A couple more clips

Another of the Clips for the BIAV Life's Better with a Boat summer series. Boat ramp etiquette and trailer reversing.

Mitch Catches His First Snapper

Life's Better with a Boat

In recent weeks I have been asked to partake in some video shorts and a pod cast relating to life being better with a boat with the BIAV. Here is the first of many clips to come.

To set the scene we had some bad weather forecast and we originally planned to do a few short clips on checking the boat before you start to launch. As I stepped out of the car the lightning and thunder hit so I figured lets talk about the weather instead.

I will continue to post these clips as they come.

From Perth to Adelaide

We wrapped up Perth that night and made plans to get me to the airport nice and early as I was due to go on the stage at the Adelaide Boat show at 1100

I arrived to a wet and windy Adelaide and found a cab to get me to the show grounds, I arrived at the gate with more luggage than you could poke a stick at, trying to maneuver 2 suitcases, a tackle bag, a laptop bag, a camera bag and an 8' rod tube is not a lot of fun on your own no matter how many wheels you cases have.

I gave Steve the SA sales agent a call in the hope he was near by, lucky for me he was inside and offered to lend a hand. In true chivalrous fashion he sent his awesome wife Helen out to help. Nice handball job hahahaha. I was not too sure what to expect at the Adelaide Boat show as I had not been to one before and although a lot smaller than the Melbourne show that I had just been to it showed signs of a good show.

We were located in one of our retailers stands, Tacklebusters had a cracking set up with their retail store with exhibitors lined around the outside, we were one of the exhibitors displaying the wares of Gladiator Tackle and the brands they represent. Knowing I did not have a heap of time up my sleave I headed staright out the back to set up my gear after first finding the coffee maker. Coffee done and gear set up I was introduced to Lea who was looking after the main stage. I ripped a USB copy of my presentation off my laptop and handed it to the bloke looking after the technical side of things.

To try and sum up this setup it was incredible - A prime mover truck with a trailer that has a built on giant screen, a cat walk and a stage. The mob was called Rod Train Promotions and they have got this thing down pat.

I had enough time to wander around and catch up with some folks, the guys from Premium Fishing were over from Melbourne as was Sean Clancy from BLA a few other familiar faces to greet and a quick smoke it it was stage time.

I started the first talk with 3 people seated and I think they were just on their phones or eating lunch hahahaha but  within a few minutes we started to get a crowd, this was the quietest day at the show and things were looking promising for the next 2 days. I finished off the talk and headed back to the stand until I noticed that there was a bikini show on the cat walk so I had to head back around just to make sure I had not left anything behind (thats my excuse and I am sticking to it). We hung around the stand for the rest of the show, well the lollies and chocky's kind of kept me there but it was great to keep me going till the end of the day. We called it a day and Steve and Helen whipped me around to the hotel where I could get a bit of sleep for the next 2 days.

Day 2 comes around and I was supposed to be up and at em fairly early but as per normal I left everything till the last minute and got up late, a quick shower and it was time to get working again. I was picked up from the hotel and made the bolt for the show grounds again a good sign was a gathering of people waiting to get in, we rushed to the stand to get set up and the people started coming in.

My first talk was due at any time so I sorted some gear and headed to the stage, like yesterday there was only a handful of folks sitting around the stage area, I started my talk and before long the sign I was hoping for was a full house. Almost all seats filled with bums and people actually involved in the talk. I could not have hoped for better, I had learned from yesterday that the fashion parade was going to follow me again so this time I took a bit longer to pack my gear up.

After the success of the first talk it was decided that I would do another in the afternoon which came as a surprise but more than happy to help out. Similar results followed the first talk and it was great to see some interest from the Adelaide folks. We finished the day on a good note and decided to head out for a feed with all the other folks working at various stands around the show. It was good to catch up with some familiar faces in a social format rather than all business.

The next day followed the same trend, I managed to get 2 talks in on the day. We did have a little issue with the person following me trying to cut the talk short so he could capitalize on the crowd but I made sure everyone knew I was going to talk for as long as I needed to so every one got as much info as they could from my talk and talk I did. Here is a tip for those folks in the future - dont try and but in on the guy with the microphone or he will take the crowd back to his stand.......

