooked, sometimes only on a tiny piece of skin on the outside of the mouth, this happens when they suck in your hooks, crush your bait and spit your hooks out. Normally there is nothing left on your hooks except crushed bones. Hooks can pull very easily on these lightly hooked fish, so mono has stretch which cushions their dogged runs. The rod must be soft as well, too stiff a rod will pull hooks on a lightly hooked fish. I fight big fish very gently. With a low drag pressure, about 2kg. Too heavy a drag will pull hooks, so a gentle lift up, and wind down motion is recommended. The only time I would recommend braided line bait fishing for snapper is in very deep water.

I run 3 or 4 rods for snapper. If you use any more than that you tend to not give your rods the attention they need. Keep a close eye on your rods. Check your baits regularly, cod are renowned to bite a couple of times and then go quiet with your bait in their mouths.

I have had several live cod been taken by big reds while waiting to get bait checked.

The One That Got Away In 1997 it was a stellar year for me fishing the Tamar, I caught 3 Reds over the magical 20lb mark. Two fish weighing in at 21lb and a big fat 24 lb female. One spring pre-dawn morning I was fishing with my brother in law. I noticed I had a cod bite on one of my rods.

I was busy baiting up another rod at the time. When I saw I sharp bite out of the corner of my eye, by the time I had focused on the rod, the little Penn 209 overhead reel was howling off at a crazy rate. I pick up the rod.

The fish stopped running and I could feel big head shakes, then a tail whack and off it would run again, I knew I had a truly big beast of a red on. I was trembling, I knew this fish was something very special, possibly bigger than my PB. Possibly a 30 lb fish. I played this fish so gently. It seemed like I had the fish on forever.

It was taking so long to get in. I keep mumbling to my brother-in-law Sam, this is the one, this is the fish.

I had the fish under the boat, only meters away from capture. When the unthinkable happened. The hook pulled!!! I was gutted, I wound in the rest of the line. I noticed there was still something on my line. I pulled up a 35 cm mangled cod. With one of my two 6/0 hooks hanging out of its mouth, the massive snapper had eaten the live cod and got pinned on the hook hanging out of the cod’s open mouth. It could have been the fish of a lifetime? After this, I have had the same thing happen several times, but only the big run, the big reds didn’t find a dangling hook. I have just wound in a crushed up body of the reds victim.

Damon Sherriff

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Fishing News - Page 15

Western Lakes Preparing for an overnighter

by Craig Rist Nothing like being able to have a hot drink when the weather turns bad.

A

n overnight hiking/fishing trip into the Western Lakes is the ultimate combination of hiking, camping and trout fishing in a pristine wilderness environment. Staying one night or more if you have the time, really lets you experience the best fishing this magical place has to offer. There is nothing better than waking up to the sounds of the Black Currawong’s and looking out of the tent to see trout rising to a midge hatch or tailing trout in the shallow margins. An overnighter also allows you to fish the evening rise without having to worry about hiking out in the dark or worse when that fog rolls in at night.

In this article, I’ll run through everything you need to prepare yourself for this upcoming season.

Fishing News - Page 16

Preparation

Packs

Taking the right gear with you is something just can’t skimp on if you want to make it as safe and enjoyable as it should be. One of the biggest mistakes I made was to load my pack up with far too much gear. I carried way too much fishing tackle, clothes, cooking utensils and food. Then on top of that was my heavy SLR camera and tripod. Every little extra thing I used to throw into my pack was contributing to a pack weight well over 20 kilograms. These days there is such a wide range of lightweight hiking and camping gear available that it is not too hard to bring the pack weight below 20 kg.

Combine that with a minimalist tackle approach, I now have my pack weight down to 12 to 15 kg for a one or two-night hiking trip.

Purchasing a quality backpack that is designed to carry the weight on your hips instead of your shoulders and back is an absolute must. I’m a big fan of the ONEPlanet backpacks, which have the exact fit adjustable harness and a big padded hip belt to take the entire load of the pack on my hips. I use the Ned model, which is a medium 70 ltr travel pack that opens like a suitcase. This model weighs 2.4 kg but you can buy lighter models. I purposely chose the 70 ltr capacity pack to force me to take only what I need. They also have a daypack available that clips onto the back of the pack for the times I want to take my pack raft in on a trip where I need a little more space.

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Cooking Gear Now, this is where you can really cut down on some weight.

The majority of my cooking is done with boiling water, which simplifies things considerably. I use a Jet-Boil with a small-sized gas cylinder that packs neatly inside the Jet–Boil. I take one collapsible Sea To Summit bowl and one large collapsible cup and lastly one plastic fork-spoon and that’s all I need.

Food A lightweight well set up tent is a must.

Tents A good lightweight tent is another must-have item for this environment. They must be able to withstand wind, rain, hail and snow. I have a two-person tent that weighs 1.7 kg with pegs. It has two vestibules as part of the fly, which allows me to store wet gear outside of my dry sleeping area. A wide vestibule also gives me an area within my tents fly that is sheltered from the wind and rain to boil water for cooking a meal. A two-person tent is slightly heavier than a one-person tent, but for me, the extra space inside the tent is worth the few extra grams. There are many lightweight tents available to fit most people’s budget, so you should be able to choose one with large vestibules for storage and to provide some shelter for cooking. Believe me, when it’s raining or it’s so cold that your hiking boots have frozen overnight. There is nothing better than having the ability to fire up the gas cooker to boil some water for breakfast, without the need to get out of a warm sleeping bag. Of course, you do have to remember to fill up the boiler before you go to sleep.

Sleeping Mats and Bags The days of the bulky foam sleeping mats are long gone for me. I now use a SEA TO SUMMIT Ultralight insulated inflatable mat. At 480 grams and its small pack size, it’s perfectly suited for my needs. They do come with a bag inflator but I usually just blow it up with my mouth as it only takes a few seconds to inflate.

Choosing the right sleeping bag is a personal choice; I don’t feel the cold that much so I get away with my Kathmandu Pacesetter. This bag is a 700 loft mummystyle bag, which is perfect for the summer months. For the early and late season trips that are bitterly cold at night, I just wear fleece pants and tops to bed. I also carry a survival bag in the colder months. A survival bag is a very lightweight heat-reflective bag that can be used in an emergency to prevent hypothermia from setting in. I have only needed to use this once when the overnight temperature dropped to minus 7 degrees C and the wind was blowing straight through my tent.

My food list for a one-night stay is very basic and inexpensive.

Dinner: 1 x pack of Mi Goreng Fried Noodles and 1 x 95gram tin of tuna.

Breakfast: 2 x 90-second sachets of Uncle Tobys Oats and a 15g cappuccino sachet, no milk required.

Lunch: on the first and second day, it’s always something I can take with me while I am fishing.

In the summer months, this might be some dried biscuits and a can of tuna.

In the colder months, I’ll often take the Jet-Boil in my daypack with some soup, noodles and coffee. I also carry hiking snacks to keep my energy levels up and to keep me focused. They are usually muesli bars, oat bars and dried fruit and nuts.

I don’t usually carry a water bottle with me; instead, I carry my collapsible cup and drink the lake or river water. I have never been sick from drinking the water in the Western Lakes but I am always very careful of where I fill up my cup.

It’s always from running water or from the lakes and tarns and never from small ponds that can be stagnant. I also check several metres upstream or along a lake to make sure there are no dead animals in the water. If I do need to take a drink bottle for those longer hikes it will just be a light disposable plastic bottle. With that said, I do know people who have had a nasty experience drinking unfiltered water in the Western Lakes. If you would prefer not to take the risk, many water filtration devices are readily available to reduce the likelihood of becoming sick from unintentionally consuming contaminated water.

Without exception, I always take a Simms wading jacket with me, even in summer. They are light breathable and take up very little room in a pack. There is nothing worse than becoming cold to the bone from the wind or rain. The urge to fish is quickly taken away from you when you are cold and that really defeats the purpose of the whole trip. I also take a lightweight puffer jacket, fleece pants and two fleece tops so I have dry clothes to change into when I get back to camp or as additional layers to keep warm overnight. Waterproof socks are another must-have for me these days; I carry two pairs of Dexshell breathable - waterproof wading socks so I have a fresh pair for the following day. These socks are great for walking wet tracks, crossing streams, and wading up to just below my knees. My feet do feel damp at the end of the day but they are still warm and free of blisters. I could never walk into water over my boots if I was wearing my normal socks, so I’m happy to have slightly damp feet instead of the cold wet feet that I have had in the past.

Clothing Taking the right clothing for the predicted weather forecast is also a hard decision to make sometimes. The weight of spare clothing can quickly add up, so I only take the bare minimum.

