On water sessions with Big Time

Its big squid time folks, I will be conducting some on water clinics on Sunday coming aboard Big Time with Gawaine Blake, for bookings and info contact Gawaine from Big Time Fishing Charters on 0411 103 367, these seats wont last so be quick to get on Bigtime.

 Also check out the Big Time Fishing Charters web site by clickin on the Big Time banner on the right of screen, he has some great shots of some squid action on there and we hope to add to it this weekend.

Egi Seminars

Folks we are now again opening up the calender to start a new lot of egi seminars at tackle stores in Victoria and SA, these educational nights seem to be popular and book fast in stores so if you want one at a store near you then ask the host store to contact us to book a night in, we only have 9 available dates left in August and September so be quick as the other 4 filled in one day after a sales rep mentioned it to the stores. Will also make these dates available to Angling Clubs as we have done in the past.

I can be contacted at any time on mobile 0417590547 or email ecofreak@bigpond.com

Coming weekend squid tutorials on board Bigtime

Folks for those who have inquired about the Saturday squid charter/tutorial we have had to cancel the Saturday with wind forecast into the 30 knots from the north East, however we still have a few spots left for the Sunday if people are still interested. For more details contact Gawaine on 0411 103 367.

Bigtime Weekend with mates on squid

  It doesn't get any better than this, over the weekend I was fortunate enough to spend a bit of time with a few mates on the waters of Western Port, fishing regardless is a blast but when you get to do it with ya mates its all the more enjoyable, there is something about a fishing brotherhood where its not about who has the biggest or best rod, or who has the flashest egi, its about getting out and having a laugh and enjoying the basics, casting and retrieving without a worry in the world and spreading the ink and by spread the ink we mean spread the ink. After a cool slow start to the morning where I arrived almost an hour later than I was meant to with nothing but a bit of ribbing from the boys I hung my head with guilt as they laughed at my messy state. As the sun came up a bit so did the squid I had an absolute ball with no pressure. The water was a mix of clean and dirty depending on where we were, there was hardly a breath of wind and the current was so slow that at one stage we had to turn on the motors a bit to help the drift, if any one is interested in getting a few mates together on a squid charter most of Melbournes normal snapper charter folks will be running squid charters, on this occasion I was fortunate enough to be in the company of Gawaine Blake from BigTime Fishing Charters. That said we have 3 Squid charters/tuition trips coming this weekend 30th and 31st July for those interested please contact Gawaine at BigTime Fishing Charters on 0411 103 367 to book your spot to avoid confusion with bookings. If contacting from overseas please contact me on +61417590547 or ecofreak@bigpond.com, for folks booking through Japanese Travel Agencies please quote egikuma in your email or over the phone so details can be arranged around your travel itinerary. Here are a few photo's from the magnificent day on the water

Fishing Fever Squid Seminars

What a cracking 2 nights spent down at Fishing Fever in Modialloc.

Intro

Both nights saw approx 30 more people captivated in squid fishing as this sport grows at massive rates in this country and in particular Victoria. It still amazes me the amount of people who keep coming night after night to learn more about squid and egi and a great sign of things to come as the enthusiasm increases from anglers all over Australia increases. It was a real buzz for me to be invited to speak along side Lee Raynor (Store owner, TV presenter and one of Australia's best all round anglers) and Gawaine Blake (one of the best fishing minds and Bigtime Fishing Charter operator) as both people I have a lot of both respect and admiralty for the work they do and have done for fishing and squidding in Australia.

Lee becoming one with the squid LOL

The night kicked off with Lee introducing myself and Gawaine and explaining what topics would be covered on the night, then we got into a bit about what egi actually is and its relation to squid, we also covered the history of egi and how young it is to Australia considering egi has been around longer than Australia has been occupied by white folks. This was important for the people attending to know as it related to about 60% of what we referred to throughout the night.

explaining tapers and parabolic action

The next 10 minutes were used to go back to basics explaining some of the many simple ways to target squid in Australia, everything from handlines to egi rods was covered before getting into the nity grity of the technical side of things. From gear we went back to understanding the squid a little more and talked about lifespan, species available to us in the bays and offshore, a bit about the squid vision and how they stalk as visual hunters. You could see that the message was sinking in for the people attending and how many dots were starting to connect, most of what we were talking about was already stored in their heads but the putting it all together was taking place before my eyes. A truly amazing experience and one that I hope to see as we continue squid seminars around the country.

