Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 121 April 2016 by Tasmanian Fishing

April - May 2016

TASMANIAN FISHING and BOATING NEWS — ISSUE 121

Noel Jetson

Tooms Lake

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Noel Jetson - A Life Well Lived The late Noel Jetson - photo by Georges Lenzi. See page 5.

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Observation, stealth and a Red Tag were about all you needed according to trout guide, Noel Jetson

Noel was Tasmania’s first full time trout guide, an outstanding fly tyer, and although the term has only been around a few years, a ‘trout bum’. He loved the environs where trout are found, valued friends and wilderness, had little interest in wealth, was a practical joker and could turn his hand to most things. Noel taught the Editor to tie flies and

hundreds of other too. He had little tackle shop in Cressy - so small you could not get past the counter. It was as unique as Noel was. UNfortunately he spent the last few years of his life in a home. We don’t usually run obituaries - and never on the front page, but Noel was special to me and hundreds of others. Mike Stevens. Ed.

Noel Jetson — Mike Stevens

Tooms Lake — Todd Lambert

Rods for Yaks — Jo Starling

Fly Fishing from Yaks — Craig Vertigan

Striped Marlin Magic — Geoff and David Madden

Taming Tuna from a Tinny — Matt Byrne

Still Time for a Trout — Adrian Webb

Autumn at St Helens — Jamie Henderson

Reviews 33 Lake Butters — Craig Rist

Jigging is Coming — Matt Sherriff

Game Fishing Basics – Preparation — Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt

Marine Fisheries News

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asmanian water levels are critically low. Great Lake has fished well right down to the historic low it is at as I write this column. It is so low even the low water Boundary Bay launching option has gone. How will it fish as it starts to rise again? No one can tell me, and I have no idea. Then there is Arthurs Lake - once our best trout fishery, but now it is a poor shadow of its former self. The macroinvertebrate (small animals) population is, apparently, very low compared to the glory days. The trout’s food has disappeared. But, does anyone know vaguely, or in detail, any more than that? Certainly nothing has come to light, nor does there seem, any real desire to look deeply into why this great fishery has crashed. A former Inland Fisheries Commissioner, Wayne Fulton, did a thesis of the macroinvertebrate fauna on Arthurs and Great lakes in 1981. This is a benchmark and should be used to help understand what went wrong and how the failing biodiversity can be reversed. Wayne Fulton has been contacted by IFS regarding that survey, so perhaps we are on the road to some research and understanding of the current situation. I care that Arthurs Lake, Lake Sorell, Lagoon of Islands, Lake Leake, Tooms Lake and others are either closed or very poor performers these days. If there is no access or poor fishing people will do something else. I had a discussion recently and the question raised was ‘what trout fisheries are as good or better than 20 years ago?’

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

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 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 only ones that raised a positive mention were Meander River, Mersey River and Penstock Lagoon. The Meander and Mersey get environmental flows and Penstock is largely unaffected by Irrigation Tasmania or Hydro Tasmania. I love small streams and found some good fishing in these, but they are subject to environmental influences. If you can get into untouched headwaters you can have fun. In general trout fishers come last - pretty much in any discussion on water useage. There is hype and bluff and posturing about how important ‘anglers’ are, but we are always at the bottom of the scale. Water level MOUs mean little except when a galaxiid become at risk - such as Great Lake. Next season will be a huge challenge for the Inland Fisheries Service if they want to maintain income (licence sales). They have dropped this year. Next year I have no doubt the will drop again, perhaps dramatically. Anglers do need to investigate and fish different inland waters to get results, but how many more do we lose before we are deeply disenchanted. Conversely the saltwater fishery has never been better. Estuaries, inshore and offshore are all robust and thanks to climate change we are seeing new angling species, such as kingfish and King George whiting being targeted. I would love your comments. Email me mike@tasfish.com Mike Stevens

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Noel Jetson A life well lived Mike Stevens

At the fly tying bench where Noel spent so much time. Noel ‘Jetfly’ Jetson passed away March 2016. here will be plenty of words written about Noel and all he did. You didn’t fly fish in Tasmania without having a Noel and Lois Jetson story. This is my experience with Noel. In 1970 I was 13 years old and although I don’t remember the fine details I did one of, if not his first, fly tying course at the Adult Education centre in York Street, Launceston. His mentor Dick Wigram had passed away 30 April 1970 and not only did Noel buy his fly tying gear but he also took over his course teaching at Adult Education. Jan Spencer later took over from Noel. Noel had big fat fingers and somehow tied the most beautiful flies. How he managed that no one seems sure. At that course he taught me, and others, to tie nymphs, Black Spinners, Red Spinners and Red Tags. Oh how he loved those Red Tags, and if a fish refused a size 12 he would just change to a 14 or 16. Noel knew there was no reason a fish should refuse one of his Red Tags.

Hanging on the wall behind my desk is a framed Red Spinner. It was tied by me after Noel’s course and I caught my first trout, on a fly, on this fly. It says ‘3/12/1971 Mt Joy’. Mt Joy is on the Macquarie River and in those days had excellent red spinner mayfly hatches. Noel visited there often from his home base at his shop and Post Office at Cressy. So Noel was instrumental in me catching my first trout on a fly and whenever I tie flies his techniques continue through my fingers. If you did one of his courses you would have been taught to ‘whip finish’ using your fingers. To Noel it meant one less tool to pick up – economy of process was important if you were tying commercially as he was. I have several fancy whip finishing tools, but use none. Noel was Tasmania’s first professional trout guide and along with his great love, Lois, formed the Professional Trout Guides Association. They ran a little shop called

‘Jetfly’ at Cressy and I remember visiting it often. It was a funny little shop and you could not really even get into it. Maybe there was a space inside the door which was less than two metres square. From memory it had a display of flies on the left and an overflowing counter on the right. Lois was there more often than Noel as he would be guiding. They also ran the small adjoining Post Office. Ken Orr tells me they also had firearms, ammunition and a huge range of lures, spinners and celtas on the wall. I don’t remember them. It seems my eyes were firmly on the fly fishing gear. Lois had firm views on most things and if she thought you were a time waster or incompetent fly fisher she would advise you as such. To me she was wonderful, caring and interested – perhaps it was my youth or keenness to learn. She was very protective of Noel and likewise Noel was of her.

Left: Noel and Lois at the Jetfly shop, Cressy. Right: Noel and Clyde Spencer modified two BSA Bantams so they could explore Tasmania’s Western Lakes.

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Fishing News - Page 5

I did hear a story about her refusing to sell a Winston rod to a customer. Noel imported them and they were expensive. Noel also guided this particular person, he already had one Winston and wanted another. Lois thought (knew) he couldn’t cast. She said something like ‘I won’t sell it to you until you learn to cast the first one properly’. Noel smuggled it out of the shop to him. Lois suffered a heart attack in 1994 and Noel decided to sell the shop and retire to Swansea in 1995. It didn’t matter that he was leaving Brumbys Creek and trout fishing behind, Lois was much more important. A surprise retirement dinner was held at Bronte in 1996. It coincided with the Bronte Tie-in and Lois had to get him there without him suspecting anything. She managed it superbly and even got him to wear a tie. Noel never liked a fuss and suspected nothing until he started seeing a number of his guiding clients. It turned into a grand

night. I was there and with Jan Spencer produced 100 small commemorative booklets. They are eagerly sought. I visited him a few times in Swansea – especially during the time I was publishing a biography Glenn Eggleton was writing. He was always happy and greeted me with ‘How are you mate’. I have many of his flies including 100 Red Tags he tied for me. A hand written note is attached ‘Mike, I have given you these flies. Have fun when you go fishing. Don’t give me anything more mate. All the best. Noel.’ Lois passed away in 2006 and Noel missed her deeply. His daughter Noeline, also lived in Swansea and cared for Noel as dementia slowly eroded his memory. It was sad and heart wrenching to see a man with such a positive outlook being slowly taken away – even though his body was still with us.

Noel guided the English team to a World Fly Fishing Championship in Tasmania in 1988. One day I knocked on the door and he answered with ‘Do I know you?’ Yes, I said. ‘Come in then mate.’ Five minutes later he was telling me stories about his time in New Zealand and we were mates again with his memory working perfectly. He moved to full time care at the May Shaw home, Swansea in 2012 and I didn’t visit after that. However every time I picked up or shuffled a Red Tag around my fly box he was there. At his funeral service I decided to only use a Red Tag until the end of this season. Noel’s tie for his Red Tag is at the end of this article. If you want to read more about Noel and his life and flies, Glenn Eggleton wrote his biography, which I was so glad to publish in 2008. We still have copies. Email mike@tasfish.com Mike Stevens

Ken Orr writes.

The cover page from Noel’s Bronte fly fishing school notes. Fishing News - Page 6

‘Noel was like a second father to me, and started my guiding career, just as he started the Tasmanian Guiding Industry in the 1970’s. My father had taught me to fly fish as a seven year old boy. I would see Dick Wigram on the water often, as dad knew him well. On each occasion he would open his fly box and say ‘take a fly boy’ and I did. This link with Dick held me in good stead when I first met Noel, and he took me under his wing with fly tying, creating a lifelong friendship that never wavered. ‘Back in the 1970s I visited Noel and Lois for a weekend. I was looking at a career change, and he just said, off the cuff ‘Why don’t you become a trout guide. You think like me. You fish like me, and importantly you love fishing - like me. I will help you get started, and I can use you as an instructor at a fly fishing school I want to start. Needless to say, I did, and he did. ‘We created the Trout Guides Association with Lois in the season of 79/80 and set a foundation for a growing industry. ‘We thought so much alike, that although we had the whole State to fish we would often end up at exactly the same spot, on the same day, coming from opposite ends of the island. If he saw my vehicle, he would stop only long enough to leave a note under the windscreen wiper, ‘I’m watching you mate’. Over the years we exchanged these notes dozens of times. ‘Noel was my teacher, my mentor but above all, a caring and life guiding friend. Noel changed my life.’ Ken Orr

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Kingdom. All these pleasures and many, many more I have experienced with Noel. I am a very fortunate person to have shared in these experiences. Noel Jetson also taught me to tie flies - a curse on him. I am now surrounded by thousands of flies, cupboards full of materials, bookshelves full of fly fishing dictionaries and books on fly tying. I took to this new challenge with the same obsession I initially exhibited in relation to fly fishing. ‘I have tied every pattern imaginable both for fresh and saltwater fishing. What has this madman called Jetfly done to me! Yet it has brought me joy - the memory of the miracle of the first trout rising and taking a fly tied by me will last forever. The pleasure of sitting at my vice creating illusions which are destined to change the smug look on the face of a trout to one of horror is another

pleasure in respect of which I am in¬debted to Noel. It is the next best thing to fishing - it releases dreams as to how each fly will be used to fool the elusive trout! There will be no rest for Noel. He may not be as spritely as he once was but I will drag him hither and thither from dawn till dusk, in ice and snow until he cries out for mercy - and even then there will be no rest for him because as fate has it, Noel is destined to return in his next life as a trout - and I will be waiting. ‘He can be fooled and again I intend to drag him hither and thither until he lies flapping on the bank whereupon he will be gently put back into the water and revived for yet another day. There is no rest for a person who has tormented as many trout as Jetfly. With sincerest thanks.’ Glenn Eggleton

Fooled another one. From the booklet - A Testimonial by Friends to Noel V Jetson.12 October 1996.

Glenn Eggleton wrote:

‘Noel Jetson was born on 16 February one day after me - but several years earlier. ‘We were both born with a love of fishing. You don’t come to love fishing after you have caught a thousand fish. You are hooked by the first one. I don’t remember the first fish I caught as a small boy but I do remember the first trout - poor little bugger - about the length of my big finger and covered in bright red spots. It came from the Thredbo River and had darted from under a rock to take a live grasshopper impaled on my hook. I had seen “fly fishing” on television and had been to a few casting days with the NSW Rod Fishers under the tutelage of Andrew Clayton. I was fascinated by the whole art - the beauty of the flies, the element of deception and the skill involved in casting. I read book after book and magazine after magazine. It was in one of these magazines that I read of Noel Jetson and so it was that I came to Tasmania in 1980. I have returned at least once every year since then to fish with Noel. At first I came to fish, fish, fish - from 4.00 am in the morning till after dark - poor Noel. One evening about 11.00 am after a full day on the Western Lakes, Noel jokingly suggested we could sneak down the dam wall and flog a muddler minnow. I enthusiastically agreed. It was only when I saw the look of horror on his face that I realised he was joking. ‘Gradually, thanks to Noel, I came to see more than the water, and I don’t just mean winks, swirls and white mouths. In short, I began to relax and enjoy the song of the skylark and the beauty of the central highlands. I began to plan my trips to coincide with the flowering of the hawthorn rather than the hatch of the Highland Dun. Fly fishing had become a pleasure rather than a means of putting fillets of trout in a freezer. The pleasure I have learned to experience from fly fishing is due to Noel. ‘Thanks to Noel’s guiding I have visited many parts of the Central Highlands on many trips. Without Noel I would have been lost and never found. I have sat with a robin (the natural not Wigram’s) by the side of Frank’s Lake, I have sat atop Prince Albert’s dome, I have entered through Herrods Gate and rested in Dixons

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Fishing News - Page 7

Thread: Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, black. Butt: Gold tinsel. Tag: Pearsall’s Marabou floss, scarlet. Body: Single strand of peacock herl. Hackle: Ginger/brown cock. Instructions: Place the hook in the vice—Noel always covers the hook point in the jaws of the vice. After placing the hook in the vice, wind the silk from the hook eye the full length of the shank, stopping at the bend. Noel lays this foundation of thread on all his flies. Then tie a length of flat gold tinsel in at the bend of the hook. Wind the tinsel around and down the bend (two or three times) and back over itself to the tie in point. Tie down (two thread wraps are sufficient) and cut off the tinsel. Next, tie in the scarlet floss. Allow the floss to extend along the top of the shank nearly to the eye and secure it in place with thread. By following this procedure a smooth foundation is created for the peacock herl. Cut the floss off leaving a tag equal in length to about two-thirds of the gape of the hook.

