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Hunting for tiger squid • How to fish in dirty water • Part II: Stocking debate • Gippsland after the fires • Cod Nationals round up • Fishing advice during COVID-19 • Local area reports • Cruise Craft EX720HT • Yamaha 4.2L 300HP DES •
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Elliot Fooks - The hunt for tigers
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May, 2021 ISSN 2652-5798
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CONTENTS
OUR COVER May 2021, Vol. 2 No.1 VIC
TAS
QUEENSLAND Gold Coast Jumpinpin Southern Bay Brisbane Northern Bay Noosa Bundaberg Gladstone Mackay Whitsundays Townsville Hinchinbrook Cairns Port Douglas Cooktown Lucinda Cape York Freshwater
14 16 18 20 22 23 24 28 32 34 36 38 38 39 40 37 41 44
NEW SOUTH WALES Pittwater Sydney North Sydney Rock Sydney South Ballina Coffs Harbour Hastings Forster Port Stephens Swansea Central Coast Illawarra Batemans Bay Bermagui Tathra New England Rivers Hunter Valley Lithgow/Oberon Albury/Wodonga Batlow Canberra
48 49 50 52 54 56 58 59 60 61 61 62 63 66 66 68 69 71 72 70 74
VICTORIA West Coast Warrnambool Cobden Apollo Bay Geelong Port Phillip West Port Phillip East Phillip Island Gippsland Lakes Lakes Entrance Bemm River Marlo Mallacoota Robinvale Bendigo Ballarat Wangaratta Shepparton Crater Lakes Eildon West/South Gippsland
78 79 79 78 82 84 86 88 89 90 90 91 91 92 92 93 94 95 96 97 96
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MAY 2021
From the editor’s Desk...
WA
Rob West on board Fuglie caught this huge 160cm, 20kg+ mahimahi while trolling a live slimy mackerel wide of Wollongong/Stanwell. He fought the beast for 20 minutes on 80lb braid and 100lb Tuff Trace. A Dean Woolley image. Come and visit Fishing Monthly Group’s official Facebook page for all your monthly fishing information. Download QR Reader to access.
TASMANIA Hobart WESTERN AUSTRALIA Esperance Augusta Bunbury Mandurah Metro Lancelin Geraldton Exmouth Broome Karratha Freshwater
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75 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 112 113 114
REGULAR FEATURES Targeting tiger squid Starlo’s Basics: muddy water Sheik of the Creek WIRF What’s New Fishing Recfishwest Tournament Calendar Track my Fish Trades and Services Outboard Test: Yamaha 300hp DES Boat Test: Cruise Craft EX720HT Tide page
8 12 31 98 125 104 103 116 118 120 122 126
COMPS AND OFFERS Find the logo Fun page/Sub page
83 87
98 WIRF
You certainly can’t criticise Victoria for not taking on the big issues. Currently the Victorian Fisheries Authority and the Andrews government are attempting to give anglers and campers fishing and camping access to Crown lands by waterways. Think about it. Letting the public use public lands. Sounds pretty simple, right? Apparently it’s not. There are plenty of groups who think that the public shouldn’t be able to access public waterways through public land. And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably tired of minorities preaching to government to prescribe how the majority should behave – and what they can and can’t do. If it went to the pub test, I know who’d pass. As anglers anywhere in Australia, we hope that the Victorian government isn’t swayed by the noisy minorities. Access to fisheries is just as important as fishery health to me. Let us – the
54
conservation-minded angling majority – do what we love to do. It’s outdoors, healthy, COVID-safe and positive for our mental wellbeing. With any luck, readers from around the country will get exposed to the various levels of activity in the state Fisheries departments. And as this happens, you’ll likely realise that there’s a broad variety in the level of services offered and the level of enthusiasm with which each department tackles their public service. You may have already realised that there’s definitely a spectrum. Some state Fisheries departments attack their roles with feverish enthusiasm, while others roll out the political one-liners about ‘no new changes’ as a reason for the glacial pace of change. Maybe you’ll get to see what other states are doing, and this will give you ideas about activity you’d like to see in your state. If so, let them know. Maybe one person can’t make a change, but one person can definitely challenge the ego of a manager if you suggest to them that all of their interstate colleagues are making them look bad. It’s human nature. Other than that, we hope you enjoy this issue, and you’ll notice that our popular boat and motor testing has made a comeback. It was a little challenging over the last few issues to get boats to test; a combination of lockdowns and an incredibly busy boating industry meant that getting one’s hands on a demo boat was difficult indeed!
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The hunt for tigers BRISBANE
Elliot Fooks
Squid have to be one of the most user-friendly fishing targets. They’re easy to find, easy to catch, safe to handle and they are often found in the most picturesque shallow reef country around! The only downside is the occasional inky outburst, which is more than made up for by their eating qualities.
from about Coffs Harbour in the east to Geraldton in the west. They’re also found throughout temperate and tropical waters in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and also the Mediterranean, the latter of which they gained access to via the Suez Canal. Like many cephalopods, they have a fairly short life cycle, in most cases living for only a year or so. In this time they can achieve a 40cm hood length and sometimes weigh over 3kg!
recruitment of squid that haven’t experienced years of angling pressure, and this is what keeps the squid fishing so good! GOING ON A TIGER HUNT If you live within the tiger squid’s distribution and want to crack your first one, it’s worth thinking about which areas near you may hold them. The two main ingredients are clear, cool ocean water, and structure. Structure can take the form of rock, coral, weed, rubble, mangrove roots and so on. Anything that can house food items like baitfish, prawns and crabs is worth inspecting. A classic environment for tigers is around marinas and harbours. The retaining walls, jetties with lights and clean water make good real estate for squid, and if fishing is permitted in your local marina you can be in for some good action. River breakwalls are another easily accessible area to get amongst them, and are particularly favoured by those fishing without a boat. A little tip if fishing without a boat is to time your trips around the high tide. During the top of the tide, the water will be at its clearest and the squid will venture up as shallow as they can in search of prey, putting them well within your reach. If you own a boat, any shallow ground (between 1-4m) with weed, rubble, rock or coral should have squid on it somewhere, so long as the water is nice and clear. I find a little bit of current usually gets the squid out actively hunting, using the current to mooch along as they scan for their
Tiger squid seem to out-perform their southern counterparts on the end of the line, possibly due to their stockier make-up. next victim. Many of the tiger’s most loyal fans choose to fish for them at night. New moons and dark nights seem to be favoured in squid circles, and while some will blind cast over likely areas in the dark, others will use a spotlight to locate the squid first before casting at them. They can also be found under artificial light sources, no doubt attracted to the bait that hovers around them like moths. Don’t ever be fooled into thinking these guys will only eat at night though. In fact, 95% of my squid fishing is done during the day, and I will even go as far as to say I think they feed more aggressively
when the sun’s up! Being a sight-based hunter, it makes sense that they do their best work during daytime hours. Fishing during the daytime also has the added bonus of allowing you to watch the squid chase down and eat the jig. Watching a cruising tiger switch on and slide toward your jig, tactically changing colour to blend in with its environment, before shooting out the two ‘candle’ tentacles to snaffle your jig never gets old. GEARING UP The simplicity of squid fishing is one of its big perks, and these weird suckers can be targeted comfortably with fairly inexpensive ‘bottom-of-the-line’ spin
Brisbane’s Moreton Bay has a healthy population of squid, which start to get active in the shallows around autumn every year. While southern calamari have cemented themselves as a regular target amongst southern anglers, their northern counterparts are still a mystery to many. Bigfin reef squid, or tiger squid as they are known colloquially, can be located and caught with the same ease as southern calamari in places where they are common. So why aren’t more people doing it? It’s a really good question, and I still don’t have a definitive answer. But the fact remains: there is a seemingly untapped resource that replenishes readily, and so long as we’re not greedy it should continue to provide. LIFE OF A TIGER Tiger squid can be found in inshore and offshore waters across the northern half of Australia, 8
MAY 2021
This explains why tigers always seem to be hungry; a growth rate like that demands a healthy appetite! Tigers can be targeted year round, however if you want to focus on catching better numbers of larger specimens, winter and early spring coincides with their breeding and sees a better average size. During this time (the exact period varies from place to place) adult squid venture up onto shallow reefs to mate and deposit their eggs. In breeding season, schools of 3-4 squid can be seen sticking close together, which is usually made up of one female, one male, and 1-2 smaller ‘sneaker’ males. This short life cycle means that with each season there is a new
It’s easy to see why they call them tiger squid. Larger males in particular develop the blue and white bands across the tube, which light up when the squid is agitated.
tackle. Of course, there are purpose-built ‘egi’ rods and reels (and even braided lines) with more substantial price tags attached, and these are absolutely worth the investment if chasing squid regularly. Egi rods generally feature a slow taper and a parabolic action when loaded up, and are designed with enough give to keep small prongs in soft squid tentacles. Egi reels usually have a shallow spool, a light but smooth drag and a slow gear ratio. Big brands such as Shimano, Daiwa, Atomic, and NS Blackhole have a range of squid specific rods and reels, but if you don’t want to spend too much there’s a few basic things to look for. Firstly, if fishing from the shore it will be easier to fish with a slightly longer rod. Something between 7’6”8’6” will make shoregame squidding much easier and more comfortable. If in the boat, anything between 7-8’ is fine. In any case, a rod with a 2-5kg rating or thereabouts and 1000-3000 size reel is sufficient for hucking around most squid jigs, which can be quite heavy in larger sizes. Speaking of jigs, you’ll want to have a decent collection before you go out. The standard way to measure squid jig size is in inches, and most jigs from around the world have this information clearly displayed on the packaging. Jigs usually range between 1.6 and 4.0 sizes, and within these sizes are a range of different weights and sink rates. For any prospecting I
do in new water, I usually reach for a 2.5 size to start. This seems to be a happy medium of not too small for larger models, and not too big for smaller, sub-500g squid. Anytime I’m fishing in the peak of the breeding season and there’s an abundance of 1kg+ tigers in the area, I’ll happily throw a 3.0-4.0 jig around, as big squid like a big meal. The only times I go down to a jig smaller than 2.0 is if there are only smaller squid in the area, which can be common in summer and early autumn, or if the squid are a bit gun shy. The subject of colours is where preference starts to diverge a little. There are a lot of theories out there relating to squid eyesight and jig colour, but I only have a few simple rules that I follow, and they work pretty well. Dull day means bright-coloured jig, and bright day means dullcoloured jig. Another rule of mine is if it’s not working, change it. If you fish for a while and don’t get any interest, tie on another jig. If you watch a few squid inspect your offering without eating it, that’s a no brainer – change it! Having a range of weights on hand is important too. In deeper water around 4m, you may want a faster sinking models, whereas
done it can’t be undone! There’s a great range of jigs out there these days, with brands such as Yamashita, Gan Craft, Black
Squid are a great target for kids, who are invariably fascinated by these alien-like critters.