Lees Kit

Most people in attendance had all heard of egi rods but still no one had ever explained how they worked and why they were required, we got to show the people my favorite rod (Gan Craft Violence Jerk 7'6") and Lees preferred stick (Breden Spice, Wicked Game) and how they differed and the actions that can be achieved by using them compared with the run of the mill graphite bream stick. Lee got his car kit out to show people that egi fishing is not such a hard task and that you only need limited gear to get out and do it, most of what he needed for a squid session could fit inside a neat bum bag.

me getting jiggy with it

Next came the part that always terrifies me in buildings with low roof lines, the action the angler needs to impart, for those who have not yet been exposed to this style of fishing is very aggressive, especially the Gan Craft style that seems to be somewhat more aggressive than most, probably why the rod is called a Violence Jerk because you really need to violently jerk the rod to get the egi to dance and do its thing to excite the squid enough to eat the egi. Sure enough when I started to crank the rod I clipped one of the cast marlin fins on the roof, lucky I had my rod in my hand and not a low quality one as it could have ended in a tip explosion. The expression on faces when they realized how aggressive I actually work the egi was hilarious, explaining that they call it a squid jig for a reason and the reason is that it should be jigged not dragged.

Striking a pose not pointing out my stomach size

I should have taken a few pics of the pizza's that arrived at this point as they were brilliant, not often you find a good pizza place and this place is a cracker (must get the name off lee), every one full and content with pizza we got stuck back into talking about egi and why they do what they do, why they are made as they are made and recognizing the difference between egi to help with purchase.

Was great to have heaps of questions asked along the way as it is always a good indication that people have a genuine interest in what you are talking about and can start to share your passion all up the seminar went for about 2 hours including a feed. We all stuck around for a chat and cleared up any more questions while Lee was kind enough to offer a further 20% off all squid and egi gear on both nights.

I thoroughly enjoyed both nights and look forward to the next one in a tackle store near you, for those keen to get into fishing fever for a look at their crazy range of egi gear they can be located at 517 Main St Mordialloc, for opening hours contact the store on 95909899 or check out  the Fishing Fever web site.

For those interested in doing one of the Gan Craft on water experiences with myself and Gawaine, you can contact me via email ecofreak@bigpond.com or 0417590547. Gawaine can be contacted on bigtimefishingcharters web site

Fishing Fever Squid seminar

Tonight was such a great success we are doing it again tomorrow night for those who missed out, will post more details tomorrow night after session 2.

We have booked in another 2 charters on board Big Time with myself and Gawaine Blake to try and get people having issues with the practical part of the aggressive technique and also to follow up on what we have shown at Fishing Fever over this evening and also tomorrow evening. For bookings contact me on 0417590547 or send email to ecofreak@bigpond.com

Gan Craft on water experience round 2

This morning saw the second group from the Gan Craft on water experience hit the water, launching a little earlier than last time the group met Gawaine Blake from Bigtime charters at 0600, Hasting Boat Ramp in Victoria was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey at that hour, the troops were glad they did not have the wind we had the few weeks earlier as well as the cold. We headed out the Hasting Channel and turned left towards Tyabb Bank, one thing that was noticed was the full moon high in the west as we made our way off, not the best moon for squid fishing in Australia but we battled on regardless. The first squid did not take to long to come into the boat but was hardly the larger ones we were hoping for. As the sun started o rise we anticipated a few more squid but they held off on all lures, there was a fair spread of colors and sizes with various styles of working the egi, was a very slow start to the day. A nice sight for those of us who braved the cool weather was a rare meeting with a couple of whales slowly moving up the Port breaching along the way, I was hoping to get the perfect tail shot with a zoom lens but these big mammal visitors just didn't read the script.

