Short notice run to Portland

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Been a big few weeks of late with lots happening in my time outside of fishing, a couple of mates asked me to head down to Portland for the weekend with them.

At that stage I had said no as I had heaps of stuff that needed doing back home. That was until my awesome wife Kim can and gave me orders to go fishing and catch some Tuna with the boys. As she would not take no for an answer and I did promise to love and obey her during our matrimonial vowels I thought I had better do as I was told and go fishing for the sake of domestic bliss.

It was now 8pm at night and I was told that I was picking up one of the boys at 1:45am - shit, I had nothing sorted, no gear out no idea of where half my game gear was and I still had heaps of stuff to do. Now those who have fished with me know I an be a bit anal about my gear and having it all sorted so I was well and truly out of sorts. Standing in the shed brushing the cobwebs and redbacks of my gear I did not think I was going to make it.

I shoved what I thought I needed into the car and made the dash to pick up Dan. Parked in the driveway I thought I would try ringing him to see what stage of readiness he was in, much as I expected he was still asleep. I rang again........ no answer. About a minute up the road the phone rings, it was a very sleepy Dan coming to as we spoke down the phone. He managed to pull himself together in record time and we headed off to Jabba's joint where we were meeting with him and Dion. We pulled into the drive the boat was hooked up and all we had to do was swap gear out of cars and hit the frog and toad.

After a few smoke breaks along the way we headed straight for the ramp to make a start of it. Loaded up we headed out past the rock and east towards the shoe with a keen eye on the water looking for birds. Now before I go any further I need to declare that I dont often get seasick but on this day I did not even make it out to the shelf before I was hanging over the side feeding the birds. It was clear from this point it was going to be a long few days.

We finaly made it to near the shelf when we were side tracked by some bird activity. A quick run around on the deck and we had a spread out. It only took a couple of minutes but in between spews I managed to get a fish in the boat. The bait dropped and the Tuna went quiet. We trolled around for a few more hours with much more spewing including a few who had joined in the chorus with me (could have been sympathy) It was decided that we would head back to the ramp as green as could be and focus our efforts into the next day.

After a big feed (needed to replace all that was lost at sea) it did not take us long to pass out in bed.

We started the next day much the same as the day before - I was still queezy from the day before ad sadly knew what was ahead for me, more leaning over the side. was only about 20 minutes intio the trip before it hit me again. Not one to be beaten I just kept spewing and fishing all day. We managed to get out to the spot Dan planned to fish the day prior and having it backed up by good mate Marty who had fished the same spot the day before. We ended up with a bag of blue fin and a few albies. No giants just school fish, with the way my body was feeling I dont know how I would have gone with a barrel.

Massive thanks to the boys for dragging my arse out of the house and getting me onto the fish, I really enjoyed the time out with them as much as I was sick most of the time on the water. Thanks boys.

Way out west

I have been trying to get back out west after a tough trip to Nelson a few weeks back so I caught up with mate Quy Bok Choi Van who is a resident of the western suburb of Warnambool and a handy fisho.

I woke nice and early for the 3 hour drive from Cranbourne in search of some Bream and Perch, I have caught a lot of Bream and Perch in my life but have not done a great deal in the west it has always been in Gippsland and some a little closer to home so it was good to catch up with a native (local) who had fished this water before.

Now I am not going to go into detail on the stretch of water we were fishing as I consider it to be quite fragile and not used to high traffic and exploitation, all I can say is it is a very picturesque waterway and one that I enjoyed fishing very much - yes I will be back.

We started in the lower reaches fishing the deep edges, with the deep water I started fishing with a DRESS Drepan Mini vibe, a perfect choice in the conditions. Well it would have been if we did not get plagued by small Australian Salmon keen to smash lures on every cast. Quy was worse off, he was using a Daiwa double clutch and the Salmon were all over him as he was not as deep in the water column. As it was getting tough to get past the Salmon we made a move upstream a little where I changed my lure to a Norries Laydown minnow, not much changed the pesky little salmon were everywhere. Quy managed a nice keeper Bream but it went very quiet except for the Salmon that were busting our chops on what ever we threw out.

Time for a change upstream a little. The whole landscape changed in an instant and the snag lined banks lit up with growth. It was like I had died and gone to Bream heaven. This is a very beautiful part of the world and I knew we would find fish there no matter what. We did find fish - nothing huge but plenty of fun for all.

I was fishing very very light with a PE 0.1 GOSEN Mebarin main line and 3lb leader, silly string for the structure we were fishing and I soon found out that it was probably not the best line choice for this area, this was loaded onto a Stella C2500HGS on a Gan Craft Custom Blue Series Cross Eye Rod. Suffice to say the loss of a few lures was imminent. Good bye to the Norries Laydown minnow, good bye to a couple of Jackson Trout Tunes and good bye to a couple of Dress DREPAN Mini's.

Darkness had started to fall so a quick trip back to the ramp was in order I thought I would get my phone out and film a bit of the water, I should have payed a bit more attention. Many fallen logs in skinny water and outboard will always result in a loud thump and a stalling motor.

