Day 2 Japan Trip

Park next to hotel

Another full on day today, had a cracker sleep in and did not wake up till 0600 this morning, after the normal shower and get dressed routine I jumped into the lift and headed for the buffet breakfast, now for those of you who have not yet worked it out I am not too bad on the chew and I enjoy my food so I was a hungry man on a mission to destroy the buffet. Try as I may I only took 3 plates because I had a big day planned, I knew I did well though because the chef told me that they normally only cook eggs twice for breakfast but he was making number 3 just for me LOL. Pretty chockers full of food I decided I would do something I never do and that was go for a walk to have a look at the sights near the hotel, I did not travel too far away as I am sure my body would have gone into shock if I did and for those who dont know Kobe has lots of hills and is on the edge of mountain ranges.

Storm water dragons

I wont bore you with all the details but the pictures will speak louder than words, its really an amazing city. One of the details I have to explain is the amount of vending machines in this town, what ever direction you look is a machine, I was sitting in a park-playground area and decided I wanted a drink so I approached the vending machines for a coke, however, I had trouble finding a coke as the vending machines were full of beer, I had to get a photo of that, not more than 20 meters from this playground area was vending machines full of beer and smokes, in the end I found my coke in a chain store here called Lawsons. The girl at the counter was learning English and I am attempting to learn Japanese so she practiced her English and I had a dip at some Japanese, must have got my message across as I left with a coke and we both had a few chuckles.

beer machine

Maruha Tackle store

I wandered back to the hotel to meet with Mr Kitagawa so we could go and have a look at some tackle stores, I have been looking forward to tackle stores more than anything else and all I can say is OH MY GOD. Multi level tackle stores and with more subiki jigs on one wall that I have seen in Australia period. You name a lure its here, hook size? yep they have it. Surreal experience and lucky I do not travel with a credit card with big limits or I could not afford my trip home, too much to play with and it did my head in. The first shop we went to  was a chain store a bit like Tackleworld at home and when I got to the egi section it took my 20 minutes just to browse past  the literally thousand of jigs on the wall and Mr Kitagawa tells me that this particular store is not so big and the next one would be better for me, in shock all I could say was OK.  I picked up a few toys and off to the next shop. The next shop was bigger and had more variety, called Maruha it had its own floor just for lures so this was going to get

Maruha lure man

 expensive......... after a good look around I discovered some Inchiku jigs, this is what I was looking for to buy on this trip as no one in Australia stocks them, they are going to be my new snapper smasher this year, although I reckon I will be beefing up the leader because it is an expensive trip back to pick up a few jigs. I found a few more things that were pretty cool too so invested a bit more into their local economy. We were running low on time as I was dragging my feet a bit playing with all the new toys that I have never seen in Australia, I made my way to the counter and I met with the worker who was happy to see Australian Gan Craft Pro Staff in his store so it was out with the cameras for a few pictures for the store and for his blog, I thought I would get in on the action and get a pic for my blog also.

Gosen Factory

We did have plans to go to a Gyoza restaurant in Kobe but I took too long looking at all the shiney things in the store so it was off to my second preferred food store to Gyoza,  McDonalds. I tried the McTeriyaki burger, it gets a 2 thumbs up from me, and then a Big Mac meal just to see how close it tastes to home and nope no different. We did the mad dash back to Mr Kitagawa's office to pick up his boss and then off to the Gosen Factory to see how the line is made, after about 1 hour's drive we arrived at Gosen and was met by  Mr Hitoshi Kishimoto (General Manager) and Mr Toshiaki Morikata (Manager Fishing Tackle) where after introductions we went inside to meet with some more staff, we took a short drive to the braiding factory a massive factory that was braiding fine strands of dyneema to make braided line, This factory had more than 700 of these machines pumping out line all over the place,