Even offshore in the middle of nowhere, tiger squid will live happily. This 1kg+ model was a surprise catch over a small bommie while collecting live baits for an offshore session. over a very shallow flat you’ll want something that sinks slowly, nearly suspending. A little hack a friend taught me a while ago was to use a belt sander to file down the weight of heavier jigs. It works well, just remember that once it’s
time to put everything into practise. Whether you’re in a boat, land-based or even on a pier, one of the main keys to success is mobility. Squid
Magic, DTD and Daiwa all producing high-quality jigs ready for use straight out of the packet. APPLYING YOUR KNOWLEDGE Once you have a decent idea of where your local tigers will be hanging out, it’s
do move around, but when they’ve found a good patch they stick with it, so doing a bit of searching will help you to find these patches. When I’m on foot, walking along a rock wall for instance, I make casts along the length of the wall to keep the jig close to structure, and take a few steps between each cast. In this way, I can methodically work my way along it and in the process intercept any squid feeding. The same principle applies in a boat; be sure to keep moving! You can do this either by drifting with the wind or current, or you can control your movements with an electric motor. Working your jig is another contentious issue. I prefer to give my jig a few sharp rips with the rod, which sends it darting aggressively side to side, before allowing it to glide slowly back toward structure. The long, slow fall is usually when the jig gets eaten. Others prefer to slowly wind their jig, waiting for the tell-tale dead weight of a squid to gradually load up the rod. This latter technique works particularly well in shallow water less than a metre, where allowing the jig to sink just isn’t an option. I have caught many large squid this way. Once you’ve hooked a squid or you spot a few cruisers, then you can work an area more thoroughly. To page 10
MAY 2021
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Those unicorns are just around the corner HINCHINBROOK
Ian Moody info@ianmoodyfishing.com
It has finally been a blessing to get a few regular clients up from down south. I have been trying to get them out since COVID started in March 2020! Some periods of light winds and sunny days have made things a bit easier on the charter front. Recently I had Brian and son Brad up from down south and they had two days they will never forget. Brian,
being a senior angler, had always reminded me that he had already caught a 121cm barramundi and it would be hard to beat. Well, on day two of their trip we had just caught a 63cm barra first up in the morning at a new area I have been fishing in Missionary Bay. No sooner had I got that fish on board another rod went off again, only this time it went off in a fashion I’ve never seen before. I saw it jump a long way out and called it for close to a metre in length but after 25 minutes of argy-bargy I had
successfully cradled a 124cm barra on board. My biggest ever for Hinchinbrook, a unicorn in my books, a moment that every angler will never forget! For Brian I had never seen someone so composed and cool as a cucumber but I think it hit home for him once we had successfully released her. Barra like this don’t come along every day and when they do finally take that lure or bait, a calm head is what’s needed to get them to the boat. Maintaining line pressure and never letting
A great PB barra for Robyn at 92cm.
Brian with a new PB 124cm barra caught at a newly discovered location from Missionary Bay.
it go slack is a big factor in preventing them from jumping off the hooks. A lot of areas I fish often hold an average 60-70cm sized barra, but you just never know when that unicorn will pass through with them. Fingermark are also making an appearance back into their usual areas after the floods from the Herbert River earlier in the year pushed them further out to sea. Some mainland creeks near cardwell have produced some up around the 55cm mark caught on live baits. As waters start to cool over May, the seasonal run
of Spanish mackerel should start to head further inshore. Areas around the end of the Lucinda Sugar Jetty, near Pelorus and Eva Island are hotspots for them. I have to say that this year’s summer water temperatures have been by far a lot cooler than other years I’ve experienced. Most days are averaging around 28ºC, when previous years have seen mostly 30ºC or warmer at the same time. If you are able to, there have been some good prawns along the beaches lately. During my last trip, while cast-netting for mullet along the foreshores near Meunga
Creek, I had a good number of nice sized school prawns in every cast. Although, if casting anywhere along Cardwells foreshore be on the lookout for a resident 3.5m crocodile that has been seen regularly cruising the coastline there. He has taken 4 dogs off the beach that I know of. • We still have spots available in July, August and September this year for charters so get in quick for the end of season build up to secure your spot now. You can email us at info@ ianmoodysportfishing.com or phone us on 0402 339 459.
Make the most of May in the Cairns NFZ CAIRNS
Dan Kaggelis dkaggelis@gmail.com
In many fisheries, May is a transition period between the warmth of summer and the cool of winter. Something of an
in between time of the year that can see chilly mornings and evenings, which can certainly make the fishing a little difficult, especially if you are chasing warm water species like barra and jacks. The good news is there is no such thing as
this ‘in between time’ in the tropics of Cairns and water temperatures will still be well and truly warm enough for some terrific Net Free Zone fishing. In fact, May is one of the better months to get out on the water as the rivers
Make the most of the smaller runs to chase those big barra in the deeper holes and channels.
Pitching crab imitation plastics into the snags this time of year is a great way to battle a few jacks. 38
MAY 2021
are typically running clear, which makes them perfect for lure fishing. The other great thing about May is that the tidal runs begin to slow down, which means you don’t have to contend with those monster tidal
runs that sees bite windows short and hard to fish. One of my favourite types of fishing to capitalise on during this time of year is fishing the deeper water bends and holes for big barramundi. Spots like
the Barron River Bridge and the many bends and holes of the Cairns Inlet will certainly be worth fishing. Go-to techniques will include soft vibes and hardbody rattling To page 39
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Firing on all cylinders PORT DOUGLAS PORT DOUGLAS
Lynton Lynton Heffer Heffer www.fishingportdouglas.com.au
FNQ has finally kicked into gear with really positive signs of tourists visiting Port Douglas and the fishing has really started to turn it on as well. It seems the wet season is behind us as the seasons have changed. It has been a long haul for us in the tourism industry and it is great to return to normality and do what we do best – and that’s catch fish! From page 38
herring style imitations. If you prefer bait over lures, then it’s hard to go past three or four flicking prawns of a worm hook or
The reef fishing component has really gone up a notch with highly targeted species such as coral trout, nannygai and red emperor all playing a major role in daily catches. Sea temperatures continue to drop for the better and once the southerly currents take a hold, proceedings will be gang busters. We are also seeing a host of other species taking part including reef mangrove jack, a variety of trevally, sweetlip and cobia. With wind and tide and current all starting to work in together the fishing
will just keep improving on our reef systems. During May we’ve often recorded some of our best results for the year when it comes to reef fin species. For the sport fisho, trolling for mackerel species is well on track for a great season and the giant trevally popper fishing is really starting to hit its straps. We have some of the best GT fishing locations with our boats and it is a very popular request for the more serious angler. As is often the case, we’ll also start to see the small juvenile black marlin
fish using slow sinking soft crab imitations. Jacks love eating crabs and can’t resist these lures when pitched perfectly into a snag. All the systems in the NFZ will
take a little bit more effort to get to. These out of the way spots up little soak creeks are not only rarely crabbed, but also are out of the way of others.
The reef fishing has really taken off this month. You can expect great catches like this coral trout. in the coming months hit certain grounds and well worth enquiring about. Just keep in touch with us at Fishing Port Douglas and we’ll let you know when this run is on the cards to pursue. Of particular note has been the calm water fishing in the rivers and creeks of late. There’s been a plethora of great catches ranging from barra, queenfish,
mangrove jack, javelin fish, cod and trevally. To be honest, it has been quite exciting, and while the daytime temperatures remain relatively high this will continue. The rainfall has subsided and just been enough to keep churning up our coastal systems to keep them healthy and alive with worthy activity. If coming up this way the Daintree
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River has been the pick of waterways to wet a line. On the doorstep of the Daintree National Park there’s lots to see and do. Croc spotting and mud crabbing are an added bonus to look forward to while on the water. Let’s hope the current situation continues on the tourist front and we are raring to go to show you a good time in Tropical Far North Queensland.
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Flathead on the creek mouths and beaches are a good land-based target. a big live mullet pinned through the shoulder. While barra will be a prime target, so will be the mighty mangrove jack. With clear creeks it makes it perfect for flicking 3-4” minnow style plastics as close to structure as possible and working them back on a slow roll. My other preferred tactic this time of year is to use the clear water to sight cast these
be holding jacks this time of year so pick a bank and get casting. The big mover in May will be the mud crab and this is the best time of year to be dropping pots. It’s not uncommon this time of year to get a limit of muddies from your four pots, so it is worth setting a few while you wet a line over the tide. My best advice with crabbing is to put them in spots, which
The final species that will be on the run in May will be the elusive flathead. Not often caught in the tropics, these flat fish do tend to come on the chew this time of year, especially in the sandier systems like Thomatis and Barron River mouths. They are also a great land-based target for those chasing a fish off the open beaches. I wish you the best of luck fishing our wonderful NFZ.
The Supertanks have been a successful buisness for over 25 years. I, with my buisness partner Brett Thomson, have had a great income over the years, traveling throughout Australia promoting lure fishing. With the backing of major sponsors like Purefishing, Yamaha and many others,
the Supertanks are again running at full capacity. There is a great opportunity for a hard working person or team to take the buisness on with a guaranteed income for the go getter. If you love fishing and want to be self employed and like to travel, this is a great opportunity.
Please genuine enquires only. For more information on price, operations and future bookings etc. Big mud crabs will be running hard in the NFZ in May.
Contact Mike Cooke by email cookiesupertank@bigpond.com MAY 2021
39
NSW
Consistent bottom fishing COFFS HARBOUR
Dayne Taylor
With the recent devastating floods throughout the Mid North Coast, you’d assume I don’t have a lot to report on. However, the fishing offshore has still been exceptional, and although the rivers haven’t been great to get out and about to fish on, they are quickly stabilising and returning to normality. Larger river systems like the Clarence will still be running dirty in the lower reaches around Yamba and Iluka no doubt, and even the MacLeay River at South West Rocks is far from clear and pristine still, but they have improved a lot, and will a PrawtondoBso. onlybcontinue l a es a “Y mI’ve had plenty dof ” reports that the Australian bass have been loving the
Mac tuna make excellent bait.
