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

Melbourne International Boat Show 2013

First a big apology for such a long time between blogs, time has become very hard to find of late.

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the entire 4 days of the Melbourne Boat Show at the show itself from start to finish, although my legs and feet did not share the same appreciation it was great to be able to spend some time with manufacturers and more so with the general public who were kind enough to sit and listen to my rants on squid fishing.

This year I also worked on the Navico stand that was showcasing some of it newest toys from Lowrance and Simrad and these things have come a long way since the old paper models from years ago. I think I have found a new love for the new Lowrance HDS12 Touch and have measured my dash board up on my center console to make sure it will fit - it does LOL expect to see a giant sounder GPS on my boat soon.

I managed to get up on the stage each day to share some of what I do with squid fishing and also show some of the exciting new colors about to e released by Gan Craft in Australia, the stage was much better run this year with more speakers and less dead time, this was obvious by the sheer numbers of people who sat down to listen to the presentations, at one stage I had about 300 people sitting down and fielded an unprecedented amount of questions which is great for fishing and industry to see that there are still so many people keen to listen and learn new things.

Working with Navico I was spoiled rotten with food after the show each night, let me start by saying I am not bad on the chew and can smash down food pretty well when hungry, however, on each night I was so full I struggled to get my legs to work under the weight of my meal. Massive thanks to Navico and also to Trailerboat Magazine for hosting the
stage, was a great show for me

New Australian Colors - KUMA GENSAN RANGE

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As many folks know over the last few years the company Gan Craft has been active in Australia fishing and learning about squid fishing in Australia. This has been pivotal in their understanding of why we needed unique colors for fishing for squid in Australia. The time they have invested into fishing in Australia is unprecedented for a Japanese lure maker and we appreciate the time they have taken to get to know Australia, its tackle market and how we fish. I dont know about any one else but knowing how small our market is and how little we buy as a nation, it means a lot to me that they have taken the initiative to work with us to better our fishing experience.

Sharcrazy team

I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity of spending time with the guys from Gan Craft both here in Australia and in Japan, I have also been fortunate enough to catch up with some of the worlds best squid fishermen in Japan at the last Osaka Tackle Show and get a clear understanding of what makes a good squid jig design and why the Japanese color range's that we also get in Australia work. The general consensus and a word that was repeated often was Gensan. The word Gensan relates to the word Native and the Japanese range's of colors often relate to the species that are native to a particular area.

Egipara's Isaka Yuko

Pondering this for a while during my last visit to Japan I had a couple of days stuck in a hotel room sick, I knew I had to sit down with the guys at Gan Craft to discuss some new colors and get some designs happening for our market. Every time I thought about what we could do with the new colors I kept coming back to Gensan or native. By the time I was again feeling well I knew what I wanted so when I finally sat down with the creative minds of the staff at Gan Craft I had a plan of where we needed to go and that was mimics of the native species that squid naturally eat in our fishery here in Australia.

The most creative mind at Gan Craft Takanori Hiraiwa

I hope that every one else finds these colors suitable for catching squid in Australia. although they are at sample stage and I dont yet have any in my hands to test in the water I am very happy with the way they turned out. This is the first time ever a color range has been dedicated to endemic species or native to Australia. It will be a game changer for squid fishing and also get every one else to start thinking native. Massive thanks to Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator tackle who has allowed my indulgence with getting these colors to production and for the support needed to get them to where they are now.

Here is the new Australian Gan Craft KUMA GENSAN Range

King George Whiting size 3.0 and 3.5

Grass Whiting UV Size 3.0

Red Mullet or Bearded Goat Fish UV Size 3.0

King Prawn UV size 3.0

Glass Shrimp UV Size 3.0 and 3.5 (note this will have a red eye)

Banana Prawn size 3.0

Squid size 3.5

Slimy Mackerel size 3.5

Scad or Horse Mackerel size 3.5

I will update the real names and color numbers and codes in time, I was just busting to get the color sample up to share with you all, very proud of what we have achieved here.

Back in Port Phillip Bay

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Last week I wanted to go for a squid fish but could not remember the last time I launched my boat into Port Phillip Bay, people were catching squid all over the southern half of the bay but none of any size, I thought that the challenge to find some bigger squid in the same areas sounded like fun.

