What started off a brilliant weekend with nice steady 10 knot winds and consistent overcast conditions for shallow egi fishing ended on a slightly more sour note.
Day 1:
Teams all in water and accounted for, a quick inspection of boats and live wells and we were ready to roll, I always enjoy the friendly banter between the teams while rigging rods and setting up as it sets a nice competitive scene yet allows the friendly rivalry to flow between mates. Seven am rolls on and the teams are all called to the line and they're off, albeit at a nice and slow pace due to speed limits in the river but as soon as they hit the open water the white wash made it clear that throttles were open wide as boats dissolved into the rising sun on the horizon.
First team to come back in to weigh was team Victoriansaltwaterfishing.com, Dale and Paul had set the level high for teams to follow with a bag of 3 squid for a total weight of 4.235kg, at the time of the weigh in it was the heaviest bag weighed at a Yamashita Squid Series event and followed it up with a potential big squid winner of 1.720kg. After a quick chat with Paul Barton he informed me that the majority of the squid caught were landed on a Gan Craft Uo-Jya 3.5 Flushing Sardine and a Green colored River2Sea Gesola egi. With the benchmark set by the boys from VicSalt it was going to be tough going to go better.
The next team to come in close behind to guys from VicSalt were Evolution boats, they had done well to find some nice squid for the scale, however I sensed some disappointment from the boys as they handed me the weigh bag, sadly the boys had lost one of the squid on the trip back in and no matter what forms of resuscitation they tried they could not get the color back into the squid, conditions on the water were starting to get choppy and making the long trip south also means a long trip through chop to get back for a weigh in, they weigh a bag of 3 squid for 2.095kg but incurred a 750g penalty for a dead squid which brought their total to 1.345kg. Even with the penalty they were still in for a shot with a day to go and clearly they knew where some big were hiding. There was a small break between teams before they all started to come in one after the other. Most were averaging bags of 3 squid for around 1.5kg
The last 2 teams to come off the water were sure to mix things up a bit, rumors were milling about a couple of big girls in live wells that could cause an upset, Team mrfisho.com were first to present a bag a what a bag it was. Both Andrew Smith and Richard Greven had whopping grins on their faces as I took the bag off them, every one waiting with baited breath for the scales to settle and give us the verdict, 3 squid for a total weight of 4.520kg knocking Vicsalt off the top spot and breaking the recored set by Dale and Paul, a quick glance in the bag to weigh for big squid after weighing the 2 bigger version's they placed a weight for big squid with a 1.895kg again knocking Dale and Paul off the top in the Big Squid prize and set a new record for both heaviest bag and heaviest squid weighed in an egi event, with the new level set we sat and waited the arrival of the boys from Bigtime Megabass.
The moment had come with the black Coota Craft of team Bigtime Megabass sighted in the entrance of the Patterson river, a bit of anticipation from all as they did not know what the boys had in the well and Gawaine Blake and Dave Standing from Bigtime Megabass did not yet know what had been weighed, I took the bag from Gawaine and straight away from the feel of the bag I knew it was going to be a close finish. Bag on the scale a recorded weight of 4.960kg brought them up trumps, for the 3rd time in one day we had the record for the biggest bag broken. This left the boys placed in first for the event leading into day 2, i selected the biggest 2 squid from the bag for a look at big squid weight and put them on the scale and it does not get any closer than this, the biggest in the bag from Gawaine and Dave was 1.890kg just a poofteenth off the big squid record set by Richard and Andy, 5g seperated them for big squid at the end of day one and lest than 700g separated the top 3 and with bags like this it was still anyone's win with some of the squid sizes we were witness to, great day 1 with records smashed all round. Both teams used a range of Megabass Dart Crews and UDSL's to get them over the line with a mention to the
3.5 Dart Crew in Madara Leaf Pink and Shimanami Tribal
Day 2:
I awoke early in the morning to a creaking sound coming from the veranda in my backyard, this meant one thing, WIND. I made a dash for the computer to check the weather observations and things did not look good, forecast was showing a 20knt NW wind not easing until the evening, knowing how brilliant Melbourne's forecasters have been in the last few months I would not make a decision until I could get near the water and see for myself, teams were all at the ramp awaiting the call on the days fate, I drove to the mouth of the river for a look see, I did not like what I saw. Upon my browse of the water I observed a direct westerly wind blowing approx 25knt straight down the river, with the rain received overnight there was excess water coming out of the Patterson River, this leads to one thing, the water was standing up at about 1.5meters and the chop was less than 3 seconds apart, beyond the mouth things were still approx 3/4 to 1 meter across the Bay. As I am not a competitor in the event I felt that it was not my choice to make and allowed the teams to decide on majority if the day would proceed. After speaking with all teams involved the decision was made unanimously to cancel the days fishing for the safety of all teams and the sanity of me. For some this meant a return to a nice warm bed while others it meant a trip to Western Port where a little more shelter is available in a westerly wind.
We scheduled the presentation for 1400pm at the ramp as advertised and went our own ways until the afternoon. Let me tell you some of the photo's I received from team members from Team Yamashita would have had Paul Hourmouzis and Eisuke Kawakami up there with some of the best, was good to see that it was not a totaly wasted trip from Japan for Eisuke.
Please see the chart below for the full results.
