Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Size of your Fishing Reels

Hi Peoples,

I had an interesting question put to me recently. It was about the size of reels people use for light line spinning e.g. for bream on light lures and whiting... The argument, as happens when opinions are put into the mix, some of us say that lighter is better and others like a heavier outfit...

The argument for a heavier outfit was interesting. When i say heavier i mean using a 2500 sized reel on a 2-4kg 7 footer... The reason they opted for a heavier reel was 'in case' a bigger than average fish got hooked they could land it. By this bigger than average meant hooking by-catch. Now my issue with this is two-fold.

Firstly, fishing equipment is such finely tuned and balanced that catering for a mulitude of species with the one outfit will negate the performance that can be achieved if it was species specific. Putting a 2500 sized reel will throw out the balance of the small flick stick, make it bottom heavy, lead to wrist fatigue and generally feel poor in the hand. Yes, you might be able to knock over bigger fish with a 2500 sized reel but come on. In that premise you would need to go a heavier line class and therefore restrict the finesse appeal to catch you smaller quarry. If you stuck with a lighter line class, where's the benefit??? The only one i see is line capacity, but just chase the fish! I have never had a fish spool me...ever!

Secondly, the drag settings on a 1000 sized reel will never be fully used anyway let alone a 2500... The 4lb and 6lb line classes are too light to be used to thier full capacity on a 2500 sized reel...usually. Most of us will over ever run max 1-2kgs of drag thru our bream rods, and trust me thats over estimating it too. Do a test for yourself and run 1kg of drag thru your 2-4kg spin stick. It will be at max load. So the drag will never be fully utilised anyaway on 2500. Most new 1500 and 2000 sized reels run 3 or 4kgs of drag nowadays and thats plenty.

I use a 2004 luvias and 2000 certate. These are the max size i will run on light line finesse gear. The luvias is substantially smaller than the certate and is my ultra finesse reel. It weighs a mere 180grams and has 3kgs of drag.. Its gun and i have knocked over my fair share of jew and sambos on it. It can handle the heat all day, let alone a bream!

So will a lighter reel do the job better??? As Greeny (a fellow fisho writer) says, a lure is a lie told by a fisherman to a fish. In this deciept the lie needs to look authentic, smell authentic and taste authentic. The movement of the lure needs to be realistic. In order for this to happen the jighead needs to be as light as possible, the leader needs to be light, the main line light, the rod light and sensitive and a reel to match this integrated system. In this instance i cannot forsee why you would dampen the feel of the set-up just to cater for by-catch. If something comes along and spools you...good luck i say. That would be enuf fuel for me to get out there and keep trying.

So i guess my advice, and take it with a grain of salt, is to go as light as possible with all your equipment. Fish light and fish it hard. You'll be surprised at how far you can push your light gear...and the fun factor goes thru the roof too.

Monday, February 2, 2009

How good are we???

Hi Peoples,

Ever wondered how good a fisherman we are??? Ever sat there and watched a TV show and pondered if you had the goods to outfish any of the pros you see flickin lures on TV??? I'm a very competitve person so i usually do. Problem is that with video editing and other production values its hard to assess. Also the pros make it look easy at times so its hard to gauge for real. I do know however that some people i see making a living out of fishing are hacks...

I have fished a few tournaments. My best was a second place in a sydney comp and i recently came 5th in a Hawkesbury comp. While its far from blazing glory comps are a funny way to assess your skills. In a social scene fishing is quite different and i feel i could hold my own against most (usually only sp's). But why is a comp a different story?? Most pros get a week to pre-fish a spot, work out the patterns and devise a sound gameplan. Weekend warriors who enter most likely rock up on gameday and make decisions on the fly. The tourny boats hit the gun spots at 120kms/h and coupled with a pre-fish are mostly unbeatable. But thats whats required to win.

Also my ability or inability to catch fish with multiple techniques is a factor. I would consider myself proficient at catching bread and butter species on lures e.g. bream, flathead, jewfish and whiting but seem to struggle with kingfish on poppers. Therefore a complete angler will have better skills to use across all diciplines of fishing. Its hard though to keep up with all the new lures that hit the market. I have 1 day a weekend usually to go out and experiment. The time it takes to perfect a lure at a rate of 1 day a week is negligable. Fact is its far too slow. By the time you have perfected it two new lures have hit the scene.

But thats fishing. Unless your a pro or extremely rich or live on the water its hard to be a jack of all trades. So basically it's not a question of are we the best?? but a question of are we the best we can be??? In the end its fishing...and the more i realise that the more im discouraged by fishing comps. Its a social sport meant to be enjoyed by family and friends.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Reef Balls

Hi Peoples,

Wanna have a quick chat today about how we are spending our rec fishing license fees. Some good initiatives have come out of this like buying back commercial fishing licenses which have reduced the overall quota on catch rates..so they tell us...improvements to our boating lauching facilities like ramps, wharfs and pontoons...and the construction of artificial reefs in certain estuaries.

