Marron Madness in Victoria

Many people in Australia will know well that Marron are an indigenous species of fresh water cray fish to Western Australia, now we dont know how they got to Victoria and at this stage I dont think any one is complaining too much as apparently they taste great. That said we do not like the idea of them making their way into rivers and streams that hold numbers of Spiny Fresh Water Cray Fish, Murray Cray Fish or Snowy River Cray Fish as it is believed that the Marron would win in the fight of habitat and food share and would render our local species losers in the fight to compete for food and territory. We do know that at this stage they are fairly contained but what people need to understand is that if they are to take Marron from waters in Victoria, as an invasive species they must not transport them live any where, making an ice slurry is a great way to euthanize Marron, the temperature drop puts them to sleep fast causing the least amount of stress. If you fins some Marron in a waterway near you in Victoria it is paramount that you do not take them home or move them about as the spread of an invasive species could have serious effects on the local environment.

When you do find a waterway that contains Marron if you do want to catch them you will need a bright torch, a prawning net and something on your feet that will give you traction in slippery mud, idealy you will find some one else to tag along as being near the water at night on your own just aint safe.

I reckon thats enough of the hints and tips, I wont promote the locations as some folks just could not help them self and we would end up with Marron all over the place.

We arrived at our location at around 1930 and looked at the area's we were going to tackle, as night fell we made our way around the perimeter of the waterway in our search for these snappy little critters, after a few hours we had more than enough for a feed so we called it a night and went home so I could go to work. Was a cracking evening with 3 mates who I enjoy spending time with on and in the water.

Lower Western Port Egi Gan Craft Style

First of all I must apologize for my lack of blogging its been a massive month for me at work and time has been a premium, this is the longest my boat has sat still since buying it and I feel guilty for not giving her a run, however, a week ago I had a small window of opportunity with both the wind and work so I managed to grab my mate Dan and go in search of some squid down south.

We launched at my normal haunt in Hastings and made the 30 km trip down south in search of some bigger model squid that we had not had a real crack at for a few weeks, I have been avoiding boat ramps because of snapper season mayhem.


The morning started off nice with a light 5 knot south westerly blowing, that was until we got down past sandy point and the wind picked up a bit, conditions were not great but they were far from a deterrent and it was still comfortable. We got to our spot and no one else was in sight so I thought I would do some sounding around for some bigger fish that I will be soon chasing with my jigging gear in the deeper water around my squid spot, some very impressive and promising marks appeared on the sounder but I knew the conditions were not yet right for these fish to be on the bite yet so after marking a few isolated bits of reef I ventured over to my squid spot.

It did not take long for things to fire up, the first drift produced a few squid but nothing that I was overly impressed with, we did a few more drifts and although we landed a couple of squid things were far from exciting, I decided to take a deeper drift line, this is where things got better. We managed to pick up 5 in one drift all weighing in over 1.8kg and one that was just short of 2.8kg. It had been a while since a squid had pulled 3kg of drag off me and this one took about 20 meters.

We had a bag of squid so I decided that we needed to have a look offshore for some of the squid that inhabit the close reef structures near the penguin parade, conditions had picked up to about 15-20 knots SW and we could only get to within about 80 meters of the shore without getting involved with the breakers that some surfers seemed to be enjoying. We had no luck on the squid but a few of our UO-JYA egi received the fatal blow of the many pike and couta in the area. Time to pack things up and head back inside.

With the wind picking up from the south west we decided to head over towards Flinders for a quick look as we would have a little shelter from the winds. Things were pretty quiet in Flinders so we called it a day.

Back home just after lunch with a nice bag of squid for Dan to take home for a feed, we did let some of the breeding stock go as these guys were not ready to die yet and had heaps of life left in them.

Good mates, Good time on the bay.

Been a while since I have been able to head out with a couple of good mates and the last time I fished with Dan and Dale was the week before my wedding when we headed to Portland for a bucks turn and chase some Tuna.

I had just got home from Adelaide and had a quick nana nap when Dan mentioned to me on facebook that they were fishing in the morning and there was a spot on the boat should I want it, I was exhausted from the quick trip to Adelaide but how can I resit a day with my mates on Port Phillip Bay chasing a few Snapper around.

For me it was all about jigging as I have just started to get into it for all manner of species but realy enjoying the challenge of Snapper, its something that is fairly popular around the rest of the world but for some reason in Victoria its un heard of so why not give it a crack. The other 2 stuck with mixed baits of Squid, Pilchards and Silver Whiting.

