Quick squid session in the cold

We had a small break in the weather this morning, a very small break but a break none the less so I grabbed my mate Dan and headed to the southern end of Western Port to have a look around some new water that I had ever fished before. With the rain we had fall during the last few days the water clarity was as I expected....... Filthy dirty mud colored water at the ramp. This would also mean that the normal haunts in the northern parts of the Port would also have similar effects so the decision to head south was a relatively easy one to make. We knew we did not have a lot of time and we knew that thunderstorms and heavy rain were coming so it was only going to be a quick bash and explore to find some squid in a new area not often fished.

Victoria did not let us down in the weather department putting on massive displays of rain, wind and low temperatures, it did not take long for the wet weather gear to come out and the beanie and neck warmer in place to keep the cold wind out. we found a few productive drifts and managed a fair few squid before a slight swing in the wind from the west changed our drift and left us with out the protection of land, our drift speed was getting up around 2.5kph so working a jig was tough. We made a quick move back up to Tyabb bank for a sniff around but again the wind was ripping through and drift speed was higher than expected. We decided to call it quits and head to the car wash place to give the tub a scrub before I head overseas to Japan mid next week.

For all my friends in Japan I will be arriving in Japan on Wednesday the 18th of July at Kansai then Heading to Kobe for a couple of days before heading south to hang with my friends from Gan Craft. Looking forward to the trip. If any one is keen to catch up while I am there drop me a message and I will try and meet up if time allows.

For those who are not convinced that it is me in the photo please look at the pic below and the shorts and crocs should give me away

Boat Show wrap up

What a week.......

Day 1 talk

Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Melbourne BIAV Boat Show 2012 to get up on the fishing stage and share with the visitors to the show some info on Egi Techniques, Gan Craft and Gosen products and Squid.

This was a real honor and a privilege to be able to get up on the stage and talk about my fishing passion along side some great fishing minds like Lee Raynor, Charlie Micallef, Shaun Clancy, Bill Milonas, Dale McClelland the good folks from fisheries and of course Doug Phayer who kept us on time. I managed to fill 5 spots on the stage through out the week covering everything from squid spawning to egi techniques and correct product use. Was great to be able to get a fair crowd for each of the talks and they were all appreciated as I have never been a fan of talking to myself, I know I got heaps out of it I only hope the punters enjoyed it as much as I did.

Charlie

Being at the show so often I had a good chance to wonder around the show a lot and got to play with lots of new toys and dream about a few new toys like the Simrad NSS12. This unit was like teh hamburger with the lot including a touch screen and easy access menus, only took me a matter of minutes to work out what was what and how it all worked so very user friendly and just to rub it in a mate Brent bought one at the last minute for his Stabi Craft. I have a feeling that I may be spending a bit of time on his boat playing with the unit, I have also managed to borrow a demo unit of its baby brother the NSS8 from Bill at Navico so I can see how it compares with the HDS units I currently have and perhaps convince me to upgrade.

Standing on the roof of the evo

The new Evolution Axis was a pleasant change from the Melbourne mentality of must be a half cab to be a boat. This centre console weapon is based on the 550 Platinum from their current range but with no cab and a well thought out floor plan. Jimmy from Evolution had his work cut out for him convincing the owner of Evolution Paul Junginger to evolve from cab to flat casting deck but after much work the finished product was on display for the show. Speaking of evolution boats, I am not easily impressed with many boats, however, on asking Junginger about how strong his hardtop was and if you could put a Tuna tower on top he told me to climb on top and see. I am no light weight, in fact I weigh just on 125kg and I took him up on the challenge. I took my time at first as I did not want to break his nice shiny 650 Apex Predator but once on the roof I could not believe how strong it was, the roof did not bend flex or move in any way shape or form. Very impressed.

Day 2 talk

Managed to get some new LED lights for my trailer at a bargain price so now have some re wire work to do but well worth the investment.

Massive show with heaps to keep everyone entertained, much bigger in size than last year and hopefully a sign of things to come in the future.

Last of all massive thanks to Ben Scullin for getting me on the stage and also to Dale McClellend for broaching the subject of political threats to rec fishing in Australia.

View from Merrywell restaurant at Crown

Dale on rec fishing

Stage crowds

Lee Rayner

Day 3 Talk

Winger

Doug Phayer

BRP Girls

Final Day talk