Having the correct back pack will make the trips more enjoyable

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Fishing News - Page 17

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A L L-A R O U N D

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L O W / S O L I D H O O K S ET

Boots Finding the right hiking boot that is best suited to the shape of your foot, ankle and Achilles can be a painful exercise. I have walked out of the Western Lakes with blisters the size of golf balls trying out a new brand and style of hiking boot. I was happy to throw those boots straight into the bin as soon as I got home that night. Fortunately, the next pair of boots I purchased were a pair of 5.11 A.T.A.C Shield Boots with side zip. These are ultra-lightweight waterproof, breathable and fit my feet perfectly, straight out of the A small day pack is a great option for your fishing gear box. There was no wearing them in and blisters are now a thing of the past. There are many quality boots available and 5 weight Primal Stash, which is a 9 foot six piece rod there is sure to be one that suits your feet. It just may that is lightweight and easily packed. I usually take a 4 take a while to find the right pair. This is one piece of or 6 weight Scott rod for my primary rod and I find the hiking apparel that you just have to get right.

5 weight Primal Stash will cast both line weights with ease. When casting the Stash you would never know First Aid and Safety Gear it was a six-piece rod and I would have no hesitation As mentioned a survival bag or blanket is lightweight, fishing this rod as my only rod if something was to compact and cheap and it could just save your life. happen to one of my Scott’s. A lightweight day pack During the colder months when I plan to hike and fish like the Simms flyweight access pack or a vest with a a long way from camp, I will throw one of these survival large rear storage pocket is a must to carry a wading bags in my daypack just in case I get into trouble. jacket, camera gear, headlamp, food and somewhere to A small first aid kit with a compression bandage to store layers of clothing as the day goes from cold to hot treat snake bite is also worthwhile. Tiger Snakes in and then cold again. Landing nets are not essential if the Western Lakes are really very docile and they will you are fishing with a second person who can help you usually get out of your way as soon as they sense you quickly land a fish and take a photo of that trophy fish walking their way. Tripping over and falling onto a for you. Inevitably, there will always be times when you snake is what I fear the most. I always wear gaiters to will be fishing apart and that is often when you catch protect my legs from accidental snake bites and to push that larger fish. This is where a landing net comes into through those spiky leaves of the flowering Scoparia its own, not only to shorten the fight to help the fish that are so common in the Western Lakes. I also carry recover quickly but also to keep the fish in the water in a Garmin satellite messenger, which is such a great the upright position while you set up your camera for a communication tool to call for help via text using quick time-lapse photo. Trying to do this without a net your mobile phone or the unit itself. It will also send can lead to disaster as a fish left lying on its side in the your exact GPS coordinates to the emergency services shallows while you get a camera set up, can suddenly or to any one of your contacts you have stored on your recover and take off back out into the lake breaking phone. Not all emergencies require a helicopter rescue leaders or worse a rod tip. The best landing net I have and sometimes it’s good to be able to let your family found for this style of fishing is the McLEAN Spring and friends know that you are going to be late home so Foldable Weigh Net. But the net that comes with this they don’t think something bad has happened to you net is too small for the larger fish so I replace it with and call the emergency services unnecessarily. a knotless net that is three times as long. Now it is more than capable of landing that double figure fish, Fishing Gear just remember there is no need to lift a fish out of the For me using a fly rod to catch trout in the Western water when it’s in a net of this size. They are not going Lakes is such a rewarding form of fishing that it is hard anywhere. Another thing I do to my net is to install a to do anything else. Over the years I have trimmed drawstring below the frame of the net. I do this so I can down my fly gear considerably. I now only take one or close up the net and tie it off to the bank holding the two small fly boxes, one tube of dry fly floatant, one fish upright and above and silt to recover, while I am spool of 5-pound tippet for dry flies and one spool of set up the camera. Buy the time I have taken a few shots 6-pound tippet for wet flies. I usually only take one rod the fish is usually fully recovered and swims off strong and reel for short trips and a second back up rod on above that deadly silt bottom that can quickly clog the multi-day trips, just in case my rod or someone else’s gills of a released fish if it is released too early and is rod is accidentally broken. My go-to back up rod is the not strong enough to swim above the soft layer of silt.

Blue sky days equal great fishing

Night Preparation for Animals There are a few things to consider when you are sharing the Western Lakes with the local critters. Storing my assembled rod is not something I thought too much about until one morning after leaving it leaning against a bush overnight I found the cork handle had been chewed by some toothy critter. I quickly realised that some animal could smell the fishy residue left on the cork handle and decided it was worth a chew. Since that day, I now always store my assembled rod up on top of a bush and never on the ground. I have also had my fork-spoon stolen from under the vestibule of my tent. I went searching for it and I eventually found it several metres away from camp. If it wasn’t bright orange I don’t think I would have ever found it. These critters have a very good sense of smell so any food or utensils’ with the smell of food on them, may just vanish overnight. Tasmanian Devils, Quoll’s, mice and rats all sneak around your tent at night looking for food so it’s best to make sure you keep your tent zipped up and your rod and landing nets up off the ground or in your tent with you overnight, just to be sure.

Deep grassy edges will most often hold big brown trout. A McLean weigh net is perfect for out west.

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Fishing News - Page 19

A successful pre-fish day is welcome before a competition.

Bream Fishing Tournaments in Tasmania

by Jack Gillespie

B

ream Fishing Tournaments have become hugely popular in Tasmania over the years. In this article, I will cover what it takes to get into the sport and how to fish a successful tournament. I will also share what I have learnt so far in the last couple of years during my tournament journey and provide a simple break down of how the events are run. I hope that by sharing this information and my personal experience I can help people that may be interested in entering one of the many tournaments held throughout the state and offer some insight to the guys and girls that are already involved in the light tackle scene in Tasmania!

From The Beginning Bream tournaments were first introduced to Tasmanian waters in 2005 and have been successfully run on an annual basis since. The very first series held in Tasmania was on three arenas - the Derwent River, the Scamander River and the Swan River – and was won by Tasmania anglers Steve Steer and Leigh McKenzie. Steve Fishing News - Page 20

is the founder of Cranka Lures and a highly regarded light tackle angler in Tasmania. Leigh McKenzie, who is still very active in the Tasmanian tournament scene, is currently sitting on top in the Tasmanian Bream Classic Series Hall of Fame. Competitor numbers have risen and fallen over the years but the Tasmanian tournaments continue to produce some of the biggest five fish bag weights in Australia. The state is renowned for its larger than average bream and attracts anglers from across the country to its waters with the hope of landing the elusive giants that lurk beneath the surface.

Tournament fishing has a reputation for being an incredibly serious sport that is only for the elite angler.

This could not be further from the truth! Tournament fishing can be as serious or as laid back as you choose to make it. You can spend a lot of time fishing each arena in the lead up to the event before pre-fish bans come in to play, or you can simply turn up on the first day of the event and start fishing. Don’t be fooled, if you are led to believe that you need a top-of-the-line

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Jack Gillespie and team mate Andrew Lethborg weighing in at Geogre’s Bay, St Helens

Ben and Zane Wyatt from team CJ Marine with a handful of bream ready to be released. bass boat with fancy electronics and full of top-end tackle you have been led astray! The tournament scene in Tasmania allows for anglers to take part in a large variety of boats, from bass boats, aluminium dinghies, fibreglass runabouts and bay boats running all matter of live well setups and fishing tackle. Many successful anglers have achieved great results in past competitions simply fishing from an aluminium dinghy with a homemade live well, a couple of rods and a hand full of lures.

Ready For Anything Tournament fishing does differ from social fishing in a couple of ways. Tournaments are a scheduled event and, in many cases, do not take in to account the weather patterns. This can mean that competitors often have to deal with fishing in inclement weather such as strong winds, rain and hail on top of already tough conditions that are often a result of glassed out waterways, low tides and waterways flooded with fresh water. Fishing pressure is something that can play a part in the quality of the fishing in an event. A few hours of thirty-something boats racing around an arena and peppering several spots with lures can soon send the fish running for the refuge of a deep hole or hard to access areas, adding another challenge to it all. This is something that smart anglers can use to their advantage.

Slowing things down, targeting fish deeper and moving away from the more “popular” spots are some of the things that can overcome the issue of lure shy fish and ultimately lead them to victory.

The typical bream Tournament in Australia will run over three days. Day one is practice or “pre-fish day” which is traditionally the day before day one of the two competitive fishing days. The pre-fish day allows all competing anglers to get on the water for a day as generally, most tournaments will have what is known as a “pre-fish ban” placed over the arena for two weeks before the competition being held. The pre-fish

ban levels the playing field ensuring that anglers that are local to the area do not have the unfair advantage of being able to know the location of the fish schools before the event. Another reason for the ban is to ensure that the arena has as little fishing pressure leading up to the event as possible, helping to ensure that competitors have quality fishing time on the water during the competition with as much chance as possible to present a bag at the end of each day.