 As the sun came higher into the sky as did the squid, what we did not get in number we made up for in size with a couple of nice Southern Calamari coming in over the next couple of hours. See photos below for the squid pics, was also good to see a few good mates out on the water this morning, Dale from victoriansaltwaterfishing.com and John a cracking photo journalist local to to Western Port, to see johns work check out Ebbtide Adventures some great stuff.
If any one needs more info about squid charters in Western Port and Port Phillip contact Gawain Blake from Bigtime Fishing Charters http://bigtimefishingcharters.com.au/, big thanks to Fishing Fever in Mordialloc who let us use their store for the first component of the clinics, for all your squid gear give em a ring on 95909899 and tell em I sent ya.

                                                    Gawaine Blake

                                                    Stonker for Neil

                                Gan Craft Uo-Jya 3.5 Big jigs with small squid

                                                            Paul

                                                      Dale and John

Squid Seminar @ Fishing Fever

Wednesday coming the guys from Fishing Fever are holding a info packed Squid seminar in store on Wednesday night, Lee Rayner and Morne Mueller will be presenting a heap of info about all things squid, I will be there with my 2 cents worth also and taking a few photo's for the blog.

For more info or to book your spot contact Fishing Fever on 95909899, tell em I sent ya.

Squid @ Cranbourne

Jarrod Day

I was fortunate enough to attend yet another squid tuition seminar in another tackle store on Saturday gone, the attention that egingu and squid fishing in general has generated is nothing short of amazing with more and more people keen to understand all things squid, an intimate group of anglers gathered at Tackleworld in Cranbourne at 0900 in the morning (yawns) to hear the presentation prepared by staff member Jarrod Day, an accomplished writer and photo journalist in the fishing fraternity. Jarrod whipped straight into the subject and covered all things from specialist egi equipment to hanging dead baits under floats. One of the things that stood out for me was that by limiting the group sizes keeping the numbers down increased attendee attention and gave them a chance to see close up the items that Jarrod was addressing.  Throughout the talk Jarrod presented examples of many egi that lined the shelves and gave a good account of various brands and how they not only look different but also respond different to angler action, we also got a sneak peak at the new "IKA" jigs being brought out by Tackleworld. From egi he then spoke of scents and pimping materials like Royal awabi shell. I was not able to stick around to see the second talk as I had prior lunch commitments but from all feedback went as well as the first.

Jarrod on his collection

Going though egi

It will be worth keeping an eye on further details of future events held both at Cranbourne and other stores around Australia over the coming weeks with the winter trend showing plenty of squid on the menu, I will try and keep everyone up to date on all things educational both in store and on the water.

Tackling Rumors

Folks I appreciate the phone calls, emails, personal messages and support regarding rumors about staff from a particular retail outlet in Victoria, however, I can not and will not contribute to the rumors nor will I discuss or assist in the ongoing and prolonging of the continuity of something that has already been blown completely out of proportion. I can not control what others say or the interpretation of what people believe. 

 In short there is nothing to talk about, there never was anything to talk about and there will not be anything to talk about as there was nothing to talk about from the beginning. 

It is simply fair to say that unless it comes from the horse's mouth (I am the horse) then is is nothing more than Chinese whispers as this horse's mouth has been sealed.

Thanks

Wind Wind go away

It looks like we may have a nice break in the wind this weekend starting from Thursday, I will be out Thursday, Friday Saturday and Sunday with Monday being a distinct possibility. Hope to be able to get some good photo's for you all in the coming days.

Working on the web site over the next couple of days so I can keep the blog for me separate to the Australian Egi Tournament stuff.

This weekend can not come fast enough.

Wind Gods must be angry

Well it looks as though the squid are safe for yet another week, there is no where I can go fishing in the saltwater in Victoria until Tuesday and with the change to the west in the direction in the last few days I will be doing a bit of travel to the other side of the bay in the coming weeks.

This will also mean that we will have to wait at least 2 weeks for the next Gan Craft on water experience, clearly after looking that the chart this week is out, next week we have the second round of the Yamashita Squid series in South Australia, here is hoping that the following week is the big day on the water for all those who have been to the Fishing Fever seminar night to learn about Gan Craft style of fishing.