Braiding Machines

 some 4 strand some 8 strand and some assist hook core line, was amazing to see how it all worked and also amazing to see how many quality checks are preformed before the stage of braiding and also before the line is packaged, its a credit to the company and a clear reason why Gosen pumps out some of the worlds best braided fishing lines. We then headed back to the main factory for a quick tour, however, someone does not own pants nor shoes so we had to limit part of the tour because crocs and shorts were not proper safety attire, will make sure when I come back I will bring some normal people clothes. They do everything here, strands for wigs, monofliliment, fluorocarbon and even polyester sewing thread, I saw the mono extrusion and again the quality checks were incredible, if they did this in the rest of the world then there would be no need for warranties. Next stop was the dying room, this is where 60 spools of braid are placed on a machine and left to run the lines are colored and then dried before being measured and packed for your enjoyment. Seriously guys if you are after some great quality line dont pass up on Gosen, its incredibly tight weave makes it finer than most other lines and does not unwind itself when tying knots. Gladiator tackle is the distributor for Gosen in Australia and unlike many other brands that give the impression they are made in Japan, this stuff is because, I know because I was there while it was being spun. It has been doing it for more than 60 years so I reckon they have it sussed by now. They are making a new export model for us soon, I have been using it on one of my egi outfits and am wrapped with it so keep your peepers out for it.

Don Don  Barbeque

Back to more important things like my stomach, so we all jumped in cars and headed back into Kobe for a traditional Kobe style Japanese Barbeque. I am telling you folks I am gonna make one of these things when I get home, the table would have seated 6 in comfort with a circular grill in the middle, after a few drinks and some pickled vegetables Mr Kitagawa ordered from the menu for us all, soon to arrive at the table was a plate of think sliced pork for the grill, perfection in taste and texture does not give this meal credit and just when i thought that they may have ordered a little light along comes some of Kobe's famous beef in thin slices ready for the grill, some how I managed to eat some green stuff first but the beef was incredible and I could have eaten a tray on my own so I did. Next was some what different, a tray filled with small dishes arrived with products I had not seen before, with some subtle investigation I found that it was the stuff we in Australia cut out and put in the bin, liver, stomach lining, outer stomach, tongue, esophagus and something else that made my stomach turn a little. I did attempt some liver and stomach but gave up after that and we ordered some more beef. The hospitality from the people in Japan has been second to none, Mr Kitagawa has been a perfect host and a lot of help translating Japanese to Engrish for me and getting me around as well as orginising my entire visit thus far. I can not thank him enough for the experience.

Beer, smoke and chopsticks, unseen in Australian eatery

Tomorrow is the most exciting part for me as we head to Wakayama to the Gan Craft Factory.

Here are some random pics from today:

Police Car Nissan Tida LOL no high speed chase.

Not just Police but Super Police, only in Japan

mini bike with road reg

I counted 10 people on site, one working, must have been trained by the board of works

Egi wall, there was 3 more just like it in the same store

Chain Tackle store

Gan Craft Display, Jointed Claw, Bacra and Kaiten

Grill in the table

The offel offering, Keko Des (no thank you)

Kobe side street, this place is littered with them and they all look the same

My tackle building thus far. Is it obvious I am getting into light jigging and popping

Day 1 Japan Trip

Appologies if things dont look right on the page folks, my blog is on auto region and everything is in Japanese so I have no idea what I am clicking on.

Kansai (KIX) Airport

Been a massive day that started in a car then to a plane, then another plane, then a tram, then a bus, then a ferry and then a car.

First thing this morning at about 0300 my lovely wife Kim was kind enough to forfeit some sleep and drive me to the airport at Tullamarine in Melbourne. for a 0600 flight to the Gold Coast Airport in Queensland to meet with my connecting Kansai (Osaka Japan) airport flight, its seems I got out of Melbourne Airport in the nick of time with some sort of disruption causing cancellations and delays across the airport, this time round I opted for a business class flight as most airlines do not cater for a man of my carriage (no wise cracks please LOL), I was fortunate enough to have both seats free so I could spread myself out a bit and just enjoy some space as 9 hours would have been a killer crammed into a little middle row seat.

airport garden

I arrived in Kansai as the only person on the flight wearing shorts and crocs so a massive hit of heat as people got off the plane in 30+ temps wearing their winter woollies coming from Melbourne. I made my way through the airport up a few escalators and ended up at a tram stop, it seems you need to catch a tram thing to the main airport, I worked my way through immigration and customs and went on the hunt for the ferry that would take me from Kansai Airport to Kobe Airport, cant believe how many people spoke English as my bad Japanese was getting a few giggles before finishing conversations in English. I got my ferry ticket sorted and then had to organize a bus to get to the ferry terminal and then a 40 minute wait for the bus to the ferry. I can not speak highly enough of the folks working at the airport, as you can imagine a stranger in a strange place is daunting enough but then to not be able to speak the native tongue is a killer, the people were great and got me on my way with minimal fuss and made everything so simple.

high speed ferry

I got on my buss and then my ferry for a quick 30 minute trip across Osaka Harbour to Kobe airport ferry terminal where I met with Mr Kitagowa who was kind enough to pick me up and take me to my hotel that he had booked for me previously. I am staying at the ANA Crowne Plazza Hotel and first impressions were wow, then I got to my room and double wow, not only did I have a massive room with cracking views from the 23rd floor but they also have ashtrays inside.