I was asked to do another quick talk in the afternoon but we had simply run out of time. My flight was leaving at 1630 back to Melbourne which was good for 2 reasons, I got to see my family who I had only seen for a few days in the past 3 weeks and also it meant I got out of packing up the stand, win win.

I finally got home at 2000 that night and slept for what seemed like a week, only to find I was heading to Sydney on a 2 day trip the very next day. Planes, trains and automobiles - getting sick of them all but love catching up with the folks when I get to where I need to go.

More planes! Perth bound.

So the Melbourne Boat show had come to an end, I had 24 hours to get my gear sorted and head to Perth.

Ryan Thipthorpe from Oceanside Bait and Tackle was kind enough to invite me over to do a couple of squid talks for the folks in Perth. This was our second trip across the nulabor to talk squid but it had been 2 years so I was keen to mix it up with the Perth locals.

Perth is a great squid fishery and had been one step ahead fo the rest of the country until recently so I was keen to see what changes had come since my last visit. Perth being a few hours behind us it meant that I did not have to wake up at the crack of dawn for the 2.5 hour flight, departure was at a gentlemanly hour of 0930 on a Tuesday morning.

Being in Perth was a 2 prong job so to speak, not only was I there to do some squid talks but it also gave me some time to cruise around the stores with the sales manager of Gladiator Fishing Tackle to see what was happening in the WA market. Its funny how a couple of hours in a plane can change the whole tackle market but it is a very different one to the one I know here in Victoria. Was good to get around and see some new stuff in some new places.

After a full day of visiting stores a quick stop back at the hotel for a shower and to grab some gear and it was off to Ocean Side Marine and Tackle to run the squid talk. We arrive with only a short time to spare and it was good to catch up with a few familiar faces from friends I had met along the way on facebook and through various other forums. Ryan was kind enough to offer up a rod and a few squid jigs as a door prize so after me babbling on for a bit a draw was conducted and a winner was decided. Absolutely shagged after a big day we stopped by a pizza shop and ordered a couple of pizza's a Family size for me and a small for Neil, I think Neil was a bit shocked to hear that my order was not being shared with him.

With another day of store visits we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep so we could do it all again. We woke up to another perfect Perth morning full of sunshine and blue skies, oddly enough it was record wind and rain storms in Melbourne, my local pier was washed away with the weather, where I was standing though you would never have known.

Back to Oceanside for another talk. It was nice to have Shane O'Reilly along with his camera to film the night (just waiting for some permissions before we can share it)Shane has been an important part of promoting squid fishing in WA and is a cracking bloke to boot, he was the guy kind enough to do a video review of the DRESS Titan handle for me. The night went great and again Ryan had another rod to give away and another happy customer walked away with a new egi rod.

All up it was a great trip to Perth as much as I would have liked to get some fishing time in, on this trip it was just not possible, I am only young though so I am sure there will be ample opportunity to get over there again to do some more with some of the other cool folks I have met visiting the stores.

Massive thanks to Ryan Thipthorpe for the invite and for being a gracious host, its always good to meet more passionate people in this industry - thanks mate.

No rest for the wicked - Melbourne Boat Show 2014

Only just landing in Melbourne 3 days earlier it was time to get my arse back into gear and do some work.

The 2014 BIAV Melbourne Boat show meant another week of talking squid on stage and kicking around the Lowrance stand talking sounders with punters who came to see the show. Each day I managed to pull a crowd which was great and I also had a bit more time after the talks to spend with the crowd talking about squid.

I also managed to go for a wander around and catch up with the regular heads that we see every year at the boat show. There are a few of us that gather every year for a boat show brekky at Crown and all round nice bloke Frank kindly rings the day before to make sure they have enough eggs for my breakfast.

Always a great time at the Boat show as hard as it is on the feet and my shoe had a blow out and died on day 5 will testify to that, in the end it was a well worth it as we picked up a few awards along the way. Well done all involved it was a cracking event. Here is a clip from the stage that captures some of the show.

Last day in Japan - Eging Summit 2014

** CLICK IMAGES FOR FULL DEFINITION**

Well the folks from Gan Craft had again made the trip incredible, honestly I have been treated better than royalty once again. I can never thank them enough for the way they look after me when I go and visit. They left the most scenic place of all till last.