Gan Craft on Water Clinics

Today was the first day of our on water egi clinics, in the past we have recognized that conducting in store only clinics/seminars that people get all the technical side of things sorted but still struggle with some of the practical application. It was decided that we take people through the tech stuff in the tackle store and then get them on the water to get the practical side of things sorted with some separate one on one tuition if required. The guys at Fishing fever were great and kept the shop open for a while afterwards to make sure that every one was able to grab what they needed after learning a thing or 2 about a thing or 2 and I hope every one went away happy

Things kicked off last night at Fishing Fever Tackle store in Mordialloc where we went through the basics about egi and some of the technical stuff,we kept the group to a 12 maximum for a couple of reasons, first it would be a real task to get a boat flexible enough to go to where the squid are and fit massive amounts of keen fisho's on board. For this on water component we used Big Time Charters with Gawaine Blake, although the boat is licensed for 10 we kept the numbers to 6 as you can all well imagine what it would be like with 10 people who have just discovered an aggressive egi technique all casting and swinging rods around................................ hence why we kept the groups small. Second is because I wanted to make sure that every one got some one on one time if required, it is a task to get to every one to make sure we got every one sorted and thirdly, fishing of all sorts is supposed to be fun so keeping it small with lots of room means less grumpyness.

With a massive wind forecast for the weekend we were a little apprehensive on taking a group out on both days but were sure we could get the group out on the Saturday and get out we did. We were met with mild winds of about 10 knots from the north east, conditions were not far from perfect, we got to our location on Tyabb bank and started a drift with every one keen to put some new technique into practice. Did not take long to get the first few into the boat and they kept coming, ended up with close to 50 squid landed for the 4 or so hours we spent on the water before the wind built up and blew us all away.

It was a great day for me I only hope that every one else had a good one also and took something away from the instore and on water clinic.

Yamashita Squid Series, Fishing Fever round wrap up

Yamashita Squid Series 2011, Fishing Fever Round 1, Victoria Wrap Up.
Australian Egi Tournaments held the first ever live weigh and release competition for squid anywhere in the world on the weekend of 25th and 26th of June in 2011, after much planning the event was finally ready to be tested by a field of 8 teams from Victoria in the Western Port town of Hastings in Victoria.

Team briefing took place in the club rooms of the Western Port Angling club with all teams present and accounted for, as most of the competitors had not fished in this style of event before many questions were asked and rules were clarified for the following day’s competition. The weekend weather forecast was looking like it might take a turn for the worst so all eyes were kept on the weather charts over night in the hope that the big spell of wind Melbourne had been receiving for the past few weeks would ease for 2 full days of competition.

Day 1 of competition saw all teams swanning around the Port of Hastings awaiting the start call, an unusual sight for many of the interested locals as they had not seen this style of tournament before as most of these events are based around Bream and Bass and not open salt water locations for squid, another interesting observation was the style of boats that had entered, every thing from small open tournament fishing boats with electric motor and casting platforms to 6 meter plus boats with twin motors allowing for a diverse range of anglers. Weather almost perfect for the start of the series with light sea breezes to 15 knots giving teams a nice drift to cover plenty of ground. The days first starter was team Yamashita followed by Fishing Fever, VictorianSaltWaterFishing.com, Peninsula Total Tackle, Mrfisho.com/Pelagic Xtreme, Gladiator Gan Craft, Little Hooker and last but not least saw Shimano Barcrusher leave the Port. Tactics must have been a big discussion point before the start of competition as some took a risky short cut across the mud to overtake many teams following the channel and then all teams parted heading in different directions looking for squid. Close to midday a call came from Team Yamashita with one of the worst possible scenarios for a tournament angler, mechanical failure a long way from the weigh in location. A call was put out to all teams asking if assistance could be rendered. Massive call from VictorianSaltWaterFishing.com who said they were close to weighing in so they came in weighed their bag and did the quick mercy dash out to a fellow angler in strife, in the meantime a stiff northerly was building and with team Yamashita who was a long way south was in doubt of returning for the weigh in deadline. Team Mrfisho.com/Pelagic Xtreme also offered assistance but as the cavalry was already on its way the offer was declined. Great sportsmanship by both teams and a credit to both of them for helping at the risk of their own day 1 weight.