Thats it for me today, I am shagged an going to bed while watching Toy Story in Japanese, its funnier than I remember it in English LOL

hotel room

view over Kobe to Osaka from hotel room

Kobe Station

Kuma Colors

Last year during a visits from the folks at Gan Craft Japan some discussions were had about some exclusive limited edition colors in both the egi-jya and uo-jya color range, after some very close consultation some cracking colors will be released in the next month available in Australian stores only. Cant wait to see them on the shelf and congrats to the Japan team for bringing it all together and making the lures as close as humanly possible to what we thought best suited Australian anglers and waters

For those curious as to why we picked these particular colors we will start from the top:

Although the Kuma Killer looks all things black it starts with the foil below the cloth, introducing more red foils into the mix it started with this one, red is best for refracting light at night and in low light so red foil for starters, then as we all know black casts a better silhouette  at night so a black cloth was added to enhance the silhouette, with all bases covered we also considered the contrasting colors and with all black cloth the white eyes and white shrimp pattern along with white feather brought this color out and added some contrast.

The Kuma zero color is one that is close to my heart as I m a big fan of natural colors, I love gold foils as I mostly fish early mornings and late afternoons when the gold foil is best used. By adding browns and blacks  the replication of many Australian bait species was an important choice. We all know how well brown on gold worked in the past before it became harder to find.

Like the Kuma zero the Kuma MG was built with local species in mind and again the red foil, great in low light and a favourite to many egingu anglers Australia wide, bringing the plum through to dark red through to black across the back replicates a lot of species that squid choose to eat including small snapper and red mullet.

The UO-JYa colors were very specific to our local species starting with the top of the list and can any body say grass whiting, slimy mackerel, or yakka. Keeping it real was the motif behind this and the second on the list, although we wanted to add some red to the color instead of green because we all know how much Australian squid like reds. which brings me to my fave of the UO-JYA's the full red color of the drunken red stop color from the original range has always been a very popular color in Australia, that said we wanted one that would have a contrast in color and cause feeding aggression in the squid strike, we think this sums it up just nice and when all is said and done it looks way cool aswell.

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

Melbourne Boat Show 2012

Its that time of the year again when the BIAV hold the annual Melbourne Boat Show, this year is like all other years looking like a big few days at Jeffs Shed with heaps of boat manufacturers from local and abroad along with the many accessories to kit out the boat you alreqady have or the one you are just about to buy, for me I am keep to chat with the boys from Lowrance about the new technology with the HDS units and Shaun from BLA about some of the new Minn Kota's and battery systems for my boat.

For those attending this year I will be on the fishing stage talking about Egi Techniques on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday. Will have a massive screen behind me with some video and photo's to help every one understand why we do what we do to increase our catch rates and size of squid when we are fishing. For full fishing stage schedule check out Melbourne Boat Show 2012 web site (CIick here) and all other info about the show this year. So if you are out and about at the show dont be a stranger come over and say hi, I dont bite much and am always happy to talk all things squid with every one. Also will be spending some time talking off stage about new Slow jigging techniques for all things that swim in the salt from flathead to marlin.

Pinkie Snapper Nostalgia

Its winter in Australia at the moment and although the squidding heats up a bit so does plenty of other fishing opportunities, something I have not done for a very long time was grab the plastics and fly gear and head to Black Rock and Rickets point in Port Phillip bay for an old school pinkie bash. Its far from rocket science and although the fish are not big its great fun on the 2-4kg gear and the 6 weight fly rod. This area is known for its resident population of small snapper year round, when you find a patch they will actively take lures and fly's.