My Game Plan My approach to pre-fish day has somewhat changed throughout my time fishing tournaments. When I first began fishing tournaments I would go into the day with a preconceived plan on how I wanted my competition days to go and I would hit the water on the pre-fish day and do exactly what I had in my head. Launch the boat at 7 am and fish the way I thought I would in the competition. Experience has now taught me that this is not the ideal way to approach the pre-fish. I would fish areas that had proven successful on other trips to arenas and spend too much time on them, if the fish were not there, I would have burnt my pre-fish day and be left trying to work out what I was going to do on day one of competition. I now take a more methodical approach to pre-fishing. I read the conditions, factor in the tides and always try to fish some new areas in addition to my old ones - you never know what you may find. If I am fortunate enough to find a good area, I try not to harass the fish too much, that is what the next two days are for!

Following pre-fish, we head back to camp, re-rig our tackle and discuss our approach for day one of the competition before heading to the briefing. The briefing covers everything that you need to know for the specific event being held. This includes rules that might apply to the arena being fished, start and finish

Fighting a fish out of the oysters racks is always a tense moment! times, starting order and weigh-in locations. The event briefing is a great opportunity to catch up with other teams and chat about how pre-fish went. Fishing is a social sport after all!

Competition Day Normal competition hours are between 7 am and 2 pm each day. The goal is to weigh in a bag of your 5 heaviest fish at the end of competition time each day.

Being a catch and release competition the fish must be released following the weigh-in. All competing boats must have a live well system and the better your system the better the condition your fish will be in at the end of the day. Keeping water circulating throughout the day will ensure that the fish can be released to be caught another day. If your fish don’t survive they are deducted from a team’s weight so it is in everyone’s best interest to look after them. Many tactics can be brought in to play when fishing tournaments. Play the numbers game and hope to upgrade throughout the day or specifically target the bigger fish being a couple of tactics that many use. I prefer to take the latter approach, go hard or go home! Fishing to the conditions that are presented on the day and knowing when to make a move is also key to success, which comes with experience. Following the completion of day one, it is time to assess the day, re-rig and plan for day two. Reflecting on day one you can make the changes necessary or, should a plan have worked perfectly you can go into the evening with the confidence to tackle day two.

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Fishing News - Page 21

Day two can be interesting. The fishing can become more difficult following the pressure from the previous day, conditions can change completely, or you may come to find that fish have completely deserted spots that they were in previously. If you are lucky enough, things may be the same as the previous day and you can get stuck in!

Boats of all shapes and sizes ready for take off.

Jonty Krushka preparing to weigh in.

Depending on the success or failures of day one I may attack the same areas harder and share stories and experiences from the weekend - bream tournaments here in Tasmania. They are always on day two. If you can get your limit early in the day, perhaps even some last-minute banter one final time willing to share information about their experiences, it can have a great effect on the rest of your day. If day before strapping the gear down for the trip home. where fish were caught, what tackle they have been one is not successful I will throw plan A out the window Tournament fishing has taught me a lot in recent using, and the techniques and lessons that they have and hope that plan B offers more success. years. As well as becoming more aware of how to better learned over time. If I can offer one piece of advice

Time To Hit The Scales On completion of day two, it is time to hit the scales for the final time to determine how your team, as well as the other competitors, fared in the competition.

After the weigh-in, the presentation takes place with the awarding of trophies and prizes. The presentation is a great time to catch up with fellow competitors

compete in a tournament, I also attribute my success in social fishing to the lessons that fishing tournaments have afforded me. At times, the two can feel like two completely different worlds but at the end of the day fishing is fishing and we love it all!

I have never met a more friendly, diverse group of people than the guys and girls that compete in the

to people considering fishing tournaments, or simply social fishing, it would be this - soak up every piece of information that you can. It all goes a long way to helping you become a better, more diverse angler. I hope to see you at the scales!

Jack Gillespie

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Fishing News - Page 23

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Fishing News - Page 25

You’re an Angler, and no matter how many times you go fishing you’ll want to go again and no matter how many fish you catch (or nearly catch) it will never be enough.

There will be days when the fishing is better than one’s most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse.

Either is a gain over just staying home.

You’re hooked, along with us.

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T Targeting Tasmania’s King George Whiting

by Jarvis Wall

A big whiting that fell victim to a big soft plastic

he King George Whiting would have to be up there with one of the tastiest table fish with fins, but there is more to them than just that. They’re an excellent sports fish on light tackle and provide an excellent prospect for the shallow water and land based angler when using either lures or bait. Some of the best fun I’ve had fishing has been targeting these aggressive and cunning scrappers with soft plastics on light tackle. I’ll share some of the steps I use to approach them with this method as well as some insights on how I target them with more traditional methods such as bait and burley.

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What is a King George Whiting?

A King George Whiting or KGW for short is the largest species in the Whiting clan. It’s a relatively slow growing species with a life span reaching up to 20 years of age. Juveniles are most commonly found in estuaries and bays and the large adults move between the offshore reefs to spawn in the cooler months and the coastal weed beds and reefs in summer to fatten up.

Occasionally, they’ll also show up in big river mouths on weed beds. They have the potential to grow to well over 70cm in length but 60cm is regarded as a trophy sized fish.

Fishing News - Page 27

Targeting with bait The traditional method used to catch Whiting is with your standard packet whiting rig and bait. This has become a staple for many Tasmanian anglers and can yield excellent results which in turn provides you and your family or friends with some delicious fillets.

For anyone looking at getting themselves into Whiting fishing this is the best way to find yourself some fish as it can be extremely simple and straight forward and is user friendly for the whole family. A good all-round outfit is a 2.1m spin stick rated 5-12kg with a 4000 size spinning reel. You can then load the reel with 10kg braid, which will help detect the bites easily and a 15kg leader. What I like to look for is ribbon weed or eel grass as this is a Whitings favourite home, it provides excellent protection and cover as well as a staple food source in the crustaceans and small fish that also find these aquatic plants home. If you’re fishing from a boat it pays to scout a weed bed first if you’re not familiar with it as you need find the sand holes to fish in. The sand hole positions can be saved on a GPS sounder or Navionics on your phone for later reference. Position your boat at anchor so your

An electric motor is a great tool for controlling the boat while looking for whiting.

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burley and baits will be out over the weed beds and sand holes. The whiting will lay and wait in the grass and this is why burley is an excellent option as the smell from whatever burley you have will get the Whiting out of the grass and out searching over the sand holes for food. Simple two hook whiting rigs that you can purchase from any good local tackle store fit the bill perfectly.

Adjust the sinker size depended on the water depth and current, always try to fish with the lightest you can get away with. Beach fishing at night on the inside of ocean weed beds can be Jarvis Wall working the north west very productive for larger Whiting if coast in search of KGs. you’re looking to stay on dry land to find some. For this application, I run a 9ft long surf rod but quite lightly rated as you don’t Slightly longer rods can help in these need to go overkill on them. A standard patternoster rig situations so I generally opt for a rod of with 3/0 or 4/0 circle hooks will do the job just nicely. around 2.3m in length and 2-4kg rating, I love to use fresh squid as bait, it’s a lot tougher than this allows for longer casts and better other baits and the Whiting just seem to love it as well, line control when contending with the current. 3-4kg braid on a 2000-2500 sized reel and a four kilogram leader is sufficient and I’ve had no problems with them finding any nasties on the bottom with this tackle. If I’m in my boat, I’ll try to set up a drift and use my electric motor to keep me along a weed edge or weed bed with sand holes and just dissect the entire area until I find fish. Usually in the rivers or bays the Whiting will tend to school so I hit the anchor lock function and hold the boat stationary and really work that area with my soft plastic. Remember to make sure that plastic makes contact with the bottom in between hops. Once again I’m just using a light 2-4kg rod but Soft Plastics are a great choice when slightly shorter while fishing on the boat, 2.1m in targeting King George whiting in Tasmania. length is just about the perfect all round size. it’s definitely worth taking the extra time and getting a My absolute favourite way to catch KGW is out on fresh squid or two before you plan on a Whiting session the ocean weed beds, this is where the big and aggressive as it will take your catch rates to a new level. fish hang out in the warmer months and they provide excellent sport and table fare. Dotted all along the Lure tactics North Coast are oceanic eel grass beds, this is where My personal favourite way to target King George I spend most of my time chasing Whiting as well as Whiting is with soft plastics, whether it’s in the rivers a mixture of other species with soft plastics. Pull up and bays or out on the ocean weed beds, I love it. in your boat on one of these grass meadows and use There’s a few different techniques I use depending on your electric motor to cruise along slowly picking it where I’m targeting them and the general size class of to pieces sand hole by sand hole. You have to be pin point accurate with your casts depending on the size the fish.