The beloved Kombi in which Noel and Clyde Spencer and their BSA Bantams explored Tasmania’s Western Lakes. From the booklet - A Testimonial by Friends to Noel V Jetson.12 October 1996. Jan Spencer wrote: ‘The idea for this small booklet came to me as a must the thing to do as a momento to a special occasion - this testimonial dinner on 12th October 1996. ‘Fishing, fly tying and guiding have all played a large part in Noel’s life and over the past few years Noel has shared this with many anglers. Noel has had so much influence on so many. His knowledge and wis¬dom has certainly influenced my fly fishing career. The knowledge Noel has passed on to me has been immeasurable. Although I have trout fished from virtually the time I could walk, it was many years before my interests turned to fly fishing. I was, and am, enthralled by this side of fishing, but as a beginner, no matter whom I turned to for help, I was always kept at arms length - except for Noel.For many years I visited that little Cressy shop around three times a week. If Noel wasn’t there, I drove Lois crazy and she always helped. Many times, when I was frustrated with the whole thing and ready to give the fly fishing thing up Noel would wave those big hands at me and say “I won’t let you” - so on I would go. ‘Noel is known world wide for his fly tying and he instilled in me the magic of tying my own flies - and the thrill of catching fish on them. I was proud and humble when Noel asked me to take over the fly tying classes at Adult education. Noel had taught these for over twenty years after taking over from Dick Wigram. For me to carry on after two ‘greats’ is a great honour. ‘To a very dear friend, teacher and mentor, Noel Thank you.’ Jan Spencer. Fishing News - Page 8

A Jetson tied Red Tag - a Tasmanian favourite. Red Tag tying instructions from Glenn Eggleton’s book Noel Jetson - Life and Flies Take particular notice of how Noel tied the peacock herl on.

Red Tag

Hook: Noel’s favoured hook was a Mustad 9578A in size 14. This is most closely matched today by Tiemco 102Y size 17. The Tiemco size 17 is ever so slightly larger, has a Limerick bend but is not slightly reversed. Noel believes that the off-setting of the hook point from the line of the shank on the Mustad 9578A offered a distinct advantage in setting the hook. Noel also tied his Red Tags in size 12 (Tiemco size 15) and sometimes in size 16 (Tiemco size 19). When he tied Red Tags in larger sizes (e.g. size 10) he usually employed a palmered hackle by way of variation.

Next, select the herl—use only A1 grade. Only herls close to the eye are suitable for dry flies. The selection should be made according to the size of the fly. You do not want too much flue on a small fly. Notice that there is less flue on those herls near the eye of the moon feather and more flue on those further away. Try to select herl that is green. Tie in the single strand of herl by the butt of the herl not by the tip. Notice that those herls from the left-hand side of the moon feather (shiny side of the feather facing you) have flue on the right edge of the herl and those from the right-hand side of the feather have flue on the left-hand edge of the herl. This means that herls from the left-hand side of the feather need to be wound onto the hook in a clockwise direction and those from the right-hand side need to be wound on in an anti-clockwise direction. Notice also that you need to tie the herl onto the hook so that the flue that you are intending will form the body is at right angles to the shank of the hook. The dull side of the herl faces the hook eye. Wind on the herl so that each turn of herl slightly overlaps the other, resulting in the flue (which is on one edge only) being as close as possible to the flue produced by the previous turn. The result should be a cone-shaped body that glows iridescent peacock green. When the body is formed, tie down and cut off the remaining herl. Next, hackle the fly. Select one or two (depending on their quality) hackle feathers. Let us assume two are used. Choose one from a cape that is ginger and one from a cape of a darker shade. When choosing your hackles look at the underside of the feather to ascertain the true colour. Tie the hackle feathers in together onto the side of the hook shank with the undersides facing the hook eye. Take the thread back behind the hackle feathers to the point where the herl was tied off. Wind the rear hackle feather once in front of the other hackle feather and then to the rear making several turns and tie it off with one thread wrap. Wind the other hackle feather back through the first hackle and tie it off. Cut off or pull off any loose hackle points. Wind the thread carefully

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3. Substitute a hackle of clipped quail body feather plus one ginger cock hackle; 4. Use an orange, black, blue, pink or green floss tag; 5. Tie your Red Tag hackle parachute style using a post of Krystal Flash (the flash makes it easier to see); 6. Add a down wing of six golden pheasant tippets extending along the top of the hook shank to just beyond the tag end; 7. Palmer hackle your larger Red Tags to make them float better. These are but seven of many variations that Noel employed. ‘Give them something different.’ On those occasions when trout refused Noel’s Red Tag his clients were sometimes surprised to see him clip some hackle off, wet it with saliva and present it again, this time as a wet fly. Often it was taken and Noel’s rod would go up, ‘Hah, he’s taken it this time, silly boy.’

Noel’s life by Glenn Eggleton. back through the hackle to the hook eye. This procedure strengthens the hackle. Use a see-sawing or weaving action when winding the thread forward through the hackle. This helps avoid trapping hackle fibres. This is the method Noel uses for hackling all dry flies and is referred to as ‘securing the hackle’. Whip finish and varnish a neat head. There are numerous variations to this pattern and from time to time they find their way into Noel’s fly-box:

Noel’s variants

1. Add a wing of three or four strands of pearl Krystal Flash tied in as for a Royal Wulff; 2. Substitute a black hackle or a hackle of mixed grizzle and dark ginger;

NOEL VIVIAN JETSON Born at Whitemark on Flinders Island 16th February 1933. Moved to Tarraleah at an early age and fished the area with his older brother Alwyn. Later, the family moved to Kings Meadows in Launceston. 1949 -1968: Worked at The Examiner Newspaperstarting as a trainee Photo Engraver. It was here Noel met Clyde Spencer, Tony Griffiths and David Scholes with whom he later fished. 1953: June 13th - Married Lois Dadson and then had three children -Noelene, Brett and Scott. Late 1950s: Learnt to fly fish with Clyde Spencer, Tony Griffiths and David Scholes. 1968 - 1970: Went to New Zealand. Worked at the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin (South Island). Both Lois and Noel tied flies professionally for Alex Thompson & Son Pty. Ltd. - a general sporting goods store. Opposite was a rod

building business owned by Doug Reich. Although Noel had built some rods beforehand Doug taught him the finer points of the craft. From 1970: Returned from New Zealand and bought a home at Cressy. Worked as rousabout, shearing hand and tied flies professionally. 1970 - 1994: Taught fly tying at Adult Education. Noel took over the course after his mentor Dick Wigram passed away. 1972: Started guiding part time. 1973: Opened JETFLY tackle shop at Cressy part time. 1974: Started guiding more and opened shop full time. 1975: Joined the Fly Fishers Club of Tasmania. President in 1979 and won the Club’s ‘Tangle Foot trophy’ for his superb ‘Orange Quill’. 1976: Worked for Inland Fisheries Commission and also opened Post Office at Cressy. 1978 - 1979; President of the Northern Tasmanian Fisheries Association and was made a Life Member in 1979. 1980: Weighed in a fish of 11 lbs 7 1/2 oz in the Cressy branch competition. 1980: Noel and Lois attended an informal meeting at Oatlands that lead to the establishment of the Tasmanian Professional Trout Guides Association. Between 1981 and 1991 Noel held office, with 5 years as President, while Lois also held office including two years as President. Noel and Lois were awarded TPTGA Life membership in 1994. 1988: Guided the English team to win the Fly Fishing World Championship. 1994: Retired and moved to Swansea. 2016: Passed away 10 March.

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Fishing News - Page 9

Tooms Lake Low levels but big fish rewards Todd Lambert

Mark Tapsell with an early morning brown.

s Tooms Lake the next Lake Crescent? There is no doubt many of our inland waters are struggling at the moment due to minimal rainfall and low inflows. Lakes that once offered fantastic polarioding opportunities are now turbid in clarity and to a large extent unappealing to anglers, so what to do? Do we ignore these waters until this current downward cycle turns around or do we try and crack the code on how they can still be fished effectively, after all, the fish are still there, in some cases bigger and fatter than ever. Case in point, Tooms Lake.

Where is Tooms Lake?

Tooms Lake lies approximately 42 klms east of Ross, it is an artificial and shallow lake and when full is approximately 6.6 klms square. If travelling from the South it is signposted and if travelling from the north, look for the Ross hotel in the main street and follow the signage along the road just behind it… Some of this road is unsealed.

The current state of play

This is water that on face value is a shadow of its former self and like Lake Crescent, has moved into the “reward for effort” category … At least for the time being. Preliminary Inland Fisheries surveys taken on this lake on around June/July 2015 revealed that it appeared Tooms has a relatively low population of large brown trout together with a small number of rainbow trout, all in exceptional condition. Like Crescent, many of these fish feed exclusively on Galaxia and if you’re in the right place on the right time they can be easily spotted smashing into them along the shorelines. Fishing News - Page 10

Make no mistake, this water holds trout that are leviathans in size and some would easily top the magical 10 pound mark, how do I know this?. Because I’ve seen them! The memory of a massive trout porpoiseing beside my boat with Galaxia spraying everywhere still remains firmly etched in my head, that along with the frustration of it spotting me at the exact same time I spotted it, this had the result of effectively negating any chance I had of a very memorable capture. I’ve seen and been lucky enough to land many big fish out of Crescent and this would have been up there with the best of them. I am also aware of trout just under the elusive double figure mark being landed this season on large black fur flies, a minimum ten pound tippet was used in order to try and stop these fish from heading down into the weeds and busting off. Average size for trout here at the moment would be anywhere between the 2.5 to the 5 pound range, most of the browns being at the higher end of this scale and all build like tanks. Admittedly, I haven’t had the success I enjoyed last year on the rainbows wherein I caught quite a few in the 4.5 to 5 pound range, I can only assume that these residents are even larger now because weight and condition was never a concern.

How to catch them

This is a lake that lends itself to many techniques and on any given day all can be effective. Fly Fishing Stripping Galaxia type fur and mudeye fly patterns work well as does a nymph hung 2 feet under a dry (when

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A galaxia imitation will work.

fish are rising to insect life). Something like an orange bead headed nymph hung 60 cm under a size 10 brown Klinkhammer is very rarely refused if spotted amongst the dirty water. If visibility is clearly an issue when casting to them, a twitched retrieve mudeye/damsel pattern will often be snatched without hesitation. Soft Plastics Without doubt the trusty black n gold T Tail cast along the shorelines works with great effect at times but be prepared to lose many jig heads on the submerged tree stumps and timber that lay beneath. Large 80 mm squidgy patterns in the “Gary Glitter”” variety are also amongst my favourites. Bait Without doubt a mudeye under a float is the ideal strategy to implement, they are found everywhere in this lake and can be fished with great effect by a competent angler that knows where to tie up. Many tree stumps have the tell-tale sign of mudeye shucks left on their exterior. Trolling Due to the excessive weed growth and low water levels currently experienced in Tooms, most will find it

Mudeyes are abundant and morph into dragonflies. hard going at the moment, I suggest dark coloured soft plastics ( like those mentioned above) and light jig heads will still produce sport. A silent electric trolling motor is also a fantastic investment to utilise here.

A pole is an easy way to anchor amongst the stumps.

Conclusion

Berkley black and gold T-Tail is a great lure at Tooms.

Tooms Lake is fast turning into a reward for effort trophy fishery, it is a water in my opinion that should be approached like Lake Crescent and that is with the expectation of a low catch rate but if successful large quality fish. Remember this water has a combined daily bag limit of 5 fish per person and can only include 2 over 500 mmm in length. The boat ramp is still usable despite the low water levels a medium sized boat could still be easily launched. Please also be aware, this water has many tree stumps that are virtually impossible to see given the current water clarity, a person has lost their life on this lake in recent seasons through an unfortunate accident, so extreme caution is advised. On that note, be aware there is a stump that lays some 10 metres directly behind this ramp that can’t be seen when launching. Mike Stevens and I found that one! So there you have it, optimism in the face of adversity, I like many of you look forward to the time when once again this fisheries water clarity improves back to that witnessed in years past but until that time I am going to continue to view it as my “lowlands Lake Crescent” and keep chasing the rewards that it has on offer to those willing to persist. Todd Lambert

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Fishing News - Page 11

Rods for ‘yaks Jo Starling The most important feature of a kayak rod is that it lets you fight a fish freely, even if it circumnavigates your boat.

A Rod For Your Own ‘Yak

ith the kayak fishing craze gaining momentum in Australia, it’s hardly surprising that new gadgets, bells and whistles seem to pop up every day to enhance our kayak fishing experience… but how much specialist gear is really necessary? In this article, Jo Starling takes a look at rods, and whether you really need to buy one specifically for your ‘yak. Any angler knows that you can never have too many rods. I personally have several different weights and kinds of fly rod, jig sticks, spin rods of various weights, a beach rod, a blackfish rod, a couple of baitcast outfits… and probably a number I’ve forgotten about. They all serve their purpose; many of them serve several. So, do I need a kayak fishing rod? It’s a fairly important question, I think, because I don’t have an unlimited fishing budget (more’s the pity). I’ve had my kayak for three years now and have opted for a “suck it and see” approach to this nagging conundrum. Whilst pedalling, paddling, flicking and catching, I’ve also watched some videos and read the odd opinion piece to see if I could find a definitive answer. All I’ve come up with is my own opinion, which I’m happy to share.

Kayak Specific Rods

There are a number of rod manufacturers who are designing rods specifically for us ‘yak fishers. From a business point of view, it makes good sense. As a marketer, I’m forever advising my clients to find a way to get existing customers to increase their spend. I’m not here on behalf of the rod manufacturers though. Typically, a kayak specific rod will vary from a standard fish rod in one or more ways. They are often shorter in blank length, butt length, or both; they may feature a built-in lanyard or some other fitting to allow you to attach them to your kayak; and they often prioritise ease-of-use in confined space over casting performance. In my experience to date, there is merit in most of these innovations… all but the shorter length blank and the compromising of casting performance. I disagree Fishing News - Page 12

with these modifications completely. I recommend you ensure your rod is long enough to allow you to follow a hooked fish around to full length of your kayak—bow or stern. The last thing you need when you’re on a fish is the added stress of getting your line caught on your ‘yak because the fish won’t play fair! And I certainly cannot see why I’d want to limit my rod’s casting ability because I am fishing from a confined space—isn’t that a big enough handicap already?

My Dream Rod

If I could get a rod made to order—just for me, my kayak and the fishing I mostly do (being estuary)—I’d go a light-mid weight 6 foot spin rod, with a fighting butt about half the length of the current trend. It would be a two-piece for easy transportation. If I find a rod like this, I’ll probably add it to my collection, as I wager it would be handy for more than just kayak fishing. Until I find it though, I’ll continue looking “unco” and fishing with my everyday rods.

A Rod For Your Own Back?