Yesterday's forecast was a bit suspect when looking at it over the weekend and the only window of opportunity was going to be the Tuesday afternoon, so we planned the session for the afternoon, was crushed when I woke that morning to find not a breath of wind in the air and blue skies as far as the eye could see. Still stuck to the plan and made the 15 minute trip down the road  to the Patterson River boat ramp, normally Mordialloc would have been the ramp of choice but with the ramp rebuild Patto was the next best option. One of the other advantages to winter fishing in the boat is the access to the water, there were only 3 other trailers in the carpark that has a 300 car and trailer capacity. No cue and clear sky still we noticed that the wind was gradually getting stronger and was now blowing from the south rather than the north west as predicted. Not deterred we put the boat in the water and started to head out from the mouth of the river, the water in the bay was somewhat washing machine like and the chop could not make up its mind on the direction it wanted to travel, although not the greatest conditions it was far from uncomfortable in my 18foot centre console.

After a short trip we arrived to find birds every where and thought we might be able to have a play with some Salmon but we found that the birds were diving on dolphins and was nothing under them. We made our way to the 9 - 11 meter mark and started to sound up some nice patchy reef, did not take long before the first bite occurred and the first of many pinkies landed on the deck of the boat. I could not tell you how many fish we landed but it was plenty, was not often we could cast without lures getting smashed all over the place. There is a lot of small fish in the area so getting bites can be hard to convert into a hook up, its just a matter of working through the undersized fish and waiting to get some better quality fish. It is important to recognise that if you are planning on doing the same trip that you do not expect to be landing big fish. The area is mainly filled with fish up to 50cm with the average being 30cm on a good day. I was using a mix of soft plastic lures but best results came on Gan Craft Big Spider Micro in Gold Lame Lucky Brown and Watermelon bug and Berkley 4" Minnows in Pumpkinseed.

We had landed our fill of pinkies and the wind had died down a bit so I decided it was time to bring the fly rod out for a play, using Clousers in pink, olive and chartreuse I was hooking up when ever I could get a cast out long enough to be effective in a reasonable drift. The big problem came when sammy the seal moved in and started pinching everything I hooked up on. Suffice to say I need to re stock my saltwater fly collection. That said I still had a blast and really enjoy the trips where action is constant even if its not by massive fish, its the initial hit of the lure by the fish that gets the blood pumping. Am looking forward to doing it all again soon and also trying some more slow jigging in the area over this winter when I get back from my trip to Japan later in July (good chance to stock up on some much needed jigging items you cant buy here).

We finished the session with clear and calm conditions and a cracking sunset giving us a smooth and quick ride home, the quick part was most welcome as the winter air after a southerly blow is a killer on the face when its fully exposed.

Long time between sushi

As most people would know I eat very little seafood products and in fact other than the occasional Fillet O Fish from Mc Donalds I dont eat fish at all. However once upon a time I visited one of Melbourne's premier Japanese tappas style restaurant by invite from one of the very talented chefs at the restaurant Ichi Ni who was also a keen squid angler.

Wataru and Uo-Jya = Squid

It all started when I was conducting squid seminars along with Japanese Gan Craft staff Yuya Nakahira and Kotaro Kake, we had just completed a talk session at Anglers Bait World in Coburg when we met with Wataru, I had spoken with Wataru via facebook on occasions but this was the first time I had met with him. At first I was not too sure if we were going to be able to attend the restaurant with a our very tight schedule but after completing 2 days of competition fishing the guys Yuya and Kotaro agreed that we had some time to visit. It was about 2000 on a Sunday night when we made it to the packed restaurant and with a bit of name dropping we were seated in front of where Wataru was preparing sushi and sushimi for the many patrons inside. I was very impressed with the detail that these guys put into their food. I was asked the question "if I can make fish not taste like fish will you eat it?" perplexed I said "yes but only if you can make it not taste like fish" I am not sure of what stroke of genius was mustered but I awkwardly picked up the chop sticks like a knew what I was doing (clearly I did not know what I was doing) and placed a piece of the fish in my mouth. To my surprise some sort of magic had been created by Wataru and I demolished an entire plate of raw fish. We were off to a good start and the food just got better from there. If any one is looking for a place to try some authentic Japanese cuisine I can not recommend this place enough and if you do go make sure you try the JFC rolls, not sure what the real name is but will get back to you when I find out, Wataru had made a very fancy looking version of a sushi roll with a Japanese Fried chicken that was to die for just for me. It was then decided that I must take this bloke for a fish. So here we are.