While fishing in an estuary or a bay, I’ll stick to of the sand hole and you’ll really only get a shot at deeper weed beds or channel edges and the channels the whiting if your soft plastic is in the sand patch. themselves as these are the most productive hotspots I’ve found that when you drift into the weed you get I’ve found the whiting hanging out in. If you’re land annoying catches, like wrasse and leather jackets which based just wait until low tide and find a channel with can be expensive in the form of destroying your soft good weed cover. Then cast as far as you can on a 45 plastic stash! Aggressive little hops are my favourite degree angle up current so you work your soft plastic retrieval method, you don’t need to pause the plastic back towards you, hopping it off the bottom then re for too long either, just be sure you’re making good making contact with the bottom as well as the tide contact with the bottom though as this is where the swinging it back. When fishing like this I always run a Whiting will hoover the plastic up best. The whole lucky 1/6th ounce jig head and usually have a size #1 or 1/0 dip factor comes into play here with the potential for hook. To the jig head I’ll rig something like a 4 or 5 crocodile sized Bluespot Flathead, big Silver Trevally, inch worm style soft plastic or a 3 inch curly tail grub, Goatfish and Pike as well as Australian Salmon which natural colours are my preference for this application. all keep you on your toes as more often than not, you’ve

Sand holes in the weed beds are a perfect spot for big whiting. got something interested in your offering.

I like to fish slightly heavier out here as the big Whiting have a tendency to run flat out headfirst into the weed on their first run and absolutely burying themselves in it which can sometimes break through your braid or leader. A 3-6kg rated rod of around that 2.1m length is just about perfect as it still provides the finesse aspect to feel for those sometimes subtle takes.

The style rod also has the backbone to really put the hurt back onto the Whiting if you hook one of the angry 50cm plus fish which would love to dust you up in the weeds. I use 6-8kg braided line on a 2500 sized reel down onto a 6kg fluorocarbon leader which has great abrasive resistance.

When it comes to choosing a soft plastic or jig head for this style I think that if you stick with the old saying of match the hatch you’ll be on the right track. I’ve found that the KGW can be extremely aggressive and seemingly have a go at any soft plastic fished correctly.

Prawn, crab, fish and even squid imitations work well.

Natural colours are excellent but don’t discount your bright options like pink, lime green and orange. Plastics in the 3-5inch size are definitely my go to size, even at 50cm, a whiting only has a small mouth so it pays to keep your profiles small as well. I only ever fish with a 1/4 ounce jig head and a size 2/0 or 3/0 hook is ample but try keep the gauge fairly light as you want to pin the hook as easily as possible but not too light or you’ll straighten one when you go to put the brakes on the trophy size fish!

Hopefully some of this information can help you get yourself into some King George Whiting, whether it be with bait or soft plastics and enjoy one of our finest table fish and a highly underrated sportsfish!

Jarvis Wall

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Fishing News - Page 29

Young Gun Interview with Finn McDowell

by Lubin Pfeiffer A stunning Mersey River brown trout — about to be released by Finn.

T

here are lots of great young anglers in Tasmania. It was fantastic to spend the day on the Mersey River with Finn Mcdowell before the season closed and catch a stack of fish. Afterwards, I sat down and interviewed Finn about his fishing.

These interviews are aimed at encouraging more young anglers into the wonderful world of fishing and fly fishing. During our day on the river, it was awesome to see how Finns fishing has progressed over the last twelve months. He is going to be one of the top anglers in the competition fishing in the next few years!

What is your age and where are you from?

I’m 16, turning 17 this year and I am from Ulverstone in the North West, but I spent eight years living in Hobart.

What got you started on fly fishing?

I think I was nine when I started fly fishing and dad was the one who introduced me to it. I started going out with him a bit and went from there. Pop had a shack at the lakes so we used to stay up there a lot.

Fishing News - Page 30

How many competitions have you fished?

I have fished five competitions now, the first four I was in the lower end of the results, but in this round, I finished seventh and got my first ranking points.

This was my first-year competition fishing.

What got you into competition fly fishing and why?

I started by doing a course offered by Fly Fish Australia and learnt about Euro Nymphing and technical Dry Fly fishing, and you, Tom Jarman and Casey Pfeiffer suggested I should join FFA and start doing some competitions. Once we moved up North and got settled I joined and did my first competition in October.

For someone that doesn’t compete in fly fishing competitions, why would you recommend starting?

You learn so much, it is amazing the learning curve that happens just by controlling or being in a boat with someone and watching them fish, it’s insane.

You also get to meet other people that are into it and know what they are doing and are really good

at it. I think the main thing is that you learn heaps, but it’s also social getting to talk and interact with lots of like-minded people.

Do you have a favourite type of saltwater fish to catch and why?

Bream for sure and then squid. I grew up near Browns River and used to fish there all the time for Bream and really enjoyed it.

Do you have a favourite place to fish and why?

I enjoy going up the lakes, that would be my favourite spot. Bronte Lagoon is where I learnt to fish and I caught my first lake fish there. I’m a member of the Kingborough Anglers Club and I learnt a lot from them fishing at Bronte.

I know you’ve started tying flies, how did you get into this and what are your favourite fly to tie?

Dad got me into fly tying, I’ve been tying flies since I started fishing so I was about 9. My favourite fly to tie is a tricky one. It depends where I’m going.

I have favourite flies for all my favourite locations.

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Fishing News - Page 31

When I’m heading up the lakes it’s got to be olive woolly bugger, you can’t really beat that. In the rivers probably just a pheasant tail nymph, I’ve had success on that.

What are your goals?

I’d like to take my competition fishing further, I’m really enjoying it so I’d like to try and maybe get to the Youth World Championships next year and see where it takes me from there.

What do you think the opportunities are for young anglers in Tasmania?

We have probably the best place in the World to go fishing. It’s just a matter of going really. Talk to people that you know, find out what they are doing and just tag along, it’s not that hard.

There are trout everywhere, every bit of water in Tasmania has trout in it.

Finn using one of the many techniques on the river he has learned through competition fly fishing.

Do you have a mentor for your fishing or anglers you inspire?

Lubin Pfeiffer in particular and Tom Jarman. Just being in a club also is great because you get lots of different opinions and you can kind of form your style from that.

What’s your best capture to date, explain how it all went down?

The fish I got out of the Meander River fishing with Stewart Dick. A big brown that I caught just up from Cheshunt Bridge that I got out from an undercut bank under a tree. It took me down two

Finn and Lubin Pfeiffer doubling up on Mersey trout. sets of rapids and Stewart ended up netting it down the bottom so I was really pleased with that one. I also got a nice one out of Penstock Lagoon, a fourpounder that I got static nymphing. Static nymphing is a technique that I’ve only just started to learn so that made it even more special.

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Fishing News - Page 33

Jumbo Fever

by Kelly Hunt Fish like this by Jonah Yick is what gives us jumbo fever!

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Y

es, here we are again — heading into yet another Tasmanian Bluefin season. It’s funny to use the word season nowadays as Jonah Yick wrote recently he has caught a Southern Bluefin every month of the year in Tasmania. This is an amazing feat for any angler and I doubt there is a line-up of people who have managed to do tick that off. Bluefin seems to be in our waters all year but there is no denying that from the end of March right through to May, the numbers of fish and their size increase. So for all intent and purpose, it’s bluefin season!

Preparation We need to prepare our fishing gear and our minds for that fish of a lifetime, that 100-kilo fish that happens along and smashes a lure in our spread. If you do not pay attention to a few details then this fish will not only be lost but could cost you some money.

A fishing outfit not set up to handle a Jumbo Bluefin tuna can cost you over a hundred dollars pretty quickly.

Lures and leader materials are expensive, decent swivels and a wind on leader add up and if you get spooled you have thrown the money away you used to fill the spool with mainline. So what can we do now it is big fish season and we have a case of jumbo fever, is prepare. Prepare and be ready for that big strike and long first run that is unmistakably a “GOOD FISH”

Jake Howe with a nice school bluefin caught while hunting jumbos.

Reels and rods have been debated for this task for a hundred years and will continue to be argued forevermore. The one constant that you need to be aware of and understand is for a fish to be caught you need to stay connected.

You can be connected to a Jumbo Blue on an egg beater reel with 15 kg braid and a rod under-gunned for the task. The percentage of probability of staying connected and landing that fish or getting it close enough for a photo is greatly reduced but not impossible.