There are certainly some considerations you should factor into your decision. You’re after a rod for your ‘yak… let’s make sure there are no regrets. As with any fishing trip, the best fishing rods for a kayak trip are the rods that suit the fish you are chasing. They’ll typically be around 6-7ft long to allow you to fish around the entire vessel. This length should also cast nicely. The rods you choose should also be able to multi-task, as you do not have the luxury of unlimited space or carrying capacity. And lastly, make sure your rod is not going to be one that you’ll lose sleep over if you capsize and lose it. Even gear with lanyards gets lost, so keep an eye on the price tag. In the time that I’ve been doing my research, I’ve come to terms with using my everyday fishing rods on my ‘yak. I admit, they are not ideal… but I’m catching fish, so have chosen to spend my tackle budget elsewhere. What I have found is that my preference for a long fighting butt—whilst giving me excellent casting distance—is a veritable pain in the butt when landing a fish! Once I get the fish close to the kayak, I need to high-stick it in order to land it (see my pic hereabouts). This does limit my control and could cause a tip break if things go bad, but I’ve developed a (bad?) habit of moving my grip up above the reel to shorten the operating length of the rod when I am ready to net the fish. This only works if you’ve set yourself up with a long handled landing net, but I reckon that’s an absolute must on a kayak anyway.

Having a rod that is too long can make for a very ungainly landing operation.

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Fly fishing from ‘yaks Craig Vertigan Rigged and ready to go. A kayak is an easy way to sneak around water ways.

ly fishing is a challenging enough exercise at the best of times. When fishing from the shore you have the challenge of avoiding getting your back cast caught up in the trees behind you. In fact when fishing a river you also need to avoid getting your forward cast caught up in the trees. Fishing from a boat, especially one which is well set up for fly fishing allows a clear platform for tangle free casts with a nice flat casting deck with no protruding bits to catch your fly line when casting or stripping. In the past I used to fly fish from a Canadian style canoe. This was great because I could stand up in it to cast and fight the fish. There was a nice big flat bottom to store line while casting and stripping, with no protruding parts to catch the line when shooting the cast. On a kayak you just don’t have the luxury of the space afforded on a boat. I think the ideal fly fishing kayak would possibly be the Hobbie Pro Angler, with its high up comfy chair providing a higher casting platform for casting and the massive amount of stability allowing you to stand and cast quite comfortably. My kayak for fishing is a Hobbie Revolution. It doesn’t have the wide hull stability of the Pro Angler, so I can’t stand up. It also has a much lower seating position, although the newer models have the ‘Vantage’ seat, which looks like it would provide added height as well as a boost in comfort. So the challenge is how to cast a fly comfortably, without getting the line caught up too much. The advantage a kayak has over that old canoe is its manoeuvrability and ease of operation. The canoe was a two person one, which became a real battle to paddle once there was any wind or water chop.

The Advantage

Well I’ve talked about the disadvantages that make fly fishing from a kayak a challenge. But the advantages can outweigh those, making it all worth the effort. Firstly, many of the times I have fished lakes from the shore Fishing News - Page 14

Techniques

A good rod holder is essential. I have found the majority of rising fish just out of casting range. Often this has been due to trees behind me stopping a proper back cast, limiting the distance I can get on the presentation. On the kayak I have the ability to fish to any rises around me, whether they are close to the shore or out in the middle. In the height of a rise though this can be a real distraction, with fish rising in all directions around the yak! From the shore you are restricted to following an actively rising fish as long as it stays within casting range of the shore. On the kayak you can peddle gently to follow a fish without putting it down by too much commotion. Kayaks are stealthy! A good little boat with an electric can be stealthy too of course. But in certain cases those too can scare a fish off. With the kayak trout will rise 30cm from the hull! Which means you can fish with confidence, especially if you can’t stand and cast in you kayak, like me. In which case your casts get less distance, but that’s fine because you can get closer to the fish without them spooking. With the Hobbie mirage kayaks there’s no splash sounds from paddles, as you peddle along stealthily.

My main technique that has given me the most consistent success is lock style with a team of two or three dry flies. Keep those flies nice and buoyant with floatant and impart a bit of movement. When there is no wind I will sit side-saddle with my legs in the water on the left hand side of the kayak. This gives me the most clear working area for casting. As a right hander it means I am casting across the front section of the yak. My gear and landing net is all stored in the back, so there is less chance of getting the line caught up casting across the front. I strip line into the water in front of me, though I am considering trying a stripping basket next. The major issue when shooting line on a cast is the pedals of the Mirage Drive on a Hobbie. After much experimenting I found the best position for them was to push the left one fully forward. This meant when shooting a cast the loose line floating in front of me could shoot freely with little chance of getting caught on the pedal. I learnt this the hard way after having a number of times getting line caught around the pedal and then having a fish take the fly while I was in the process of untangling the line, causing lost opportunities and major frustration!

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Finally in the net.

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Fishing News - Page 15

In a light wind you can use the position of the rudder to keep you drifting at the angle you want. When the wind gets up and you drift too quickly it’s time for using a sea anchor. I use a small sea anchor attached to the midpoint of the right hand side of my kayak. This allows me to drift and cast with the wind behind me. Keep the deck as clear as you can. I found that I needed to make sure my paddle leash was tucking inside the cockpit, otherwise the line would occasionally get hooked up on it when shooting the cast. The only other thing I have up forward that can catch the line besides the pedals is a small Scotty fly rod holder. This is essential in the yak. There’s no way to store a fly rod in a conventional rod holder, and you’ll need somewhere

safe to store the rod when changing flies, paddling and unhooking a fish and taking pics. When drifting in this way you can fan your casts out to cover a large amount of water. If you see trout rising a little too far to the right then you can use your hands on the pedals to move your drift line another couple of metres closer to where you are seeing fish without having to swing back into position to pedal with your legs. Another technique when you see an actively feeding fish that is moving away from you as it rises is to sit in the seat and slowly pedal and hunt it down, casting in front of it. When fishing with a spinning rod from my kayak I always have a rod leash attached. Nothing could ruin

A drogue allows you more time to fish productive water. Slow your drift by 75% and catch more fish.

This drogue has been developed by Mike Stevens from the Peter Hayes drogues that many will be familiar with. It uses a mesh material, which makes it set more easily, is lighter, more compact and easier to handle. Instead of a centre hole to stabilise it the mesh allows a small amount of water to filter through. The mesh means you don’t pull large amounts of water into the boat. The drogue comes complete with bridle ropes, float and chain.

Using your drogue Your new drogue may be a little stiff at the start, but will soon become soft and flexible as you use it more and will ‘set’ faster. Your boat can be ‘sailed’ across the wind but letting line ‘A ‘ and/or ‘B’ in or out. Experiment to find the best drift as it varies between boats. If your boat has high sides you may need to extend the lines ‘A’ and ‘B’. Keep them as short as you can, then you can motor along slowly without the drogue tangling in the outboard. Drogue comes with bridle lines ‘C’ and ‘D’ attached. You need to add lines ‘A’ and ‘B’. If your boat pulls the drogue to the surface lengthen ‘C’ or shorten ‘D’.

‘A’ Some boaters join these ends and feed the lines in and out to steer the boat on the drogue.

Set lines ‘A’ and ‘B’ as far apart as practicable.

‘B’

‘C’ ‘D’

Likewise if the drogue is going below the surface lengthen ‘C’ or shorten ‘D’. Suits boats to 5 metres. Custom made for bigger boats.

RRP $120 + post; email mike@tasfish.com or phone 0418 129949 for other retailers near you. Fishing News - Page 16

a day’s fishing more than having your favourite rod go overboard and disappear forever! When fly fishing a rod leash is impractical. But there are times when you might want to temporarily leash your rod, such as when dealing with a tangle. I use a Hobbie leash that has a quick release clip. So there is just the bungie wrapped around the top of the cork on the handle with the clip on the end. It only sticks out a small amount and doesn’t get in the way of the line as I have it on the top of the rod. Then if I need to I can clip the leash onto it. I think you need to master your shore based casting first before you attempt it from a kayak. From the kayak in a seated position you are casting very close to water level. So you need to be able to throw fairly tight loops so that you don’t have a dragging false cast that is touching down on the water. In this respect it is similar to casting when wading fairly deep, with the added challenge of making sure your cast is clear of the kayak. Now that I’ve had some success with this style of fishing I will be employing it more often. Especially on those smaller lakes like Penstock and Little Pine, which are very well suited to small craft. I saw a couple of other guys out on kayaks at Penstock on a recent trip and it would be great to see more getting into it. Craig Vertigan

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Striped marlin magic Geoff and David Madden

We’ve all heard about Global Warming and the effects it’s having on our world in a mostly negative way, but as we witness the warmest water temperatures recorded around Tasmania and another record mean summer air temperature, one of the spinoffs for the fishing fraternity, is the increasing presence of unusual tropical fish that are not so unusual any more. Mahi mahi (dolphin fish) on the east coast, regular flying fish sightings, snapper and yellow tail kingfish are now becoming common catches. Butterfly mackerel on the Tasman Peninsula and marlin in increasing numbers all indicate that we are experiencing an unprecedented fishing extravaganza that’s being welcomed by anglers. Geoff and David Madden are a couple of brothers who recorded their unexpected striped marlin catch, now etched in their fishing memories as reportedly the southernmost marlin caught in Australia.

Alongside the boat and about to be released.

sually, when we head out of the bay after launching at Cremorne into Fredrick Henry Bay, the expected catch would be a few flathead and maybe a salmon or two, but never did we expect to be claiming a marlin as our prize catch when fishing further out in Storm Bay. The day began like most other fishing trips, heading out at 5.30am, but unlike our regular trip to Eagle Hawk Neck, we were keen to fish the Dart Bank, an underwater sea mount off Nubeena which we heard had been fishing well with some big sized albacore being landed through the preceding weeks and the water temperature reaching 19 degrees inshore. A spectacular sunrise greeted us as we motored down the coast, absorbing the rugged coastline and rocky outcrops with pristine water conditions adding to the grandeur of the morning…enjoying the majesty and stateliness of Shipstern Bluff as we trolled by. Our expectations were high, extremely high as we ventured closer to the Dart Bank and observed bird life and bait balls in ever increasing numbers. It was time to run the lures using a combination of colours, purple,

pink, green and blue to complete our spread across the transom of our 6.1m Mariner, more affectionately known as “Jasper”. We were the first boat to reach the fishing grounds, and with such a splendid forecast, we were soon joined by another eight boats all with the same intention – to wrestle with a few 20+ kilo albacore to kick the day off. Well we criss-crossed, circumnavigated and zig zagged our way around the Dart Bank for a couple of hours, and the only comfort we had from not turning a reel, was that no one else had caught a fish either. We looked at each other and looked over toward Cape Raoul, and it just seemed to beckon us, as we pondered our next move. It was pleasant trolling and the occasional wisp of breeze from the north east was just enough to cause a ripple on otherwise glassy conditions. If nothing else, encountering the towering dolerite pillars of Cape Raoul as we passed just metres from them, made the trip worth it. We began to contemplate a return journey without a fish after 3 hours of trolling.

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Fishing News - Page 17

A beautiful day on the water brought and unexpected reward. Every so often, the bait balls around us would just zip into a frenzy, causing the glassy sea surface to become a splash of white froth, and we just knew that something large was lurking below, teasing the bait and causing it to erupt around us. We could only assume that albacore we being tempted, and that sooner or later, one would fall to our spread of lures now intermingled with the bait. What happened next was beyond our imagination…there was a flash, and then a splash and we were hooked up with line screaming from the small Penn 45 GLS we were running. Immediately I thought we’d hooked a big albacore, but within a few seconds, we saw the most spectacular striped marlin jump clear of the water just metres from our boat, showing its vivid colours in an awesome display of power and strength as it attempted to shake the lure from its jaw.

The battle began, and with just two of us on board, this was going to be a challenge. By the time David had retrieved the rest of the gear from the water, my line was just about spooled as this marlin was not hanging around. Unlike bluefin which seen to grab a lure and head for the bottom, marlin are a surface fighter and dance and frolic along the top endeavouring to spit the hook or break the line as it lands back across it after leaping clear of the water. The fish was now a couple of hundred metres off and quickly heading in the direction of other boats in the vicinity, so a few arm waves and a radio call for clearance soon gave us the space we needed and eliminated the heartache of the line being cut by another propeller. The fight was on, and we tried to retrieve as much line as quickly as possible so we could better control the battle. We knew, that amongst the fishing fraternity, if we didn’t at least get some form of

Some nice albacore to top off the day. Fishing News - Page 18

evidence of our hook up, the sceptics would rise up and our catch would become just another story in fishing folklore. So Geoff was on the rod, and David assumed the role of both skipper and cameraman in our attempt to get a close up video to claim the legitimacy of our catch. The hook up rate compared to the landing rate for marlin is about 10%, hence in about 10 hook ups, only one gets landed, so our hopes were just set on getting some camera footage to at least record something of what is for most, the fish of a lifetime. After about thirty minutes, we finally saw the fish shining iridescently below the surface, gleaming in the sunlight against a backdrop of cobalt blue coloured water. It was an impressive sight and we realised that we were wearing our trophy down and coming close to getting the fish boat side. Patience was becoming the

key factor in slowly but surely retrieving the line back on the reel, and ensuring that this capture was going to end in the successful release of a healthy fish. The realisation that we’d actually hooked into a marlin was now sinking in as we had constant sight of it, circling and swimming about 5 metres below the boat. The thought of a gaff or tail rope was never an option as we had no intention of killing a marlin. They’re reportedly not that good on the table, so the idea of gloving its bill and swimming it back to health was going to be more exhilarating than having a trophy photo to gloat over. After another 40 minutes, the fish had all but surrendered and we could now prepare to release the marlin. After bringing it against the side of the boat, we were amazed at the size of it, which exceeded our initial estimation of a couple of metres long. We measured from the tip of the tail to the end of the bill against a couple of reference points on

Striped marlin can be hard to hook due to the hard mouth.