I have been trying to work out a time to get out with the Sushi chef extraordinare but with his schedule and mine clashing it was going to be a tough task, that was until I managed to get an early finish in at work, a quick phone call and a time was set for us to meet at Hastings to get out for a squid session. All recent reports were concerning as the squid had not been their normal active selves in recent weeks but we can not catch squid from the couch at home so an attempt was made.

We first headed to Crib Point looking for an area that had flow as with the recent rain we were hoping to find some clean water and Westernport is known for its brown poo color after a bit of rain, the visibility was about 1 meter and a quick drift made it clear that this was not the place for us to find some decent squid so a move towards Tankerton was decided as the flow was faster and water change over is higher with the tide movement. We managed to find some clean water and started a drift, it did not take too long before we found a few squid and they just kept coming. Nothing huge but some nice food sized specimens amongst them. We had a good time while the light lasted but it was not long until the sun went to bed and I also had to go to bed having to start work at 0300 in the morning.

If any one is keen to visit Ichi Ni you can go to their website ICHI NI IZAKAYA or contact them on (03)9534 1212 they are located at 12 The Esplanade  St Kilda Victoria, you will not be disappointed with the quality of bot the service and the food at this place, dont tell em I sent you as they have no idea who I am hahahaha.

Western Port been tough

I managed to get out on the water with Australian Yamashita Pro Staffer Dominic last week for a quick bash around the top end of Westernport, it was a very miserable day and as it was raining the camera stayed hidden for most of the trip, we did manage a nice bag of squid with some released and some taken home for Dom to enjoy a feed, for me the stand out color for me being Gan Craft Sardine in size 3

We launched at Hastings and headed north as the concentration of the squid had been around the northern area's of the port, it was a tough start with a few drifts failing to produce any squid but when the tide turned we managed to start to pick up a few squid in trusty locations that have always produced squid when the going was tough. Size was down on the previous years when fishing at this time of the year but we have put that down to the heavy rain occurring over the last few weeks, it appears that the spawn time may have been put back so a late season may be on the cards.

As miserable as the day was it was good to catch up and finally have a fish with Dom in his backyard so to speak I look forward to do it again some time soon. I also good to see how other people fish for squid, different companies use different methods to both target and catch squid and many of the methods Dom use are very distinctly Yamashita where when you look at the way I fish it is clear that I use the Gan Craft style, learning how others fish is always going to benefit the way I fish as you can never learn too much when it comes to fishing.

Tasmanian Squid Article

Just had an article published in Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News, so for all my friends not on the mainland get yourselves a copy for all the goss and news on squid

 All pictures taken on my camera by Daniel Stanilovic and Dale McClellend, thanks guys.

Port Phillip to Sydney and Western Port

Has been a couple of big days for me, it all started with a quick trip out on Wednesday afternoon after work, after knocking off work fairly early I made a quick trip out into Port Phillip for a squid session from the town of Mornington, Mornington is well known for holding big numbers of squid but the quality of them is generally a lot smaller in size compared with those found further south or in Western Port, I spent a few hours on the Western side of Snapper Point landing a handful of small squid to about 800g so I made a short move to Nunns walk finding one at about 1.6kg on a Gan Craft UO-JYA in Crown Nakahira after the cloth jigs failed to attract any attention. Loosing light I made my way back to the ramp as I know I needed to get home to gets heaps done as I was flying to Sydney the next morning.

 I got home after cleaning the boat and packed my gear as quick as I could, it was already 2000 at night and still needed to pack my fishing gear. It was getting later and I had to be up by 0430 so I could be at the Airport by 0645 and the longer I stuffed around the later it was getting. Finally got every thing done and off to sleep. I got to the airport with heaps of time to spare and decided a bucket of coffee was in order so off to Hudsons, while waiting for a coffee I met a guy called David from Perth who was a massive fan of Gan Craft stuff and mentioned he followed my blog so I sat down and had a coffee with him and enjoyed a good conversation about squid fishing in Victoria and my limited experiences on the squid in Perth, its always good to catch up with people who share the same passion for squid and catching them.

