Winterport

One of the most spectacular places in Victoria is Western Port in Winter.

Its not always grey sky's heavy wind and rain, it can be a tidal maze of blue sky's crystal clear water and fresh crisp air that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand to attention while you are admiring the silence of the out of season waterway. During the week down south of the port you can go a day without seeing another sole apart from the seals and dolphins that dance around your boat watching you as if they have never seen another human before.

It is by far my favorite place to fish during the winter months, its no secret that some of our biggest squid are found at this time of the year and although this means rugging up and looking almost Eskimo like the rewards of simply being on Westernport to enjoy the port for what it is are worth it, catching a few fish is just the bonus.

Dont let the description baffle you though, the southern end of Westernport is a mistress that must be treated with the utmost respect, while some days she we reward you with a smooth run and glassed out water, other days when you get a big southerly wind versus an outgoing tide you will see breaking water in the channel at heights that are hard enough to imagine let alone traverse through so knowing that as spectacular as a trip could be you also need to remember how dangerous it can also be if you have not planned your trip right. Its hardly an image from Hollywood's "Perfect Storm" but is a place that has taken lives and will continue to do so while people do not pay it the respect it deserves.

On this occasion we were rewarded with perfect conditions, no one around to bother us and plenty of squid to go around, when the sun broke through the mist lifted off the water and in the cold air I could feel the sun warming my back as we cast away all morning.

Put it on your list of things to do Westernport in winter - our bays are not just for Snapper season.

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.