The artificial reefs are constructed out of concrete balls that are hollow and have multiple holes in them. The concrete is a special mix of god knows what but its supposed to promote marine growth on the balls, and hence the start of its own ecosystem.

I have had a chance to fish a few of these things already, with mixed results. I have visited the reefs at st georges basin and lake macquarie. The st georges basin reef balls have been there now for a while, not too sure of the exact time, but they fish pretty well. There is a good You Tube video of a diver with a camera showing the fish life. While i havent had too much success on them i know a few dudes that pull good reds off the reefs in the 2kg class, not monsters but quality for a basin.

The lake mac reefs are hit and miss as well. They do produce a good mix of bread and butter species but lack some of the quality fish the rest of the lake produces.

Other reefs are located at Botany Bay and a new string of reefs at Lake Conjola. This has surprised me a little. I wouldnt expect Lake Conjola to be a prime location. But the lake is devoid of reefs and fish holding structure so it may be a good choice, only time will tell. Also one has been touted for Merimbula Lake???

This is a good iniative. If it helps to promote fish life and give anglers a chance to catch better class of fish and more fish...its a good thing.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

8 things to remember about Lures.

Hi Peoples,

As most of you would know i do most of my fishing with lures these days. I do on the odd occasion hook on a live bait for jew...but it is rare.

So over the past 6 years what are the things i reckon are most important to successful luring??? The following are my experiences and are subject to change. Nothing in fishing ever remains static.

1) Go Light - I put this at the top of the tree, before action, technique or any other factor. I believe the lighter you go, the more natural your presentation looks, the more sensitivity you have, the more fish you hook. Now go light refers to the whole integrated system from your rod and reel, to your braid, to your leader and thru to your jighead. Everything should balance. Not only is this more comfortable but you will trick more fish too.

2) Be Stealthy - This goes well with point 1. No good going light and finesse then roaring into a spot just to spook the fish. From a fishes perspective a roaring boat must seem like a F18 doing circus stunt fly-bys at very low altitude. It's loud and it's scary. Pull into a spot gently, operate on an electric motor or use the tide and wind to cover ground. Keep banging the boat to a minimum. Remember if you can hear noise sure as hell the fish can too. Also i wont take the boat of the garage if the leccy isn't working!

3) Make Long Casts - Once again, ties in well with point 1&2. If you fish light you make longer casts, make longer casts you can be stealthier, and the best attribute is cover more ground. The whole premise of my lure fishing is ground coverage. I try to work as much water as possible till i find fish, stick with em, exhaust the opportunity and move on. Long casts help me achieve this. The more fish that see my lure in a given session the more fish i catch.

4) Be Patient - Not every fish eats all the time! Just like us, fish eat and rest, they don't bite all day. So be patient, soon enuf the bites will come.

5) Fish Where the Fish Are - I know this sounds a little obvious but the amount of times i see boats flogging lures in a barren wasteland astounds me. Have a reason to fish a spot. I know you here it all the time, fish structure. A fish needs somewhere to eat and rest, if you were a fish where would you go to eat??? Where would you go to rest??? Answer these questions and your well on your way! Think like a fish....

6) Slow Down - By this i mean slow the retrieve down. When things are quiet slow everything right down. Keeping a lure dangling in a fishes face a split second longer might just be the tonic to make it strike. On tought days long pauses are often the difference between fish and no fish.

7) Use Scent - These days i don't go out fishing without my trusty S-Factor and a handful of Gulps. I do use conventional sp's but smeared with S-Factor. It honestly makes a huge difference. My jew catch rate has doubled while using S-Factor. It's GUN!

8) Clear Water, Clear Lures - The simple philosophy for lure colour selection is clear water clear lures, dark water dark lures. In saying that i believe that lure colour is the least important factor in the whole system. Get the action and size of the lure right, use the right equipment and usually fish will follow. On some days though, colour can be a factor.

There you have it. 8 factors for my success with lures. Common knowledge stuff but a foundation i base all my luring by.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Bream on Soft Plastics

Hi Peoples,

Little bit of fishing report from the weekend. I went out chasing Bream in one of my favourite hot spots...Berowra Waters! I've been after a genuine blue-nose breamski in the 1.5kg weight class for a front cover shot in Fishing World.. last year i was hitting this class of fish pretty regularly and got some real monsters in the process. Ever since i have been trying to get one for noteriety and i can't get close..bloody frustrating.

The plan was to hit a few bream early using a combination of unweighted crabs which my cousins were using and i would persist with sp's.. The bream weren't around in massive numbers but they played ball and kept us entertained... The boys did better than me on size fish but i kept pace with numbers.

This all got me thinking...Gulp packaging reads..."outfishes live bait"... how true is this??? Who are they judging this against??? Is it scientific???