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on the water for the first time. There will be lots of new obstructions such as logs and debris lodged in places they never were
before. And the sand bars and deep-water channels may have moved or changed significantly. Please be safe and slow
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Two spotted mackerel caught by Matthew McEwan.
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big dose of freshwater locally, and had been really fired up after the floods. We have now entered the annual no-take closed season for spawning migrations down to brackish water. We are sure to see great numbers of fish move back upstream after they spawn, and being true Aussie natives, they are sure to thrive after huge rain events we’ve had. If you are out on the rivers, be sure to adhere to our NSW DPI Fisheries rules on Australian bass until the season reopens in September. If you are making your way back onto our rivers systems for the first time since they have been in flood, please take it easy. Navigating a river after flooding should be approached as if you were
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down until you learn the river system again. The flood debris does create new fish habitat in some areas, making up for the loss of other fish-holding structure that was washed away by the relentless torrent. It is a cruel and weird world we live in. Since the rivers have been in flood the beach fishing has improved, especially around our river mouths. Some quality dusky flathead have been taken in the gutters on 5” soft plastic lures. Quality tailor have also been taken in similar locations. Right now is prime time for some XL size mulloway fishing. Whenever flood waters push schools of big mullet out of the river mouths and into beach gutters, the big predatory fish aren’t too far behind them. Cold nights with a campfire on the beach with a couple of rods out sure sounds good! OFFSHORE The water in close is far from the rich, dark blue 25°C that we expect to see
been working well. Out a little wider at places like the South Solitary Island, the water quality is much better, but still, this depends a lot on the current and wind direction on the day. Bottom fishing in reefs from 40-80m has been exceptional, with quality sized pearl perch, snapper and Venus tuskfish all on offer. A simple single or double hook paternoster (dropper) rig with an 8oz weight on the bottom is the best rig to use in these
depths. Freshly-caught yakkas cut into small cubes as bait worked the best for me on my last trip out, but squid and pilchards will surely produce the goods too. Another alternative is to try using metal jigs such as the huge array of octostyle jigs on the market, or metal jigs in the 80-150g range designed to flutter and dart around. Both of these types have worked a treat for me in the past. Until next month, enjoy your time on the water.
ROCKS Marine
Cathie Luff was happy with this pearl perch capture.
The author with a tasty Venus tuskfish.
at this time of the year on the Coffs Coast, but it’s still producing plenty of spotted and Spanish mackerel, as well as good numbers of northern bluefin and mac tuna. Live baits such as slimy mac and yakkas are still the best baits to use to produce a mackerel or tuna. You can either set your livie out under a float at anchor, or slow troll it behind the boat or kayak around the shallow reefs. Either method should soon see you hooked up. The snapper fishing in close around the shallow reefs (20m or less) near our river mouths has been very consistent throughout the flooding, with some really nice reds taken in recent weeks. Strip baits and soft plastics have both
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02 6566 6726 Fax 02 6566 6395
25 Memorial Ave, South West Rocks NSW 2431
MAY 2021
57
2021 Lake Mulwala Cod Nationals results While this all sounds complicated, when you’re living the tournament it all makes sense and the good teams take advantage of every point scoring opportunity. This year I was fishing with Shane Banks again as Fat Betty. The form guide had us at 5:1 favourites, a position that was probably a little flattering seeing how we had not fished the lake in 12
BRISBANE
Stephen Booth
The 2021 Lake Mulwala Cod Nationals will go down in history as the closest run Cod Nationals of all time! The winners, Team Black Widow (Thomas and Steve Pinter), went back-to-back in an epic effort submitting one final legal sized Murray cod with one minute to go on the final day that was only 1mm over the 55cm minimum size! That 1mm pushed Thomas to Champion Angler for the comp and pushed Black Widow from second to first in the overall team’s race! To Thomas and Steve,
MAY 2021
Lures and Gidgee Lures Day 3 Morning: Swimbait Dash for Cash Session 1 sponsored by Zerek and Bone lures Day 3 Afternoon: Any Sponsor Lure Dash for Cash Session 2 sponsored by all sponsors Day 4: Any Lure Day sponsored by Zerek and Kingfisher Lures The importance of using the sponsor of the day lure is clear with bonus points awarded to legal fish caught on their lures – an important addition to a team’s score, especially when it was so close up the top. To complicate matters, on the briefing night, teams must choose a bonus multiplier day. This bonus multiplier means any team points scored on that day are multiplied by 1.5. If you get this right, you’re pushed right into contention. If you get it wrong, you very well may have thrown the tournament away!
KD Blow (Derek and Kade Blow) won the Venom Rods Dash for Cash on Day 3 where the two Dash sessions are combined to give an overall winner. months and neither of us had fished for cod over the same period thanks to Covid! DAY 1 Spinnerbait Day (131 cod landed, 50 legal) The traditional first day of the comp, spinnerbait day is eagerly anticipated as anglers love throwing these lures for Murray cod. It was a fantastic day for Team Venom, who had their bonus multiplier day and landed two legal fish on the sponsor’s lures as well as scoring the big fish bonus of 1.75 points. The team finished
multiplier to finish with an impressive 15.675 points! Fat Betty had a good day too, finishing up in sixth place for the day catching three legal
Points 3688.1 3382.1 3343.8 3010.8 2514.8 2431.5 2187.7 2126.2 2029.5 1973.9
Clubhouse that evening. Team Venom again dominated the field finishing on top of the heap in terms of fish caught with 5 legal cod taken on sponsor lures. Unfortunately for them, they had already used their bonus multiplier day and KD Blow team hadn’t. After the bonuses were added on, KD Blow finished with more team points for the day than any other team. Fat Betty landed a couple of legal cod, but the fish weren’t big enough to push the teams into the big points at the top end of the daily scoring. All said and done, at the end of Day 2 Team Venom maintained their lead at the top of the heap with 31.495 points and Black Widow held onto second place with 23.115 points.
Steve Pinter with another fish for Black Widow – the father and son team are absolute guns on the lake!
One of three legal fish the author caught on Bassman spinnerbaits on Day 1.
TOP 10 TEAMS Place Team 1 Black Widow 2 Venom 3 KD Blow 4 Jones Doyle Plumbing 5 Wilson 6 Fat Betty 7 Swamp Donkies 8 All About Fishing Natives 9 Deni Doers 10 Team Steez 100
CHAMPION ANGLERS Angler Thomas Pinter Matt Rogers Rick Doyle Derek Blow Michael Haley Sunny Martins Kyle Dalrymple Shane Banks Lance Curry Stephen Booth
Champion Team Black Widow. Thomas and Steve Pinter went back-to-back to win the 2021 Lake Mulwala Cod Nationals.
A 55.1cm cod for Black Widow, taken on a Buzzer Beater. It showed everyone just how important sponsor lure caught fish are and that you need to fish right to the every end of each session! a massive congratulations becoming only the second team in the history of the comp to go back-to-back – an incredibly difficult thing to do. THE COD NATS This competition is all about anglers being versatile and skilled in many facets of lure fishing for Murray cod. It rewards well-rounded skill sets and anglers who can use a variety of lure types, make good decisions and fish to the final moments each day. This year, over the five session, we had: Day 1: Spinnerbait Day sponsored by Bassman Spinnerbaits Day 2: Hardbody Day sponsored by Pimped Up
TOP 10 Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Anglers Thomas Pinter/Steve Pinter Anthony Pavlou/Michael Haley Derek Blow/Kade Blow Rick Doyle/Kyle Dalrymple Ian Rogers/Matt Rogers Stephen Booth/Shane Banks Sunny Martins/Mick Beale Troy Flazon/Aaron Farrugia Billy Danckert/Kim Danckert Lance Curry/Zac Jury
Points 42.735 40.965 40.560 35.800 35.130 24.410 24.435 18.665 16.160 14.156
on top of the leader board with a massive 19.095 points for the day. The standout performance was from Michael Haley who nailed an 84cm cod on a spinnerbait fished off his trusty Venom Crankbait PE 2-4. Black Widow (Thomas and Steve Pinter) also had a great start to the comp landing five legal fish on the sponsor lures and using their bonus
fish on sponsor lures fished off the Bone Voyage BVC684XH rod. Our biggest issue was not connecting to the fish! Out of 15 strikes for the day, we only managed five fish – at one point I had five missed strikes in a row, which saw me curled up in the foetal position on the back deck of the boat sucking my thumb! DAY 2 Hardbody Day (170 cod landed, 51 legal) Everyone was enjoying the prospect of throwing hardbody lures at the flats cod and hardbody day didn’t disappoint! A record 170 cod were landed by the field over the course of the day and it was a very happy Mulwala Football/Netball
DAY 3 Session 1 Swimbait Dash for Cash (37 cod landed, 12 legal) The Dash for Cash is a hectic shot gun start where anglers are charged with catching fish as quickly as possible and returning to the start venue with their photos to score bonus points for fish caught earlier in the session. This session belonged to Fat Betty and more specifically to Shane Banks. While most of the field roared off to chase their fish on the flats, Fat Betty motored 200m from the start line to fish in front of the houses near the start line at Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski. First cast and I landed a sub-legal, two casts
later Shane landed a slightly smaller fish and a further five casts later, Shane locked into a good fish. This fish smacked a Bone Focus 130 lure and after a few tense moments at the boat, was measured, photographed and back in the drink within 20 minutes of the start of the session. That fish went 93.9cm and secured Fat Betty the 10 points on offer for the morning session. Team Venom didn’t miss out either, landing a couple of fish on Bone Focus lures also and giving them a second place for the session and a valuable 9 points. DAY 3 Session 2 Any Sponsor Lure Dash for Cash (99 cod landed, 22 legal) The Afternoon Session of the Dash for Cash restricts the anglers to only using sponsor
secure the win. Coming from back in the field, local guns Rick Doyle and Kyle Dalrymple smashed the fish on the final day, had their bonus multiplier day and used sponsor lures to amass an amazing 18.96 points for the day. Zerek Infinity blades were the choice lure for the crew but the gap to the top
The Tonic Big Fish was caught by Fat Betty’s Shane Banks on a Bone Focus 130 during the Dash for Cash session. 35.240 points! We were sitting in fifth place, out of the race for first, but right in amongst a number of talented teams. Day 4 was going to be a very close race for the top 3 teams. DAY 4 Any Lure (136 cod landed, 46 legal) Day 4 was a race between three teams. At the top of the field was Team Venom and nipping right at their heels was Black Widow and KD Blow. The teams from fourth down to eighth were also in a race for final positioning, but all the interest was squarely placed on the top three teams. Any lure day means
Fat Betty’s Shane Banks with a good scoring fish of 65cm taken on a Gidgee Lure on Day 2 of the comp.