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the boat so we could determine its length when back onshore. To our astonishment, it measured 2.75 metres in length or nine feet in the old scale and its estimated weight was 90 kilograms. It was now time to get up close and personal with our catch. Now boat side, it was a priority to release this fish in the best possible condition, so we opted not to drag it from the water for a photo shoot. We had developed a really strange affinity with the fish that we’d never experienced before in our 50 years of fishing… it’s as if there was a kinship between us that was mutual respect. A fish so majestic and so powerful, yet it seemed to trust us with its life as it glared intently into my eyes and patiently waited for the hook to be released. Marlin have a super tough and almost impenetrable jaw, hence the large number of fish that throw the hook during the fight because the barb fails to penetrate the jaw, but in our case, the hook was super fine, super strong, and super sharp, and grabbed the marlin right in the corner of the jaw, so after a couple of jiggles, the hook was freed. Now it was just my hand on its rostrum (commonly called beak or bill which is an extension of its upper jaw) that was holding the marlin from freedom again. We savoured the moment as the fish oxygenated its gills, restored its colour, gave us a “smile” and a wink that resembled a “thank you” and began to transfer power to its tail which gave us the confidence that she was now healthy and willing to continue its journey. We thanked her for the experience, took a deep breath, took another photo then I released my grip and enjoyed seeing her gracefully swim off with such a grandeur and calmness that truly elevated this fish to a stately position. We let out cries of elation, gave high fives and had a congratulatory hug as we reflected on what just happened…almost speechless…but the moment spoke so much to both of us. We dedicated this catch to our father, Ian Madden, himself and avid salt and freshwater fisherman for

nearly eighty years, who harnessed and nurtured our passion and respect for the sea and for fishing, and had passed away just two weeks earlier. He often said “You’ll catch a marlin one day lad.” …little did we know that it would indeed be the very next time we went fishing! We looked at each other, looked at the water, looked at the clock, and did what came naturally… grabbed the rods and ran the lines again... it was almost instinctive. Within just a couple of minutes of trolling, we had a double hook up of large albacore that we really considered a bonus considering our morning’s experience.

The journey home was surreal…would the day ever be repeated…would the catch ever be eclipsed…would that kinship with a fish ever be felt again…only time will tell. Fortunately and amazingly, the experience was recorded on film and can be viewed on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPmdNYbZFM or google Geoff Madden Marlin, just to dispel the myth that we were hallucinating or that it may have all just been our imagination…or just another good fishing story.

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Fishing News - Page 19

Taming tuna in a tinny Matt Byrne

Callum Polanowski with a super 90kg southern bluefin tuna from a tinny.

egular readers of Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News will have read previously about the thrills of chasing Tuna ‘out of a tinny’. Here we step it up a notch as we look this time at the tips, tactics and exhilaration in targeting truly big, trophy gamefish from a small vessel.

April – May = Big fish

The early part of 2016 from a game fishing point of view in Tasmania could only be described quite simply as being insane! School sized Southern Bluefin Tuna and good numbers of smaller Albacore Tuna have been everywhere, in fact to the point where many game fishers have been trying to get away from them in a bid to tangle with something a little larger! As we edge into April though and right on cue, the good news to hand for Tasmanian game fishers is that a couple of Jumbo Fishing News - Page 20

sized Southern Bluefin Tuna have now been landed, as well as some large Albacore Tuna. The big fish have arrived, fishers are excited and there is plenty of talk about what might lie ahead over the next few months. Could 2016 be anywhere near as good as the 2015 season for big trophy gamefish? I hope so. The period from April – May and even into winter, is traditionally renowned as being that period in the year where the highly sought after big trophy gamefish come to play. The water temperature starts to cool just slightly and this really seems to get the big fish firing, especially in the current and bait rich waters of the Tasman Peninsula. These are the fish that will put both angler and gear to the absolute test. Here we are talking Southern Bluefin Tuna in excess of 80kg and Albacore Tuna in excess of 20kg. Catching these fish out of a tinny though, simply

takes game fishing to a whole new level and is fishing experience that is difficult to match anywhere.

Planning the chase

There is still a common train of thought that big game fishing is for big flash boats with flybridges and big gold reels….. wrong! Tasmanian game fishers are blessed with some of the closest inshore game fishing grounds anywhere in Australia and with careful planning, a genuine trophy game fish out of a small trailerboat is indeed a reality. As a small trailerboat angler, you naturally have to rate weather as being the absolute first priority when planning a mission. Knowing your fishing area and how various weather directions, swells and wind speeds affect that area, is not only paramount from a safety point of

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view but also vitally important in maximising your hard earned time and money by ensuring that you spend it on the water fishing the prime times and for as long as possible. As a small boat angler, there is little point turning up to your chosen fishing destination to find out you are restricted on where you can go or how much time you might have on the water, given that catching these big game fish is rarely just about luck and mostly all about the effort you are able to invest (usually measured in hours and days) maximising having your lures in the right places and for the longest periods possible. Enough has been said about weather in previous articles and what weather is best for small boats down on the Peninsula, but the take home point is that your choice of weather will ultimately have a big influence on your level of success in taking a big game fish out of a small vessel, so take time to study it and learn it. Similarly, a lot has been written about basic boat preparation in previous articles (e.g. having your boat absolutely ship shape for this style of fishing), but the single most important piece of equipment that we will talk about here and the one that should be handy at all times, is a very good quality fixed head gaff. In fact you need two gaffs on board for the ease of physically lifting a big fish aboard, not to mention the fact things can and do go over the side, so having a spare is always a worthy addition to the

Matt Byrne with a 25kg albacore caught at Dart Bank.

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Fishing News - Page 21

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Fishing News - Page 22

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boat. When undertaking this type of fishing, the team you have onboard is an equally important part of boat preparation and especially when a big fish is hooked, everyone has their role to play in landing that fish, be it steering the boat, clearing gear and getting gaffs ready for use. Landing these fish is determined by everyone on board knowing what their job is and those people doing it well. If all of that doesn’t happen, you will most likely lose that trophy fish. In thinking about tackle, treat all aspects of your tackle with the view that every bit of it will be tested to its absolute limits. Starting with rod and reel choice, 15 – 37 kg game set ups with a good drag are regarded as the norm, remembering that a bigger set up will knock a big fish over much quicker than a 15kg outfit. Heavier outfits can also be handy if you factor in dealing with the Seal issue which is a common occurrence on the Peninsula that you might find yourself contending with. Whatever you do, use quality outfits and if you want a prime example, keep reading this article to find out just why! Regarding line, whatever your brand of choice, make sure it’s in good condition and if it’s been on your reel for a couple of seasons, then you should consider replacing it. Same goes for leaders on your lures, check for any nicks or abrasions and if in any doubt at all, re rig them. We retie new doubles on all lines before each trip as this is simply the business end of your line and is most likely the area where any slight unseen abrasion will certainly cost you that fish of a lifetime. When it comes to lure choice, everyone has their favourites for chasing big Southern Bluefin Tuna. Mine are without doubt the 160 size Halco laser pro’s with the Pilchard, Redbait and king Brown colours taking some real beating when run in close to the boat. The absolute critical thing with these lures however is to replace the treble hooks with some quality inline singles. The single hooks achieve a much better hookup rate on these big fish and will stay fastened for longer in the Tuna’s mouth. This last point being all important when you consider that you could likely be hooked up to a Jumbo Bluefin for at least an hour or more, giving any hook a hell of a lot of time to work itself loose or even bend. The above point was a personal lesson learned after losing a very big Southern Bluefin a couple of years ago.

Oliver Byrne looking pretty happy with good albacore.

On that particular day, we had trolled all day for zilch when all of a sudden late in the afternoon the big fish struck and took line at an alarming rate. We fought that fish for 40 minutes without even seeing it and in the blink of an eye the treble hook pulled without warning! A disappointing result after a long day on the water but an experience where you learn firsthand that these fish will test your tackle right down to the hook and if you fail to use the right hooks on your lures, it will cost you! When it comes to lure choice for targeting big Albacore, again the Halcos are so hard to beat. Regardless of the size of the fish, I am a big fan of using smaller lures for Albacore, and mostly run 120 size Halco laser Pros in Pilchard and Redbait. Again replace the trebles for inline single hooks for a better hook up and catch rate. Also in the spread for Albacore, would definitely be a 12cm Williamsons pusher in lime green which is a proven performer on big Albacore, and also a 12cm Pakula pusher in purple colour. On bright days run the lures a little further back than usual say at around 30 metres, and on those prime overcast days run them closer to the boat at around 15 metres. Depending on weather and how active the fishing is, we could run anything from three to five rods. It is important though to only run the amount of gear that you can manage and in less than A selection of lures that work for the author on bluefin and albacore. ideal weather conditions

or if the fish are really firing, it could mostly mean just running the minimum of three rods, given the manageability involved. Remember that if you hook a big Bluefin, you will need to commence maneuvering the boat fairly smartly or the fish will get the upper hand fairly quickly with a huge amount of line lost in the process.

Where

The Tasman Peninsula is the home of big Southern Bluefin Tuna and big Albacore and if you skim through the record books you will see this location featured repeatedly. Places like Tasman Island, Little and Big Hippolyte Rock, Hippolyte reef, The Lanterns and Munroe Bight are all locations where the current rips in hard along the rock faces, concentrating bait and therefore the larger predators with a lot of regularity. Among the above list, I do have a favourite for big Southern Bluefin and it would have to be The Lanterns. Alongside Tasman Island and the Big Hippolyte, I would say that The Lanterns indeed more than gives up its share of big Tuna every year and it’s highly accessible to small boat anglers. Only last year we had a memorable capture hard in on The Lanterns in a Southerly weather change. It was a capture that summed up the very challenges (and perhaps in this case the luck) that can occasionally go your way when trolling for big Tuna. The short version of the story is that due to the weather on the day we had just made what was likely to be our last trolling turn for the day, hard in on The Lanterns when all hell broke loose and the ‘less than desirable set up we were running’ (an Okuma reel) and had in our spread, roared into action with a series of blistering runs that soon saw a couple of hundred metres of line disappear in seconds. We had an immediate stroke of luck that day as rather than take us out toward the Hippolyte where we might

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Fishing News - Page 23

have struggled to win the battle, the beast took off in the opposite direction, resulting in us chasing it down back and forth in and out of the mouth of Fortescue Bay for the next hour and a half. Well, further luck does sometimes play its part as we then commenced dodging several commercial cray pot lines and a commercial cray boat, soon followed by the gears then giving way in the reel (won’t be buying an Okuma any time soon!). Luckily for us though, the fish was now spent after an hour and a half long fight and we were able to carefully gain all remaining line on the reel and then finally sink the gaff into 90kg of Southern Bluefin Tuna!!! An amazing capture out of a tinny, all things considered and I guess that’s what makes this fishing so unbelievably satisfying in that anything can happen in the course of the fight! Again the big lesson is to have your gear in absolute top notch, given that is one variable of this form of fishing that you can control. The rest just simply happens as it happens on the day!

When it comes to targeting large Albacore, I am more inclined to be fishing the Hippolyte Rock and Hippolyte reef, right out to the 100 metre mark. Although you might find them anywhere, big Albacore seem to favour these more open areas. Another left field location is right on the other side of the Tasman Peninsula , offshore of Shipstern Bluff at a place called Dartbank. Already this season, Dartbank has been firing on extra big Albacore in the 20 – 25 kg range and if you get an Easterly weather pattern, you might decide to give the Hippolyte Rock and immediate area a miss and check it out over at Dartbank instead, it’s undoubtedly an underrated area for big Albacore. Wherever you choose to concentrate your efforts for big Southern Bluefin or Albacore, take note of your sounder and any other visual signs of heavy bait concentration. I remember reading an excellent article some years ago written by Peter Pakula, arguably one of Australia’s best game fishermen on the scene at that time. He stated that the mistake most people make

with game fishing is leaving bait to simply find fish. His simple theory was that the predatory fish would eventually find the bait, so as the angler once you have found concentrations of bait, why leave the area? I have used this very simple approach to my game fishing ever since and rarely has it been proven wrong. So my tip is that when all the big boats have by passed the prime fish holding areas in search of greener pastures, hang in there trolling for the whole day if you have to and persist with it, as the fish will come on the chew at least for a small time frame - guaranteed. A half hour hot bite is plenty enough time to hook that big fish that might just be feeding hard at that very point and in your very location. So there you have it, learn your weather, prepare your boat, pay fine detail to every aspect of your tackle and be prepared to fish long and hard. All that’s left to do is to hook your boat up and head down to the Tasman Peninsula, arguably the big Southern Bluefin and Albacore capital of Tasmania come April – May. The rewards are there waiting for you and they’re big! Matt Byrne

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There is still time to catch a trout The end is coming Adrian Webb Nice 40cm brown trout caught in a rising river.

e are getting towards the end of the brown trout season which closes on the 1st of May this year. This closure date is for all waters classed as ‘Brown Trout’ waters only. This is followed up by the closure of all rainbow trout waters on the 29th May. Check your IFS Fishing Code booklet or the website www.ifs.tas.gov. au to find which rivers and lakes are classed as ‘rainbow waters’. So there’s still some time to catch trout in rivers and lakes before the season closes. There are also several lakes that are open all year round, you will find these in the booklet and IFS website too. I normally take a three month break during the general closed season as it gets a little too cold for my liking. Fishing the lakes such as Lake Barrington (open all year) which is close to my Sheffield home is a much warmer option for some though, than the year round Highland Lakes, such as Great Lake during the closed season. I have found the final month of trout fishing to be quite good, the trout are aggressive as they fatten themselves up for the coming winter and spawning season ahead. I have had some of my best results fishing the rivers during this time. The water temperature has dropped and with the increase of rain and rising rivers good results can be had when trout fishing. It’s amazing how quickly the river fishing can turn around within such a short time during April. A few good days of rain adds that bit of freshness to a river making all the difference to catching trout. It freshens them up as well in my books and puts them in the right mood. It’s like they sense the change of season as we do. Even last March when I fished in the Pirtek Fishing Challenge we had a full day of rain two days earlier and that had the Mersey River running some 50mm higher. The river was still wadeable so I headed into the back water as I knew there would be trout in

there feeding on drowned bugs, insects etc. The rising river was spilling into the small back waters, these gave up some very nice solid browns. In fact I managed to have eight hook ups for six fish landed with the best brown going 610 grams. These fish were all taken on a small 1.5 gram metal spinner with a black blade. A few days later I fished a small shallow running river that had risen by around 50mm, I caught and released eighteen solid well conditioned browns. Again these were all caught on a small metal blade spinner, this time it was the copper colour. So it goes to show that with a little rain it does give a river a lift and also brings the trout on the bite. Another thing I like about trout fishing this time of the season, you don’t have to be on the water at first light. Daylight saving has finished, the mornings are much cooler, so I don’t leave until 8.30am most of the time now. Even much later some days, like 10am and I have still caught plenty of trout. Remember that many of the rivers may be much deeper now so care must be taken when fishing in these conditions. Don’t go taking any risks by going out into a fast flowing river that’s on the rise. Work it from an open river bank or a wade-able knee length depth along the edge of the river bank where possible. If the rivers are running high and fast the trout won’t be to far from the river banks as the flow of water is just to fast for them in the deeper water. The fish sizes are usually better at this time too because the majority of these trout are adult fish. You will often see them pairing up and practising their spawning rituals in the rivers. I have seen some massive fish doing this in several Northern rivers that I fish. They rarely take a lure or fly when they are like this, but there are still plenty of other trout in the rivers that will. This time of year it’s best to catch and release the fish you catch as most trout are not that far off from spawning. Remember our rivers rely on these trout for future stocks of wild trout in them.