If a pro bream fisho uses gulp he will almost certainly outfish a newbie using live bait. Put that live bait in the hands of pros and it's a different ball game. Marketing is a powerful influencer...

Anyhow, not to digress, but i have addded to my 2009 goal sheet. I want to hit a genuine 2kg bream on sp's. I got a few using bait over the years but now it's time to hit one on sp's. Add this to my 1m flatty and my 20kg jew..and it makes for a busy year ahead. The question is what scent will it come on??? Gulp or S-Factor???

Friday, January 23, 2009

Does the Media Influence Your Tackle Purchases?

Hi Peoples,

I read a post recently on Ausfish that posed an interesting question. Does the media or media personalities influence the way you shop?? what decisions you make??? Do you put any stock into the recommendations or endoresements fishing personalities make???

These are all good questions and require some logical thought. On the forum this topic recieved a mixed bag of responses. The typical response however was one of animosity and disgust. This was directed at fishing personalities that endorse a certain product and the way they go about it.

I have worked in advertising for 8 years and worked in media for most of that time. I think i have an acute understanding of the concept of advertising and the sublimimal affects it has. Also i understand the culture of sponsorship of which no industry or products are immune.

The problem i have with all this is people dont really understand the concept of advertising. Yes they see glossy ads in a mag, TV ads and hear stuff on radio but it goes beyond that dramatically. We are all vehicles for advertising. The clothes we wear, the gear we use, the language we speak all represents a product of some nature. It is widely accepted that word of mouth is the most influential of all advertising mediums. In this respect, how can someone say they are not influenced by advertising or media on fishing related purchases. Its a short-sighted response that speaks of jealousy and tall-poppy.

This especially so when they attack fishing personalities that endorse products. The personalities are merely using another more public form of word-of-mouth. No different than if i gave a mate a recommendation about a reel. The only difference is they get paid i dont. This is where the discrepancy lies. The money factor may influence personalities to falsify thier true opinions...yes maybe. They may be forced to have to mention a product repeatedly..yes maybe. They may even be forced to use products they dont like...yes maybe.

The true die-hards should be able to cut the wheat from the chaff. Honestly, i dont know anyone thats run out and bought a shimano just cause starlo uses em...but subconciously, after seeing starlo, buschy, slick and the myriad of other use em, its hard not to associate the product with quality. They are in the hands of quality fishos. It happens to me and i know my gear back to front. Its all about perception.

So who cares who endores what. Be inquisitive and ask some questions. Investigate. Soon enuf you will make an educated decision. There's no wrong or right.

And to all the green-eyed monsters out there, pissed off cause fishos sell thier soul for gear, I'm sure you would have your hand out if someone offered something for free. Its just our nature.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Fishing in the Heat!

Hi dudes,

Sorry for the looong delay between posts but unfortunately, or fortunately for me, i took 3 weeks off doing what i love best. Thats right folks, 3 weeks of fishing and relaxing. So i thought a good way to kick off 2009 is to look back at some highlights of 2008, the milestones and the lowlights... Then tomorrow i will kick off 2009 with some cutting edge techniques that are donking fish all over the eastern seaboard.

So lets look at 2008's goals;

To catch a jewie on sp over 20kgs
To catch a flatty over 1 meter
To catch a kingy on a popper
To master a new lure
Bag out on whiting with poppers


Pretty standard but lofty goals to help me strive to achieve something. Otherwise i feel if i dont set goals i just go out and fish without any direction.

So how did i go towards these goals..

Jewie - 12kgs. Yep i fell 8kgs short. while i would be disaapointed with that usually the upsides were it was a PB jew on sp's. Also looking back on the year i caught 35 jew on sp's which was also a PB on numbers, including 2 individual days where i caught 3 jew a day.

Flathead - 98cms. Yep you read it correctly. I fell 2 agonising centimeters short. Can u bloody believe it. Mind you i did wait till the last week of 2008 to catch it so up until then i was 18cms short of 1 meter. I got the monster in St. George's Basin on the south coast of NSW. Nice effort.

Kingy - Nil. While this was a goal i only went out once to achieve it. Just so happened that it was the day the kingys were shut down in sydney harbour. Got a heap of follows but no strikes. Im sure this goal will be ticked off before the months out.

Master a new lure - Blades. Done. While it is a little presumptuous to state me mastering it i can confidently say i can catch a variety of fish in a variety of situations on any given fishing trip. Mind you i have used them every day for a month too so the learning curve has been steep but rapid. And let me tell you...these things catch fish ladies and gentleman.

Whiting on poppers - Incomplete. I didnt fish for whiting on poppers as much as i thought i would so far this summer. I have been been pre-occupied with catching that elusive 20kg jewie... but in the few times i have chased whiting on poppers results have been positive. While i didnt bag out this year i get 11 in one session... so 9 short.

All in all it was a productive year. Caught a stack of EP's and bass too. Still need to get my 1 meter flatty and my 20kg jew in 2009.