We had a kind of sleep in before making our way to a historical gem hidden in the hills near Like Biwa. The entire area is heritage listed and being a resident of the area meant you were required to adhere to some very strict regulations on keeping the buildings and area historically and culturally original. The city of Hikone locate in the prefecture of Shiga was known throughout history as an industrial and transportation hub. The channel system was used by merchants to take goods from this hub through a series of other canals though to  a port in Lake Biwa where goods were unloaded from small merchant vessels and loaded to larger vessels that would then take goods across Biwa to the rivers that accessed bigger cities or the sea.  

Kotaro had arranged a historical boat ride in one of these canals that had buildings that were an integral part of the trade and merchant system. There was a voice over going that explained the historical significant value to the area but it was all in Japanese. I was able to pick up enough to see the important part that this system and its buildings played in the history of the area and to the trade values Japan has been known for in more than 400 years of western communications. Looking around as we gently drifted down the canals it is hard to imagine that most of the buildings around us were older than colonized Australia. Taking in the history of the area was easy to do when it remained mostly unchanged for hundreds of years. The people who live in this town have a real love for the historical value that it has and embrace the preservation of its town as it always has been.

Everything around me made me feel like I was actually in the time of the Edo period and you could easily imagine the hustle and bustle of the merchant trading scene, the large buildings all had fast access to the canals for loading and trading while roads on the other side of the buildings made it a regional transport hub. Goods would be bought and sold  then transported through here and through out the region. The further we drifted down the stream the more spectacular the scenery got with trees enveloping the canal, bridges crossing that were rebuilt the same as the original, traditional tea and eating houses lined the busier community area that was also layed out the same as it was hundreds of years ago. Time was irrelevant while we were cruising on the water as life just passed by us an nothing else mattered, the scenery was simply captivating. I am not much of a touristy kind of person. However, for me this was not one of those gimmicky touristy attractions, this was a real indication of how things were without locking it up and making a tourist park out of it.

The cruise had to come to an end as we had heaps still to do and I still had a plane to catch. One of the reasons we had planned to stop here was to explore this possibility that the best Shu Cream shop in Japan was located here, we wondered up the path to the shu cream shop only to find that it only makes shu cream in the winter and not in the warmer months. Yeah i was disappointing that I could not get any shu cream but looking at the bakery it was a very nice place and they had so many other gut widening goodies so I decided to grab a few other snacks and pick up a few treats for my family back home. The sun was nice and high and to tell you the truth I had got a bit burned on the eging summit event day and then pick up a bit more sun the day before on Lake Biwa fishing, at least I had some sun protection from the hat that Mr Hirawiwa had gifted to me but it was still warm for early spring.

Just as I was starting to feel a bit relaxed Kotaro reminded me that we needed to do a bit more walking to get to the cable car that would take us to the top of the mountain. Now we are talking, I love looking at these places but the walk is a killer - this one had a cable car. We made it just on time as the cable car was getting ready to leave, we did the bolt to get a ticket as the gates were closing and made it just in time, I sat down and enjoyed the 5 minute trip to the top of the mountain. The enjoyment of the cable car ride was only to be short lived though as when we got out no one told me there would be stairs galore to get to the top where a shrine was built. I worked my way up the stairs panting the whole way and stopping for a smoke along the way. The walk was worth it though as the place was amazing. 

Biwako (Lake Biwa)

More walking and we came across a viewing platform that showed the entire prefecture and a view of Lake Biwa. We were not high up enough to see but the lake gets its name from a stringed instrument. Biwa is related to Biwako. Kōsō, a learned monk of Enryaku-ji in the 14th century, referred to a clue of Biwako in his writing; "The lake is the Pure land of Benzaiten (Japanese Buddist Godess). Because she lives in the Chikubu Island and the shape of the lake is similar to Biwa, her favorite instrument." We could not see the shape reffered to but the view was awesome all the same and we could see where we had fished for Bass only yesterday.