Teams began arriving to weigh at around 1330 with some nice looking squid hitting the scales and leaving the results almost a reverse order of the start. The best bag came from Team little hooker, the smallest boat in the field and proving valuable with out a cab thus giving the team a slower drift advantage, following them close with a 100g smaller bag was Team Shimano/Barcrusher that also had the smallest and youngest competitor at 5 years old.
See Chart below

Day 2 Started with big concerns from event organiser with winds peaking above 20 knots and gusts to above 30 knots. Rather than throw the teams into the wind it was decided that a pre fish meeting would be held, with one team already being on the water as they travelled down the port from Yaringa Boat Harbor and with all weather charts on the computer teams were given the option of a cancelation with day one results being the final results or fish in the conditions for a full 2 day weigh in.  The end result was the day’s fishing would go ahead at the choice of the teams and not the tournament director, was great to see all team members discussing safety and competition in the same sentence, again a credit to the guys who were fishing this event.

As predicted the winds kept blowing and got a little worse but the teams fished through and truly amazed me with their persistence including the 5 year old competitor Fin Wing who fished all the way to the end. Teams started to dribble in at about midday as some were concerned about losing their catch on the trip back to the ramp through some very ordinary conditions. All teams back safe and accounted for the weigh in for the win began. The final results can be found below.

Team little hooker had the advantage on both days with a smaller craft that created less drift, while they were left a little damp and less comfortable they were rewarded with a well earned win,  Mrfisho/Pelagic Xtreme came away with second by bringing ion 2 consistent bags over the 2 days, this tactic payed off as other teams were away looking for the money squid big enough to take the competition. Was a great couple of days of competition and at all times all competitors displayed a picture perfect group that fished in the spirit of competition, I look forward to having any of the teams in this list as part of any event I ever run again.

Big Thanks to a few people:

Yamashita, was great having Steve Mills from EJ Todd to help promote Yamashita and set up and pack up. Getting Support from sponsors is one thing but having them there during the event helping as you go is another, Fishing Fever, Lee and Morne really helped the event get along with some advertising and also ran as couriers to get some gear to us by the event start time, Pure Fishing (Berkley) for prize packs, Alsta Angling (ecogear)for prize packs and to all for supporting the events and helping them get off the grounds.

Westernport Angling Club for allowing us to use their clubrooms for a briefing area and other meetings.

Westernport Mower Power. These guys saved our squid, after the purchase of a brand spanking pump we struggled to get the salt water up to the tanks and to circulate, at the cost of 2 large flat whites from Coffee King in Hasting our pump was running at 0830 on a Saturday Morning, cheers Ray and Gary.

Youfish TV and Thats Fishing TV for getting some footage of the event, really appreciate your time and camera skills.

Dale, Andy, Shane (pakey), Brian, Brent (Jabba) and Paul for helping with the pack up and pull down even though it was not required of them, they helped us get out of the rain as it approached.

Most of all to Dan, Pete and Kim for being there to do what was required and when required to keep things moving along even, the event could not have been run without them period.

Day 2 of the Yamashita Squid series was in doubt for a start.

The Yamashita Squid Series Fishing Fever Round 1 at Hastings in Victoria day 2 was in doubt of a start this morning with winds gusting well above 30knots as a straight North, the decision was left to the field and the overwhelming majority was a start so a start it was, the Gan Craft flag was horizontal the whole time and is still lashing with the wind. We wish all teams a safe return for weigh in, squid fishing in wind this hard is a tough game so the results will be very interesting at the 1430 weigh in this afternoon, was a hairy night sitting with the equipment during some of the squalls that came through during the night. As some would know from our last event the Australian Egi Tournaments Invitational, we lost 2 big marquees to the wind and I ended up swimming in my underwear at 0500 in the morning in the middle of the Queenscliff Harbor, I was not letting this happen again nor would I subject my teams to seeing me in my underwear ever again. For

those who were unable to get to yesterdays weigh in this is our little setup without the computers, scales, electronics and audio equipment. For those considering coming to the weigh in today there has been a time change to 1445 due to the late start because of competitor conference about winds.

Yamashita Squid Series, Fishing Fever round 1 Hastings Victoria.

Day 1 Yamashita Squid Series 2011, Fishing Fever Round Hastings.