This is a good time for bait, lure and wet fly fishing as river levels have increased and the trout will be covering more areas in the rivers. I don’t bait fish for trout at the end of the season either, that’s something I prefer to do at the start of the season well and truly after the trout have spawned. Rising rivers will overflow into back waters and these can hold some very nice browns. The back waters can be pretty tight for casting a lure or fly and accuracy is important as one can easily lob the lure or fly into an overhanging branch. Bait fishing with worms, crickets and wattle grubs work extremely well in these areas. Small rivers, streams and even creeks that flow into larger rivers will be holding trout from now on, so don’t bypass them. You will be surprised of the size of fish some of these small tributaries hold. April’s weather seems to be much more settled than most other months of the trout season; well it seems that way to me.

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This small back water run off gave up a nice 40cm brown trout. Fishing News - Page 25

I have found it to be a great time for fishing with metal blade spinners and hard body lures of various colours and sizes. With the trout becoming and more aggressive it’s one of the best times of the season for the spin fisherman. If the water is a little cloudy or a dark tannin colour I usually start off using a spinner with a black or copper coloured blade. You don’t need the bright ones at this time of the season because the trout don’t need to be stimulated into taking the lure. I only use brightly coloured lures to stimulate the trout at the start of the season. As for the hard body lures,well I find the brown and rainbow patterns are as good as any. There are plenty of different hard body lures on the market to choose from now days, so pop into you local tackle store check them out. I do know a lot of trout fishers use soft plastics now days, but I’m sorry to say I can’t advise you on what to use with these as I’ve never found the need to use them. You can get good advice on them from the tackle stores on these as well. Check out Tasmania’s Tasfish.com fishing reports on the rivers and lakes that are fishing well, plus what the trout are being caught on. Every little bit of info and advice can make all the difference on your next trip whether you catch a fish or not. I will be putting in as much time on the rivers as possible during April as I did in March, making the most of what time is left of the brown trout season. The only thing that will ruin the last week or two of the season is the amount of rain that may come. This could bring the rivers to flood height, then before you know the brown trout season has come to an end. Let’s hope we just have enough rain to keep them at a wadeable height and the trout still on the attack. If the rivers are wadeable then

Another brown was taken from the flat run along the opposite river bank. fish them in the normal way by working both sides of the river in the 180 degree method. If you are not sure what I meant by that, it’s about placing yourself in the middle of the river and casting to one river bank and work you way castings and retrieving in a 180 degrees arc to the opposite river back. This applies for larger rivers, for example the Mersey River in the North of the state. Smaller rivers can be fished from one river bank using a 90 degree method. Casting directly upstream retrieving the lure and work it cast after cast until you have covered all of the river to the opposite river bank. So get out there and make the most of what time is left of the brown trout season.

During the closed season I still go for a walk along a river with my camera in hand to see how they are faring and quite often come across trout spawning in them. It helps to pass the closed season away and makes me as keen as ever for the next one. I also the time to clean, service and re-spool the reels with four pound mono line for the season ahead. Another thing I like to do during the off season is to visit tackle stores to see what’s new for the coming season. As if I need any more fishing gear... Hmmm!! You can never have enough of it can you!! Adrian Webb

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Autumn at St Helens Jamie Henderson

t is often thought that once summer ends in Tasmania that the quality coastal and estuary fishing finishes with it, but for those in the know this is far from the truth and probably the opposite is closer to the truth. The east Coast of Tasmania offers up some of the most amazing weather conditions you are likely to experience across the state. With days of warm Autumn sun, sea breeze all but gone and mild temperatures compared to the rest of the state it offers a great escape with some excellent fishing on offer as well. The months of April, May and even in to June can bring some of the best estuary fishing the East Coast has to offer and in particular Georges Bay, St Helens. The warmer summer months often mean periods of high winds and rough waters on the east coast making it difficult to have consistent days on the water however as we move into April we find the windy weather gives way to beautiful clear blue skies, warm air temperatures, glass calm conditions and magic times on the water. This is a time when many fish species have fed hard over the summer and as the water temperatures lower slightly they become very active, some species that are prevalent in the Bay this time of year and are targeted by anglers are large Garfish, Australian Salmon, large Silver Trevally, King George Whiting and Calamari.

Squid

Squid are abundant and you should always have a jig in your boat.

Squid rings dusted with cornflour and lemon pepper, fried for a few seconds until golden brown and served up on a bed of rice with some sweet chilli sauce and a small side salad is a dish that can be hard to beat. The Autumn period is when the Calamari Squid have grown

to quite large proportions and are quite aggressive, good quality squid can be caught throughout Georges Bay as they hang around the seagrass beds mostly up and down the main channel leading out to the Barway. The Squid can be quite easily targeted with the use of good quality

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Fishing News - Page 27

squid jigs in the 3.5” size; popular colours tend to be orange, blue, green and red head/white body. Good quality spin tackle consisting of rods 6’6” in length and 2000-4000 size reels spooled with 10lb line are all that is needed and a good quality net if fishing out of a boat. A couple of little tricks I have picked up to save a lot of mess in the boat is to tap the back of the Squid while its still in the water even if you think he has squirted all his ink, this triggers the fish to squirt whatever he has in reserve completely emptying the ink sac, once you have brought the squid aboard just squeeze with your thumb and forefinger just behind the eyes and watch the hood(body) go white instantly, this dispatches the fish fast and humanely and you wont end up with a fish tub full of inky squid. Water of about 5-15 feet in depth with good sea grass beds around it is a good place to start searching for squid, simply casting out the squid jig and retrieving with a steady lift and drop retrieve back to the boat should result in a take and a steady pull back from the squid. If after a dozen casts or so there is no action move to another spot and try again, if the squid are around you will generally see some action relatively quickly. The squid tend to hang around in pairs or groups so if you catch one get your jig back into the water quick smart and quite often you will catch 2 in as many casts. Another technique is to use a squid shaft, the squid barbs on a shaft with no lure, and place a piece of large bluebait or whole small fish (such as a mullet or mackerel) on the shaft. Place this under a squid float with a couple of feet of trace and let it drift about with the current and wave action. This can be done whilst casting and retrieving you jig and can quite often be a very deadly technique.

Georges Bay is garfish heaven in Autumn. Fishing News - Page 28

Garfish in Georges Bay are an AFL season fish and mirror the season from April to September.

Southern Sea Garfish

The particular species of garfish that is common to Tasmanian waters is the Southern Sea Garfish and is found in most Southern Australian states both out in the open ocean and throughout our estuary systems. They are predominantly a herbivore and feed mainly on varying species of sea grass, algal filaments and small amounts of crustaceans. They spawn in shallow sea grass beds throughout the summer months October to March. Georges Bay becomes a hot spot for big fat XOS sized Garfish from April onwards and when a hot garfish bite is on dozens of boats line up to jostle for a position along the main channel leading out to the barway One of the most important factors to successful garfishing is the use of berley to attract the fish and keep them in the immediate vicinity of your boat. A berley mixture can be as simple as a can of catfood mixed with some breadcrumbs and thrown in handfuls over the side of the boat or as elaborate as a home made concoction of fish oils, fish scraps, breadcrumbs, meal, pollard, chicken pellets and some secret herbs and spices. One important point to be aware of with your berley is not to make the pieces too large as this will only serve to feed the fish and they will soon eat their fill and move on. By far the most effective and lethal berley I have come across is the Stimulate Ultrabite range of berley’s, in particular the Ground Berley model. This is a premixed berley that is in a fine particle form that resembles breadcrumbs but has some added attractants mixed in for good measure. I mix about 2 handfuls of the berley mix and half a cupful of fish oil to a berley pot and lower into the water over the side of the boat; this creates a cloud of fine particles in the water as well as an oil slick on the surface. As there are no large food items for the garfish to feed on they tend to swim around getting a good whiff of the berley and oil and become quite agitated and enter into a feeding frenzy.

Provided you keep a continuous stream of this berley mixture in the water the fish will stay attracted to the area for long enough to catch your feed. A small size10-12 long shank hook under a small quill or ball float with a small piece of squid or anything white placed on it will result in a hooked fish. There are two other techniques for catching garfish that are becoming more and more popular and offer great sport; these are soft plastics and fly-fishing. Small soft plastics with a short body and wriggle type tail used in conjunction with a small 1gm and 1.5gm jig head worked erratically through the berley trail is a dynamite technique and a lot of fun on light tackle. The garfish can get quite aggressive once fired up with the stimulate berley and will attack the plastic lure surprisingly hard. For those looking for a bit more of a challenge a fly rod and small flies such as Crazy Charlies and small minnow patterns in predominantly white colours will also catch fish. I have found a few retrieval techniques work with the flies, either a slow draw and stop letting the fly rise and fall in the water column or if the fish are particularly aggressive short quick strips close to the surface will draw strikes. Garfish tend to favour areas that are shallow and have good seagrass beds, in Georges Bay the hot spot seems to be along the red channel markers leading out to the barway next to the shallow sandbank. Here you have shallow water, plenty of seagrass and on the incoming tide some good current to carry your berley trail and keep the fish swimming behind your boat. I have found that the incoming tide from about half in to full tide is about the best time to chase the Gars. The garfish can often be seen swimming right up on the shallow sand flats also and large schools of fish will jump out of the water as if they are being chased by something larger.

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Australian Salmon

The Australian Salmon would have to rate as one of the most popular sports fish this country has to offer and Georges Bay finds itself home to large schools of fish reaching sizes of up to 6lb. Since the banning of commercial and recreation netting in the bay the salmon have come back with a vengeance and as each year goes by larger schools and larger fish are showing up and being caught by the average angler. Once again good quality basic tackle is all that is needed to target this species, average fish sizes tend to be around 1-2kg mark and can be caught with spin tackle consisting of rods of 6’6” in length and 3-6kg matched to spinning reels in the 2500-4000 size range spooled with 8-12lb line. Australian Salmon respond well to a number of different baits such as bluebait, whitebait, squid, pippies, sandworms and prawns but “matching the hatch” is always your best option and if the fish are chasing bait schools then the smaller fish bait is the best option. While the salmon are focussed on the bait schools it is prime time to target the fish with artificial means such as lure, soft plastics and saltwater fly. When the Salmon schools are boiling on the surface a few different techniques can be employed, by far the most common is trolling lures behind a boat, whilst this seems an easy method it is by far not the most effective as the noise from the outboard motors tends to put the schools down and move them around too much. A far more deadly and effective method is drift spinning, by this I mean motoring up wind or up current of the school of fish switching the motor off and drifting down onto the fish casting lures or soft plastics ahead of you, this keeps the school up on top and quite often you end up right in the middle of the school with fish all around you. The boat itself can also act as a large F.A.D. (fish attracting device) as it casts a large shadow in the water and the baitfish quite often try and find refuge underneath keeping the school of salmon all around your boat. The Salmon tend to roam the bay following the bait but likely spots to start are the main channel leading out to the barway and the Moulting Bay area, all the while keeping a lookout for hovering birds and pelicans on the move. Metal lures in the 15-30 gram sizes, such as the trusty old Halco Slice and Twisty, work wonders especially if retrieved at high speed, even skipping the lure across the surface can attract savage strikes from hungry Salmon and makes for exiting Visual fishing. Soft plastic lures in a 3-4 inch minnow pattern are deadly on salmon. When the Salmon are marauding a bait school simply casting out a soft plastic and letting it sink down slowly will usually result in a hookup if not either a straight retrieve back to the boat or a twitch-and-drop retrieve will be effective. If targeting salmon on fly tackle a good #6-8 weight fly rod with plenty of backing should subdue all but the largest specimens with leaders tippets around 8-12lb. Flies such as Lefty Deceivers, Surf Candy’s, Epoxy Minnows, Clousers and my favourite a Muzz Wilson Fuzzlebugger will all work well and once again either a fast stripping retrieve or let the fly sink then fast jerky retrieves back to the boat with intermittent pauses will result in savage strikes from the salmon. Sometimes clasping the flyrod in between your knees or under your armpit and double handed stripping at high speed will

Bill Lark, above, and David Mercer, below, getting into the fabulous silver trevally. result in savage takes from timid fish, sometimes this technique is needed to fire the fish up and get them in the mood. Whilst not considered much of a table fish by most if dispatched immediately after capture, bled, filleted and placed on ice will offer quite a tasty meal on the BBQ that night with the smaller fish being the sweetest.

Silver Trevally

During the last decade or so large Silver Trevally have been turning up offering anglers some fantastic sport, fish of up to 600mm fork length and 2kg+ are being caught and are a regular occurrence in Georges Bay every year now . Trevally averaging 300-350mm fork length seems to be most common and can be caught with much the same tackle as the Salmon. However these fish seem to be much fussier about the baits they will eat and require a little more attention to detail in the presentation. The Trevally will respond very well to a good berley trail and nothing works better than Stimulate Ultrabite Prawn pellet burley with some Tuna Oil added to it and slowly but consistently introduced to the water column. Small pieces of peeled prawn flesh or pippies floated unweighted down the berley trail appearing as natural as possible are very effective as are the use of sabiki rigs with small pieces of bait added to the hooks. The bite from a Trevally can at times be very subtle and requires a bit more concentration from the angler to strike at the right time but once hooked can test light tackle out to its limits. One technique that is becoming more and more popular with sport fisherman chasing these XOS Trevally and one that offers excellent and very exciting sport is the use of soft plastic lures and light tackle. Soft plastic specific High Modulus Graphite spin rods of 6’6”-7’6”(2-5kg) in length and spin reels in the 10002500 size range spooled up with 4-6lb braided line and 6-8lb leaders are perfect. This type of tackle enables the angler to make long accurate casts with very light jig

heads and plastic lures, detect the small and subtle takes of the Trevally and offer a huge amount of fighting power needed to keep the large fish from finding the reefy bottom, pylon or rock formation they live around. Finding the schools of Trevally is the first part of the puzzle, they like a bit of current and some structure but do tend to move around a bit so the main channel leading out to the barway is a good place to start, drifting the channel with the incoming tide along the edges and around the pylons seems to consistently produce fish. Jig heads in the 1/16th to 1/8th size are perfect for this technique and by far the best plastics I have found are small wriggle tail patterns or small minnow baitfish patterns. Cast the plastics out and let them sink and sit on the bottom for a moment, quite often the fish will pick it up off the bottom, then either a slow lift and drop all the way back to the boat or alternatively small hopping twitches combined with slow lifting will draw strikes from the Trevally. Once hooked Trevally are awesome fighters on light tackle testing drags and leaders to the limit and are heaps of fun whilst also being a reasonable table fish.