Louis EGI-JYA size 3.0

Jumped on the plane and made my way to Sydney, why am I heading to Sydney???? Well I had been invited to do a talk about squid fishing at a store called Otto's Tackle world, Otto's is Sydney's premier tackle store and in recent times the egi style of fishing was getting more popular so it was off to Sydney to talk all things squid. Steve from Gladiator Tackle was good enough to pick me up from the airport and within 45 minutes of my plane landing I arrived in a place called Balmoral in Sydney's eastern suburbs where I met with Louis the store owner of Otto's, Nick from Fishabout charters and Marg one of the NSW sales reps for Gan Craft products. Sydney fisho's  are at the same stage of progression that Victorian squid fishers were at about 5 years ago, believing that a size 2.5 was the biggest egi we could use to catch squid, looking at the trend in Victoria now days most people are going to the 3.5 and size 4.0 jigs as they have realized that small squid can be caught on big jigs and big squid are not as interested in small jigs.

Marg EGI-JYA

So the battle I had on my hands was going to be proving to the people in Sydney that you can use a size 3 egi in the harbour and still catch squid, not only catch a few squid but the quality of the squid and general numbers of squid caught would be better. On our way to our first spot I was going to be put to the ultimate test catch squid on size 3 jigs in the harbour, normally this is a no brainer but reports from around the traps was that the squid had shut down and it was going to be a tough day. I set up Loius with one of the Australian exclusive colors, #08 Hero as looking at the light conditions and the water conditions it was a cracking choice for a starter. I turned my back to set up and out fit for my self and what would you know......... second cast and the hero color was the hero. Loius landed a squid of about 600g, both the charter operator and Louis seemed some what suprised but the hero was cast out and again landed another squid of about the same size.

Marg UO-JYA

For me the size was some what ordinary but apparently for Sydney Harbour they are nice squid. The pattern continued and more squid were landed by all on the size 3 Gan Craft EGI-JYA's. Although down her a size 3 jig is considered the smallest size to use for most of us I can not explain how much of a big deal it was and foreign to be using size 3 jigs in Sydney Harbour and producing squid. Marg had decided it was time to take the next step and whack on a size 3.5 Gan Craft UO-JYA in #19 Flushing Halfbeak, and in rather short time she had landed the best for the day on it.

Harbour Bag

By the end of the trip we had landed 20 squid to a kilo and changed some attitudes about jig size along the way. I was a tad shagged so Steve took me to my hotel so I could take some photo's off my camera and put them into the presentation for the night and have a shower and change. I was fading away to a shadow from starvation (ok well maybe not fading away but I was hungry) and was in desperate need for a feed so when Steve picked me up again we made a quick stop to Mad Pizza in Darlighurst, is you are ever in the area well worth the stop, one of the best pizza's I have consumed or should i say devoured, we got the the shop at about 1800 to get ready for the 1900 gathering. I met most of the staff at the shop who by tackle store staff were up there with some of the better blokes I have met, they were able to help me with all I needed to get set up. As people started to arrive it was good to see a few familiar faces Dan, Mel and Todd and a few of the face book friends I have been talking online with for ages but now managed to put some faces to names. It was a good turn out with about 80 people squeezed into the store for the talk.

The crowd at Otto's

 Loius had orginised some of his fresh caught squid to be cooked as people arrived and also kept a couple of his pride an joy bigger models to be paraded around for all to see as proof they were caught to the suprise of many. We got the talk underway, was great to get heaps of questions, it means there is a great interest in what we were doing. Half way through we had a quick intermission so people could enjoy some more fresh cooked squid, pizza chips and nibbles. about 30 minutes later we got into the rest of the presentation. I think it was well received I guess the only people who can decide that were the people who where there. I enjoyed the talk and even more so the questions that followed, heaps of questions mean heaps of interest.

Louis, me and Steve Blackmore

A massive thanks to the team at Otto's Tackleworld for having me and a big thanks for every one who made there way in to hear what I had to say, if any one is after any Gan Craft products in Sydney this is the place to go to stock up. I got back to the hotel late and pretty much went straight to bed and I knew I had to be up kind of early to get back on a plane and back to Melbourne as I had an appointment to keep and some squid to chase.