Bag weights of 3 squid weighed live and released

1. Little Hooker - Quinn Scott & Adam Crocombe: 3 squid 3675g
2. Team Shimano / Bar Crusher - Brendan Wing & Finn Wing: 3 Squid 3575g
3. Team Peninsula Total Tackle - Dan Lee & Marcus "BAZ" Gorman: 3 Squid3125g
4. Team Fishing Fever - Lee Rayner & Morne Muller: 3 Squid 2245g
5. Team Mrfisho/Pelagic Extreme - Michael Mizzi & Matthew Pilley: 3 Squid 2175g
6. Team Victorian Salt Water Fishing - Dale McClelland & Paul Barton: 3 Squid1670g
7. Team Gladiator/Gan Craft - Andrew Wilson & Leigh Hallet: 1350g
8. Team Yamashita - Dominic Costanzo & Glen McDonnell : DNF -750g

Berkley Big Squid - Team Little Hooker: 1540g

Was a great start to the morning with all Teams present and accounted for, this first round had a brilliant field of anglers and for new comers would have been a brilliant look at how the events are run and also as a measuring stick against some of the best egi anglers in Victoria, Team Yamashita led the field out of the Hastings Channel at 0700 sharp with all other teams following with a 10 second delay. Similar tactics and locations were shared by most anglers as the chase for fish in dark and dirty water north of Stoney Point and a little clearer down Flinders way. Team Vicsalt was the first team in to weigh a full bag of healthy squid. We were fortunate to have some very helpful anglers who displayed some real acts of sportsmanship as Team Yamashita was unable to return to the weigh in area after motor problems Team Vic Salt was able to assist in towing team Yamashita back to Hastings from Tankerton, a real feat in North head winds so a very big thank you to Team Vicsalt and also team Mrfisho who also offered to render assistance during competition hours. as teams arrived to weigh the position of first changed 3 times before the boys from little hooker finished the day off in first with a close follow into second with Team Shimano/Barcrusher with young 5 year old Finn claiming the heaviest squid in the bag for his team. Great to see a bit of interest from the local fisho's who had never seen an event like this before and the attraction of the 2 1000 litre tanks was a fair spectacle for the few who came past.

Speacial thanks.
Steve Mills from EJ Todd for helping with the set up and putting up some great Yamashita Displays with all the new Egi O Q Live deep and shallow range.
Lee Rayner and Morne Muller for couriering around some deliveries for us.
Wayne Freibe for some great last minute ecogear prize packs.
Lowrance for coming on board for the team of the year prize of 2 HDS units
Kim, Dan and Pete for helping out on the day and in the time leading up to the events.

Look out day 2 here we come.

Ready set squid

Briefing complete for the Tournament in the morning, all questions answered and all rules covered, now all they have to do is catch the squid, I wish all the competitors the best and a safe journey over the 2 days of competition, big thanks to the sponsors who have made it happen
Yamashita, Fishing Fever, GanCraft, Shimano, Berkley, Sunline, Ej Todd, ABT and the new kid on the block for the angler of the year Lowrance.
There is no way we would have got any where without the support and I can not express how much I appreciate not only the sponsorship but also the support offered by each sponsor.

Will post some pictures and results after day 1 tomorrow night

Yamashita Squid Series Fishing Fever Round

For those fishing in the Fishing Fever round at Hastings in Victoria this weekend don't forget the briefing at the Westernport Angling Club rooms on Marine Parade in Hastings (next to boat ramp) The breifing starts at 8:00PM and is open to the public for those who are keen to see how things work but have yet to enter the event and we welcome any one to come down and talk with us on any queries about the event. It looks like we have dodged a bullet with the weather, with wind reaching 120km an hour along the western shores of Westernport this week the weather Gods have given us a break and given us a nice sea breezes on Saturday to 15 knots and similar on Sunday with wind increasing on Sunday afternoon.

Australian Egi Tournaments has just upped the ante.