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Fishing News - Page 29

Bream

By Autumn the Bream in Georges Bay are starting to slow down however are still around in good enough numbers to offer some great sport. They feed heavily on the rich barnacles, mussels and small crustaceans that abound all over the sand and mud flats areas and grow fat and powerful. Once again effective use of berley will attract schools of fish to your area, whether from a boat or from the shore (jetty, wharf). Baits such as peeled prawn flesh, pippies and mussels work well as do freshly pumped nippers and small black crabs. A standard running ball sinker rig is ideal combined with an octopus style hook in sizes #2 through to 1/0 to match the bait being used. Also unweighted baits drifted down the berley trail will not be refused by a hungry little bream. Small Bream are abundant all around the bay near any sort of structure and will keep the kids occupied all day, however if its larger specimens you are after than targeting them with soft plastics and hard body bibbed lures is for you. Area’s to concentrate are around any structure, wharfs, jetties, pylons, oyster racks, moored boats and shallow rocky points. One of my favourite areas for bream is the extensive sand flats and mudflats throughout the bay, some of the biggest schools and largest Bream come from up on the shallow sand and mudflats in less than 1 metre of water. One of my favourite techniques for this area is the use of hard body lures. A 40-60mm long suspending bibbed hard

body lure is ideal for fishing the shallow water, it can be cast into the shallows and as most will only dive to a depth of around 1 metre and suspend, they can be manipulated with the rod tip to keep them in the fishing zone for longer. A variety of retrieves can work and it’s a matter of experimenting on the day to find out which one will draw a strike from the Bream. Sometime just a straight retrieve, “slow roll”, back to the boat works, other times a sweep with the rod tip to cause the lure to swim and then a long pause while it suspends will drive the Bream wild. Other times an aggressive fast whipping like retrieve is needed to fire the fish up, grabbing their attention and causing them to strike at the lure. If this does not bring a strike from a fish then a pause every now and then and small twitches in the retrieve may trigger the Bream to attack the lure, once hooked on the shallows the Bream will peel line off your reel and carve up the flats testing the light tackle to its limits.

Leather jacket

The humble old Leather Jacket are available in Georges Bay all year round and are a staple table fish of many families, they are relatively easy to catch, are widespread all over the bay and can be quite often found grazing on the barnacles and weed growth on the pylons which make them a great target for the kids. Whilst fish of up to 3-4lb are regularly caught around the bay 1-2lb examples are most common and only require the most basic of fishing tackle to catch. When

Leatherjackets are beautiful table fish. Learn to love them - as David Mercer does.. Fishing News - Page 30

fishing for leatherjacket the use of long shank hooks is a must, sizes #1-#2 are perfect for the bay, as the fish have very strong teeth and jaws and will bite through the line very easily. The long shank hooks give a bit more security against bite offs although I have seen fish bite clean through a hook shank. Just about any bait available at a tackle shop will work for leatherjacket, they tend not to be fussy eaters especially when it comes to soft plastics where they show no discrimination whatsoever and will decimate any plastic put in front of their face. I have found a piece of squid or peeled prawn flesh to be very effective, just be careful not to have any bait residue on the line anywhere near the hook as the fish will bite through your line. A basic paternoster rig with the sinker on the bottom and 1 or 2 hooks above it is all that is needed keeping the whole outfit nice and simple or if fishing a burley trail from the back of a boat an un-weighted bait floated down the trail can result in some great visual fishing. The Leather jacket is a very under rated eating fish and exhibits a firm white flesh with a very sweet taste, however peeling the skin off the fish is a must. Once skinned and filleted they are a great eating fish to take home for the family.

King George Whiting

The King George Whiting is also a welcome regular to waterways along the north and east coast these days and Georges Bay is no exception with fish anywhere from 30ck right thorugh to 60cm in length being caught. By the time the fish have reached 35cm they can be up to three to four years old and at this stage start to move out from the bays, progressively moving into deeper offshore waters as adult fish. KGW can reach a maximum length of 70cm, can weigh up to 2.5kg, and have a maximum age of fourteen to fifteen years. One key factor I have learnt very quickly while targeting King George Whiting in Tasmanian Estuaries is the specific location in which the fish chooses to feed, if you are not right in the zone you will not be successful in catching the KGW. What the angler needs to look for are areas of some current flow, either in or adjacent to a channel, where there are patches of sand or shelly bottom in amongst patches of broken weed or weed beds, anywhere there are good shellfish beds close by is even better. The KGW will sit in schools just off the edge of the weed in the current and pounce of food items being stirred up flowing past them. In order to consistently hook these fish you must place your baits right in the little area a foot or two from the weed edge. If you hit the right zone the result will be an almost instant bite and hopefully a hookup, if you find yourself too close to the weed Leatherjacket and Wrasse will be the dominant species and too far out onto the sand will generally see a long wait between fish. Here is where the old school style of rods really come back into vogue, I favour a longer rod of 7-8 foot with a soft tip action, a nibble tip style is perfect. The KGW have a very quick but subtle little bite so fast action stiff rods don’t allow the fish to be able to grab the bait without feeling to much resistance and letting go. A nice soft light weight tip allows the fish the scoff the bait and lets the angler detect the take, a classic nibble is what we are talking about here so sensitivity in a rod tip is the key. Reels in the 1000-2500 size spooled with some supple

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6-8lb monofilament or a light 3-4lb Braid will compliment the rod and handle any KGW thrown at them. The soft action and sensitive tip of this rod is perfect for detecting and then allowing me to react to the take quickly. The KG Whiting dont muck around, they hit the bait quickly and often all you get is a very fast “rat-tap-tap” and it will have stripped a whole pippie from the hook so you need to feel the bite immediately and react to it. The baits need to be tossed right into the “Hot Zone” discussed earlier and stay in touch with the bait as soon as it hits the water, once the bait hits the bottom provided you are on the fish they will be on the bait almost immediately so be prepared for a fast, quick nibble type bite and strike quickly but not too violently, you don’t want to pull the hook from the KGW small mouth. KGW will eat a wide range of baits but prefer worms, yabbies, prawns and without a doubt their favourite Pippies (or Cockles depending where your from). People constantly ask me when the best times to fish for Whiting are, I have found that water movement is of utmost importance be it an outgoing or incoming tide. The moving water dislodges food items and scours the sandy bottom allowing the fish to pick off tasty morsels. It’s a case of studying the location and positioning yourself to take advantage of the tide movement, I have caught fish on both tide directions just in different locations so be prepared to move around and don’t fall into the rut of staying in the “magic hole” that everyone wants to find. As you can see there are many fantastic sport fishing options you can tackle over the Autumn period in St Helens, all in one bay and all achievable in a day on the water. More often than not the weather will be favourable which makes it a pleasant option for the whole family and one can also produce a seafood banquette of sorts at the end of the day. So don’t pack your gear away just yet, break out the light tackle for one last session before winter and you may get a pleasant surprise at just how much fun you can have. Jamie Henderson

Wayne Power with a nice King George whiting.

A scaling bag is a great way to descale and cleanup your catch.

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Fishing News - Page 31

Polycraft - tough and unbreakable ‘

The best boat I have owned’

Jim Allen

At A 5, 6, GFEST 7 Ma y

5.3m Warrior

4.50 Polycraft Drifter Side Console. Power: BF60 Honda. ‘This is a dream boat for me, and delivers everything I want from a boat. I am not a polisher and need a boat that is robust and easy care, but still capable of daily use for the three months I live in Tasmania’s Central Highlands. ‘The Polycraft Drifter 4.5 does everything I ask of it. Whilst its important for me for it to be an outstanding fishing platform I want more. ‘My parameters were; Easy to tow, drive on to the trailer, drift well, handles rough water beautifully and low maintenance. ‘During a day’s fishing I might launch and retrieve three or four times, so you can see why the custom trailer that all Polycrafts are on is such a winner. Get the trailer in a the right depth and it is a simple drive on exercise.There are no rollers to fall off or break, and the skids work perfectly. ‘I drive a VW Tiguan and this tows the braked trailer and boat with ease. If I want to slip over to Lake Burbury - no problem. And being polyethelene means no stone chips or marks. ‘The way I fish often includes many hours of drifting and a lot of time on the electric motor. It drifts slowly and quietly and if the wind is up one of Mike Stevens’ drogues slows it a treat. It is the best boat I have fished from. I have a seat I can move around and I love that. A 55lb bow mount motor is perfect for chasing sharks on Great Lake and the battery is separate to my starting battery. It lasts all day easily. ‘At the end of the day it can get very rough especially on Great Lake. This is when the little Polycraft comes into its own. This boat is soft riding and pretty dry as well. I am constantly astounded on how well it handles the rough water and I chuckle at the pounding some others receive in their tinnies.’ Jim Allen Fishing News - Page 32

The 4.50 Drifter Side Console is a brilliantly laid out boat for the hardcore fisherman. If you want the benefit of steering from a seated helm position, while at the same time retaining a large amount of useable floor space, then the brilliant 4.50 Drifter Side Console is the answer. The driver is positioned in the rear starboard corner, behind a console unit which provides protection from the elements and also great visibility. The console unit can be used to mount electronics, such as sounders and engine gauges, and also has built in dry storage facilities. The 4.50 Drifter Side Console comes in eight great, classic Polycraft colours and is a real catch for those keen on their angling. With generous storage under the split front hatch, as well as in the two huge rear storage seats, this boat is built for the fisherman and boater who likes to keep a tidy deck. Standard featues include: • 4.5 Anchor Well • 4.5 Bow Rail • 4.5 Bow Roller • 4.5 Cleat • 4.5 Front Casting Deck • 4.5 Hand Rail • Non Feedback Steering • Pin Stripes • Polycraft Logo • Side Console • Winch Point. Optional features: • 4.5 Front Cushion Set • 4.5 Pedestal Box & Seat • 4.5 Rear Cushion Set • Carpet Front & Rear Casting Deck • Carpeted Floor • Fuel Tank 70 Litre • Hydraulic Steering • Long Storage Seat • Rear Casting Deck Insert • Rear Storage Bait Box • Side Pockets • Ski Hooks • Survey Standard.

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Scan here to see how tough a Polycraft is.

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or on the hop, the Pro Grub tail swims at the slowest of speeds delivering continuous lifelike action. Each Powerbait Pro grub is also loaded with Berkley’s exclusive Powerbait scent and flavor formula, which causes fish to hold on 18x longer, so you can feel more bites and set more hooks. · Brand new pro-designed colors add fish catching flare · Big profile on bite-size bait gives a big target · Great tail action moves at all speeds The 3” Powerbait Pro Grub comes in 9 exciting colours which is the Black Ice, Firetiger, Blue Ice, Chartreuse Purple Ice, Opening Night, Pearl White, Perch Ice, Pink Ice and Purple Ice.

the enticing tail action of a grub and you get the Berkley Nemesis. Designed in Australia the Nemesis shape is now available in a 4” size. The tail action of this shape has to be seen to be believed. On the drop or on the wind, the Nemesis tail swims at the slowest of speeds delivering continuous lifelike action. Each Gulp! Nemesis is also loaded with Berkley’s exclusive GULP scent and flavour formula, a powerful water based scent dispersion system that also makes Gulp 100% biodegradable. - 100% biodegradable and made of 100% natural ingredients. - Gulp releases 400 times more scent than plastic baits. - Gulp is available in a huge range of shapes and sizes. - Gulp has been proven effective on just about every Australian species of fish.

C&F Design Magnetic Lure Boxes The latest products from Japanese manufacturer C&F Design have arrived and their 2 new lure boxes show why this manufacturers has lead the way in design and ingenuity for over 20 years. These boxes are truly unique and provide the lure angler a solution of storing a days’ worth of lures for his favourite stream, lake or estuary. The boxes have magnetic strips built into the base of the box which securely hold both sets of trebles. The magnetic strips help in avoiding tangled trebles and also alleviate lures rattling while walking. The boxes are also waterproof with an O-ring and firm latch and feature a clear top to easily identify the lures within.

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Emotion Rods The difference is clear! 4 inch Gulp Nemesis New Colours 4 new colours make their into the 4 inch Gulp! Nemesis range. The clear transluscent finish in Clear Purple Shimmer, Clear Red Black Silver, Clear Green Silver and Clear Lavender Pearl Holo is going to prove deadly on all manner of species. Combine the fish catching profile of a Jerkshad and

Berkley® E-Motion rods are for anglers looking to take the next step in rod performance. From finesse estuary and freshwater presentations to punching out 7 inch jerkshads on inshore reefs, the Berkley E-Motion Performance Series of rods combines superb function and performance at a best-in-class value. Lengths, powers and actions are engineered to perform and designed with the keen angler in mind. Constructed of a 100 percent carbon fibre blank,

This clear top small waterproof lure box holds 7 lures measuring up to 70mm. The box measures: L 130mm x W 104mm x H36.5mm and fits easily in shirt pockets.