Off the water on dark I had an awesome day out and will be back again soon enough. Massive thanks to Quy Bok Choi Van for a great day out in his neck of the woods.

Quick cool brisk morning on the port

With a break in the wind and rain earlier this week I decided to go for a quick session in Westernport in the hope of finding some above average squid.

I met up at the Hastings Ramp with old friend Dale, I had not used the boat since Nelson so nothing was set up or ready to go and
the night before I ran out of time so after a slight delay setting the boat up and getting gear ready we made the slow dark journey out of the Hastings Channel.

We headed north with Carlos following close behind as he had never fished in Westernport before and arrived at the quail bank along with a few others. Quail bank is a shallow piece of water the sits between Yaringa and Warneet, it holds lots of broken ground and lots of squid at the right time. The water varies in depth from 1 meter to about 7 meters so working out if you are set for a deep or shallow bite is the toughest part so I started in the middle and worked from there.

It was not too long and both Dale and I were putting squid into the live well, it was nearing the bottom of the tide and the bite had slowed down considerably so we made a short move to Tyabb bank. We managed a couple from here but nothing that would excite either of us. we made a few short moves along the bank but could not seem to find any decent activity.

I wanted to head much further south but the tide was coming in and there was a stiff north wind blowing - any one who has fished Western port knows what wind against tide can do to the lower reaches of the port so we only ventured down as far as Stony Point. We were doing it pretty tough down at Stoney. With the tide in full swing it was time to pull the plug and head back to the ramp.

Was great to be out on Westernport again, we managed a bag in less than 4 hours of squid up to 40cm.

Hooked up TV Squid session and Osaka Tackle Show

A few months ago we took Kosta from Hooked up Magazine to Japan to see the Osaka Tackle Show 2014, he gathered some great footage of the show and then we did a squid session in PPB when we returned. Catch all the fun here http://www.hookedupmagazine.com.au/ or view below. Its a full length clip and lots of fun was had by all. Hope you enjoy the clip and look out for further episodes of Hooked Up TV.

CLICK ON THE 1080PHD button for best viewing.

Walking the planks

Saturday night I decided to do something that I had not done for a very long time. I left the boat at home strapped on my walking boots and went pier hopping along the Mornington Peninsula.

Since buying a new boat 2 and a half years ago I have only wet a line land based on a few occasions and that was generally in the fresh chasing Trout or Estuary Perch. Fond memories of walking along piers casting at squid and chatting to the other pier rats was something that I had taken for granted having access to a boat and walking that planks of the jetties again sounded like fun.

I jumped in the car loaded with gear and headed about an hour south west to Portsea. Being an Easter weekend there was a few people on the pier already casting away and a few with the long wonderpoles jigging to their hearts content. I stood around chatting for a bit before looking for a clear part of the jetty where I could wet my own line. I found a clear spot near the end of the jetty where I ran into Mr Barresi casting away with his father (I think) they had no joy but I thought I would have a crack myself. A short time later a mate Paul Anca Barton turned up with his missus Beck and the dog for a few casts. After an hour of casting and no joy I packed it in and headed back towards the east to Sorrento.

I got to Sorrento and wondered down to the end of the pier. The current was ripping through and only limited space was available for casting. I picked a spot and cast away for about another hour, it seemed no one was having any joy here either so it was decided Blairgowrie was going to be the next stop. Arriving at Blairgowrie we walked up the jetty towards the end when I noticed a mass of ink on the pier. We stopped and cast around for a bit. Anca was preoccupied by his scotch and while leaning over to reach it he got smacked by a squid but lost on the can retrieval he missed it. I laughed but then realized - hang on I have not even had a hit yet, maybe I should shut up!! Things did not improve, I made the trip to Mornington on my own for the last hurrah.

Mornington was its usual busy so I picked a place out of the way of every one and started plugging away, the water was dirty and the wind was up so I made a quick color change to add some color to the jig and on the very next cast I picked up a typical small Mornington Squid. I stuck to this spot for about half an hour picking up another 3 squid. Some folks had started to leave making room for me further down the jetty. There was more light here so I opted for one of my designs in Kuma Killer and see through red jig with black cloth and white print on the back. The next 20 minutes saw me land another 3 small squid. I was going to keep these guys for a mate who needed some bait but there was a family of 5 sitting to my right that I had been talking to that had been there for 6 hours and not landed a squid. I handed my squid over to them as they were leaving, six hours of casting should not go unrewarded and they were going to eat them. I packed it in myself and headed home after an awesome night.

It was good to gt back to my roots and stroll the loose timer beams of the
many jetties along the southern part of the bay, I will have to do it more often.

Gan Craft Stand - Osaka Fishing Show 2014

Just thought I would share a clip of the Gan Craft Stand at the 2014 Osaka Fishing Show. I managed to squeeze my head in a couple of times. I really love going back to this place every year and cant wait to do it all again.

My last days in Japan for this trip

Apologies for the late entry, I almost forgot I had not finished the trip log. Its always hard to say goodbye when I visit here, the friends you keep and the people you meet are something you can never forget.

I will let the photo's do the talking it was an amazing way to finish off an amazing trip. Cant wait to get back in May for the Eging Summit in Tanabe.