Was a bitter sweet event for me, some new teams involved who were all great sportsmen and the return of some old favorites to balance the field. The first time teams of Bushwood (Darren Mays & Paul Constantino), Megatron (Mark Kennard & Brian Rickard) and Evolution Boats (Jim Scown & Chris Doubleday) made it clear by weighing a full bag that it could have been anyones win had there been a day 2, was also to have Eisuke Kawakami over from Japan fishing with Paul Hourmouzis as team Yamashita.
These things don't run on their own and this event could not have
happened if not for the help of the staff at Launching Way, Trevor and
Lynette you are a credit to the ramp at Patterson River as are your
staff, the guys Fishing Fever for supporting the round and allowing us
to flood the shop with people on one of the busiest times of the night
on Friday for the briefing and Yamashita for supporting the events
though out the year it is an honor and a privilege to work with these
people. Finally a massive thanks to the most important people, the
competitors, spectators and volunteers, with out them we would have no
events so a big thanks to all teams who entered and to Dan Stanilovic
and Kim Stewart for their help.
After a long journey on a plane with a couple of stops along the way
there is no better way to enjoy the Melbourne sun than sitting outside a
Chapel St cafe sharing a cold beer with mates. Although it was a coke
for me and a coffee for Mr Hiraiwa. If there is one thing in this world
than can work through any language barrier its talking about fishing
over a beer. It was good to chat with those who have previously visited
and also to meet with those who we have been waiting to hang with. 
A drink in the afternoon also brings a hearty appetite so after a stroll along Chapel St browsing through the shopping precinct we made plans for a feed, off to the Spaghetti Bar known as Chapellis. The waiter was great and thought a bit of aussie food was in order so along with the bread dinner rolls came butter and Vegemite, an aquired taste even for many Australians was interesting to see the reaction of our friends from Japan.
For the first time ever I last week ventured down to the Altona boat ramp, although tame I can see where it would get crazy from time to time, this is the location of the Williamstown Sportfishing and Game Club who share the Hobsons Bay Angling Club rooms. This area is known to many as the Snapper capitol of Victoria and is also know for its many accessible location to big squid a little further south. Have been to plenty of clubs in the last 6 months doing squid talks and have heard heaps about the stereotypical angling club stale environment, can I say I have yet to see it and this club is no exception to the rule. People from all walks of life and age in a setting overlooking the bay at Altona made for a very comfortable setting both for me and the members of the club, although not too comfortable as no one fell asleep during the talk so something must have been right. Had great feeback from members at the club and again it was great to get pounded with questions from all members at the club, it means that people are genuinely interested in what we are doing and heps of people taking their gear out to chase squid waving rods around like harry potter casting spells. I never tire of these talks I meet some brilliant people and have the chance to inspire others to go out and try some of what we talk about. Big thanks to Williamstown Sportfishing and Game Club for the invite I look forward to visiting the club at another time in the future.
Was great to be invited by the guys at Anglers Bait World in Coburg to conduct a squid seminar in the store, Anglers Bait World is a relatively young store that started off as a bulk bait supplier to the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne and has progressed into a well stocked store with a great bunch of regular customers.
Traditionally people from this neck of the woods are from a demographic that do not freely embrace new information or techniques, was suprised to see how many people turn up to see what the big deal was about. After a few snags from the BBQ put on by the store all seats were full and it was standing room only time to get things under way. People were fixed on the projection screen while small clips from around the world showing egingu techniques.
What started off a brilliant weekend with nice steady 10 knot winds and consistent overcast conditions for shallow egi fishing ended on a slightly more sour note.
The last 2 teams to come off the water were sure to mix things up a bit, rumors were milling about a couple of big girls in live wells that could cause an upset, Team mrfisho.com were first to present a bag a what a bag it was. Both Andrew Smith and Richard Greven had whopping grins on their faces as I took the bag off them, every one waiting with baited breath for the scales to settle and give us the verdict, 3 squid for a total weight of 4.520kg knocking Vicsalt off the top spot and breaking the recored set by Dale and Paul, a quick glance in the bag to weigh for big squid after weighing the 2 bigger version's they placed a weight for big squid with a 1.895kg again knocking Dale and Paul off the top in the Big Squid prize and set a new record for both heaviest bag and heaviest squid weighed in an egi event, with the new level set we sat and waited the arrival of the boys from Bigtime Megabass.
The moment had come with the black Coota Craft of team Bigtime Megabass sighted in the entrance of the Patterson river, a bit of anticipation from all as they did not know what the boys had in the well and Gawaine Blake and Dave Standing from Bigtime Megabass did not yet know what had been weighed, I took the bag from Gawaine and straight away from the feel of the bag I knew it was going to be a close finish. Bag on the scale a recorded weight of 4.960kg brought them up trumps, for the 3rd time in one day we had the record for the biggest bag broken. This left the boys placed in first for the event leading into day 2, i selected the biggest 2 squid from the bag for a look at big squid weight and put them on the scale and it does not get any closer than this, the biggest in the bag from Gawaine and Dave was 1.890kg just a poofteenth off the big squid record set by Richard and Andy, 5g seperated them for big squid at the end of day one and lest than 700g separated the top 3 and with bags like this it was still anyone's win with some of the squid sizes we were witness to, great day 1 with records smashed all round. Both teams used a range of Megabass Dart Crews and UDSL's to get them over the line with a mention to the
We scheduled the presentation for 1400pm at the ramp as advertised and went our own ways until the afternoon. Let me tell you some of the photo's I received from team members from Team Yamashita would have had Paul Hourmouzis and Eisuke Kawakami up there with some of the best, was good to see that it was not a totaly wasted trip from Japan for Eisuke.