For the first time ever I launched my boat at the Rye boat ramp, normally I would either launch at Mornington or Sorrento but this time for a change I thought I would try in the middle at Rye. Over the years Rye has got a lot of complaints about the condition of its ramp with sand build up making it tough for people with two wheel drive vehicles to launch and more so retrieve. On this occasion the water was crystal clear and there was no sign of sand build up, in fact it was up there with some of the best on the peninsula.

We made our way south heading straight to Sorrento as I did have an ulterior motive for being out on that day and that was to get some photo's for an international magazine and one of my sponsor's advertisement, I needed some where shallow and in the protection of the wind where I could kick my mate Dan out into the water with a few camera's and get some pics there was a stiff south west breeze blowing so I knew a small cape where we could get some pics without the wind causing too many drama's. I have to note, it was bloody freezing so a big thanks to Dan for braving the cold and helping me and my sponsor out on this occasion and he got some cracking photo's for me off the DSLR while managing to keep it dry at the same time.

Enough about that though back to the fishing, I headed over to Point Nepean first up to check out what the water was like, at our first stop the tide was about half way out and the water was heavy with sand and moving very fast, we did one drift without seeing any squid and it was decided that we move to the other side of the rip to have a look for some bigger squid. Upon arrival we found filthy dirty fast moving water with a visibility of only about half a meter. things were gonna be tough. I made a color change to suit teh dirty water and conditions and started a drift. I would be lying if half way through the drift I did not have a lot of confidence. I was thinking about making yet another move when whack, I got a bite and set  hook into a solid squid, now it was no giant but it was about 2kg and when compared to the 200 and 300 gram squid that most had been catching it was a good sign. Long story short we did the same drift another 2 times and picked up 4 about the same size. During a short move we thought we would sneak into queenscliff harbour for a quick food and drink stop.

Our next location was north of Swan Bay and up towards an are where people have been saying there was no squid left as the netters had taken them all. Not sure where these claims come from but on my first cast I landed a squid, Dans first cast and dirty dragger landed squid. There was so many squid it would have been impossible to not catch a bag of squid. Port Phillip Bay is alive with squid. The day was getting on so we decided to start to make our way back to the ramp stopping at a few spots along the way.

While driving along at full noise I decided that rather than go to my normal spots the ground I was flying over had lots of broken ground so we gave it a crack. I can not stress enough, there is more squid in Port Phillip Bay at the moment than there has been in ages, in a random spot we have multiples of squid fighting for the jig, bigger than the average we had been catching and some nice sized cuttle fish cruising around, it was insane. Any one who thinks there are no squid left are delusional.

New Wheels

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Has been a long time due but the time had come to say goodbye to my trusty van and buy a new car, there was nothing really wrong with my van but I did have a few long trips planned and the fuel consumption with the boat on was a killer, a trip to Jervis Bay was 5 tanks of deisel so it was time to look at something a bit newer and tougher for towing.

It had taken me ages to finally decide on something but when I went to Japan and saw the Toyota FJ Cruiser that belonged to MrHiraiwa of Gan Craft my mind was made up. I looked at the 2012 late in September 2012 but the one thing holding me back was the 70 litre fuel capacity and looking at the cost of a long range tank I was in 2 minds as the kilometer range of the FJ would have been about the same as my van. I did some home work and found that Toyota was releasing their 2013 model with a 158 litre fuel tank. so all I had to do was wait.

The 2013 model was due in May 2013 so I thought before I went to Japan in February I may as well go and order one before I left. After speaking with a few dealers I ended up talking with John at Anthony Smith Toyota who was nothing less than brilliant. Normally I dont plug people for the sake of plugging them but the service and price he gave me is worth talking about. Yeah the show room was more than 100km away from my home but when you are getting looked after you dont mind travelling, we also bought my wifes car from there a couple of years ago and the service was the same. Knowing that the vehicle was not due  until May I went on my trip to Japan not expecting to see my car for a few months. You can then imagine my surprise when John rang me mid February to tell me my car was ready to pick up.