Ideally, you should fish at this time of year for Bluefin tuna with an overhead Stu Smith with his son Campbell learning combination of some all the tricks and techniques early. sort that can handle 24kg line in some way shape or form. That’s 50lb in MOMOI. My favourite for the last 5 years or more is the old vernacular and is a pretty good starting point the pink fluorocarbon line HI Catch NEO. It is quite to raise the probability of success tenfold. You could supple and very easy to handle whether knotting or if you wanted purchase a 50 wide Penn International crimping. It also comes in a wide range of breaking and a rod to match, fill it with a 37 kg mainline and strains and spool sizes. While we touch on knots and be just about unbeatable with the right technique. crimping I will stop now and try and drum this into But, you have to stay connected and that comes down your minds. In staying connected to a big bluefin tuna to what I call the one-percenters. Line quality and “THE” most important thing is the quality of your condition is crucial. Also, you must be aware that knots and crimping or terminal tackle. No matter if the knots you use and the way you rig your gear is of you have an egg beater reel you use for deep dropping paramount importance. You can spend a fortune on tiger flathead or an expensive flashy overhead. If your a five rod spread to catch Jumbo’s, but if you don’t knots and crimping are not up to spec you will fail stay connected you are wasting your time and a lot nearly every time. Knots need to be understood and of money. well-practised. Some can be a little confusing and if you are new to the whole game they are all confusing.

Lining Up For Jumbos There is however no excuse because there are hundreds STREN monofilament is as good as it gets and is of and hundreds of YouTube tutorials that will help you excellent quality. I have personally put it to work for choose what knot is for you and how to tie it. You over 10 years and I would have no qualms to suggest just need to find someone you can understand and it as a starting point. I don’t like to mention it too listen to easily and watch it over and over, practising much as it haunts me to this day, but some years ago over and over until it is second nature and you can I tortured some 24kg STREN for over 8 hours on a tie them in your sleep. fish. We fought that fish well into the night and at In game fishing, you will need to learn how to tie one stage I had backed the drag off and held the drum a leader and in breaking strain over 10 kg there is no spool while I increased the drag pre-set on the fly. This other knot than the Aussie Plait. There will be a heap was later scaled to be 17kg on sunset position when of argument and screams of “what about the Bimini the lever was pushed right up. That line made noises twist” My opinion is that it is not the top of the tree pinging off the reel drum I will never forget. when it comes to line over 10 kg breaking strain and Leader material is open to discussion with your several big names in the game fishing business agree. fellow anglers, but again I have a favourite of mine So find a video and practice it. It’s quite simple, but and when game fishing I love the products from like all knots, you can be all thumbs when you first

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Fishing News - Page 35

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learn, but in no time you will be doing them at will. The next knot you will need to master is the CATS PAW, again, this is very simple but will need to be watched a number of times and practised to get right. You would use this knot to attach a snap swivel to the double you have created or to attach a wind-on leader to that same double. If not using a wind on you can have a much longer double knot in your rigging layout as there are rules in competition game fishing around the total length of double knot, wind on leader and lure leader.

If I was recreational fishing with 24kg mono my double would be four metres long and I would use a wind on leader straight out of the packet. You would then have a short lure leader allowing you to play the fish right to the rod tip allowing the fish to be gaffed or handled with ease. Having a long lure leader will have the snap swivel on the wind on leader wound up into the eye of the rod causing damage to both rod eye and leader. Neither will be apparent in the heat of the moment and go unnoticed until that is sometime later when the eye fails on the rod due to the ceramic or roller falling on the deck leaving the metal frame of the eye to torch the mono until it snaps. Leaving everyone wondering “Oh, I wonder what happened there?’’

Crimping There are some good practices to gain from rigging your own lures and it makes you accountable. While it may be easy to have the store rig them for you and you have always done so. You should teach yourself and have the confidence to do your own. Given time constraints in a tackle store, they may often do what is quick and easy and gets the job done. Doing them yourself and knowing why you do certain things is crucial in learning and gaining more experience and making you a better angler. YouTube is again your friend here as there are countless hours of lure rigging online. Neatness and no tag ends on crimps are crucial as this allows for things to go right when strange little things happen while out on the water hunting. And they will, lines will cross and run over each other and if you have a tag end or messy crimp it will hang up and get cut. This can happen not only if a fish is on the lure, but anytime there is a tangle or issue and you just don’t need this in your life. Hook spacing from the head is also crucial as it allows the lure to perform as it should. There are rules around hook placement for competitions so it pays to keep that in mind. Once you have the line and connections sorted out and your lures are rigged well you can address some other gear.

Hooked up and losing line.

Get The Gear Ready Run your hand over all parts of the rod from the tip down. Check to see all the eyes are free and moving if it is a roller style. A little Innox spray before you pack the rods in the boat and after you pack them away is a good idea. Check them for any damage and with ceramic eyes look for any sharp edges. The slightest knick or sharp edge will sever the line under pressure.

Make sure your drag is free from grit and is smooth as it can be. Depending on the make and style of reel each drag is different but the overarching thing here is smoothness as it pays line out. Not much of an issue if the fish you normally catch are well under the breaking strain of your mainline. However, get close to the breaking strain of your line with a grabbing drag and you will have trouble. Even if you don’t break the mainline there is also the opportunity to snatch the hook out of a fish that has only just been hooked or have a bit softer mouth. The key to happy angling is also having an idea of where your drag is set. This is the whole point of the lever style drag systems of the overhead game reels. You can set the drag pressure using some scales and pre-set it for any given position.

They also have inside a cam arrangement in the drag mechanism that increases the drag incrementally as you push the lever forward to a numbered position or the three positions of indent. Most reels of quality have a static click at trolling position, strike drag and what is known as sunset. This is a very old term that comes from having to decide to push that lever as far forward as it can go. This is the maximum drag pressure for the

line class while still having a safety margin built-in. This would always be done on a big record fish as the sun started to go down and it was time to get real serious.

On a 50 wide overhead, like the Penn International series set up with 24 kg STREN, you would set the strike drag to 1/3 of the breaking strain of the line. That is eight kilograms and so the drag cam would come into play when the reel was on maximum drag or “sunset” This is a machined part inside the reel that ramps the drag tension to two-thirds of the line breaking strain and on 24 kg that is 16 kg. So even on maximum tension on the drag lever you still have a few things up your sleeve to help you win the battle. You have the eight kilograms of breaking strain up your sleeve and you have some stretch in the line if you are using monofilament. This is like a shock absorber if the fish goes for another big lunging run or you do something hand fisted at your end. Be mindful though. Once on maximum tension, you have taken a lot of the stretch out of the line due to having 16kg of drag pressure on the rod. So, conversely, on the fight or strike drag position at eight kilograms of pre-set drag pressure you have heaps of stretch and elasticity still in the line. Of course the more line you have out the more stretch you have as well. We have played with mono fishing line over the years trying to work out the ideal top shot for fishing 24 and 36-kilogram braid with mono top shots on top. We found that mono can stretch up to 25% but most were around 10 – 15%. So in a hundred metres, there could be between 25 and 10 metres of stretch.

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Fishing News - Page 37

If you can follow a few ideas I have over years of fishing and make sure you have a few of the onepercenters covered you should be in good stead to stay connected. Staying connected is the single most important thing to take into account. If you have tension and are tight on a jumbo bluefin on a 6500 PENN Slammer eggbeater and 15kg fully eyed rod or a Flashy Gold PENN Inter with all the rollers and fruit, you are still in the hunt. It doesn’t matter as it is all just a matter of time and how calm you can stay. If you are running out of line and the spool is emptying decide to move on the fish or chase it early. This means getting the boat ready so the angler can move from one side of the boat at ease. Clear everything off the deck that may cause an issue and even have a practice. If you are not used to fighting big fish it is best to have the angler in the port or starboard rear quarter. This gives the angler the most control and can fight the fish out the corner of the vessel. This allows a safety margin if the fish tries to go around the boat or back across the outboard. You will find a tuna will more often than not fight deep and be reasonably easy to control. If the fish gets too up and down on you and the line is too close to the boat, drive off. This is a term we use when fighting a fish and it lets the skipper know to circle about as the conditions allow and gets the line away from the boat. The other golden tip I can give you in fighting a big tuna is technique. You must have some idea of the mechanics of angling. It is easy to see that many do not when watching Facebook. This is no problem as it just comes down to experience. I can wind and cast both hands no problem and like to think I can put some good heat on a fish with good technique.

However, shooting for a basket in basketball or kicking a football with my left foot is a mess. This all comes down to practice and starting with a good technique.

