New Boat

 Well as some folks already know while I was in Perth I bought a new boat from a dealer in Melbourne, settled on a Carolina Skiff Sea Chaser 1800 Offshore, its a nice 5.4m center console with casting platforms and all the nice options, took her for a wet run yesterday to start the engine run in, although I could not run her at WOT she was very nice on the water, I am wrapped with the ride of the boat, comfort and performance, buying a couple of sounders for her today and a lecky motor in a few weeks.

A couple of weeks with Gan Craft crew Japan

I have been fortunate enough to spend the last couple of weeks with the great guys from Gan Craft in Japan, it was an absolute honor to conduct some egi talk nights along side the founder and creator of Gan Craft Mr Takanori Hiraiwa, something that I will remember for a long time, although the time went fast as it was a very busy period I had a blast and these guys are great fun to hang with, not only did I learn a thing or 2 about a thing or 2 when it comes to egi but I also learned a bit more Japanese in particular variants in dialects, I learned how to write Japanese calligraphy (kind of) and I learned that Mandurah is not just around the corner from Perth. Long drive for those who have not been to WA before. Met heaps of tackle store people and all in all was a great time. Sadly 2 of our guests had to spend their birthdays away from family and friends so we did what we could to make it feel a bit like home.

I hope they enjoyed their stay and I also hope we can see them back here for the 2011 Yamashita Squid Series 2011 Grand Final in Feb.

Pictures will say more than words so here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks.

And finally for the guys from Japan "Yanacoi mate!" and thanks for a cracking couple of weeks hanging in Australia.

Yamashita Squid Seies 2011 Gan Craft Round 6

For once in the history of our events we had perfect conditions on both days, light sea breezes, sun shining and more squid than you can poke a stick at. This round was a donation event where teams were asked to contribute a donation to Beyond Blue rather than pay an entry fee to compete, thanks to all who contributed we managed to raise more than $600 for this cause.

Day one saw teams assemble at Quarantine Bay for the 0700 start with mirror conditions in the  harbour, with teams off I hung around at the ramp chatting with a few people curious as to how things work, not more than 20 minutes later I had a phone cal from team Yamashita 1 seeking to take advantage of the early weigh in. Scales out of the car and laptop turned on they were back before the computer even booted up. Bag on scales it pulled down an impressive 1.855kg giving them a cracking start to the day and also giving the other teams reason for concern. The rest of the day was quiet until weigh in.

The Warneet Crew was the first to weigh in closely followed by Team Gladiator while the other teams left it till the final minutes to secure their weights. The Top 3 finished like this

1st Team Gan Craft - Takanori Hiraiwa / Yoshiyuki Iwamoto - 3 squid =2.605kg
2nd Team Yamashita 1 - Dominic Costanza / Glenn McDonnell - 3 Squid = 2.505kg
3rd Team Gladiator - Stephen Blackmore / Andrew Wilson - 3 Squid = 1.625kg

All teams managed to get their bags within the firs few hours having the remainder of the day to upgrade making for interesting competition and any ones event in day 2.


Day 2 saw and almost immediate loss to team Gladiator with boat issues keeping them from starting day 2 leaving the 3rd position open to any one who weighs in, with 1st and second so close there is plenty of room for any one at the top. With similar conditions to day 1 we kicked off the day start. I stuck around for a while in the morning in the off chance that I got another call with a big squid, all quiet on the entrants front I headed in to town for breakfast and to see if I could find a vantage position to see what some of the teams were doing and hopefully with the help of a zoom lens get a few pics.


I returned to the weighing tent at 1200 and had a chance to speak with plenty of locals who were keen to talk about what we were doing, great to see a community get behind an event like this with plenty of people interested in another event in their town.


First team to weigh in was Yamashita 1 with all other teams following in close succession. The final day top 3 finished like this with a cumulative total for the 2 days as follows.

1st Team Gan Craft - Takanori Hiraiwa / Yoshiyuki Iwamoto - 6 squid =5.245kg
2nd Team Yamashita 1 - Dominic Costanza / Glenn McDonnell - 6 Squid = 4.060kg
3rd Warneet Crew - Megan McDonnell / Shane Hutchinson - 6 Squid = 3.215kg

Team Yamashita 1 also took out the Berkley Big Squid Prize with their Day1 early weigh in of 1.855kg.