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3” POWERBAIT PRO GRUB The Powerbait Pro Grub features a wider profile body that generates volume while working the bait in the depths. The ribs on its body adds more surface area allowing more scent release. The tail design adds fluid-like motion to tail on light twitches. On the drop

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Fishing News - Page 33

Berkley E-Motion Performance rods provide all anglers a unique balance of strength and sensitivity to detect even the subtlest bites. The High Energy Transfer Reel Seat Design™ provides maximum energy transfer from butt to tip for more powerful hook sets or working big fish out of heavy cover. The soft coat texture applied to the reel seat, combined with the ergonomically shaped split handles, provides added grip, comfort and control at all times. Utilising the proven Fuji Alconite guide system ensures smoother, longer casts. Seven spinning rods ranging from 6’6” to 7’2” in length with extra light to medium heavy actions complete this range. Representing a powerful return to the Australian rod sector for Berkley. Berkley E-Motion rods have an RRP of $129.95

Powerbait Pro Jig Worm The Powerbait Pro Jig Worm features a classic worm body profile with the unique wobbling padded tail. The sleek ‘beaver’ like tail creates a wide ‘thumping’ action when it is worked through. On the drop or on the hop, the Pro Jig Worm tail vibrates and flutters lifelike action that is irresistible to fish. Each Powerbait Pro Shad is also loaded with Berkley’s exclusive Powerbait scent and flavor formula, which causes fish to hold on 18x longer, so you can feel more bites and set more hooks. · Classic worm body with a wide action wobbling tail · Enticing ‘beaver’ tail action · Proven fish-catching scent and flavor built in The Powerbait Pro Shad comes in 2.5” and 3.5” size. There are 9 exciting colours which is the Black Ice, Opening Night, Emerald Shiner, Watermelon Pearl, Pink Ice and Purple Chartreuse.

Gulp Shrimp

- New Colours The Gulp! Shrimp is arguably the most popular soft bait in Australia, the reason is simple, they work! A huge colour range is available to cover all situations from natural Camo and Banana Prawn to hi vis Nuclear Chicken and Lime tiger and everything in between. Fishing News - Page 34

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Just about all fish love to eat prawns, the Gulp! Shrimp is a perfect choice to take advantage of this fact. They can be fished in many different ways using different Nitro jig heads depending on the situation and the target species. Fish them on the bottom with short sharp jerks to imitate a fleeing prawn, lightly weighted for fishing structure such as boats and pontoons, unweighted over sand flats and weedbeds. Fish eat Gulp! Shrimp on the drop, dead sticked on the bottom, suspended midwater and on flicking, darting retrieves, they just love ‘em. Available in 2”, 3” and 4” the target species range from bream and flathead in the estuaries to snapper and kings on inshore reefs. - 100% biodegradable and made of 100% natural ingredients. - Gulp releases 400 times more scent than plastic baits. - Gulp is available in a huge range of shapes and sizes. - Gulp has been proven effective on just about every Australian species of fish. RRP $11.95

2.5” Powerbait T-TAIL Shad The new Powerbait T-Tail Shad features a classic ribbed worm body profile with ribbed. Proven fish takers, the T-Tail Shad’s T-shaped rear end has a tight vibrating action at the slowest of retrieves. On the drop or on the hop, the T-Tail Shad tail vibrates and flutters lifelike action that is irresistible to fish. Fish the Berkley Powerbait T-Tail Shad for trophy trout and mega bass with confidence and it is suited to match the Berkley Nitro Jigheads. Each Powerbait T-Tail Shad is also loaded with Berkley’s exclusive Powerbait scent and flavor formula, which causes fish to hold on 18x longer, so you can feel more bites and set more hooks. · New colours in a new T-Tail shape · Slim, soft body for a fuller action · Fine tail to give the perfect ‘wiggle’ The Powerbait Pro Shad comes in 6 exciting colours which is the Black Silver Fleck, Watermelon, Green Gold, Sardine Shiner, Pink Glitter and Brwon Pumpkinseed Fleck.

Craig Rist with the reason for the journey to Lake Butters In the summer months, the Lake has many bays and inlets that create sheltered areas out of the wind which allow Black Spinners to safely fly out over the water to mate and lay their eggs. These mating spinners bring in trout from the deeper water where they become accesable to the fly angler. Like many lakes in the Western lakes a Dun hatche followed by the mayfly Spiners returning to the water can be a great time to fish and explore new waters as these Mayflys can make a lake that seams devoid of fish to come alive with rising trout.

Lake Butters

Getting There Via Julians / Pilians Lake Track

Craig Rist

ake Butters is a large deep lake that is located in the heart of the Western Lakes. The terrain is typical of northern zone of the Western Lakes with low-lying alpine heaths and stunted gums. Most of the shoreline is easily accessible by foot apart from a couple of high banks at the south west corner of the Lake that take a bit more effort to navigate your way around. The average size of fish is between 2 and 4 pounds, with the very real possibility of finding a 6 or 8 pound fish holding in close or slowly hunting the edges looking for native Galiaxia (baitfish) that live in this Lake.

If you own a 4x4 and your willing to accept a few knocks and scrapes to the under carriage and some new pinstripes courtesy of the harsh alpine scrub, you can drive the 3 to 4 hour four wheel drive track, as far as Pillans Lake Hut. This is a serious 4x4 track which begins at Lake Augusta at the turn off to Double Bar Lagoon.There is a river crossing at the start and large rocks cover many stages of the track. Once you have reached Pillians Lake You can set up a base camp. All that is left is a relatively easy walk cross-country in a southwesterly direction towards Lake Butters. The walk from Pillians to lake Butters also covers other lakes on the way that are worth spending a bit of time on to get a few fish under your belt. Horseshoe Lake is a

The Little Fisher track has a few challenges.

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Fishing News - Page 35

favorite because it is shallow and holds a lot of fish up to 3 pound. When searching for Horseshoe Lake online be mindful that Google Maps does not show the correct location. The Pillians 4437 TASMAP will get you on the right lake and it will also give you an idea of how far away Lake Butters is and an idea of how long it will take to you to fish it. I like to have the best part of the day on a larger lake such as Lake Butters because it takes you longer than you would think to fish it properly. Throw in landing a few fish and the day soon gets away from you in the country.

Via Fisher River walking track.

Lake butters can also be accessed from the West from Lake Rowallen using the Little Fisher River walking track. The first stage is quite steep but once you have the Turrana Bluff and Mersey Crag behind you the walking is much easier across the Plateau as you follow the Long Tarns system down to Lake Butters. I’m not sure what fire damage this track has endured, hopefully none, as this is a very scenic hike that is worth the every step to access this part of the plateu

Via Ada Lagoon

From the Ada Lagoon car park you can walk or drive the end of the 4x4 Talinah Lagoon track then crossing Christy’s Creek to Lunka Lake, skip around the

bottom of Lake Pillians and then head Northwest to the southern end of Lake Butters, just over a couple of hills! As you could imagine this is quite a hike that covers many lakes that are every bit as good as Lake Butters. With that said, a trip like this makes an epic over night fishing adventure that covers some amazing country with an opportunity to produce a fishing experience of a lifetime.

beetle patterns like a size 16 or 14 red and black foam back beetle or a Red Tag type fly that can represents a floating snail or beetle. Wet fly’s such as small size 16 or 14 nymph can be a useful site fishing alternative when fish are snubbing a dry fly. They can also be very effective blind searing fly to fish deeper water when fish have no reason to be looking for food close to the shoreline. For the lure anglers, soft plastics and hard bodies that

Fishing Lake Butters

The summer months of December through to February is a great time to be fish Lake Butters because this is when the Mayfly hatches and Gum Beetles falls are most likely to occure. Larger terrestrials such as Grasshopers and Tasmania’s Giant Stoneflys are also present during this time. For the fly fisher this means Mayfly Dun patterns,a full hackle or spent black spinner fly tied in a size 14 or 12 can be a very effective and exciting way to take fish in the Western Lakes. During times when the Mayflys are not present a large terestrial fly pattern that represents a grasshopper or Giant Stone Fly can be used to pull fish up from the depths or site fish to fish that can be seen within casting range of the shoreline. Flys such as small Chernobyls, Grass Hopper patterns like the WMD or Peter Broomhalls “Brusers Bug” are proven flys that will usually get the job done when the fish are looking for these large terestrials. When they refuse these larger foam flys, I like to use small

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Fishing News - Page 36

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MH1

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Fishing News - Page 37

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Fishing News - Page 38

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The track is clearly shown here from Lake Augusta via Julians Lakes and Pillans. represent the small baitfish can be a very effective way to cover a lot of water. Lures and soft plastics work well early and late in the season throughout the Western Lakes and on those rough overcast and rainy days during summer when site fishing is very limited. When fishing lures or fly’s it’s good to keep in mind that the best shore to fish is shore that has the wind blowing into it. This may not be the easiest to cast in but it tends to be the shore that accumulates the most aquatic and surface trout food when the wind has been blowing in the same direction for sometime. This wind blown shore can also be a great place

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to find mayfly spinners in the sheltered pockets of water after the wind has blown all of the hatching mayfly duns into that side of the lake. Something to think about when you only have time to fish one side of a lake. Careful consideration of where the wind is and has been blowing from the previous day can be the difference in finding or not finding fish in the Western Lakes. Fore me fishing any part of the Western Lakes is not about catching big numbers of fish, it’s more about the opportunity site fish wild Brown Trout in crystal clear water in a unique and remote part of Tasmania.

Fishing News - Page 39

Jigging is coming Matt Sherriff

No one would have dreamt of catching a striped trumpeter on a jig even a few years back.

ust over three years ago, I was lucky enough to be invited on a trip with a few of my old mining mates to go fishing at the Abrolhos Islands, 60kms offshore from Geraldton in Western Australia. For me this was a chance to experience a whole different fishing environment and try some new methods I hadn’t tried in Tassie. Visiting the local tackle stores in Perth before we headed off, I couldn’t help but notice the array of jigging rods and walls of jigs on offer. After being persuaded

to lighten the wallet on some of these funny shaped, heavy pieces of metal along with an assortment of jig assist hooks and split rings, I was keen to give it a try. Needless to say the first place we pulled up to fish I had a 10-15kg rod rigged up and ready to go and before you could blink an eye, a metal jig was well on the way to the bottom in 50m of water. After around 10 minutes of high speed jigging I was starting to wonder what all the fuss was about…bait fishing seemed much more relaxing!! Just as I was about to have a break, I felt a solid tap with the jig around 20m off the bottom. I

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opened the bail arm, dropped the jig back down, closed the bail and within the first couple of winds all hell broke loose!! My first Samson Fish of around 15kg hit the deck about 10 minutes later…I was addicted!! It wasn’t just the Samson Fish either; Dhu Fish, Coral Trout, Red Throat and Baldchin Grouper all had an affinity with these jigs This was how it all started for me and being involved as a supplier in the fishing industry I couldn’t wait to share these stories with the local Tassie tackle shops and get some excitement around jigging in Tassie stores. Surely if the fish in WA love these shiny metal objects, the fish here would have to climb onto them. Unfortunately at the time the demand wasn’t there and we would have to wait.

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Fishing News - Page 40

A small snapper on a Hayabusa jig.

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Fast forward a couple of years and with local anglers more willing to experiment and species like Yellowtail Kingfish becoming a more viable target, you will now find most tackle stores dedicating some space to those willing to try this style of fishing. Let’s face it, whether it’s Kingfish or reef species such as Morwong and Striped Trumpeter, they don’t often have the luxury of a nice strip of squid floating by to chew on…they eat other fish! Why not imitate their food with a jig on some lighter gear and inject a new level of fun into your fishing trip! As far as jig selection goes, a lot depends on not only the type of species you are targeting but also the depth of water you are fishing. With Kingfish, as a rule of thumb you will be fishing your jigs at a faster pace and this is where the more slender jigs are great. These lures generally retrieve straight with a slight wobble and will become erratic and even slide sideways with energetic rips on the rod whilst retrieving. With this style of jigging you would usually be working a larger portion of the water column. For reef dwellers such as Morwong and Trumpeter some of the smaller/fatter looking “slow” jigs (often referred to as Micro Jigs) are the way to go. These jigs have more of a wobble action on a slow retrieve and will flutter on the drop. You will find a lot of hits take place on the drop. With this style of jigging you will be concentrating on the lower section of the water column, working you lure close to the reef. You might be surprised what you catch too. Just a couple of weeks ago I was testing out some new Hayabusa slow jigs and the Crucis Elite Empire Jigging rods at Merrick’s Reef off St Helens and in between the Mackerel hooked a cracking Calamari. I don’t know about anyone else, but I never knock back a few squid rings! We have been having success with our new Hayabusa and Entice Jigs during testing on Kingfish, Striped Trumpeter and even Snapper (flathead like them too). The Entice range will be keenly priced too for those who want to give it a crack without breaking the bank and will be in stores soon.

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Matt Sherriff got hooked on jigs with this samson fish in WA.

Just a few jigs that work for Matt Sherriff. The selection is growing as stores start to understand them. Zerek, Jackson, Shout, Shimano and Cultiva all have a great range of jigs at varying price points to suit all styles of fishing and budgets. Michael Haley from Gone Fishing Charters has had some good success on the Kingfish and Stripey’s with the Zerek Chilli Padi. Michael would be well worth a call for anyone wanting hands on experience with this style of fishing. A good place to start for those looking to get into this fun style of fishing is to check out some of the clips on YouTube. Just search “slow jigging” or “jigging for kingfish” and you should find a few clips to get you keen! Are you up for it? Get into your local tackle shop, get yourself some jigs, assist hooks and split rings and get jiggy with it! Staff will only be too happy to help you out and point you in the right direction. Matt Sherriff

Charter operator, Michael Haley, showing how it’s done.

Authorised by Kevin Harkins, PO.Box ??? Hobart.

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Fishing News - Page 41

Preparation and small details for big results

P Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt

Not a huge bluefin, but easily lost if good preparation and setup is not up to speed.

he big boss man Mike Stevens said the Tuna for Beginners story found favour with a few readers and could I break down the process even further. I can easily understand this as when you have been doing something for a long time you can absent mindedly skip a few important tips as they have become second nature. I had gun engine guru Andy Kuc from Hobart explain to me perfectly how to do the cam timing on an overhead engine I was preparing once. He went through it point by point and was very concise. However, I still got back to the workshop and sat in front of the engine for 2 hours with a blank look on my face. So let’s get stuck into it ! Fishing is a process and if you follow the process and maybe improve it along the way, based on your own experience you will become a better fisherperson. Your experience with all your own equipment and fishing

locations will gel and have you find fish more often. So let’s start that journey from the very start and work the process.