Australian Egi Tournaments have just upped the ante for the Yamashita Squid series Fishing Fever round

Minimum $1000 First prize,
Second is cash as per entries and a $300 Shimano Sephia Rod Prize pack from Fishing Fever
Third is $400 Berkley Egi Master Prize pack
Big squid is a $500 Berkley Egi Master Prize Pack

Forms must be in by 1500 on Friday. If you are curious about how it works or need more info call Paul Carter on 0417590547 or email ecofreak@bigpond.com

Countdown to the Yamashita Squid series Hastings

5 Days and counting for the first round of a National series of squid comps in Australia, everything ready to go and heaps of squid in Western Port the location of the first qualifying round.
If any one is interested in popping down for a look at how it all works the start will be at the Hastings Boat Ramp in Victoria with a sprint start at 0700 with the weigh in at 1400 Saturday
Day 2 on Sunday will start with a chase start at 0700 and again the weigh in at 1400 with prizes and presentation expected by 1600

For more info I can be contacted on 0417590547

Flinders and Sorrento weekend

Fished Sorrento in Port Phillip Bay on the Saturday just gone, was sad to say that we did not see anything worth taking photo's of but managed a bag of 20 squid without a struggle, all small squid from 25 to 30 cm hoods, surprising to see after a couple of weeks of some bigger versions. I tried to top it off with a trip to Flinders with the guys from That's Fishing TV but struggled to find anything at all worthwhile, we only got 3 squid and only about 25cm hood size, we worked the Flinders Reef area in Western Port for 5 hours losing heaps of gear along the way, at last count it was 9 Gan Craft egi-jya, 4 Gancraft ou-Jya, 4 megabass dartcrew UDSL, 4 Megabass Dartcrew 2.9 egi, 4 Yamashita Egi O Q Live, 4 Ecogear Fishleague Flash Max and 4 Evergreen's. A very expensive day on the water. That said I will be back for more punishment of my wallet very soon. Maybe it was the effect of the full moon or maybe it was simply the flogging they got from the public holiday, I have never seen so many boats in the area we were fishing. Was still great to get out with mates and enjoy the water.

Boat Show Day 1

Nice day at the Show with good crowds, not too busy and not too quiet, lots of time to walk around and have a chat with friends and was great to see a heap of familiar faces coming in to the Fishing Fever Stand. Highlight for me was watching Lee and Adam talk about Egi Fishing to a fresh audience who had never heard of it before, very receptive audience and is another good sign of Egi Fishing popularity in Australia.

Fishing Fever Stand

Adam 'Mad Dog' Royter Giving Egi talk

Lee Rayner (Fishing Fever Tackle Store, Adventure Bound TV) Giving Egi Talk

Melbourne Boat Show

Will be at the Melbourne Boat show on Thursday and Friday helping out on the Fishing Fever stand so pop past if are there and say hi, am hoping to keep the weekend free though as another search for some big southern Port Phillip Bay Squid is on the agenda. Been some nice squid coming in and we still have about a month before they start moving in bigger numbers, good sign so far.

I am going to also have a look at some of the squid reef we have been building over the last few years and see how they are progressing, if last weekend is anything to go by then we are in for a treat as the big ones we caught a fortnight ago came from an area near one of our squid reefs. Later on this year we will be working with a diver to implant mobile squid reef nearby common squid breeding areas, once the reef has become laden with eggs then the reef will be transported underwater to one of our constructed permanent reefs. We are doing this for a few reasons but mainly to take the pressure off the current spawning areas as they are relatively small and are well known to anglers this will hopefully allow squid to continue spawning at current known locations as well as create a new population of squid that can spawn with out angler pressure for a while to increase population doubling times and maintain an already healthy population of squid. I will be speaking to the DPI about a squid reef program in the coming months so if any one has any input they would like to pass on all thoughts are appreciated.

  Great day on the water in southern Port Phillip bay, Melbourne. Started off a bit slow with hundreds of small squid plagued the southern areas of PPB from Blairgowrie through to Point Lonsdale.



 Slight Change in tact and moved into a 4.5 meter deep area that was very reefy and we decided to battle through the little ones and keep at the larger models in the hope that one of the breeders had come in early.

Took a little while but they started to get better at the top of the high tide around the Portsea area once the wind had picked up a bit to approx 10 knots, until then the wind had been zero so maintaining a drift was tough in the boat

 Egi of choice was the Gan Craft Egi- Jya 3.5 in Heart Panda and Orenjiriarushurinpu.  Most dissapointing moment of the day was loosing an egi that was a gift from Yuya Nakahira San and the only one in Australia, still in Australia just lodged in the bottom of the sea and not in my tackle bag. So the last photo was the last time it will see a squid.


We ended up with a few nice ones with the biggest going about 45 cm and weighed approx 2.8kg, looks like PPB stil has another month before the breeders start so time will tell