It should be noted that none of the teams in the top 3 had never fished for squid in Eden prior to the event and some not even in Australia, it is a credit to their skill base and knowledge of all things squid to do as well as they did.


Although not officially announced until the Grand Final Team Yamashita 1 should be congratulated for placing them selves in a position that can not be beaten for Team Of The Year 2011, they had a tough year but managed 2 podium finishes and were able to make it to each and every event on the calender, as the tournament director I thank them for their support and am proud to hand the prize over along with the trophy to the boys. It is a well deserved win and one I know they will be proud of.

Arrived at Eden

Well we are here for the Yamashita Squid Series 2011, Gan Craft Round 5 Eden, was a fairly quick trip all things considered, I did not even start packing until 1130 this morning, very smooth run making it here in just under 6 hours with very little traffic on the roads. After running short on time and some communication issues I arrived on my own to some familiar faces.

Arrived at the accommodation to find a picture perfect view from the room, for a change I actually picked a nice room for us.

For the teams that actually came to the event I hope it is one that is full of success. I have to give credit to Team Yamashita 1, Dom and Glenn have been entered every event and shown up to every event on the calender, they have had a tough run and Dom still made the effort to get here after his home was flooded all through only days before. It is people like this that have really made the event possible hence why I will be so proud to hand over the team of the year prize to them if they complete this weekend's event. Thanks Guys.

Also I found some mini banana's for Mr Iwamoto I hope he enjoys.

To see the Gan Craft staff blogs goto:
Mr Hiraiwa gan-off-style - Takanori Hiraiwa blog - Gan Craft founder and nice bloke
Blood Thirsty - Yoshiyuki Iwamoto blog -Gan Craft Media guru and also nice bloke

More stores and more casting

Mr Hiraiwa at Anglers Bait World

Started off nice an earlyish, Adrew Wilson from Gladiator Tackle and I picked our guests up at about 845 and headed off to visit some stores, started in Coburg at Anglers Bait World where I had recently done a squid talk, the store owners Vince and Mitsul were great hosts as the guys browsed through the store, while we were visiting the store a delivery arrived with a box of Gan Craft jigs to top up the shelf. We also found magazine articles and full page ads for Gan Craft. With a little bit of shopping to be done we finished up an headed for the Caravan Super Centre. This was not only the frst visit here for Gan Craft it was also my first ever visit to the store. Was great experience with lots of stock on the shelves and some of my old faves in the bream lure and rod area. Alan from the store has a good grip on everything in the shop and was a nice bloke too. I will be popping back into the store again in the future when I am in the area, it is a long way from me but I am sure I will be driving past from time to time.

ads in mags

We then ventured over to Hoppers Crossing to catch up with Michael, last year we did a talk at this store so was good to get the guys over to again catch up with Michael, smiles all round and plenty of shopping to be done again, maybe the boys will need to buy some more luggage to get the tackle home from all the store visits. We all know that entering a tackle shop with a wallet can be a dangerous exercise as we will always find something knew we want. I then snuck away for a tick as we had some one who was away from there family and friends and trying to enjoy their birthday, Yuach our friend from Japan turned 30 yesterday so a cake was in order for some small celebrations, with short notice we also arranged some chocky and beer for the evening.

something looks familiar

Big drive now to Hastings in the hope of some successful egingu with Gawaine from Bigtime Fishing Charters. On the way we stopped in at Gone Fishing at Carrum Downs to again catch up with the staff that were so helpful on their last journey. Danny and the boys were great and coffee's were made all round while chatting and browsing through the store. No surprise more shopping also. Gone Fishing started only a few years ago and has tripled in physical size and have multiplied their stock many times over, a very successful store in its short existence.

Mr Hiraiwa, Alan, me and Mr Kake

A quick trip past my place to pick up some fishing gear and a stop off to get some fishing and chips for the guys we were on the way to Hastings, not a lot to report here, after the rain the water temp was 19.5 degrees and the water dirty so egingu was going to be tough. It proved so tough that no squid were landed in the short time we had on the water, sadly the guys have been here now for 3 days and no squid yet, we will have to see what eden turns on for them.

Yuach Birthday Cake

Birthday beer and chocky

mmmmmmmmm Cake

Egi browsing

Michael and the guys looking at pics

nice day to be on the water

Don and Mr Kake at Gone Fishing

Coffee boats and tackle, this is why we smile

Mr Hiraiwa (Gancha)