We Got to the boat ramp at Patterson River at about 0345 on a Sunday Morning and were met with a que about 200 meters long all the way back to the road, after a few pleasantries we parked the car and loaded up to walk down to the Coast Guard pontoon to meet Dale who was already floating, we got moving and received a phone call from a mate who was in the que that was now more than 1.5km long, lucky we were not 15 minutes behind. Victorian Government need to pull a finger out here, facilities for less than 10% of the boats owned in Victoria and snapper season and a nice sunny day see's kaos reign, thank God for the Hogans and there crew for keeping it in as much order as it can be.

We started sounding around a few area's that had produced well over the last few days but alas the fish had moved on, the bay was lit up like a Christmas Tree with boats as far as the eye can see so we looked for a place as far away as we could from the crowds, this was a bigger task than you think with the amount of boats on the water and more arriving by the minute. We started to head deeper when the sounder lit up with a screen full of fish. We need travel no further we found fish and not another boat in sight.

Anchor down and lines out, I started tying knots and setting up my jigging gear, it only took about 5 minutes before Dan had loaded up and a fair sort of fish before I had even got a jig n the water, I had a feeling that I would get panced by the boys and their baits. I kept on keeping on and finaly as Dale lands another I am in the water jigging. Things were looking a bit grim as more fish started pouring in over the side while I gave my arm a work out. Things were looking grim as I was pulling in Flathead after Flathead and it was starting to look as though I would not see anything other than flathead.

It took a while but in the end I managed to pick up a small one on a Blue and Pink Inchiku Jig and another on a 80g Quick flutter jig. Not the first snapper on jigs for me but I am fairly confident that things will get better as we work out teh best technique to get the snapper going, I used a mix of fast slow big small rapid and jerky styles with nothing being the stand out. I was using a PE2 Prototype Jig stick we are working on teamed up with a Shimano Ocea Jigger 2000NRHG, combo felt nice in my hands and made an easy task for the hours we were out.

We fished until about 1300 in the afternoon and decided to try and make it in before the crowds also made their way in, however, we got back in at about 1310 and did not get on the trailer till about 1400.

All in all it would not have mattered if we caught nothing, the time on the water with friends mucking around and laughing all day was what it was about, catching fish was the bonus.

Talking Squid at Ray & Annes Tackle

We finally made it to Adelaide to do a squid talk, we have been kicking the idea around for ages and we managed to get everything together for a quick fly by session at Ray & Annes Tackle.

The day started a bit full on with me starting work at 0300 in the morning as per normal, after working till about 1300 I scammed a lift to the airport with the new boss (good bloke) and boarded a plane for Adelaide, quick check in and arrive in Adelaide at about 1700, Lee from Gladiator was good enough to pick me up at the airport and off to Ray and Annes Tackle to meet with Bruce. We were met with a well stocked store some cracking staff and pizza to ensure we did not starve. Everyone was great and looked after us well.

We did not have a lot of time to set up so I got to work  getting the projector and screen set up to kick off in about 20 minutes. Before we had finished setting up plenty of squid mad folks started turning up with questions in hand.

Presentation went down well and plenty of great questions from the crowd, makes it a lot easier to do these things when the folks listening are thirsty for more info, the night was a very enjoyable and we do have plans to come back  one day soon.

Massive Thanks to Bruce and his staff for the hospitality before during and after the talk.

Quick after work session

Boat has been dry for a few weeks after doing some routine and some not so routine work to the boat so when some nice weather came along I hitched the boat up before work with the anticipation of a short day at the office.

Hastings Channel

I finished work at around 1400 and was at the boat ramp in Hastings by about 1445 and floating by 1500, with the changes to the available light we now have with daylight savings I knew I had plenty of time, normally I make the trip straight to the south of the port but today I decided to go east and fish some water I had not fished for a while. The wind was variable at about 10 knots and I was fishing in a cove type of area, this made it hard to get a good consistent drift working as the tide movement was all over the place as was the wind.

I stuck with it for about 20 minutes before my first squid came into the boat. I had decided that today I was going to fish only with my new Australian colors, the first one cam on the Kuma Killer, it was the first one I had tied on. I kept the drift going for a while landing a few along the way.

Gan Craft Egi-Jya Kuma Killer

Things went a bit quiet so I decided to make the move back up to the trusty Tyabb Bank, things were very similar to where I was fishing before. I landed a couple more before moving a little further north to the Quail Bank I did manage a 5 way hook up while I was here by swapping rods and casting behind the jigs that had squid on them but when you do this you also risk a big clean up at the end of the day, my boat was covered in ink by the end of it.