Picking a day

Don’t shop the various weather apps available. Use one and get very used to how it works and what its forecast means in real terms on the day. If you live by the ocean but have to work a particular day. Check what the weather app forecasts for that particular day and back to back that with what actually unfolds on the ocean. Being able to judge weather and read a weather forecast is an excellent skill. Safety is paramount at sea and if you feel safe you will be confident. Confidence and comfort will mean you will make good decisions. Lack of confidence can lead to poor decisions that could lead to placing yourself and others in danger. A boat is not like a car where you can be on a rough track and say, “blow this I think I might pull over for a bit”. When weather looks to be getting rough at sea it is best to make a plan to get back to port and execute that swiftly and safely. You will know someone who has a wealth of experience at sea and, if you are lucky, in the area you like to fish. Getting a feel for the forecast weather is one thing, but knowing how the wind, sea and current effect that body of water can only be learnt after hours spent fishing it. Pick their brains and ask questions about best tides to launch the boat and also retrieve. Best way to approach a rocky point and reefs that will curl a wave over on certain swells. A lot of the times it’s a good idea to go out with that friend or relative that has more experience and get a feel for the area and what to look out for. If you are in a new area get on the radio and ask nearby boats. They won’t laugh at you - they will help.

Packing the boat

Getting it right. Fishing News - Page 42

There are plenty of things you need for a day’s tuna fishing, but here some you don’t need; four squid rods and outfits you use for flathead; half empty sunscreen bottles; a heap of tangled bottom rigs; crushed coke cans

and empty boxes of BBQ shapes; every tackle box you have ever owned and one each for each person on the boat. Get the idea. Make a list and pack for the mission at hand. Take items that are of value to the mission and keep everything neat and tidy. Have a good clean out and find a spot for all your tuna gear. Pack it in the same spot in the boat each time and that becomes part of the process. It won’t matter who you have on board or what is going on, when someone yells “where is the gaff ” you can reply as cool as the Fonz “In the port side gunnel pocket where it always is….man”

Setting the drag correctly is essential to success.

Setting the drags

Me bad. I clean forgot to mention this last edition. This is a very important part of the process of tuna fishing. The drags can be “scaled” on lever drag reels and this is the one of the big advantages of using them over

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normal spinning reels. There are set indent points on a lever drag reel that you can have the exact drag pressure for line class. On most lever drags the first indent or drag point is that point between free spool and the drag initiating. Free spool for the beginner is the point where the drag lever is pulled right back and as if by magic a massive mess of line and tangle appears - the good old fashioned “Birds Nest” There is nothing good about a ‘birds nest’ and they should be avoided at all costs. They cause anger and frustration and eat into fishing time in trying to untangle. Freespool is where the reel has no drag resistance on the spool at all and just running on the roller bearings within. To avoid the dreaded birds nest ALWAYS place your thumb on top of the spool with some pressure to stop overrun. The next indent on a quality overhead is STRIKE DRAG this is the point we scale the drag with the use of some digital scales. The drags need to be checked every time you go out and are normally done over a few coldies. This is in case they have been fiddled with as most times it’s a formality and nothing has changed. You set your drags at 1/3rd the breaking strain of the line on the reel. Most lever action reels have a button or system to not allow you past this point without pressing it. Once you press the button the next stop is what is known as “sunset” or full drag. The mechanics of the reel are set up so this will only ever be 2/3rd the breaking strain of the line used. So in effect you should not ever break the line if your knots are up to scratch and you don’t damage the line. In between these set points both behind the button and over the button you have gradual increase in drag tension. The experienced angler will move the lever back and forth throughout a fight depending on what is going on. The novice is best served to fight the fish on the first indent(strike drag) allowing a good safety margin for error and the knowledge that the line will not break. It is then a matter of just time fighting the fish and the angler keeping the rod bent or loaded, wearing the fish out. The process in setting the drags is a simple two person job. It doesn’t matter if you are running doubles or wind ons, just pull off line until you have single line over the top eye or roller. Have the person at the line end zero the digital scales and attach the scales to the swivel. The person holding the rod can push the drag lever up to the strike position. We now have the person holding the rod load the rod and walk smoothly back. You will now have a reading on the scales as a starting point. Just repeat until you get the desired reading for the breaking strain used. To adjust the reel set tension you must pull the lever back to free spool and turn the pre set knob on the reel. You pull the lever back to take the pressure off the drag system while you adjust, push lever back to strike drag and repeat the process. Once you have the drags set you can place in the boat and let any crew know if they play with the drag pre set knob they will have their fingers, and other parts cut off. Now there are some other things you can do like warm the drags up before scaling and scale at running pace , but fair dinkum - calm down. This process will get the job done.

Jonah Yick feeling flat when things went pear shaped and a big fish was lost at the boat.

Putting out the lures

When you are sorted and you have made it to the area you would like to fish it’s time to roll out your spread. We spoke about this last edition, but let’s break the process down even further. If you are new to the game the best way to lay out your lures and ready your rods is have the boat go down sea. It may seem like a small thing to do, but if you and your crew are unaccustomed to moving and working on the deck of a boat, having the swell and sea at the rear of the boat is best. It will provide the most stable platform to pull out the rods, attach the chosen lures and set them in your spread. Running with the sea on your mid ships or punching straight into it will be a pain for the novice. I always talk about a starting five for a lure spread and you can work back from there depending on your equipment at hand. One lure presented well can catch a tuna so don’t worry if you don’t get five lures out the back of your boat. You will still will catch fish, but you have reduced the probability. Fishing is all about probability and percentages and increasing the success of catching and landing a fish. If you take knots for example and tie a knot half as strong as another particular knot you have reduced your probability of catching a fish by 50 %. Conversely if you were to run five lures out the back of your boat instead of one you have in effect raised your probability of catching a tuna by 4/5ths or 80 %. Ok … ok … you still have to find that hungry school of tuna to run any lure over, but you get the idea. So here we are we have the boat running down sea and the skipper is concentrating at keeping the boat straight. This is important as it is easier to run the lures out with the boat traveling straight and will stop the skipper from learning some new swear words. Let out your longest lure position first. Now from the last edition we learned that the longest lure in the spread is called the “SHOTGUN”. No one really knows why,

so feel free to make up any story and run with it. Place this lure about 20m from where the prop wash starts to clean up and be clear water again. The next position is long rigger or if you don’t have riggers the rod that is not in the corner of the boat. Set that about 2-3 m further towards the boat than the shotgun lure. The next lure to run out is short rigger or again, the other rod that is also not in the corner rod holder. Place the short rigger about 2 m in front of the last. The next lure to be run out is the long corner and that goes on the same side as the long rigger with a similar spacing forward to the last. Finally you can place the short corner in the last position right in the boat wake about 2-3 m off the stern. This will be a rough set up and you can adjust from there. This will allow you to run out the lures smoothly and swiftly and without issue. Just to keep some uniformity to your process you can make a decision which side of the boat is going to be your long rigger side. We have the long rigger on the skippers or starboard side. This means that when people come on board we can show them the drill and it’s the same every time. It may seem confusing at first but a good way to get it in your head is just draw it out on a piece of paper a few times to get it in your head.

Pulling them in

If you have picked a good spot and all going well it should not be too long until you have some action. If you have a single strike and the tuna is hooked, keep the boat going forward at trolling pace for a while. This will do one of two things. It may bring on a second strike from the school following the lures, but it will also allow line to pay out under drag. This will hopefully get that fish and line back behind your lures and at a different angle. This will alleviate the possibility of a tangle or the line the fish is on being cut by others. Even when you

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Fishing News - Page 43

Make sure everyone on the boat knows your plan. decide to slow do not knock the boat out of gear totally. Leave the boat just in gear and have the

crew quickly bring in the other lines. The key here when in the beginner stage is to reverse the

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Fishing News - Page 44

on the rod and wind swiftly as you straighten. If the fish starts to swim at you , wind like crazy as you don’t want slack line at any time. This goes for any fishing. Slack line is the enemy and maintaining good tension on the fish raises that percentage of catching the fish. Once you have the fish boat side you can gaff or use a large landing net. Either way you have had great success and you can start the process once again. One step at a time like clock work. Kelly Hooch Hunt

April - May 2016

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and go… “oh.. yeah that’s right the shottie is still out”. Best thing when learning is to bring them all in. When you have the lines in and you have settled into the fight, don’t rush. This is what we have come out for and there is no need to do anything silly. Stay relaxed and fight the fish smoothly and use the rod. Keep the line tight and use the flexibility in the rod to take any shock or jolt out of the fish’s actions. Fighting fish on tuna gear means small gains often. Bend at the knees get some load

RECREATIONAL SEA FISHERIES NEWS

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process off running the lures out and get in the shortest lines still in the water. This will allow a hole to be created that the angler and the skipper (who still has steerage due to being in gear) to work together and fight the fish to the corner the crew has cleared. As you get better at this you can make decisions to leave the shot gun or long corner out if confident it is a school size fish and you can handle it. Nothing worse though than forgetting they are out and doing a few circles fighting a fish to look up

Recent research by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies assessed capture-induced physiological stress and post-release survival of recreationally caught southern Bluefin tuna. Based on results of the study, IMAS has released a code of practice specifically for recreational SBT fishers which has been developed and endorsed by national gamefishing associations. The results showed that a low incidence of mortality (3%) relating directly to the hooking and retrieval of recreationally-caught SBT occurs during capture. An exception to the low pre-landing mortality was attributed to seal predation of SBT caught in Tasmanian waters. Seal predation accounted for the mortality of 31% of fish hooked in Tasmanian waters. The majority of recreational fishing targeting SBT occurs in close proximity to the coastline and islands. These areas have haulouts used by the seals and concentrations of food sources like small pelagic fish which increases the possibility of seal interaction. Predation on hooked SBT by seals whilst fishing adjacent to Tasmania does contribute to a substantial degree of unaccounted mortality. Further research to investigate measures to reduce interactions is warranted. Most methods currently used by recreational fishers to capture SBT are effective at minimizing damage to the fish. Fish caught using treble hooks tend to display more severe physical damage than fish

caught using single J hooks. Copies of the code of practice which collates the recommendations for best practice for the catching, handling, release and tagging of SBT can be obtained from game fishing clubs, TARFish and Fishcare Volunteers. Adoption of practices outlined in the code aims to improve: post-release survival; animal welfare; the level of community approval for recreational fisheries; data quality collected from recreational fish tagging programs; and reduce fish wastage. The code of practice was jointly funded by FRDC and fishing licence fees from the Tasmanian, Victorian and NSW Governments. You can download it at: www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/sea-fishing-aquaculture/ sustainable-fisheries-management/research-andstock-assessments/recreational-fisheries-research/ recreational-scalefish-research

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ROCK LOBSTER AND ABALONE SURVEYS 2014-15

Since the late 1990’s IMAS have conducted surveys to report on fishery demographics and catch for the recreational abalone and rock lobster fisheries. Increased funding and survey design refinements have been made over time to improve the robustness of the estimates. Abalone and rock lobster surveys are now conducted every three years with an annual survey reporting on the Eastern Region rock lobster fishery.

equivalent to 1.9% of the combined recreational and commercial catch of 1891 tonnes. Blacklip abalone accounted for 86% and greenlip abalone 14% of the total numbers. Over 60% of the catch was taken from the East Coast, with a further 29% from the north and 10% from the west coasts. By converting numbers to weights, the 2014-15 recreational harvest of abalone was estimated at 36 tonnes, equivalent to 1.9% of the combined recreational and commercial catch of 1891 tonnes. There are currently no explicit performance indicators relating to the recreational fishery for abalone.

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SEASON REMINDERS

Recreational rock lobster season closes for the entire Eastern Region and for females in the Western Region on 30 April 2016. The total closure for the Eastern Region is part of the recreational catch reduction as part of the East Coast Rock Lobster Rebuilding Strategy. The commercial season closures for the Eastern Region are different to the recreational ones because their catch caps limits their harvest in that area. Recreational scallop season is open now until July 31st. All state waters except the D’Entrecasteaux Channel are open for scallop diving. The banded morwong season is currently closed statewide and will re-open on May 1st 2016.

A summary for each fishery is below. 2014-15 Recreational Rock Lobster Season

19,300 people held at least one recreational rock lobster licence and almost 12,100 held a recreational abalone licence. Recreational fishers harvested an estimated 98,441 rock lobsters equating to 119 tonnes in 2014/15. By weight, 47% of the catch was from the East Coast, 32% from the North and 21% from the West Coast. Potting was the dominant method, representing 80% of the effort (days fished) and 58% of the estimated harvest. Dive collection accounted for about 20% of the effort and 39% of the harvest, while ring usage contributed 2% of the effort and 3% of the harvest. The 2014-15 harvest estimate (of 119 tonnes) represented about 70% of the total allowable recreational catch (TARC) of 170 tonnes and was equivalent to about 10% of the notional total allowable catch (TAC) of 1221 tonnes (which includes the total allowable commercial catch of 1051 tonnes). Although the TARC was not exceeded, the East Coast catch did exceed the recreational East Coast catch share allocation of 42 tonnes by 13.6 tonnes or 32%. (Note: Eastern Region bag limits, possession limits, boat limit and season length were reduced starting the season following this survey, that is from 1 November 2015.)

2014-15 Recreational Abalone Season

Recreational fishers harvested an estimated 74,769 abalone, equating to an estimated at 36 tonnes,

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Recreational Fisheries will be at AgFest from May 5-7 with the following displays: Kid’s fishing pool; Fish filleting and handling demonstrations; Fishcare display trailer; Live rock lobster; and All your fishing questions answered! Drop in to see us at Site 436 on Fourth Avenue. 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 45

The Leven

The Leven slide on camper is constructed from light weight fibreglass panel and has outstanding insulation properties. 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. The sleek kitchen design features overhead storage, plenty of draws, and a choice of gas or electric hotplate. A fridge is also included in the camper so you will have everything you need including the kitchen sink.

Little Henty camper - this is a great camper for couples who want a very light weight fully insulated slide on with extensive customization options. So make it suit how you want to live while on the road. With seven models in the range and three of them set for those who travel alone we have it covered.

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Fishing News - Page 46

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Fishing News - Page 47

Better safety and facilities for Tasmanian boaters

Scan to see the lifejacket awareness video.

Incorrectly worn or fitted lifejackets may not work effectively. Don’t risk your life. Make sure you know how your inflatable lifejacket works. Incorrectly worn of fitted jackets may not work effectively. Scan the QR code above or go to www.mast.tas.gov.au to see MAST’s lifejacket awareness video.

Is your inflatable auto or manual inflate? If you don’t know - don’t go.

Check out the MAST boating precinct at Agfest 5, 6, 7 May MAST spend $1,000,000 every year improving your recreational boating facilities around Tasmania.

Talk to Marine and Safety Tasmania staff about safety, gear, boats, boating facilities, flotation and more. See us, boat dealers and associated boating businesses at site N39 on corner of North Street and Fourth Avenue.

Apply any time for better boating facilities. Go to www.mast.tas.gov.au

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