Michael Haley’s big fish on Day 1 pushed the tape out to 84cm and helped Team Venom into a strong position on Day 1. lures. It doesn’t matter the type or style, just so long as the lures used are from the sponsor’s stable. This opens up the fishing with spinnerbaits, hardbodies, swimbaits, surface lures, soft plastics and everything in between being used by the field and this leads to far more fish being caught. This session belonged to Black Widow who piled on the fish in a stunning display of Mulwala angling and a further five legal fish on sponsor lures in the short afternoon session! After both sessions, the Venom Rods Dash for Cash Champion Team is awarded two beautiful Venom rods and get to hold up the perpetual trophy and in another very tight race, KD Blow (Derek and Kade Blow) edged out Fat Betty by one fish to take out the title! After the Venom Rods Dash for Cash day Team Venom was clinging onto first place overall with 40.965 points and Black Widow sitting on 35.415 and KD Blow right in it with
at 3:59pm – 1 minute before stop fishing! This just legal cod tipped the scales wildly putting Black Widow in front of Team Venom by a mere 2.5 points, or 1 legal fish. As heartbreaking as it was for Team Venom, it was an amazing effort by Black Widow to go back-to-back in this incredible tournament.
Wilson’s Matt ‘Spider’ Rogers with a fantastic flats fish taken on Day 4. His team finished in fifth place overall with a very consistent performance.
Anthony Pavlou with a typical flats fish caught on hardbody day on one of his very own Pimp Daddy lures.
anglers can use whatever they want, but in a tight contest like this was turning out to be, using sponsor’s lures was going to be the edge needed to get over the line. Sponsors of the day were Zerek and Kingfisher Lures and over the course of the day heaps of different Zerek Lures and Kingfisher lures were thrown at Mulwala’s cod. This was the day that Fat Betty had their bonus multiplier day, so a good performance was going to be essential to their final standing and Team Venom just needed to get a couple of legal fish and finish in the points to
three was just too big and they climbed up the ladder to finish in fourth. We scored points on the final day, but not enough to keep our noses in front of Kyle and Rick and Fat Betty held onto sixth place overall. KD Blow didn’t have their best day on the water, but still put 5.32 points in the bin and then it was down to Team Venom and Black Widow. As no one knew the result, the entire crowd was hushed as MC Tony Bennett talked through the final minutes of the day. Black Widow landed and photographed a 55.1cm Murray cod and had the photos in to the weigh master
OTHER RESULTS Across the tournament there are other awards handed out that anglers love to receive and the Big Fish of the Day award is one of those, Michael Haley from Team Venom won this on Day 1 and Shane Banks from Fat Betty won this on Day 3. Shane’s fish also held onto to be the Tonic Eyewear Big Fish of the Comp as well. Interestingly only three of the top 10 teams added points to their totals every day with Fat Betty, KD Blow and Swamp Donkeys being those teams. It’s unusual for the top teams to have a donut point day as this usually spells disaster, but with the exceptional bonus multiplier day scoring, it didn’t hinder the top two team’s performance in the end. All in all, it was a wildly successful tournament with an incredible 573 Murray cod landed by the 36 teams (72 anglers) across the five fishing sessions. Of these cod, 181 were of legal size or better with the two biggest fish being Shane’s 93.9cm fish on Day 3 and Mike’s 84cm on Day 1. Thank you to all the organises, helpers, cooks, competitors and families. The 2021 Lake Mulwala Cod Nationals will go down in the books as the closest event ever with amazing numbers of fish. MAY 2021
101
BASS ELECTRIC Series presented by
BASS Electric Round One at Toonumbar The first round of the ABT BASS Electric round sponsored by BKK hooks was held at Toonumbar Dam, in northern New South Wales. This tournament was almost not going to go ahead due to the local flooding in New South Wales and South East Queensland, where some areas received an immense amount of rain. We knew it was going to be an interesting competition
and there was a lot of talk about undersized bass being caught. Still, it showed that there were fish to be caught; you just needed to be in the right area for the legal size. There was one angler who stood out from the rest: Peter Bostock, who led the field overnight. Sunday morning saw the 21 anglers take off to do it all again, to see whether it would be another day of sorting through small fish.
for not even a touch. On Saturday he headed up the creek where he managed one good fish on a ZMan Slim SwimZ, and this was the bass that would end up being the Big Bass for the weekend. At 1.350kg, it was in great health. Peter spent the rest of the evening throwing Chubbys to the edge, hooking up fairly consistently. Sunday saw Peter head back up the creek and he caught a few undersized fish. With 30 minutes to go Peter lost a good fish at the net. This was to be second keeper, but finally on the last cast of the day he hooked and landed his second legal. Peter finished the weekend with a winning weight of 3.4kg for four out of four. “A massive shout-out to our new tournament director Adrian Wilson, the ABT team and Col Linton from BKK for their support,” Peter said. In second place was Charles ‘Westy’ West. Westy fished the top part of the
Winner Peter Bostock was one of only three competitors who caught their bag limit on both days.
Event winner Peter Bostock also took out the Big Bass prize. for the weekend because the water was chocolate brown and had floating debris. The 21 anglers took off on Saturday at 12:30pm and finished the session at 7pm. The second session was Sunday morning from 6:00am until 12 noon. After Session 1’s weigh in, it was clear that it was going to be a tough event. Small fish were hit the scales,
After the session was finished, the weigh in revealed a few bags with single fish and only a couple of bags with two. After the weighing of the second session, Toonumbar had produced only three anglers that had a four-fromfour bag limit. The winner of this round led the event wire-to-wire: Peter Bostock. Peter had a prefish on Friday afternoon
Runner-up Charles ‘Westy’ West caught most of his fish on plastics in pumpkinseed colour.
lake, casting the edges that had any sign of weed on them, and lily pads. He caught most of his legal fish on a 1/6oz jighead-rigged plastic in pumpkinseed colour, very close to the colour of the lake’s water. He managed an upgrade on a Siglett topwater lure. On the second session Westy stayed on the same pattern as the day before, casting the plastic and focusing three quarters of the session on a 100m stretch of bank. Westy managed three legals with this technique. All in all it was a tough but great weekend for everyone. See you at the next round. - ABT Bass Electric Series
FISHING NEWS
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102
MAY 2021
The NSW DPI Fisheries has released a new video showing the seasonal movements of white (great white) sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks. These three species are referred to as ‘target sharks’, because they are the three species that are most frequently involved in shark bites in NSW. For this reason, they are the focus of the NSW Government’s tagging and tracking programs. NSW DPI has tagged over 700 white, bull and tiger sharks to learn about their movements, and put their findings in a new video on the NSW DPI Fisheries YouTube channel. The videos show the typical movement patterns these three species at different times of the year. Other recent DPI
Fisheries videos outline the latest shark tagging results, plus an overview of the Shark Management Strategy to date. The program has trialled measures such as Surf Life Savers using
drones that can talk to you when you’re in the surf; listening stations that detect tagged sharks, linked to a realtime app; deploying smart drumlines for tagging and relocating sharks; and
working with experts to test new ideas like bite-proof wetsuits for surfers. To check them out, search for ‘NSW DPI Fisheries’ on YouTube. – FMG
Tournament Calendar 2021 DATE
Tournament
Location
State
Contact
MAY 1-2 May 1-2 May 15-16 May 16 May 16 May 22-23 May 29-30 May
2021 Daiwa BREAM R3 Glenelg Hopkins CMA Bream Classic R4 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R3 East Coast Bream Series R3 East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R4 2021 Daiwa BREAM R4
Forster,NSW Nelson Forster Clarrie Hall Dam Hawkesbury River Port Macquarie Ballina
NSW VIC NSW NSW NSW NSW NSW
abt.org.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au hobiefishing.com.au abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 abt.org.au
JUNE 5-6 June 5-6 June 12-13 June 12-13 June 13 June 13 June 19-20 June 19-20 June 19-20 June
R5 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 13Fishing BASS Pro R4 R6 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 Pottsville Beach Sports Greenback 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R4 East Coast Bream Series R1 R7 Hobie Fishing Worlds East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R5 Daiwa East Gippsland Bream Classic
Mallacoota Cania Dam Blackwood River Pottsville Maroon Dam St Georges Basin Swan River Nambucca River Mallacoota
VIC QLD WA NSW QLD NSW WA NSW VIC
hobiefishing.com.au abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au lionsgreenback.com abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au hobiefishing.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 www.vicbreamclassics.com.au
JULY 11 July 17-18 July 24-25 July
2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R5 Hinze Dam R8 Hobie Fishing Worlds Gold Coast East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R6 Macleay River
QLD QLD NSW
abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135
AUGUST 7-8 Aug 11-12 Aug 14-15 Aug 14-15 Aug 15 Aug 21-22 Aug 21-22 Aug
2021 13Fishing BASS Pro R5 BREAM Queensland Open 2021 Daiwa BREAM R5 East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro GF East Coast Bream Series R4 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R6 Atomic East Gippsland Bream Classic
Somerset Dam Moreton Bay Gold Coast Nambucca River Botany Bay Borumba Dam Marlo
QLD QLD QLD NSW NSW QLD VIC
abt.org.au abt.org.au abt.org.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au
SEPTEMBER 11-12 Sept 11-12 Sept 12 Sept 13-17 Sept 18-19 Sept
R9 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 Daiwa BREAM R6 East Coast Bream Series R5 Venom BARRA Australian Open 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric GF
Georges River Gladstone Sydney Harbour Awoonga/Monduran Lake Lenthalls
NSW QLD NSW QLD QLD
hobiefishing.com.au abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au abt.org.au
OCTOBER 2-3 Oct 9-10 Oct 9-10 Oct 15-16 Oct 17 Oct 17 Oct 26-27 Oct 30-31 Oct
Humminbird BASS Electric Aus Open R10 Hobie Fishing Worlds Club Marine East Gippsland Bream Classic 2021 Zerek BARRA R1 2021 Zerek BARRA R2 East Coast Bream Series GF Rapala BASS Australian Open 2021 13Fishing BASS Pro GF
Wyaralong Dam Burrill Lake Metung Lake Tinaroo Lake Tinaroo Hawkesbury River Clarence River Richmond River
QLD NSW VIC QLD QLD NSW NSW NSW
abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au abt.org.au abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au abt.org.au
NOVEMBER 15 Nov 16 Nov 18 Nov 20-21 Nov 27-28 Nov
2021 Zerek BARRA R3 2021 Zerek BARRA R4 2021 Zerek BARRA R5 2021 Zerek BARRA R6 NS Rods Sunline Bream Classic GF
Teemburra Dam Kinchant Dam Peter Faust Dam Peter Faust Dam Marlo
QLD QLD QLD QLD VIC
abt.org.au abt.org.au abt.org.au abt.org.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au
DECEMBER 3-5 Dec
2021 Daiwa BREAM GF
Port Stephens
NSW
abt.org.au
Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au Just supply a date, venue, tournament name, telephone number and contact name. MAY 2021
103
recfishwest Another great GAMEX, as science bolsters research to make WA fishing better The 53rd GAMEX once again did not disappoint – 164 tag-and-released billfish, including 110 black marlin, 13 blue marlin, 5.85kg queenfish on 1kg line and much, much more. Joining a healthy contingent of local fishers, WA’s premier game and sportfishing comp drew avid fishers to Exmouth from across the state for the week-long competition, with Recfishwest researchers also in attendance to collect vital species data, from 12-20 March. USING SCIENCE TO MAKE FISHING BETTER Through the Fishing for Science program, Recfishwest Operations Officer Mike Minutillo and intern John Dempsey collected data from 56
said. “It shows WA is home to many passionate fishers who are always striving to be better stewards of our marine resources. It truly was fantastic to have the support of the EGFC and everyone who competed in GAMEX – there was a real interest in Fishing for Science and the
the champion female angler title from Jesse Sutton, while Corey Heal edged out Ryan Caporn for the champion male angler gong. Among the many fantastic fish caught, Jesse reeled in a 5.85kg queenfish on 1kg line to narrowly beat Anna who
There were some great captures recorded at the competition, like this impressive queenfish. “At GAMEX, competitors were mad-keen to bring their fish to the weigh station as part of Fishing for Science,” he
Recfishwest’s Mike Minutillo and John Dempsey talking to some eager on-lookers about Fishing for Science at GAMEX.