Western Port dont get much better than this

After sorting out my appointment I met with Andrew Smith from Hooked on Bait and Tackle in Hoppers Crossing and sponsored Mega Bass angler. We made our way to Hasting to head to the deep south area's of Western Port on a recon mission so to speak, it is about this time of the year when we expect to see the big girls come into the Port and in the southern area in particular, we had fished for about 2 hours without a sniff and then came across a patch of ground that looked promising after a few casts I found this Cuttle fish weighing in at 2.7kg on the scales, they are an awesome creature and it was placed in the live well as Mick who is Andrews boss is apparently a big fan of cuttle fish as a tasty table treat. We spent ages on ground that is normally some of the ports most productive at this time of the year for not a sniff so before we lost light it was decided a move was in order, we made a 40km dash to the middle ground of the Tyabb bank and started a drift, the problem with starting the drift was there was no drift, wind was zero and the port looked more like the Gippsland lakes on a spring morning than Western Port on a winters night. We spent a further hour on the bank for nothing.

Cuttle fish on 3.0 EGI-JYA Sardine color

This is a first time thing for me, I can not remember ever squidding and not catching any squid at all. Its all a learning curve for me and not catching is more important than catching some times, it gives me a better understanding of what not to do the next time I fish in the same conditions. Defeated Andrew and I headed back to the ramp with thoughts on our next trip. It had been a big few days so once fed and home in my recliner I passed out in my chair while we had guests, err sorry for falling asleep on you guys.

Click on pic for full size to see the jig hiding in the web of tentacles

Wet and Windy Western Port

I have always bragged that my boat is the driest center console I have ever been in and many others have also made the same comment, however, when you dont have a cab there is no way of staying dry in the rain. This weekend was testament to that, most folks know that I am not a fan of pants, for some one who lives in Melbourne this can prove a challenge. I left home at about 0530 along side my mate Dan, the tell tale signs of moisture on the windscreen had me convinced that today was going to be a wet day. We arrived at Hastings ramp and I started to get the boat ready for launch, Dan was AWOL. I walked to the other side of the car and here he was dressing in full Stormy gear, bib and brace and jacket, at this stage I had a chuckle because things did not look that bad, I thought my shorts, crocs tshirt and jacket were going to be just fine.

Was not long before I was proven wrong. We exited the Hasting Channel and all looked fine with the exception that we could not see Yaringa harbor through what I thought was mist, oh dear that mist was in fact a heavy thick rain. Traveling at around 70kph those small rain drops felt like extreme acupuncture and the cool wet wind running up the leg of my shorts was no consolation. I turned to look at Dan who was snug and dry in the Stormy outfit. Not to be deterred I was only wet a little bit as my Jacket was water resistant I figured I would be fine. Well the rain kept up and we made our way to our fishing location, we arrived to find fellow squid fisher Peter Ferguson sitting on the exact same drift line that I had planned so after a quick chat we headed further east to give him some space.. I thought that the rain would have made the water clarity bad but with the king tides that the port had experienced during the week must have seen a big change over of water and I could see my egi working in 5 meters in the top end of Western Port, that is exciting as it is not often that this occurs. Did not take long for the squid to come to the party. As predicted the squid were just starting to gather to spawn, this meant that the average size of the squid was bigger than normal but not quite 3kg yet. Within 30 minutes my live well was over flowing with both squid and ink and a few crackers averaging 2kg amongst them, we did weigh one that was the 3rd biggest and it came in at 2kg on the dot but the scales are not water proof so they stayed hidden for most of the trip.

Soon enough we also discovered that my jacket and I were not water proof and being in the top end of the Port we decided that a coffee was in order to dry out a bit, so a quick dash into Warneet Bait and Tackle to see Dom. It was tough to leave the warm heated coffee filled tackle shop at Warneet but we had squid to catch so after a thaw out and a quick dry up it was back out into the rain to do it all again. The fishing had quietened down some what but still managed a few more crackers and some smaller models over the next hour or so. The wind had a strong pick up from the west so we headed to he western side of Western Port to seek refuge and shelter, we managed a few more and I managed to cop a big spray in the face from a nice squid so decided we had enough of the cold and wet so back to the ramp.

We got back to the ramp and I decided to get the scales out again and to weigh the bag. We had 14 squid in the bag of which 8 were less than 600g, the total weight of the bag was 14.6kg. I took 6 of the bigger models and weighed them separately for a total 12.66kg so a thumping bag at the end of the day, I am sure that in the next few weeks the squid will only get bigger with some expected to gain about a kg extra on top of the 2kg they are at present. Another cracking day on the water even though I was soaked through to the bone, suffice to say that may day today was spent trying to find a new water proof jacket.