I made the trip over and again the service John gave me was great, I pretty much walked in signed some paper work and inside 10 minutes I was driving my new car home. Now I had some plans for this car as I wanted it to be the same as the one in Japan that Mr Hiraiwa has but when I got it home I enjoyed so much how it drove the plans for the big wheels and tyres, bullbars and lift kits were not going to happen. I clocked up 1000km prety quick and was able to then put the boat on and take it for a drive. So now I know that the car drives nice how it is, it tows like an animal and feels great on the road without the optional extras it was final I was not going to go as extreme as the Japan model but we could still make it look the similar.

After discussions with my supporters and sponsors I came up with a design that I liked and contacted the guys from Form-A-Sign in Mulgrave, not only are they top notch sign writers but they are both mad keen fishos too. I sent them some images and they sent me a proof and before you know it we have the car looking very similar to the one in Japan.

Wrapped with the way it is now, I do still need to do some cosmetic stuff to it just to make it that little bit more pimping but very happy with the car and how it has come up.

If any one does want to look at getting an FJ cruiser call John at Anthony Smith Toyota on (03) 8371 8188 they are at 1067 Sydney Rd North Coburg VIC 3058

The guys at Form-A-Sign can be contacted on (03) 9561 7300 and speak to Ken and Wes, tell em I sent you.

Also massive thanks to Yoshiyuki Iwamoto, Kotaro Kake and Yuki Kitagowa for help with the required images to get it all finished.

Blown away by a bad forecast

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With the Easter long weekend I decided I was going to have a crack at one of the days but was being put off by how bad the boat ramps can be on public holidays.

I bit the bullet on the Monday with a weather web site forecasting 10 knot variable winds all day, who would have thought, I have a day off and the weather is going to be clear. I made plans with Dan to go and find a few squid.

We left in the early hours with the idea of going right down to the bottom of Western Port in search of some bigger models in one of my usual haunts. When we launched the boat the water was still rising on the high tide and I made my way down to the southern area of Western Port. As we got closer we noticed a stiff SW blowing but with the incoming tide things were not too bad. We punched through the rougher stuff and got to my normal haunt and started casting, it was still dark so I could not see the condition of the water. About and hour and a half later the sun had stuck its head out of the clouds and the water was like coffee. A quick decision to head over to Flinders was made.

Slack tide had the water up a bit more but was still reasonably comfortable at that stage. The arrival at Flinders was not so great as the water there although clearer than where we were was still quite dirty. We put in a heap of casts for one lowly squid before decoding to make a move back up the port. This was when things started to look bad. As I looked over towards the direction I had to travel I could see surf in the channel, not just breaking waves but curling high surf the whole way across the bottom of Western Port, now I am not new to this area and I do not scare easy but this water had me worried. We slowly made our way closer to assess the water. After sitting back for a while looking at the swell and breaking waves we noticed that the breaking curling waves were in sets of 3 then a 5 swell break. Now I know that the wind was blowing and the tide was on its way out but what I did not know at the time was it was the biggest high to low for the year. This had water rushing out of the Port and met by a stiff wind causing the water to stand up.

Now the pattern was clear we decided to make our move after the last breaker that came across from the

set of 3 waves, I am not going to play it up to much but the swell was the biggest I have experienced down there and it was the first time I was forced to use tacking action to safely make it home in Western Port, after a long drawn out battle with the water and an absolute drenching from the wet experience of a center console boat we finally found some clearer sheltered water and could get some speed back into the equation to get to our next spot.

Moving into stoney point we put the past 4 hours behind us and just started up a nice drift, water again was dirty but I knew that no matter where I was unless I did another 35 ish kilometers I would not find any clear water on this day. Picked a few dirty water jigs and started the casting procession. It did not take too long before we started to smack the squid, lots of other boats drifting in the area not doing so well. Folks if you are in dirty water the nicest presented natural jig will be hard for a squid to see so brighten it up a bit.

Just when I thought the day had gone and we had avoided all tragedy, we were making a move back to where we started our previous drift when I felt something come off my head, yep you guessed it, my Gan Craft Section 3 Sunnies (yes very expensive) were sinking in a raging tide about 100 meters back behind the boat. I was crushed. I knew my day was over. I cracked the sads packed up and went home. I have decided to never fish Easter Monday again (kidding).