The Innkeeper team accepting their spoils. fish during the Exmouth Game Fishing Club-held (EGFC) comp. From Spanish mackerel, to spangled emperor, golden trevally, queenfish and mahimahi, participating fishers brought 19 different highly-valued recreational fishing species to the weigh station during the event. Data collected included weight, length, condition, sex and maturity stage, and tissue samples from each fish’s belly were taken for future research. Mike said the data, which is set to be available via the Otlet website, was invaluable to further understanding important recreationally-valuable fishing species. “Fishing for Science is a tournament monitoring and community engagement program run by Recfishwest,” 104
MAY 2021
Mike said. “The samples will contribute to developing a better knowledge base of recreational fishing species, which are prized among WA recfishers, but don’t have much scientific data gathered on them.” MORE FISH, MORE DATA The data collected
through Fishing for Science at major fishing tournaments, including GAMEX, can be used to educate the fishing community further about prized fish. In addition, Mike said Fishing for Science encouraged increased custodianship of their fisheries and fish resources by recfishers.
Jesse Sutton with a beautiful mahimahi at GAMEX.
Fish weight, length, condition, sex and maturity stage was among data taken.
benefit it brings.” EXCELLENT FISHING AT EXMOUTH Once again, there was fantastic fishing and fierce competition across the 53rd annual GAMEX. Innkeeper Sportfishing Charters’ team enjoyed a fantastic tournament, winning a range of categories including the tag-and-release marlin champion boat. Anna Passmore claimed
caught a 5.25kg queenie on 1kg line. “Thanks again to the EGFC and its weigh-in committee for the help throughout this year’s GAMEX and supporting Fishing for Science,” Mike said. “And, a big shout-out to all fishers who let us sample the fish that they caught – you’ve helped play a major role in better understanding a number of species.”
LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE…
No boat, no problem INTUITIVE CONTROL ESPERANCE
Murray Johnson
The Esperance coast has been enjoying some great autumn weather, with low winds and plenty of opportunities to get out fishing. The grand opening of the new rebuilt tanker jetty has seen thousands of people rediscover the wonders of bay fishing. They have been catching plenty of herring, squid and garfish. The keenest land-based fishos have been chasing tuna and samsonfish off the end. Old style fishing has made a comeback, with anglers chasing squid using ALBERTON jags rigged with a herring ALBERTON under a float.MARINE A popular rig for39herring a lumo rig, JohnsonisStreet Alberton consisting of a2344 no. 2 berley P: (03) 5183 blob, a metre of line, no. 4 F: (03) 5183 2219 longshank hook with 3mm W: albertonmarine.com.au
to chase mulloway and and mulloway getting gummies have had great caught as they move closer success at Alexander and to the shoreline. Choice Israelite Bay. Flathead up beaches to target them are to 85cm are also in the mix. 14 Mile, Thomas River Duke of Orleans has and Israelite, with good been another prime spot fish also being caught at lately, with anglers Alexander Bay. catching plenty of herring, We should start seeing mixed in with skippy. A the return of the schools of fairly big school of salmon salmon later in the month, has also been sitting there. along with skippy, which It’s a great spot to fish can reach up to 8kg off the if the southeasterlies beach as the temperature start to blow. cools down. Back in town, Bandy In the coming months Creek Boat Harbour has there is also an increased still been producing good chance of samsonfish and King George whiting in big other pelagics as they come numbers, with fish up to in closer to the shore. 35cm being caught. Mixed Good jetty fishing will in are some flatties going continue in May, with 50cm, flounder, and the more garfish being caught. occasional garfish. To catch a feed of garfish, When it MELBOURNE comes to use a pencil float, a no. 10 MELBOURNE boat fishing in the bay, MARINE hook,CENTRE and small baits such bluefin tuna have still been gents (maggots), small 92 Hallam South as Road Hallam hanging around, can2003bits of prawn or chicken. P:but (03)we 9703 expect that to taper off in Use dry pollard on the W: melbournemarine.com.au the coming weeks as the surface to bring the gar in
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SHEPPARTON lumo tube the BOATS ANDcovering MORE TOORADIN shank of the hook. You just P&J MARINE SERVICE CENTRE P/L 207 Numurkah Road Shepparton throw it out and wind back P: (03) 5822 2108 101 Tooradin Station Road Tooradin slowly, and the herring will chase the5821 tube2908 and bubble F: (03) P: (03) 5998 3107 trail. It’s essentially a W: boatsandmore.com.au E: pjmarine_services@bigpond.com home-made lure. MORWELL Tailor Street Jetty has GEELONG continued to provide good CRAWFORD PORTSIDE MARINE CENTRE fishing, with MARINE numbers of 71-77 Chickerell Morwell garfish and KingStreet George 36-38 Geelong Road Portarlington whiting addition If you haven’t Esperance P: (03) in 5134 6522 to the P: visited (03) 5259 1110 for a while, come usual herring and squid. and check out the new purpose-built fishing jetty, F: (03) 5134 6455 E: info@portsidemarinecentre.com.au Beach fishing in the which has replaced the crumbling old tanker jetty. W: crawfordmarine.com.au W: portsidemarinecentre.com.au town area has gone quieter in terms of salmon, as water temperatures change. closer. Late in the season ECHUCA those fish have continued There are MELBOURNE still good you can spotlight them and to EADES move XTREME towards MARINE Perth on numbers of squid being SHOP scoop net them in the bay. THE MARINE their annual caught, and sand whiting Garfish are excellent 24 Sturt Streetpilgrimage. Echuca 6 Holland Drive Melton However, we2333 are still have started their annual eating. After you have P: (03) 5482 P: (03) 9747 0588 seeing scattered schools run, with plenty of kidney- scaled and gutted them, F: (03) 5482 2133 F: (03) 9747 3999 and individuals. The best slappers amongst them. put them belly down, and W: xtrememarine.net.au themarineshop.com.au beaches to try are still The localW:islands in use a glass Coke bottle Salmon Beach, Fourth close are still producing to roll along their back to BRAESIDE Beach and 9 Mile. Further plenty of queen snapper, break the bones. After the MELBOURNE outJVofMARINE town, there’s breaksea, sea TRIPLE sweepMand garfish are cooked, you can WORLD Roses MARINE and to Braeside the the occasional samsonfish. easily pull the backbone out 878 Munglinup Springvale Road 117 Northgate Drive Thomastown west, and heading east Boats heading outside before you eat them. P: (03) 9798 8883 P: (03) 9465 8787 there are still salmon at have been encountering • Established in 1986, F: (03) 9798 7554 F: (03) 9466 Duns, Alexander, Thomas plenty of nannygai going1418 Southern Sports and Tackle W:Poison. jvmarine.com.au and 65cm (3.5kg). Mixed specializes in the supply W: triplemmarine.com.au All of the beaches are in with them have been and servicing of fishing producing great numbers of plenty of breaksea, queen equipment. They have an big herring, and there are snapper, and good numbers extensive knowledge of the also good skippy getting of samsonfish and smaller local area and provide all caught, up to around the yellowtail kingfish. brands, whether you’re 4kg mark. Choice beaches Bluefin tuna schools have fishing from beach, jetty or for them are Roses and been getting around out boat. Come and chat to the Thomas River. Plenty of wide as well. friendly staff at Shop 16, The bronzies are being caught at In the coming weeks Boulevard, Esperance or Poison, and people wanting we will see more gummies phone 08 9071 3022.
