Game season wrap-up — Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt

GAME SEASON WRAP-UP

Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt wraps-up the game season that seemingly won’t end.

Well here we all are and I have pieced together an overview of the last game season. It is tricky to do so however because game fishing season 2017/18 just keeps giving. Why just now India Thompson reported of losing a fish off the back of St Helens Island that creamed line off the reel and mid July I was fishing off St Helens myself and there were fish from just outside Burns Bay to the shelf.

It has been a fantastic year for game fishing all around Tasmania and I say all around as the West Coast is starting to make a name for itself as well. Jamie Harris has found tuna down off Strahan a number of times while out chasing Striped Trumpeter. One trip this year he found them in so close the water was still a tannin brown colour from the outflow of Macquarie harbor.

St Helens has made a great fightback in the game fishing department after having a few lean years. The game fishing clan has been making a bee line for Eaglehawk Neck as the destination of choice but that is changing again. St Helens fishes well early and is your best chance for a marlin or the hallowed Yellowfin tuna. These two fish were elusive this year. We had a great couple of marlin bites a couple seasons back but the currents didn’t flow for us this year.

The good news is what we did have and that was a heap of gamefishing action on Mako sharks, Albacore, Bluefin and Broadbill Swordfish. So lets have a look at some of that action.

Mason Paull and his son Daniel have had a stella year on the Swords this season. The lads caught 6 swords off St Helens which was better than their last season by 2 fish. They have their technique working a treat and are leaders in releasing these fish to fight another day. They are strong believers in using big circle hooks for this type of fishing. They obviously have some good spots to start their drops, but quite frankly it’s all about the available food at the right depth. These Swordfish are big protein munching machines and live down in the cold waters needing lots of food. Find the food and get a bait down and you are in with a chance. The sword fishing bycatch is also pretty cool with all sorts West Coast bluefin are coming on and here is Dean O’Connor with a beauty.

of fish being taken on the big baits meant for the big Broadbill Swords.

Still in the waters off St Helens and we saw Melissa Mcgiveron and her husband Jason trolling for big tuna and they found one. 123kg is a sensational fish and on 37kg line a pending state, Australian and world ladies record. These two are Tasmania’s premier fishing couple spending many hours on the water and finding fish often. Their massive fishing weapon “ICE AGE” is set up to hunt and find all manner of game fish and a credit to them both.

A fisherman that has a great season is Jonah Yick. He managed to take out friends and family and for the most part caught some fabulous fish. It didn’t seem to matter if it was early in the season or where he went his skill and persistence paid off. He found early season Albacore and mako sharks. He even found some good fish as close as Storm Bay in the states south. Jonah is a prime example of what I say all the time. Watch the weather, organize yourself and spend time on the water and you will be rewarded.

The Albacore run this season was early and strong in number and in the size of the fish encountered. When looking for Albacore in the early part of the season try a feather lure like the Zuker and back the speed off a little. Get the speeds down to around 5 – 6 knots and throw some halco deep divers in as well. These bibbed lures work well and dive deeper when trolling slower and on a longer set from the back of the boat. The Zukers run well at a lower speed and you can place some small skirts in with them around the wash of the propeller

The other skipper that comes to mind when it comes to time on the water and dedication is Josh Hammersley. Josh and his two daughters Chloe and Molly rack up some serious water time and find fish often. Chloe has some serious line class captures to her name and young Molly has the bug now as well. It is fabulous in this day

Daniel Paull with one of the five swordfish they have tagged this season.

and age of screens and electronic distraction to be able to do an activity with family. There are so many skills that kids can pick up from fishing that carry on through all aspects of life. It starts the planning and with something as simple as weather prediction, the points of a compass and what effect wind can have on swell. The logistics and important aspects of towing and boat handling. Then of course there is the knots and reasoning behind what we do and why we do it. Food harvesting is a fabulous life skill to have in a world where sadly the vast majority of kids think that food just comes from the supermarket like magic.

I mentioned the currents and the way they effect the fishing here in Tasmania. They are very important and carry the food and supply the water quality that has the exciting fish we don’t see a lot of. The currents are all dependent on weather events we have no control much further north. When we do have the currents play the game we can have some great fishing off the east coast of Tasmania for Striped marlin and big yellowfin tuna. We didn’t get that bite this season but we did have some fish caught that give you hope that it may happen next year or the year after. So we never give up, we gear up and we learn so when they do arrive we are in with a good chance. Having said that we did see some currents that brought with it some good numbers of yellowtail kingfish. These fish are great fighters for their size and a big one will really take you to task. There were many crews that reported heaps of these much sought after fish along the coastal points, but also out on the shelf. This water can often bring delights such as Dolphin fish also known as Dorado, but not this year.

Tyson Digney found some very good water off Bicheno during February and managed 3 small yellowfin. They got these fish in a three way hook up and managed to land all three fish. Tyson is a mad keen young angler and has the uncanny ability to out fish his dad Paul. This infuriates Paul no end, but he has just had to deal with it.