Fishing News - Page 38

Jumbo tuna are found in some incredible places.

Lift and Wind Down!

Game fishing has big reels that look strong and powerful so people think they are a winch. If not told or shown otherwise they think they just have to wind as fast and as often as they can and the fish will come in, this is not the case. Angling is about tiring the fish.

It’s a competition between fish and angler and who gives in first. I may be a bit blunt here but it’s how I am at times. When a big tuna hits the lure and you get a sense it’s a good one take up the rod and wait it out. You see people trying to wind when the drag is screaming and this is futile. The fish is already paying line out and broken the rag tension point so placing more tension on is a complete waste of time. Stand up straight get some air in and get ready to battle.

If the deck is full of eskys and tackle boxes and any other clutter, start barking orders to someone to get it out from under your feet. Then once you are in the corner of the boat and have asked the skipper to keep the line off the rear quarter of choice, wait.

Wait for the fish to stop its initial run and as soon as it does wind on the handle and take up a bit of the slack. There will be some slack as the line will curve in the water and there will be line stretch when the fish stops or slows, so you must take that up and get some of the stretch out of the line. This is important if you do not want the lure to come out of the fish. A big fish can hit a lure hard enough on the strike, or during the fight, wear a hole in its mouth. Keeping tight will keep you connected and not allow that lure to fall out.

Now you have tension you are in an arm wrestle with the big tuna. When the fish is running and pulling tension you don’t need to wind and fight.

You are wasting energy. Much like in an arm wrestle against a bigger stronger opponent. It is better to

hold the big man’s arm at a certain point over the centre than try to force them back over the centre. You are in a battle of body and wits here with the fish and you need to stay in the game and have some heart. All the while you must have a bend in the rod. If you have a bend in the rod when the fish has stopped running that is the name of the game. I tell my kids that having a bend in the rod is like making a fish run up hill. You must never let that fish rest. If you have a rest and the rod is not bent you are giving the fish a break and he is having a rest on you. Always have the idea in your head that you must make the fish run up hill and have the biggest bend in that rod while ever the drag is not paying out. When the fish is pulling drag and you are losing line. Stand up straight fill your lungs and get a rest. That fish is pulling between 8 -16kg of drag depending on your drag lever position so go for its life I reckon. Soon as it stops, get the line tight and work that fish back to you inch by inch. Foot by foot.

That is another misconception with big game angling. People think that when they wind they have to get metres and metres back at a time. Unless the fish turns and runs to you that simply won’t happen. You must PUMP and WIND DOWN. Pump the rod up to just past 45 degrees and with quick hand speed on the wind handle recover line as you drop the rod down to 15 degrees and repeat. You may only be getting a quarter to half turn on the handle, but they all add up. This is a good technique and you will be tiring that fish out as best you can. You will need to change your technique a little depending on the gimbal style or harness you have. Fingers crossed you have a good harness as they make life a damn sight easier on a big fish.

Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt

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Deep Dropping

by Jonah Yick Pink ling can be quite prolific at certain times of the year and are usually found over the flatter, muddy bottom.

W

hen I first heard of fishing with electric reels over 10 years ago, my first thoughts were; that isn’t fishing, it’s cheating, lazy, and unskilful.

It wasn’t until I was given one of these reels as a birthday present that I decided I might as well give it a try, as an additional technique if the tuna fishing was slow, or something else to do while berleying or swordfishing over the continental shelf. I soon realised it wasn’t as simple as it appeared, with my first few attempts resulting in empty hooks, or just the odd fish here and there. Although I had dropped baits over the continental shelf with a conventional reel, the time and effort it took to wind a rig up from those depths meant that it was difficult to prospect an area effectively. As I began to work out likely looking habitats and made a few improvements to the technique, I began to turn

over better and better numbers of fish, as well as a range of species, of which the majority were delicious. It got to the point where rather than using the electric reel as a secondary means of fishing, I began dedicating whole trips to this method. Not only was it exciting exploring new ground and seeing the bites instantly after dropping, but eskies full of fish soon became the norm. With the price of local seafood only continuing to increase, deep drop fishing is a great way of getting out and catching a variety of great table fish, where people of all ages and fitness can get involved.

Where and when to fish The main area of focus when deep dropping is over the continental shelf, which can be overwhelming given there are no landmarks, and above water, it appears as

a big expanse of ocean. To gain insight into where to start fishing, it is important to acquire a bathymetric chart application, either on your phone or on your GPS plotter. With this alone, you can start to have a few trial drops, even without reading the bottom. However, having a sounder that is suitable for these depths is a big advantage, as it allows you to mark bait and fish.

We are lucky in Tasmania in that the continental shelf borders the east, south and west coasts, and even more fortunate that the shelf edge is quite a short steam from the majority of the main boat ramps on the east coast (20-40km in most cases).

Before you head out fishing, it is worth spending some time on dry land to work out exactly where you plan to drop. Do this by inspecting your bathymetric chart application and start looking for areas of interest

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Fishing News - Page 39

Loaded up on a string of tasty bottom fish.

Gemfish are regularly encountered while deep dropping in Tasmania, and commonly found on hard bottom, which is associated with the shelf slope, the edges of canyons, and kinks in the shelf.

If you catch these, you know you are also in a good spot for the highly prized blue eye trevalla.

A standard deep drop rig with clip-on snoods.

Black Magic Tackle 400 pound tough trace is ideal for both the backbone leader and the snoods, withstanding constant abrasions from sharp fish teeth. Black Magic Tackle 8/0 and 10/0 KLT circle hooks are also ideal to facilitate self-hooking.

A haul of stunning imperador caught while fishing the hard edge of a canyon in 460m. on the continental shelf. Look for the area of ground closest to the boat ramp you plan to launch from, then start to inspect the contour lines. Look for kinks and sharp bends in the lines on the shelf slope, as well as canyons (multiple circles), which could indicate bait-holding structure which in turn could potentially attract the target species of fish. The depths from 350 to 500m have always been most productive for me, therefore mark any suitable structure in this depth range. Now when you head out to fish these marks, take note of whether you catch any fish on them, and if you do, what species they are. Some fish will prefer the hard edge of ledges and drop-offs, while other species will congregate over the flatter, muddier substrate. You Fishing News - Page 40

will begin to see these patterns when you start to drift around different areas of the continental slope.

Although there is no strict season of when to go deep dropping, the continental shelf appears to be most productive from November through to April.

However, I have caught good numbers of bottom fish all year round, and at times the difficulty is more related to lining up favourable weather to access the offshore grounds.

Rigging Up Buy yourself the best electric reel that you can afford because as with most other tackle, you get what you

pay for. It is no fun winding up fish manually from 500m depth when the motor dies, especially if you are on a hot bite (speaking from experience!). Depending on how your boat is set up, you can either use a bent or straight butt, with bent butts being most popular as the rods present horizontally when put in the gunwale rod holders. Most importantly ensure the rod has a sensitive tip, but still has plenty of strength back towards the reel, as bite detection is imperative when fishing at these depths. In Tasmanian waters, you are allowed a maximum of five hooks per outfit, and the rigs for these can either consist of a main monofilament stem with individual monofilament snoods which can be clipped on and off or a three-way

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The rays bream is a hard fighting, schooling, deep-sea species which is strongly associated with the scatter layer. They are also delicious, coming a close second to blue eye trevalla in the edibility department. swivel connection with the five snoods permanently attached to the rig. I prefer the snoods which can be clipped on and off as it means I can instantly replace any which get too chaffed, or I can also change the size of the hooks. It also means that if you hook a shark or something bigger, I can unclip some of the snoods making the learning process much easier and safer.

I prefer to use Black Magic Tackle 400 pound tough trace for the monofilament sections as it is very abrasion resistant, which is critical given the majority of deep-sea fish have sharp teeth. It is important to use a self-hooking hook like a circle hook, as due to the amount of line required to reach the bottom, it is not effective to strike at bites, and therefore you rely on the fish being able to hook themselves. I prefer to use the 8/0 and 10/0 Black Magic Tackle KLT circle hooks, as I’ve found the finer gauge of these hooks assist with hookups. Lumo sleeves are also a good addition to the snoods as a visual attractant. Sinkers ideally need to be in the 1.5 to 2kg weight range, and it is important to use a lighter breaking strain monofilament when attaching it to the main rig to avoid losing everything if you get snagged. Small diamond lights can be attached to the rig, however, I have not noticed a big difference in catch rates when fishing without them. Deep-sea bottom-dwelling fish are not overly fussy and will take a range of baits, both fish and squid. The most important thing is to ensure the bait is durable enough to last the long drop to the bottom, as well as all the smaller pickers. You want every drop to the bottom to count, given the time it takes to retrieve it.