WA
South Coast
LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE…
INTUITIVE CONTROL
WA MERCURY DEALERS BUNBURY BLUEWATER MARINE 18 Hawkins Street BUNBURY P: (08) 9791 1499 F: (08) 9791 1497 E: bluwater@bigpond.net.au W: bluewatermarine.com.au EXMOUTH EXMOUTH AUTOMOTIVE & BOATING 5 Griffiths Way EXMOUTH P: (08) 9949 2795 F: (08) 9949 4795 E: exautomotive@bigpond.com W: exmouthautoandboating.com.au MANDURAH MANDURAH OUTBOARDS 53 Gordon Road MANDURAH P: (08) 9581 7224 F: (08) 9581 6305 E: james@mandurahoutboards.com.au W: mandurahoutboards.com.au ALBANY RUSTY’S MARINE U2/205 Chesterpass Road ALBANY P: (08) 9842 1022 E: rustysmarine@bigpond.com W: www.rustysmarine.com.au
ROCKINGHAM MIDWAY MARINE 43 Hurrell Way ROCKINGHAM P: (08) 9527 6963 F: (08) 9527 6964 E: info@midwaymarine.net.au W: midwaymarine.net.au HENDERSON THE BOAT BUSINESS 1/5 Contest Link HENDERSON P: (08) 9437 5144 F: (08) 9437 6144 E: mark@theboatbusiness.com.au W: theboatbusiness.com.au WANGARA HI TECH MARINE 12 Uppill Place WANGARA P: (08) 9309 2888 F: (08) 9309 2397 E: sales@hitechmarine.com.au W: hitechmarine.com.au
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Part II: Stocking, to keep or not to keep SUNTAG
Stefan Sawynok
In my last article I looked at how fishing allocations are tracked verses how fishing populations actually work. In summary, I discussed how allocations and monitoring is based on outputs (take) but if that is done without a reliable baseline of input (new fish recruits) then things can and do go pear-shaped. This month I want to flip to the other side of the equation, that being outputs or recreational take. As with the last part, I am not going to look so much at what the numbers say right now but rather focus on how things work and the holes we have in the current ways of assessing take. THE AVERAGE FISHER There are a lot of reasonable datasets out there on the demographics and even the demographic shifts of fishers. Demographic data is reasonably easy to collect via survey methods and by and large surveys ensure their samples are as representative of the population at large as possible. This is good practice as sampling methodologies go
survey, are trying to get as close as they can to a random sample that is representative of the population. They do this because it’s a time-tested methodology that is very effective for a lot of problems particularly proportions. Imagine you have a jar of jelly-beans with 100 beans broken up into two colours. Draw ten beans out say five times, average out the results and you will get close to five of each colour. If you double the number of colours, say to four colours of equal proportions and repeat you will end up with an average of around 2.5 per colour in each sample. In other words, multiply up and your smaller sample reflects the larger. Similarly let’s say you skew the sample, so maybe go with two colours and a 60/40 proportion and repeat and again on average you will end up with the right proportion on average. This is good examples of normal distributions and demographics generally fits well into this category. All good so far. However let’s go with a more extreme example, say there’s just one or two beans that is of a different colour and you do random sampling. All of sudden things start to break down because the sample is unlikely to
coloured bean is a good thing, because that bean is very valuable. Another version of the lottery though, is the poisoned jar. From time to time, there is some crazy who will contaminate a random jar of baby food or Panadol or the like. In this case the solution is to not take a chance and recall everything despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the product is good, nobody is willing to accept the very low risk that they will be the unlucky one. In both cases, colour is not a particularly good predictor for if the bean is a winner or a poisoned chalice. WHAT’S IT HAVE TO DO WITH FISHING AND HARVEST? Every type of survey is designed to return results based on the survey design. In the case of population surveys, you want a good random sample that reflects the population. The problem is, what happens if the thing you are looking for is the second type of sample I mentioned above, in that case random sampling starts to return erratic results. This is exactly what happens in recreational fishing. The problem with fishing is that fishing outcomes, be it success or failure, have very little to do with demographics
Fig.2 Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture production value 2005/6-2025/6 (Source: ABARES). but not always useful in terms of assessing recreational fishing beyond participation metrics. Much of this article will be spent on breaking down why this method is less useful when it comes to assessing recreational take. RANDOM SAMPLING (AND WHY IT’S A PROBLEM) Survey designs, be it boat ramp survey or diary
reproduce accurately what the population looks like unless you oversample. This is an example of a non-normal distribution and we have real world examples that exemplify how much trickier they are. In this kind of distribution, how we perceive risk is key to how we approach it. This kind of distribution is akin to the lottery. In that case, the scarcity of the odd
TABLE.1.COMPARISON OF RESULTS Event Total Fish Entrants 4LB 2018 1117 120 4LB 2019 1249 120 SCF 2019 1069 249 SCF 2020 1105 241 LUREMASTERS 2019 1089 400 LUREMASTERS 2020 4029 500 Average %
and they are not good predictors. As pretty much all fishers know, skill, attitude and time on the water play the largest role in determining outcome. With this in mind three things have a harvest impact on the individual: • Fishing Power – a measure of your ability to catch fish • Disposable time – how often can you get out on the water • Attitude – how likely are
Top 5% results 18% (231) 20% (255) 24% (317) 28% (333) 20% (223) 21% (864) 21.8%
Top 10% results 32% (375) 35% (413) 39% (497) 45% (518) 34% (371) 32% (1311) 36.2%
you to keep fish Of these three, creel/boat ramp surveys tend to only capture one if that (disposable time). Diary surveys can capture all three but are rarely looked at in the context of modelling. Diary and creel surveys use good practice in generating a population sample which leaves them vulnerable because these key factors are not the focus of the survey or modelling. ISSUES WITH DIARY/ CREEL SURVEYS I will give you some real numbers on why diary surveys and creel surveys are an issue, but there was a good example of this in British Columbia Canada. In this case, the Fisheries authorities were looking to replace creel surveys with diary surveys. They ran parallel versions of both with good sampling practice but kept getting different results from the two samples. In order to standardise the results you had to put in a correction factor, worse that correction factor changed year on year. Why would that be? In this case, the target was salmon and trout. As high take species, we can assume that the attitudes of the two groups were the same, they standardised for demographics and time on the water. So if there is a difference then it had to be in the combined fishing power recorded by each of the two methods. FISHING POWER There is a simple way of explaining fishing power and that it does influence the outcomes. If fishing power wasn’t important, why use nets? Or in a recreational context, why the increasing use of echosounders? Technologies such as nets for commercial fishers and echosounders for recreational fishers increase fishing power (ie. the chance you will catch fish). That said, even these technologies do not provide an equal and universal lift for all fishers. It’s not the case that add an echosounder and everyone catches three more fish a trip. Ability to use the technology and other knowledge will influence success rates. Shockingly, not all fishers are equal, and I can demonstrate with data. Table.1 compares six ‘free for all’ events where Top 20% results 47% (529) 68% (657) 59% (750) 54% (765) 54% (587) 48% (2087) 55%
Table.1. Comparison of contribution to total catch of highest performing fishers in open result tournaments 116
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Fig.1 Average number of maximum bags per fisher over 10 years (two fishing days per event). there are essentially no restrictions on the number of fish that can be caught. All of the events are over 2 days (with the exception of Luremasters 2019 which is one day) and require some level of skill to enter as they are lure-only or lure-preferred. In total, the six events reported 9,658 fish so supply of fish was not an issue. Geographically, two events are in Far North Queensland (regional fishers dominant), two on the Sunshine Coast (Greater Brisbane fishers), two in New Zealand (Auckland fishers) and all have quite different demographic mixes in terms of participation. In essence, if the ability to catch fish was going to have an influence on the final result, it should show up. As you can see, there is a remarkable consistency regardless of field size between the contributions of the Top 5%, Top 10% and Top 20%, event when the catch really goes crazy. The contribution of the top 20% was between 47%-68% of the catch. It’s almost as if the best fishers have an unfair advantage. BAG LIMITS AND TIME As can been seen in the results from the six events, in a free for all situation the best fishers can have a big impact. If this was translated into the real fishery with no other constraints then the potential is there to have an impact. Note, I said ‘potential’ as there are a number of other factors that need to be considered even in those extreme circumstances: • What type of species/what sort of recruitment pattern do they have • What are the attitudes to take vs release • What is the post release survival rate • What is the available disposable time Fishing power is reason bag limits exist, to reduce the ability of one fisher to overharvest. Do bag limits work? In general, yes, but the problem with bag limits as with all ‘one size fits all’ approaches, it’s never
that simple. A couple of years ago, I did work on the ABT (Australian Bass Tournaments), where there was a daily bag limit for competitors (5 for Bream and 2 for Bass). In that assessment I was looking at quite a different problem – the impact of the ‘Who Shares Wins’ philosophy, but the raw results are instructive to the question of effect of bag limits. In that case I did a comparison of the top 1% of fishers by results vs the next 19%, then the remaining 80% over a ten-year block. The final results show that over time, the top 1% (T1) outperformed the next 19% (T20) and the rest (T80) and the more events there were (ie. the more time available), the larger that gap. See Fig.1. This result is important to understanding that even amongst skilled and motivated fishers, there is a gap in results, whereby Bag limits alone do not bring the best fishers back to the field. In fact, it took a major drop off in events 2014-2016 to reduce the gap. This demonstrates why disposable fishing time is important and overly important to the best fishers. With the same amount of the disposable time available to all fishers, the best fishers widen the success gap. I have stated in prior articles that if you are serious on restricting catch then you need to reduce the bag limit to as close to zero as possible or add a time limit and even a slot limit on top. This is the case for snook in Florida where there is a bag limit (1), slot limit (28-32”) and a time limit (1 September to December 15). This hasn’t made me popular, but it’s just the reality of mathematics. It’s probably been the biggest point of debate I have had with folks in the industry and I get some serious pushback. In my defense, I am just highlighting the mathematical realities – not a justification for the action. I am an evidence-based person in as much as I can be, if you are going to go that road, there better be a solid case for it.
On the other hand, if the case justifies such action and you don’t take those steps then chances are things won’t get better. Snapper in Queensland is a good example of fisher pressure acting against their own longer-term interests. If a species is under stress, recreational fishers should do their part to minimise the impact, even if the commercial sector does not have such restraints. Let the commercial sector bear the responsibility for their own actions. ATTITUDES The third factor in
salmon for three months of the year. Projects like the Released Fish Survival Strategy, changes in equipment, handling practices and even marketing have influenced changes in fisher habits over time. The decision to harvest fish can be based on time of year, target species, location and even method of fishing. In other words, if you are building a model and aren’t somehow capturing this complexity, the raw data alone is unlikely to provide an accurate picture of harvest.