All jokes aside its a timely reminder that the part of Western port I was fishing can be very dangerous, unless you are very confident the weather will not change or you are 100% confident with your vessel in all weather conditions do not take the place lightly, it will suck you up and spit you out again and yes people have died there, some places deserve some respect and this is one of them.

Old and New filming with Savage Seas.

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This week I stepped out of my comfort zone .......... The boat, I was given a great opportunity to go out and film with the Savage Sea's team and teach a newby to all fishing how to catch squid.

Another perfect morning in Melbourne, light winds, sun was just up and crystal clear water in Port Phillip bay, I made the dash down to Rye to meet with the team Charlie, Jay and Shae. Charlie spends a lot of time in this area both above and below the water line, Jay is a local angler who has spent heaps of time chasing fish all over the world and Shae is a world reknownd free diver.

I caught up with the guys at the Rye boat ramp and after a quick intro we got stuck into filming, before long we were on our way out to find some squid. Now the idea of the show was for me to teach Shae how to catch her first squid so we made our way to an area that I know would hold big numbers of squid, not big in size but in numbers and the perfect place to get some one their first cephlapod. We arrived at our chosen spot and I prepared a rod for Shae then started with a quick run down of catching squid. I then asked her to cast out as far as she could from the boat and let the jig sink to the bottom. There was a slight moment of silence before I realized that Shae had not yet cast a rod before. Back to rod casting 101. With the jig in the water Shae must have been a natural, first ever cast, first ever jerk of a rod and first ever squid.

Jay was also casting away in the back ground casting away but not yet landing a squid, we took Shae's first squid off and got her jig out into the water again, second cast second jerk and sure enough another squid. I guess some people just have it and some dont. We kept on casting for an hour or so in this area and decided to move to an area where we knew the squid would be a bit bigger but the numbers would be less. It was not long before we starting banging squid again, both Jay and Shae were pulling squid in left right and centre. Charlie managed to get heaps of film and the water was clear as could be.

I was then told that we were going to a different spot, we made a short move to a place I was very familiar with but was well aware that there was no fishing allowed. Hang on a minute, what are we doing at Popes Eye. Popes eye is a place in Port Phillip Bay where people come to learn how to dive or snorkel. Panic stations for the people in Sorrento. If I get into the water you may notice slight increase in water levels and to the good folks on board the dolphin and whale watching boat in the back ground relax, it is just me not a freak whale encounter. I am not familiar with the world of snorkeling and as I had been able to teach Shae how to catch squid it was decided that she was going to teach me how to snorkel. Now lets get one thing straight I love being on the water but am a complete stranger to being under the water, I was very nervous top say the least.

All geared up both Charlie and Shae were already in the water gracefully gliding around like they belonged, I positioned myself on the edge of the boat door and flopped into the water like an elephant. As nice as the water looked it was bloody cold to start off. A combination of being a big sook and the cold shrinking my lungs I struggled to breath with the snorkel and splashed around like a baby having their first bath. After about a minute Shae glided through the water next to me and grabbed a hold of me, she took my hand and guided me along the rock wall, all of a sudden everything was calm, I could breath and no more panic. The world around me became quiet and everything became clear.

WOW, so this is what all the hype is about, swimming around meters from fish and their homes among the sea grass, watching Blue Scaley Fish popping in and out of reef, Blue Throat Wrasse were playing around in their playground of the reef system, this was an amazing experience. Now I will be the first to admit, I was crap and snorkeling but the whole experience has encouraged me to go and buy some fins and a snorkel and a mask and give this underwater stuff a fair crack. Charlie and Shae you were both amazing and without you tricking me into doing this with the aid of a camera it is probably something I would never had done, I can not thank you enough.

The filming we did will be shown sometime soon on Channel 31, if you would like to share a similar  experience to me contact Charlie at Savage Seas Adventures on 0415-242-902 or visit his web page www.savageseasadventures.com.au his vessel is licensed for 5. I will be back for more