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