Aquaculture. It’s hard for the three most populous states (NSW, Victoria, Queensland) to make a strong economic case for commercial fishing as combined they make up less than 20% of production overall. See Fig.3. My view of commercial fishing is that if they aren’t in the big-ticket production species, or working on adding value to their harvest they have almost no economic argument to fall back on. There may be a local social license argument (ie. they provide the local community
Fig.3 Shares of fisheries and aquaculture production by Jurisdiction (Source: ABARES). predicting harvest outcomes is attitudes to keeping fish and again, this factor is not a simple yes/no toggle switch. In a simplistic world, fishers would either be for or against keeping fish but in my experience increasingly that is a much more contextual decision. For example, amongst gamefishers there has been a seachange over the past few decades with marlin and sharks once commonly kept and now are majority tagged and released. In fact the move to tagging has been driven by social factors with a vocal component of the community against the targeting of such species. The same fishers though, have no problem taking mahimahi, mackerel, tuna or trevally, common pelagic alternatives that inhabit similar territory. In the fresh, Australian bass have for decades been considered a catch and release species but thanks to stocking, the only reason to enforce a bag limit being to protect the small wild stocks available. On a more localised level, Gladstone for example has an excellent bream fishery, driven largely by the fact that locals rarely see bream as anything but a by-catch favouring alternatives such as reef species. On the other hand, on the Sunshine Coast/Moreton Bay, bream are a heavy harvest species particularly amongst the over 60s. Over in WA at the moment, the Salmon Slam is on celebrating the salmon run that brings hundreds of fishers in to target Australian
COMMERCIAL FISHING If fishing power and attitudes are not well accounted for in recreational modelling, commercial fishing is well understood and has always been prioritised on the basis of economic return to the community. My view is in the longer-term commercial fishers face the same social license issues as the recreational fishers do only more so. If you are going to use commercial return to the community as your justification, you better demonstrate it. With that in mind, let’s have a look at the reality of commercial fishing. Fig.2 is taken from the Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture Outlook 2021 and it’s very instructive. This combines two sectors (wild harvest and aquaculture) but the list of key economic species looks very global – salmonids, lobster, prawns, abalone and tuna. The remainder of the fish component is listed as ‘Other fish’. The other fish component is steady over time at around 0.5B GVP but that is all species. In reality it’s salmonids that are the big-ticket item in terms of fisheries contribution. If you take out things like barramundi and coral trout from the other category you get a lot of small ticket species in the cosmic economic scheme. That picture gets even more interesting when state contribution is taken into account as over time Tasmania produces a larger proportion of the overall production through
with fresh fish) but again, this should be based on hard evidence, not just emotional outbursts in the local media. This is not a farm, as they are putting little in and just extracting what is a community resource. In other words, the majority of commercial fishers should receive no priority vs recreational fishers and be expected to make all the same sacrifices, proportionate to their demonstrated share of the catch, even if that makes their activity uneconomical. If they are willing to change their approach, extract more value from smaller catches then they should be given more leeway. The simple question is, could we generate 0.5B GVP by other means (eg tourism) if we stopped that catch altogether or shifted to mix of Aquaculture and recreational alternatives? Or alternatively, what if we reduced the social license to direct fish markets and local community? Would the economy collapse? The answer to that question should make commercial fishers shuffle their feet nervously. CATCH AND RELEASE Catch and release has over time gained a strong social license amongst fishers, particularly in fishing events where competitions since the 1970s where they were nearly all weigh in are down to less than 20% of the total mix. Catch and release however is not the same as ‘all fish survive’. A lot of work was done in the mid 2000s on released fish survival rates and a lot
of industry changes resulted, from moves to knotless landing nets, use of circle hooks and so on. Survival rates are one element reasonably well understood and the good news is a lot of species do survive well on release. Reef species are example of fish that have post release survival issues, as typically they live in water depths that make them more susceptible to the effects of barotrauma thus. Evidence of this can been seen at the Suntag store, where the largest selling item, purchased from around the country are venting needles. The Suntag store has recently added a release weight option and it’s expected sales will increase through that channel as people become aware of its availability. DEPREDATION The last big unknown, and this applies particularly to offshore, is depredation. While there are many views on shark depredation as a measure of increasing shark populations, I think there is a simpler explanation – behaviour. Most animals over time will develop some level of training based on a food reward, even goldfish have been able to be trained this way. Humans make very specific mechanical noises on the water that are not replicated by any natural phenomenon. If there is a food reward in the form of an easy meal, it’s not complicated to work out that sharks have learned to put two and two together. For this reason, while I get the concern over shark numbers, I am not as quick to jump on the immediate answer
IS FISHING POWER INCREASING? There aren’t a lot of long-term studies on fishing power to make absolute statements on that front but if I went on the evidence of changes in spending habits, particularly on technology, yes would be the answer. Further, the whole reason for the existence of things like echosounders and the evolution to ‘livescope’ real-time imagery of fish is definitely intended to improve fishing results. Of course, ‘intended to improve’ and ‘has improved’ are not the same thing. A first step in answering the question though is, can you improve fishing outcomes? As it happens, the article I did a few years ago on the ‘Who Shares Wins’ philosophy is instructive. As a backdrop, Steve Morgan introduced the ‘Who Shares Wins’ philosophy, particularly in the bream events, as a way of improving the results for the field as a whole. As a way of assessing if that was indeed the case, I looked at the ratio of full bags to zero bags (ie. caught nothing). From 2008 onwards, the bottom 80% of the field improved this ratio, noting that the drop off of events 2014-2016 affected all cohorts. What this shows is that for the bulk of the field, zeros became less common and full bags became more common. Bag weight wise they were still behind the game but this is strong evidence that with a concerted effort you can improve fishing power. See Fig.4. If you can improve
an even way within the population, nor are they predicted by demographics alone. As a result, the current sampling techniques may either over or under sample these parts of the population if these factors are not considered. If the modelling used to project the recreational harvest does not make an effort to address these elements – the strongest predictors of harvest then – the recreational fishing community should take any estimates of take with a very healthy dose of salt. Given that there are stocks that fishers may well be impacting, getting this part right is important. TO TAKE OR NOT TO TAKE – THAT IS THE QUESTION So to take or not to take? If this couple of articles has communicated anything – it’s that these questions are not simple and a glib couple of lines at the end really won’t cut it. What should be clear is that current models do not really support good assessment of what is going on in the recreational space, don’t have the kind of early warning to see problems before critical action is needed and don’t offer an informed choice in the take decision. Staying within regulations is not always the same as keeping our fish stocks in good shape. As fishers, we should take the proactive approach to fishing always as that helps ensure the rest of community views fishers as responsible custodians. Having said that, I hate people who pick holes in things and don’t offer
Fig.4 Ratio of full bags to zero bags ABT. of sharks are out of control population wise. It’s just as possible that sharks are getting better at working out when a free meal is on offer. What is clear is that the interactions with sharks are a problem and their impact on catches of pelagic, demersal and reef species is not zero and in some cases higher than human take.
fishing power, chances are there has been an industry focus since the invention of the lure. BACK TO SAMPLING Circling back to the discussion on sampling, fishing harvest by the recreational sector is determined by a complex set of very human factors that are not distributed in
alternatives – so that is what I aim to do next. I do have an alternative approach that does use existing datasets to act as a guide to fishers on their harvest decisions using a simple risk and social license assessment approach rather than bag limits as a central guide. That will have to wait for part III. MAY 2021
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Cruise Craft EX720HT and Yamaha are all class - SC
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Steve Morgan s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au
It’s not every day that you get to jump in a brand new $250,000 class boat, fitted with a brand new release outboard (the first one in the country) and get
Tested:.NEW. Yamaha.4.2L. 300HP.DES. Outboard
It’s also the day we got to meet Cruise Craft’s Nathan Nagy. He’s a boatbuilder turned marketer for Cruise Craft and it’s great to see that the guy making their marketing decisions knows how to make the product he’s selling. You can see Nathan in the video of this boat test, which
this boat was powered by the first white, 300hp 4.2L DES Yamaha 4-stroke in the country. That’s a fair mouthful, but apart from a coat of white paint, there’s some key differences between this engine and its 4.2L F-series predecessor that shares the same block. The DES is an acronym for Digital Electric Steering. It’s housed in the cylindrical barrel where regular hydraulic steering is usually fitted, but it’s not some sort of electric/hydraulic hybrid, it’s 100% fluid free and plugs seamlessly into Yamaha’s Helm Master EX system that they launched in 2020. More about that later, but from an aesthetic point of view, the white motor definitely looks like it belongs on the white Cruise Craft hull. It arrived at the shoot
Main: There’s a lot of ‘right’ about the top-of-the-line Cruise Craft model. Looks good with a white Yammy, too. Never thought I’d see the day ….. Above: And yes, we know that the test day was glamorous. Sometimes you just don’t get the 25knots you’re hoping for. on an alloy EasyTow trailer, towed by the popular Ford Ranger. As rigged, it just falls under the 3.5 tonne
limit allowed on the Rangers, although you’d have to watch this when fully fuelled and packed
for a trip. The weight can creep up when you don’t rationalise your gear. At 300hp, the test boat
At 300hp, the new model V6 with Digital Electric Steering (DES) is maxed out for the hull. let loose on Moreton Bay. Actually, it sort of happens every week…but not with a rig with a price tag like this. Rest assured, the fenders were well secured before dropping this rig in at Manly on Queensland’s Moreton Bay. 122
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you can watch by scanning the QR code hereby. Or you can just subscribe to the Fishing Monthly Magazines YouTube channel and get notified each time we put up the video versions of the boat tests. Starting at the back,
There was no shortage of power into the turns. The steep deadrise at the bow is doing what it’s supposed to.
was rigged with maximum horsepower, although the specifications sheet recommends 250hp for this hull. Launching was a simple drive-off, easy with a couple of people and plenty smooth with the digital controls. Yamaha’s Will Lee demonstrated some of the digital features, like push button starting and fob proximity security as well as double-tap trimming, but it was the integration of the rest of the Helm Master EX features that piques our
That’s what $240,000 worth of Brisbane-made boat looks like - sitting on an EasyTow Alloy trailer.