Deep Drop Strategy Now that you have your spots marked out, and your rigs sorted, it is time to put everything into practice.

When looking at your depth sounder, bait or fish will appear either as a “furry” layer over the bottom, or you may see a thick band in mid-water or just above the bottom, which can be anywhere from 50 to 300m thick. This layer is known as the “deep scattering layer”

Big blue eye trevalla is the holy grail of deep dropping, and are regarded as one of the best-eating fish in southern Australia. This 16kg pig was caught out of Eaglehawk Neck.

or the “scatter layer” and is an accumulation of various organisms which can include lanternfish, squid, hydrozoans, and pelagic tunicates. All of these organisms are sought after prey items for deep-sea bottom fish, therefore seeing a thick scatter layer on your sounder is a very good sign. However, this does not necessarily mean you are guaranteed to catch fish, as sometimes the predators are not present or they are simply not willing to take a bait. At times it is worth having a prospective drop even if there are no signs of life present on the sounder. When dropping your baits down, be aware that your reel line counter will always show more line out than the depth you are fishing, due to the excess belly in the line. To reduce the belly as much as possible, ensure you use an appropriately sized sinker for the conditions and reverse back on the line if needed, so it drops as close to vertically as possible.

If you see a scatter layer on the sounder it is worth stopping your bait in that zone to see if there are any fish feeding within it.

However more often than not, if the bottom fish are present they will stop your sinker from dropping when they grab the baits, which will appear as though you have reached the bottom prematurely. If this happens, flick the reel in gear, watch the bites, and wait for the rod to load up then start the retrieve. If the current or wind is strong, it will be necessary to continue to back up on the bait to stay in contact with the bottom. It is also useful to continue to let line out frequently. However, if you are catching fish in the mid-water scatter layer, reversing is not essential as you can allow the bait to drift up in the water column. By using these principles it is still possible to deep drop effectively even in average conditions, in wind speeds up to 15 knots. However, it will not be overly comfortable.

Blue grenadier or hoki as they are referred to in New Zealand is probably the most common species of fish encountered when deep dropping.

They can usually be found on muddy substrates on the flatter sections of the continental slope.

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Fishing News - Page 41

The hardest part when deep dropping can be interpreting the bites and knowing when to start the retrieve. It is difficult to know whether one set of bites is from an individual fish, or multiple fish attacking the baits. To set the hook on a set of bites I will retrieve at high speed for a few seconds, then stop the bait. If I get more bites I’ll repeat this process. Eventually, I will make the call to wind everything up. If you want to prospect more of the bottom you are fishing in, simply take longer drifts, and make note of what species you catch at particular stages of the drift. If you label the marks on your plotter by species, you will soon have a good pattern of species/structure in that particular area of the continental slope. Deep-sea fish can come on and off the chew with the tide and time of day, so don’t write a mark off completely simply because you didn’t catch anything on it on a particular occasion.

It is worth fishing your marks at different times of the day, but also mix it up by moving between marks spread over the shelf.

The Likely Species Blue grenadier (Macruronus novaezealandiae) is by far the most commonly encountered species when fishing over the continental slope. They can be found over the flat, muddy substrates as well as over the structure, and are a good species for beginners given their tasty soft flesh, and can be readily caught in big numbers in most areas. The pink ling (Genypterus blacodes) is another species that is regularly caught over the flat, muddy substrates, and also reaches weights over 12kg. At certain times of the year, big numbers of pink ling can be caught over the mud, and given their larger average size, finding a bunch of these fish can result in a fantastic feed. Their flesh is firm and flakey, and suits curries, soups, as well as baking and crumbing. Gemfish (Rexea solandri) can be caught quite consistently on the shelf edge as well as on the slope, over the harder bottom. When they are thick, big numbers can be caught in a single drop, and have a distinctive sharp tapping bite. Generally speaking, if you encounter gemfish, you are fishing the appropriate grounds for the highly prized and most sought after deep-sea species, the blue eye trevalla (Hyperoglyphe antarctica).

Blue eye trevalla bite and fight harder than any of the other bottom-dwelling species, and there is usually no mistaking when you have one or a few on the line, as they will head shake persistently almost to the surface.

They are commonly found on ledges and hard bottom and are arguably one of the best-eating fish in southern Australia. Given their average size can range from 4 to 10kg, you don’t need to catch many to end up with a delicious feed. If you find a patch of them make sure you mark the spot carefully and ensure anyone fishing with you is trustworthy! The second most sought after fish by Tasmanian deep droppers are the rays bream (Brama brama). This impressive-looking fish resembles a saltwater piranha and forms dense schools both midwater and on the bottom. At times if they are feeding within a scatter layer, big numbers of these fish can be caught in a short amount of time. They are delicious Fishing News - Page 42

A bathymetric chart of the seafloor surrounding the continental shelf east of Maria Island, at a location known as Riedle Canyon. This structure is ideal for bottom fishing, with some of the likely looking spots circled. eating with firm, buttery fillets, which suit all styles of cooking. The beauty of deep drop fishing is that there is a huge range of other species available, and most are also delicious!

Maximising Your Time On The Shelf Once you get comfortable with the technique of fishing with one electric reel over the continental shelf, there are many other ways you can maximise your fishing time, and increase your chance of catching more fish.

At the end of the day, you should have plenty of time to do other things while waiting for This sounder shot shows an area of the shelf with bites, considering you don’t need to hold the rod during the deployment, fishing, or retrieval high productivity and a high chance of catching stages. If the conditions allow, you can fish fish. The main scatter layer which stretches from two electric setups doubling your chances of 300m to the bottom (543m), is likely to consist of catching bottom fish. Putting a line down for the organisms below (top photo: pelagic tunicates, swordfish is also another way of passing the bottom photo: lantern fish), which are in turn preyed time while waiting for your electric rod to load upon by the majority of target deep drop species up. Berleying can also be very productive, not only for mako sharks but also other pelagic fish like albacore, southern bluefin tuna, and kingfish. to other anglers who haven’t experienced this form of Casting back into the berley slick with soft plastics/ fishing before! You can make it a leisurely, relaxing poppers is a good way of keeping busy and increasing experience, or you can use it to keep busy and undertake your chance of catching pelagic fish. Or if the sounder other forms of fishing while the baits are down. First is lit up with a thick scatter layer you can try dropping and foremost, if you like prospecting the dark, cold a knife jig down to that depth and working it back up. waters of the continental shelf while simultaneously This can be a deadly technique for aggressive schooling catching a feed of premium table fish, then deep fish like the rays bream. dropping might just be the thing for you.

There you have it, electric reel fishing is not as bad Jonah Yick as it sounds, despite my continual need to justify this

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RECREATIONAL SEA FISHERIES NEWS MAY 2021

FADs open up new fishing opportunities off the East Coast In an exciting development for Tasmanian anglers, fish aggregating devices (FADs) are being deployed off the East Coast in 2021 to improve recreational catch opportunities.

While at least five FADs are planned, three have been deployed on a trial basis – one off Binalong Bay and two in Great Oyster Bay – until they are retrieved at the end of April to avoid whale interactions during the migration season. The FADs will provide extra fishing opportunities in areas away from natural structures such as reefs.

What is a FAD? FADs are structures placed in the ocean to aggregate pelagic fish such as yellowtail kingfish, tuna and mahimahi (dolphinfish). The reasons why FADs work is a topic that has attracted considerable scientific debate.

The traditional school of thought is they provide a structure for small organisms to colonise. This provides a starting point for a ‘mini ecosystem’ which attracts small fish – and in turn, larger fish. Alternatively, some researchers suggest that migrating fish use FADs as a resting place or a geographical reference point.

FADs are increasingly being used to enhance recreational fishing experiences. FAD programs are currently operating in states including NSW where they have been deployed in 30 locations along the coast to provide recreational fishing opportunities.

Commonly caught fish around these FADs are mahi mahi, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail kingfish, and striped marlin.

While mahi mahi and yellowfin tuna are only occasional visitors to Tasmanian waters, other FADattracted species are more commonly encountered.

These include albacore, striped tuna, mako sharks and yellowtail kingfish.

Where will the FADs be located next fishing season?

The trial FADs will be redeployed in December.

Then, it is expected that another FAD will be deployed south-east of Pirates Bay and one off the Freycinet coast. The project is funded by the State government, with MAST undertaking the feasibility study and initial deployments. DPIPWE will be responsible for managing the FADs and developing policy including a code of conduct on fishing around them.

To understand how effective FADs are in providing fishing opportunities in Tasmania, IMAS is seeking funds for a comprehensive study. If successful, the project is likely to commence within the next 12 months.