Not sure why but the water seems to be some what murky considering the weather we were experiencing but the big tides were not helping. I fished for about an hour longer before calling it a day, I managed a good bag of squid, I took some photo's of some of the better ones. I would normally snap a heap more pics off but when you are fishing on your own and drifting you dont want to spend too much time drifting around without paying attention. I was going to head out again today but the dreaded man flu has taken a hold so I will stick to sitting in front of the computer updating my blog LOL

Stella, Certate Hyper Custom ad Luvius Custom

too many squid means too much mess

Ramen - Learning how

As many people would know I am no stranger to the enjoyment of food, not so much for sustenance but also for the pleasure of simply eating.

During my recent visit to Japan I discovered a food called Ramen, the easiest way to explain Ramen is it is pretty much a noodle broth served with meat and 3 veg on the top. The Ramen I tried in Tanabe City in Japan was amazing, having never seen Ramen on any menu's in Australia I thought that it would be one of those things I would only find in Japan so I would rarely have the opportunity to eat it, however, on my return to Australia I consulted with my good friend and ever resourceful Mr Google, Google was able to find me several Ramen restaurants reasonably close to where I live. Now all I had to do was share this taste with my friends. I visited this Ramen restaurant a few times and although I enjoyed the meal it was not the same as what I had experienced in Japan.

As I was visiting this place weekly a great guy and chef from Ichi Ni, Melbourne's best Izakaya restaurants Wataru Su, noticed my visits and made an amazing offer of coming to my house and teaching me or should I say my wonderful wife Kim how to make our own Ramen. I was very gracious of the offer and accepted, now I have eaten Wataru's food before so I know this was going to be a cracking experience.

Wataru spent age's preparing the stock, this apparently is the most time consuming and difficult part of the dish, from what I have heard from some the stock can take days to prepare, he did most of this part at home using his wifes secret recipe (hahahaha not so secret now) so Upon his arrival all we had to do was finish the broth from the stock, roast the pre marinated pork, cook the noodles and enjoy the feast. I stayed out of the way while Wataru slaved in the kitchen with Kim watching on taking down notes.

My interest in the process was re kindled when I saw some Gyoza appear. Gyoza is a Japanese style grilled dumpling and is my favorite of all the Japanese foods I have eaten. Wataru was nearing the end of the cooking and my mouth was watering. He started by removing the Pork from the oven and slicing it into sections, then the noodles were placed into bowls. He then took the Ramen broth and poured it into the bowls over the noodles before adding bean shoots and shallots. This looked amazing and smelled just as nice. Now all I needed was to add the pork and the beer and we were winning.

I smashed the meal like it was my last and destroyed the plate of Gyoza, the meal was simply amazing and in my own house, we finished it off by watching some clips of Geki Yoshida on youtube via the smart TV in the lounge and talking about fishing, does it get any better than this, I think not.

Massive thanks to Wataru for his time and patience, it was an incredible evening of dining and talking about fishing and to my wife for taking down notes and learning how to also cook Ramen.

The Pork

Ramen and Noodles

Then the veg added

Then the Pork and the beer

Then the Gyoza and the finished meal

Hooked on Bait and Tackle Talk night

Although a long way from home, one of my favorite tackle stores to visit is Hooked on Bait and Tackle in Hoppers Crossing, Michael the store owner and his staff do a great job at stocking a massive variety of gear and a lot of hard to get stuff that many stores are hesitant to put in, from memory he was the first store in Australia to have Gan Craft products in his store and was probably the launching pad for Gan Craft in Australia, with that in mind it was a massive privilege to get an invite to do a Gan Craft Squid talk in his store and something I did not have to think about even for a second.

After a quick intro from Michael we got down to the business of talking squid. On this occasion I was able to talk about the reasons behind the new exclusive to Australia color range that I had put lots of time into with the guys from Gan Craft in Japan, new insights behind what squid see and how the hunt and the area's where we can find squid along with some new idea's on deep water squidding.

Half way through the night we had a quick break to allow people to browse over all we had been talking about and answer some curious questions that needed answering, also Michael was good enough to arrange some catering to ensure no one starved during the talk (for me there was no risk of that)

One thing that always resonates with this store is that it always has angler education and information at the forefront of the business, its not all about selling it ensuring that we all understand why we by the gear we need, by doing this the store has been able to maintain a regular loyal customer base and another reason why I am always happy to go and spend time in this store.

If you need any further info about the store feel free to visit them at 159 Old Geelong Road
Hoppers Crossing VIC or give em a buzz on (03) 9748 3811 and tell em I sent you.
Thanks Michael and Andrew for a cracking evening I hope it was as enjoyable for you and your customers as it was for me.