SPECIFICATIONS Length.........................................................7.2m Beam..........................................................2.5m Transom.deadrise ....................................... 20° Maximum.HP...........................................300hp Recommended.HP .................................250hp Capacity ............................................ 7 persons Fuel ............................................................ 310L Opt..Extra.Fuel ..........................................370L On.Std.trailer ................................ GTM 3450kg
This is what the incorporated DES (Digital Electric Steering) looks like. It’s quiet! interest, and this Cruise Craft was fitted with them all. I’m the first to admit that I haven’t driven many boats with autopilot. And after a minute of training, it was easy to set a course and adjust the sensitivity of the corrections. Although this seemed intuitive, Glen Gibson reminded me that it hasn’t always been this easy. “It used to be a bit of an art to get an autopilot set just right and it hasn’t always been as simple as a couple of touches on a touch screen to tweak it on the run,” he said. I liked that you could set a speed to fix to RPMs or to GPS speed and, as expected, the fly-by-wire
less aeration while driving on the joystick or while holding position. The helm itself seemed custom-built to hold the EX controls. Considering that you can only buy Cruise Craft boats with factoryfitted Yamaha outboards nowadays, then this makes sense. There was Cruise Craft’s own, comfortable seating (with cold box storage underneath) and plenty of room to flush mount the biggest of Garmins you’d want in this rig. A roomy cabin up front was separated by a lockable, sliding door and features a toilet to keep the family happy and plenty of length to stretch out. There’s a similar amount of room down the back, with a spacious cockpit that’ll hold all of your fishing mates. In fact, the back of this boat is very fishable indeed. There’s a removable bait
You can tell this fishing boat has evolved over the years to a point where everything is in the right place. Speaking of history of this hull, you’ll see it described as a 685 in previous iterations. It’s the same hull, just rebadged to fit current measurement and naming conventions.
Are you a fan of the new white Yamahas? Drop a comment on the video boat test on the Fishing Monthly Magazines YouTube channel.
Cruise Craft have always found clever ways to incorporate storage - both seats in this rig have coolers underneath tailored for use in the rack. hatch and by walking around, it’s definitely not a ‘walkaround’ design. You need to hold on with every appendage while shuffling
around the outside. “We like to fit everything possible at the factory,” Nathan said, “It means that we have ultimate control over how everything is rigged and that means less problems down the track for the owner.” We think that Cruise Craft dealers will like this a lot – just add a battery, do your pre-delivery and go and water test it. There are eight Cruise Craft dealers nationally and the factory is also happy to guide you through the purchase process. You can do more research at www.cruisecraft. com.au. And, of course, we mentioned the price. As tested, no change from $240,000.
PERFORMANCE
We see more and more of these creeping onto Aussie hard tops. Extra shade is always welcome - no matter what latitude you’re using the rig in. was smooth and quiet. Traction while manoeuvring on the joystick has been helped by direction of exhaust gases to above the cavitation plate. It gives the prop more to grip and
The main battery switch and circuit breakers are well out of the way, but accessible without opening any doors.
station across the transom, a transom door and live bait tank on the opposite side. Gunwales are understandably deep and it’s soft underfoot on the custom SeaDek. There’s plenty of storage for gear and fish underfloor and a pair of long kill boxes that’ll hold most mackerel. And as a bonus, you can order the optional sunshade extension to keep more of you out of the weather. We think that this retractable bit of shade is a must on any hard top boat! The hard top itself is solid. It holds the radio gear along the front edge and can rig a radar dome on top with ease. The rocket launcher will hold 10 rods up there and the optional floodlights are great for a night session.
And although you can access the front of the boat through the front
RPM................... km/h.................... km/L Idle ..........................6 ....................... 2.5 1000 ....................... 10 ....................... 2.0 2000....................... 15 ....................... 1.0 3000....................... 23 ....................... 0.9 3500 ....................... 42 ....................... 1.3 4000....................... 52 ....................... 1.2 4500 ....................... 59 ....................... 1.0 5000....................... 69 ....................... 0.9 5800 ....................... 79 ....................... 0.8
The transom door makes getting in and out of the boat - on the water or the trailer - easy. But hold on when you’re walking around the outside of the cabin. MAY 2021
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There’s a fold-up boat board on the rigging tray and the whole setup lifts up and out if it’s not needed.
It’s almost like the helm is built for Helm Master EX … and there’s plenty of space for flush mounting of large electronics, too.
There’s a pair of mackerel-length kill boxes under the floor in the cockpit.
Check out the visibility under that hard top. And there’s plenty of places to hang on if you don’t score a seat.
There’s plenty of visibility under the mother of all hard tops and plenty of room for a radar installation.
Let’s face it - nobody who bought a quartermillion dollar boat is going to be pulling up the anchor. And with this windlass, the crew don’t have to do it either. 124
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When you’re out in the big water it’s all about cockpit space and room to fish with your mates. Check this real estate out!
It’s rare to see a big Cruise Craft without a custom routered SeaDek deck. And you can see why here. Easy on the feet, easy to keep clean and definitely looks the part.
The side pockets are great for items you use frequently. For me, rods are better stashed up in the launchers.
There’s some serious cabin space in behind the sliding door. And a toilet will keep the family happy.
The fold down ladder recesses into the duckboard molding and there’s plenty of SeaDek back here, too.
One final look at the new Yamaha. You can see a full engine review at the embedded QR code.
WHAT’S NEW SAMAKI MEGA BOMB SHAD
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This new Samaki 7” Mega Bomb Shad paddle-tail is the new big brute of the Boom Bait family. It’s an all new design concept for Samaki with painted detail, UV attributes and jighead accessory included in the packet. This Boom Bait is ready to go straight off the rack and into the water. The paddle-tail shape of the Bomb Shad is soft and pliable, giving it a great swimming action. This lure has a swaying roll and paddletail thump which releases a vibration through the water, enticing the bite. The long tail is perfect for applying scent due to its ribbed design, and anglers also have the option to insert additional scent into the underbelly compartment or add a rattle for greater effect. The three-point rigging system allows anglers to rig their plastic with ease. Mega Bomb Shads are available in six proven colours, and each pack comes with a colour matched jighead. www.samaki.com.au
C-MAP DISCOVER AND REVEAL
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Replacing the MAX-N+ range, C-MAP Reveal charts boast stunning seafloor and inland Shaded Relief along with all the core features of C-MAP Discover, including full-featured Vector Charts. The 3D-rendered land and underwater elevation includes areas of ultra hi-res bathymetric imagery. C-MAP Reveal’s Dynamic Raster Charts bring a traditional paper chart look and feel, with easy access to all objects on the chart, and aerial photography of marinas, harbours, inlets and other navigational features. The Satellite Overlay delivers real-world reference and enhances situational awareness for coastal navigation. C-MAP Discover has full-featured Vector Charts along with the best of C-MAP hi-res bathymetry, including integrated Genesis social maps data. Discover charts include Custom Depth Shading. Shade contours display the highest level of info about underwater pinnacles, ledges and canyons. You can set a clear safety depth, or create your own custom shading. The Tides & Currents feature shows projections of water level and direction of tides. Subscription-free Easy Routing helps you automatically plot the shortest, safest route based on chart data and your personalized vessel info. Price: from SRP $185-$399 www.c-map.com
INFEET ROLLIN’ CRANK
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The Infeet Rollin’ Crank is the ultimate finesse crank and was developed to give anglers a bite-size option to tie on when the bite is tough. Available in two depths and measuring 32mm, the Rollin’ Crank is the perfect lure for Australia’s diverse estuaries. The MR model will reach a depth of 1.3m and is the ideal bait for flats and shallow/floating structure. It gets down to depth quickly with a tight wobble, and has the ability to swim at slow speeds, which makes it ideal for a slow roll style retrieve. The DR model is tailor-made for fishing deeper areas of the estuary such as rubble and rock walls. A careful weight placement creates instant traction on the retrieve, getting the DR Crank to its maximum (2m) depth quickly. The bib shape creates a ‘searching’ style action and deflects off structure with ease, a key factor in triggering bites from predators. www.daiwafishing.com.au
PRODUCT GUIDE
SHIMANO GRAPPLER BB
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The new Grappler BB series from Shimano is an affordable saltwater series that expands the existing Grappler family. Features include Hi-Power X blank technology, Shimano custom reel and CI4 reel seats, as well as Fuji K Stainless Alconite guides. Incorporating Shimano’s exclusive carbonwrapped Hi-Power X blank technology ensures blank twist and rotation is reduced when the rod is in motion, giving you increased casting performance, better fight control and a crisper feel when working your lures. The range consists of 13 diverse models, all featuring a 2-piece butt join concept. There are casting models from 8’0” to 8’2” with ratings from PE5 to PE8, for all things topwater. Then there are the pin and overhead jigging models weighted from PE3 to PE6 that will have you covered when the bite is deep. Additionally, the Grappler BB series integrates two overhead slow jig models at 6’8” from PE2 to PE 3, and two LJ models at 6’3”. Price: SRP $319 www.shimanofish.com.au
HOBIE MIRAGE ITREK 9
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The Mirage iTrek 9 Ultralight inflatable is Hobie’s lightest, fastest, most manoeuvrable pedal kayak. It packs away in a convenient roller/backpack bag that allows you to store it in smaller spaces like a caravan or boat. You can even take it on a plane to your favourite travel destination. The Mirage iTrek 9 Ultralight is designed to help you reach remote waters with minimal hassle. Its diagonal dropstitch construction inflates to 10PSI, delivering the same rugged rigidity and nimble performance as our other platforms, but in an unbelievably lightweight package. It comes with a high-pressure hand pump and high-volume electric pump. Featuring the MirageDrive GT with Kick-Up Fins and intuitive rudder control, the iTrek 9 Ultralight can turn on its axis and navigate tight waterways with ease. The adjustable elevated seat is lined with breathable nano-mesh fabric to keep you comfortable and cool. As well as being fast, agile, and easily transportable, this kayak is versatile, too. Simply remove the MirageDrive and grab the supplied 3-piece SUP paddle, and your iTrek 9 is ready to be used as a stand-up platform. www.hobie.com.au
DELUXE ZMAN TACKLE BLOCK
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The latest release in the Tackle Tactics tackle storage range is the TT Deluxe ZMan Tackle Block, a rugged, structured soft case that is ideal for storing ZMan soft plastics, small tackle trays and fishing accessories, such as leader, scent and snips. The Deluxe ZMan Tackle Block Holds up to 30 packets of standard size ZMan 10X Tough ElaZtech soft plastic packs, or you can switch up the adjustable internal dividers to hold a mix of larger and smaller pack sizes, small tackle trays, leader, scent and snips. Features of this quality bag include a sturdy carry handle, tough and durable, water resistant outer shell with a reinforced base, heavy-duty corrosion-resistant SBS brand zips, external rear mesh pocket with SBS zip, and an internal clear pocket with Velcro closure. Price: SRP $59.95 www.tackletactics.com.au
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MAY 2021
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