Keep an eye out for our survey DPIPWE will conducting a survey asking for feedback from anglers who have already fished near the Binalong Bay and Great Oyster Bay FADs. If you haven’t yet fished the FADs, we would also like to hear your views on their future in Tasmania including target species and management.

The survey will be available at www.fishing.tas.gov. au from May.

Need more information?

Get a copy of the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide from Service Tasmania Download the Tasmanian Sea Fishing Guide app Go to www.fishing.tas.gov.au or www.facebook.com/ FisheriesTasmania Phone: 1300 720 647 or 03 6165 3233 Email: fishing.enquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au

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Fishing News - Page 43

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WEIGHT

Here is the Tasmanian Liberal Party Recreational Fishing Policy that they went to the recent election with.

A MAJORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT WILL:

Make recreational SEA FISHING more accessible to Tasmanians with a new $2 million grant fund for new and upgraded facilities and amenities Guarantee no new taxes for recreational fishing in Tasmania Provide $1 million for new and upgraded facil ities and amenities for inland fishing, and improved access Make licences free for junior inland anglers for the next four years Double the amount of funding for the Tagged Trout Promotion Going fishing is part of the Tasmanian way of life Over 100,000 Tasmanians enjoy fishing.We have some of the highest rates of recreational sea fishing in the world.

Of these, over 20,000 anglers test their skills in our world class wild trout fisheries.

Every year, around 30,000 interstate and overseas visitors also go fishing in Tasmania, with our trout fishery the focus of international attention in 2019 with the World Fly Fishing Championships hosted in the State.

Fishing also makes a significant contribution to Tasmania’s economy, with more than $160 million spent on accommodation, fuel, bait, tackle, and other equipment, helping our regional communities and small business sector.

However, probably the greatest benefit of going fishing is that it is good for mental health and wellbeing, allows many Tasmanians to catch fish for food, and spend time in the outdoors with their friends and family.

Make recreational sea fishing more accessible to tasmanians with a new $2 million grant fund for new and upgraded facilities and amenities A Majority Liberal Government will provide $2 million in a new grant fund to deliver benefits for recreational sea fishers, their families and local communities, including– • new or upgraded jetties, boat ramps, pontoons and fishing platforms; • new or upgraded toilets, change facilities, rubbish bins, picnic tables and fish cleaning facilities; and • upgrading of sea fishing club premises and surrounds.

The Fund will be open to local councils and local community organisations, including sea fishing clubs, with the aim of improving local community amenities, and making recreational sea fishing more accessible to fishers, families, and those who are mobility-impaired or living with disability.

The new Fund is in addition to the Government’s ongoing expenditure for major jetties, boat ramps and infrastructure of over $5 million.

This policy complements the Australian Government’s commitment of $800,000 in 2022-23 to local councils to build or improve recreational fishing, camping and boating facilities.

Guarantee no new taxes for recreational fishing in tasmania A re-elected Majority Liberal Government has categorically ruled out new taxes and levies for recreational fishing in Tasmania.

Provide $1 million for new and upgraded facilities and amenities for INLAND FISHING, and improved access Tasmania has some of the world’s best wild brown trout fisheries, and our lakes and waterways are enjoyed by thousands of Tasmanians and their families.

As part of our plan to encourage more people to go trout fishing, we have built and upgraded amenities at popular inland fishing locations, expanded our Anglers Access program across high priority waterways and supported angling events and clubs.

To drive continued growth in trout fishing, a reelected Majority Liberal Government will maintain a strong and independent Inland Fisheries Service and provide them with $1 million over four years for new and upgraded facilities and improved access.

Free inland angling licences for junior inland anglers for the next four years Trout fishing is a way of life for many Tasmanian families, with around 1000 junior angling licences sold annually.

To help more young people enjoy our world class trout fishery and increase angling participation, we will waive junior angling fees for the next four years.

This will mean that children up to and including 17 years of age will be able to fish in Tasmania’s inland lakes and waterways for free.

Double the amount of funding for the tagged trout promotion The Tasmanian Liberals’ Tagged Trout Promotion has helped encourage regional tourism with anglers chasing one of five $10 000 tagged fish released in lakes across the state.

More importantly, the Promotion has also helped boost inland angling licence numbers following the impact of the devastating 2018-19 Central Highlands bushfires.

Building on this season’s success, a re-elected Majority Liberal Government will expand the Tagged Trout Promotion, providing an additional $100 000 over the next two years to double this program.

Current work underway right now Progressing Tasmania’s first ever 10 year Recreational Sea Fishing Strategy, after consultation with thousands of Tasmanians and over 40 forums State-wide.

Funding of $620,000 from 2018-2022 to the Tasmanian Association of Recreational Fishing (TARfish) to support recreational marine fishers right around Tasmania.

Providing $500,000 towards a 30-50 metre extension to the rock breakwater at Coles Bay to provide protection to boat owners in southerly weather.

$175,000 to develop a web portal and social media platform for recreational fishers to provide information about boat registration, boat operator licences, specialist fishing licences.

Delivering our $1 million commitment to improve offshore catch opportunities by constructing two artificial reef structures in Tasmanian coastal waters, located in Bass Strait off the north-west coast, and Storm Bay in the south.

Froze inland trout fishing licences at 2017-18 prices for four years.

Funding of $215,000 over four years to Anglers Alliance Tasmania, the peak group representing 26,000 trout anglers.

Providing $200,000 to expand the Inland Fisheries Service’s (IFS) Anglers Access Program across priority lakes and rivers in the North West, North East, and Derwent Catchments in partnership with Anglers Alliance Tasmania and local angling clubs.

Running a $50 000 tagged trout promotion in the 2020/21 season, encouraging anglers to visit regional areas and support our economy.

Liberal’s record in Government $250,000 for the provision of floating pontoons and boating facilities on the Scamander River $130 000 over two years to expand the St Helens Volunteer Marine Rescue base $250,000 Master Plan for the Bridport foreshore to support the growing number of recreational fishers, with associated upgrades including a new Bridport pier, pontoon access for boaters, boat ramps, parking and launching facilities, improve access to the working port. $440,000 in additional funding to Tasmania’s Volunteer Marine Rescue Unit to ensure ongoing volunteer response coverage, and a further $350,000 for vessel replacement. $700,000 grant fund to improve access to jetties for families, older Tasmanians and those with disability $100,000 new breakwater at Binalong Bay for safer launch and retrieval conditions for all vessels. $200,000 for an extension to the Nubeena Jetty, for improved access for recreational users.

Replacement of the Cunningham Street and Talbot Street jetties through the $685,000 commitment to replace derelict jetties around Georges Bay. $450,000 to purchase and install four new Fishing Aggregation Devices – with three deployed for trial in February 2021; two in Great Oyster Bay and one off St Helens. $300 000 to build and upgrade amenities at high visitation inland fishing locations $100 000 to support the 2019 World Fly Fishing Championships, held in Tasmania Continued supporting the Carp Management Program, which has led to the re-opening of Lake Sorell for angling for the first time in more than 25 years.

Costings: $2 million grant fund for recreational sea fishing $1 million for facilities and improved access to support inland fishing $75,000 to waive junior inland angling fees for four years $100,000 to double the Tagged Trout Promotion for two years

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Fishing News - Page 45

REDINGTON 8 & 9wt SALTWATER COMBOs $395

Redington’s Crosswater/Behemoth Fly Combo. All-water, medium-fast-action Path rod boasts premium graphite blanks for reliable performance. Rods feature full-wells handles and anodized-aluminum reel seats. Matched with a Redington Behemoth Reel / Backing and weight forward fly line and leader it is ready to fish. The Redington Crosswater rod has a 12 month replacement warranty, so if it gets broken for any reason you pay around $100 and Redington replace your rod with a new one. The Redington Behemoth reel is tough and amazing value for money. Check out any review and you will see. Great drag and great value. We have sold hundreds of these reels. They are tough. Buy it online at www.essentialflyfisher.com.au Shipping is FREE.

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The aerodynamic shape of the Leven not only looks great, but is functional saving you fuel on those long road trips. The electric powered roof gives the Leven it’s stylish exterior and the camper is able to be used even with the roof down. Security features in the Leven include the Aussie Traveller security door, and double glazed windows with triple lock down points that ensure a strong and durable seal. The quality fitted interior is designed to allow the maximum use of space. The features include a pull out table which can be stored when not needed and comfortable face to face seating in a choice of durable fashion fabrics.

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6343 3341 Fishing News - Page 47

Life Jackets must now conform to AS 4758 These will display the following levels: Level 150 and above Level 100 Level 50 Level 50S (Special Purpose) There are some life jackets, mostly inflatable, that may be in excess of Level 150.