Hikone Castle

We returned to the car to make a short trip to the Hikone Castle. The Hikone Castle is just one of 4 Castles in Japan that is listed on the UNESCO Heritage list as unchanged, meaning it stands as it did hundreds of years ago. Hikone Castle traces its origin to 1603 when Ii Naokatsu, son of the former daimyo Ii Naomasa, ordered its construction. The keep was originally built in 1575, as part of Ōtsu Castle, and was moved to Hikone by the Ii clan. Other parts of the castle were moved from Nagahama Castle. Hikone Castle was completed in 1622. Naokatsu's lands had been taken from him in the interval by the Tokugawa shogunate, and when his brother Naotake assumed control of the area around Ōmi Province, he was able to complete the castle by collecting stones from the former Sawayama Castle. When the Meiji era began in 1868, many castles were scheduled to be dismantled, and only a request from the emperor himself, touring the area, kept Hikone Castle intact. Today it remains one of the oldest original-construction castles in Japan. 

So much for using straight timber to keep things square

We made our way up yet again more stairs, sheesh if I didn't known better I reckon they were trying to give me some much needed exercise so they did not have to get special bigger sized shirts. I struggled to get up all the stairs and when we made it to the top I was reminded of how unfit I was when a lady in her 80's and with 2 walking sticks overtook me on the last leg of stairs. We went inside for a sticky beak and was amazed at the construction of this place. If one of my carpenter mates ever tells me the timber must be straight so it lasts and remains square I am showing them this picture of a 400 year old castle and not a straight bit of timber to be seen, in fact it looks like they looked for the most twisted and bent bits of wood to build the support from of this building

Entry door, for mini people and to keep groups from flooding in

This castle was designed with protection in mind for its inhabitants, the entry was steep and many stairs required to reach the high level of the building, it had very high walls all round preventing the easy access to un guarded areas, doorways were small and narrow making it difficult for more than one person to gain access at a time, it had no internal stairs for access to the higher levels of the building instead using ladders that could be lifted away making it hard for people to gain access to the people in the top floor, the top floor had marksmen ports added to shoot arrows down at enemies and it even had a secret room built as a last resort to hide from attackers. They put a lot of thought into fortification in these castles and it worked for many years, so much so that many western castles took design elements from them and implemented them into their own castles.

Hikone Garden

I had just about had enough of stairs and there was no doubt that I was going to sleep well on my flight home, so now we could make the slow descent down the hill and back to the car via a garden that is known through out Japan. The garden is often used in Japanese movies as it is historically original. We got to the bottom of the mountain and walked toward a building, I later found out this building that looked like an original Japanese house was indeed a hotel. I saw an aussie checking in at the hotel (VB singlet gave him away LOL) we walked between a couple of buildings and came across scenery that was literally breath taking, its one of those places that when you stand in it you have nothing to say as there is nothing you could say. Its just amazing.

We completed our tour of this place and I was blown away at the building as and the gardens that I had seen that day. That said the best was yet to come, a trip to my second fave fishing tackle store in Japan Fishing Max. I had to pick up a few last minute items that I could not get in Australia so this was the place to do it. I loaded up with enough stuff to keep my bag weight down and my carry of safe and we headed towards the airport. I have said it before and I will say it again. Thank you, every one in Japan that made my trip spectacular. It was great to catch up with friends old and new. The team from Gan Craft really looked after me again and I can not put into words how great full I am of their support, every one in the Tanabe community that welcome me on each trip and the people who always go above and beyond to make me feel comfortable. 

Enough typing though the pics will do this place more justice than I could ever explain so I will just chuck em below - enjoy.

Merchant loading area

Heritage building about to be renewed

Hikone Garden

Hikone Garden

Hikone garden with castle in back ground

Hikone Garden

Canal crossing - made removable for boat access

Merchant trade canal

Traditional merchant boats used for carrying small goods

Merchant canals

Hill climb

This shrine is the shrine to the unborn children and infants that had passed
Very sad place

Merchant canals

cable car

This bee was freaking huge - about 2 inches long

Shrine entrance

Gold shrine on top of the mountain

Monk residence on mountain top at the shrine

The stairs to Hikone Castle

Hikone Castle - almost there

Bridge to the castle - this is where the old lady overtook me

Entrance to the Castle grounds

inside the castle - second floor

this is where a ladder would have been prior to the stairs being built

the high walls prevented access for attackers

Hikone Garden

Hikone Garden