Shooting The Breeze.

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Photo By John Cahill Ebbtide

It has been a long time coming, well known fishing photo journalist John Cahill and I have been threatening to get together for a fish for well over a year and all the planets aligned and both of us finally had a day where we were free to do just that.

The plan was to hit Western Port on a Squid and Whiting on lures session but a stiff NW wind put a quiet death on the Whiting on lures as even with the assistance of the electric motor getting a good drift was a task with wind against tide so all focus was put on the squid.

Photo by John Cahill Ebbtide

We met at Hastings boat ramp at gentleman's hours a little after 0830 and made our way south, the wind was just starting to get up but we managed to hold about 60kmph in the chop going across the water to our spot. I stopped to have a play in an old favorite but other than a couple of pike pinching jigs things started off pretty slow. We made a slight move down the port a bit until we found some nice ground laying in the very same direction as our desired drift. It did not take forever before we started to find a few squid, not the giants I was hoping for but some consistent sized catches all the same. Now having John on board his camera was clicking away at various stages of our journey and I was looking forward to see what he managed to snap while we were out and about.

After loosing a few more jigs to some pike and some reef (DOH) I took some time to tie a few more FG knots, now let me just say that if you are trying to tie an FG knot in chop with 20kt winds blowing you in the face expect it to take a little longer than normal.

Photo by John Cahill Ebbtide

With new knots tied we went extra shallow as things were not happening much in the mid to deeper water, with the shallow water below John decided it was a good time to put on a wet suit, with a few squid hooked up it looked like a good time to get a few happy snaps with a waterproof camera and a few above water with the DSLR, pics all done we got John back into the boat to warm up, it takes a dedicated journo to get into the water in the dead of winter on a day where ice had formed on the boat on the way to the ramp.

While drifting around it was good to run into the squid slaying Thinkbig Charter boat with Shaun skippering on the day who has been having some amazing results on the big squid, great example of dedicated time on the water experience for results, cudos to them, consistency is what keeps them going and consistency is what they have, consistent catches of good squid this skipper knows where and how to find them.

Not sure why but we decided to make a move further north up the

Photo by Shaun Furtiere of Think Big Charters

Port to the Tyabb area as a just in case routine in the hope of finding some bigger models, with wind against tide and a dropping tide I had to take the long way round to get further North, it was going to be a wet run. Tired and wet we arrived at the Tyabb Bank to drift a little more, the traffic in this area was not to my cup of tea and some folks had left their manners at home by dropping 15 meters in front of our drift line. It would seem I was not going to be able to play well with others so it was decided that we call it a day so John could get home and have a look at the pics he had taken.

All in all a great day out and a pleasure to fish with John Cahill, for those interested in Johns work check out Ebbtide Adventures there is heaps to see and read and even a few things to grab in the online store for the GT fisho's and for those who are keen to head out on Thinkbig charters and chase some big squid checkout thinkbig charters web site as I am sure Shaun and the team will work hard to fin you the big ones you are looking for. Massive thanks to John Cahill for pumping out some great pics and being brave enough to get in the icy cold Melbourne water.

Photo by John Cahill Ebbtide

Photo by John Cahill Ebbtide

John Chaill of Ebbtide

Photo by John Cahill Ebbtide