Mako sharks have been fishing very well for a few years now and this season was no different. There has been a real push for the majority of anglers to let the big ones go and just harvest the smaller sharks for the table. There are still some big ones taken each year and this is often down to how often a crew gets out each year. The mako shark is being found more places each year and a lot closer inshore than people used to fish. Nowadays it seems that if you have enough burly you will find one just about anywhere. There were a number found in 30m in Bass Strait this season and a few off Schouten Passage not far out off the passage. The continental shelf is still your best bet if you are looking to maximize your chances.

If you are out trolling lures and the weather calms off super flat it does pay to be set up to hit the deep ocean floor. Many crews had great success when it glassed out looking for the tasty morsals that inhabit the drop offs around the shelf. The Rays bream and Blue eye trevalla are always a welcome sight to come over the gunwale during a game fishing season. The freezer looks good with a few shelves of self-caught deep sea delights and this season fished very well from around Tasmania.

So as you can see by the pictures there has been some fabulous catches this season and we have not even scratched the surface. The fishing is world class off Tasmania and we are very spoilt. I say spoilt as the fishing is so close to us. We have just recently seen a run of fish off Sydney and the whole recreational fleet gets excited, but it is not for everyone. Their access to the shelf and the awesome fishing is a long 80km round trip without any fishing included. In contrast we can just travel 5km and be into the tuna and if we want to hit the shelf 20km and we are in some great fishing grounds for all game fishing species. So get involved and don’t think it is all too hard as there are many people willing to share information and make sure you have some success. Don’t wait till next year either. If you can find a weather window and get a crew together there are some great fish off St Helens right now.

Paul Hicks and his son Lachie had a rod go off and after a solid fight caught a 34kg Butterfly Mackerel on 15kg line. These fish are not very common and it was great to see a fish of this quality in our waters. This was an excellent angling effort and is a pending record for young Lachie. The catch was even greater as they had the ham fisted Paul Digney on board acting as crew. All jokes aside Paul is great to have on board and a great angler in his own right. He just has to conquer his fear of mako sharks. Family fishing at its best.

A local Storm Bay Mako Shark, around the 40kg mark. Great eating at this size, and awesome to be able to catch these gamefish so close to Hobart. The photo was taken just off Margate where we launched from, while we caught the mako only a few hundred metres off Bruny Island. We lost another mako on this day, we bottom fished while berleying and used the frames as berley. Caught on a fresh squid which was caught while we were drifting. Amazing that you can catch them only a few kms from the boat ramp.

Jonah Yick and Sam Nichols with a haul of Rays Bream, caught in 480m over the shelf fishing out of Eaglehawk Neck. The bream were thick on this day and resulted in 4 or 5 fish on almost every drop. Rays bream were quite prolific this season, ended up catching a lot on the sword baits as well. A lot were hard up on the bottom as well as in 300 to 400m.

Chris Boon with an early season 35kg bluefin caught over the shelf at Eaglehawk Neck. Fish was tagged and released, and caught on an Eaglehawk Lures emerald green prowler. Caught another three on this day all around the same size. Majority of bluefin caught early season were much smaller than this, around 10kg mark.

Sian Tan and Helen O’Neill with a couple of small bluefin (10kgish) tagged, and ready to be released. These fish were caught off the lanterns, hard in under the cliffs, and were in big numbers on this day, with many multiple hook ups. For the first part of the season, most of the bluefin were this size. Caught on both hard bodies and skirts.

Patiently watching the big Penn 80w with the Penn inter rod for any sign of a bite. Fishing out of Eaglehawk Neck in 510m of water. Fishing for swordfish. A big lifter grenadier well in excess of a metre, fishing over the shelf out of Eaglehawk Neck. Grenadier were prolific this season as per usual, where pulling up 5 at a time was not uncommon.

Tom Srodzinski with a nice early season mako shark estimated around 60kg. Caught over the continental shelf out of Eaglehawk Neck. Caught by berleying up the frames of the bottom fish caught. Beautiful eating at this size and easy to deal with out of a small trailer boat. Short fight time and didn’t jump, but slugged away down deep for quite a while.

Hooked up tight to a big sword late in the afternoon. Fishing out of Eaglehawk Neck in 520m of water. Hooked up at 4pm, but the fish was somehow able to get us reefed up to the canyon, and we had to bust it off. Unlucky. Last drop of the day .

Some monster albacore in the 19 to 24kg range. Landed 6 on this day just nor east of the big hippolyte rock. Me and Sam Nichols. Put up a great fight even on the heavy 24 and 37kg game gear. This was in early April, although we were chasing jumbo bluefin we didn’t complain with this bycatch.

Greg Guard found some Tassie yellowtail kingfish.

Hooked up on a sword over the continental shelf off Eaglehawk Neck. Fishing in 460m of water, the swordfish played with the bait for a good 10mins before taking it properly. Fought for 1.5hrs before the hook pulled. Squid bait with twin Js.