Sharking it up for summer

Summer is well and truly here and that brings one thing, endless days and nights chasing sharks. I don't know if it's just the way they fight like maniacs all the way to the bitter end or the fact they are just a beautiful toothy critter that always draws me to chasing them. After organizing a trip earlier in the year chasing them up at Ledge Point and only having one hook-up to get totally smoked by the mysterious fish it was time to organize another.

With all the rods, reels etc loaded into the car the drive north was underway. A weeks fishing in the Midwest was on the cards this time and with the added possibity of many different species landbased including baldies, bluebone, pink and black snapper the mind was just drooling at anticipation. 

The first and most important part to remember when fishing these areas up north is to fish the high tide, that cannot be stressed enough. Before I went up I read a fair bit on this and after experiencing the fishing first hand it's very good advice indeed, if you're not fishin it then your just wasting time.

After driving around and scoping out a few different spots, I finally found what looked like a nice gutter that would hold some fish. Since I wanted to have fun on this trip my 20lb and 30lb combos were going to be used, you can be surprised how big a fish you can land on light gear. 

The baits weren't in the water longer then 10 minutes before I landed my first fish, a small black snapper, followed by two just undersize pinkies. With this type of activity I knew i was going to be in for a good session. 

What makes shark fishing for me is that first blistering run they make, even small ones fight like absolute brutes, couple that with the light gear and it's just insane fishing. Just as I was getting onto the good fish the first shark hooked up. Not a monster but still put up a nice 10min fight and up washed a nice shovelnose.

Once one shark arrived then they all come, shark after shark after shark all round the 1-1.5m mark made for and entertaining trip. 

I lnow when targeting sharks a lot of people swear to use wire but what I found with these smaller ones is the heavy wire seemed to scare them off a little bit. I don't know if it was the fact it was heavy wire or the bait was wrong but it seemed I could only get a hook-up on the mono rigs. This was no ordinary mono, Schnieder line on the 80lb mark was the choice as it just seems to have the best abrasive resistance than any others around and this was proven to me when I managed to land 6 sharks on the same rig before being bitten off.

The best thing about this trip wasn't the fishing but the fact I got to enjoy this with my partner and that is big thing that I believe draws most people to the sport. There was nothing more enjoyable than watching her fight, running up and down the beach and reel in her first big fish, being able to show her this is the reason I'm out most weekends doing this.

As much fun as they are to catch they are also quite good on the chew. Catch care is important and putting a shark down as humanely as possible is the key. If you do keep one for the plate I'd suggest getting a shark tamer bat. I picked up one just before I left and it does the job great. 

They are made from a solid piece of aluminum with the end bored out so are light yet strong enough to swing with ease. They are also made locally on Perth so you know your supporting local shops when you pick one up.

All these fish were caught in the space of a few hours on one day, with the rest of the week getting even better each day. I can definately say that this fishing trip was one of the best I've had by far and I cannot wait to be getting back up there in the near future.

Tight lines

Reece

Braid - my choices

With all the different styles of fishing out there like jigging, spinning, bottom bashing and trolling and with all the types of braid out there, what's the difference between these. Does getting the higher end line make a huge difference from the lower market stuff.

Since getting into the sports side of fishing and not chasing a feed all the time I've switched from mono to braid. A great thing about running braid is the capacity you can hold on a reel at one time, being such a thin diameter most beach reels will hold 300m+ of braid quite easily. Secondly is that braid has no stretch

or memory, what this means for a fisherman is when your out drifting around bottom bashing in 50 meters if water and you feel a bite, striking the hooks if you lift that rod up half a meter then your hooks move up the same. The no memory is great as when you get the line tangled, with normal mono once it's kinked or twisted it will always want to stay like that while braid won't, stopping tangles.

I've been fishing with braid for years now and have used dozens of different braids on many different reels. Here are just a few and what I think of them.

Rovex Viros Braid

What I really liked about this braid when I first started using it was it small diameter, smaller than most braid. What that meant was 50lb viros was equivalent to 30lb of the other brands.

I have used this up north at steep point a while back for spinning, being such a small diameter it was a beaut to cast and of all has the least wind knots, but I found it didn't have as strong a strength as others I've used. I still managed to land fish just I wasn't able to go as hard as I thought I would. 

FINS Braid

I am currently using this on my 18000 Spheros running 50lb and this has proven itself over and over again. Many sharks and rays have been landed on this line and the amount of strain that has been out on this line has been immense, yet it's never faulted. This braid is thicker than most which I think gives it it's strength, with 30lb breaking much higher then one would expect. It's been the only braid I've used for beach fishing just for the fact a spool usually lasts me quite a while without any faults.

This is my main line that I use when up north walking the reefs bottom bashing for those baldies and other type of fish that hang near the rocks. Although most people will use mono for this I've just found running a long wind on leader with this has me being able to muscle most fish from there holes.

Instinct Zulu Braid

After purchasing my sustain 5000FG I had it spooled with 20lb Zulu braid. This line is also made by fins in the US that's made from their bulletproof specter fibre, meaning it has a high abrasive resistance and incredible ability to hold a knot. One thing that drew me to this line on my light tackle outfit was that it came in either 200yd or 400yd spools, with 200yd and backing fitting onto my spool nicely giving me that extra bit of peace knowing I've got that little but more to play with. 

Since using it I've landed dozens is pink snapper and a few few big eagle rays and it's held up flawlessly. It ties great, had enought strength for what I need and  it's never failed yet. On the spinning side it casts nicely but as yet I haven't given it a proper test.

YGK Power hunter Braid

Of all the braid I've used this is one

Of the best get. This was used on my saltiga game 3500 in the pe2 range. This is a colour coded braid which means every 10 meters it changes clour, perfect for jigging so you can tell where roughly your jig is. When using it you could feel the quality in the line. Of all the braids I have used I would say that it's been the best, never once failed and would cast perfectly with no wind knots.

There have also been other brands I've used over the years that have not quite been up there, wether it be from poor manufacturing faults causing it to break or just being not suited to certain types of fishing i do.

If you need any more info on braid or want to get a more indepth feel about a certain braid I would strongly recommend  jumping onto www.paulusjustfishing.com as it's got all the info you would need on most brands of braid. 

These are just my thoughts on the brands and what I think of them, I hope this helps you out with your next purchase. 

Feel free to comment with your experiences with different brands and what you think.

Tight lines

Reece 

Light tackle reel, shimano sustain 5000FG review

After getting into the light tackle aspects of fishing I decided to pick up a mid range reel and what else can I say except for, what a totally awesome reel. For the price there is not much out there that can match it. 

After using it extensively over the last few months this is what I've found about it.

This reel is loaded with all of Shimano's new technology including x-ship, paladin gearing and aero wrap II just to name a few. This stuff was normally resigned for the higher end reels.

The drag system on the reel as absolutely smooth and slight turns on the drag knob  allows to fine tune during the fight. After having a Shimano Spheros where the drag becomes quite sticky after a time this had yet to faulter.

The 5000 model comes with 8+1 bearings and 10kg of drag with is more than enough to tackle most fish. I've loaded mine with 200yd of 20lb Zulu braid, this is more than enough to tackle most big fish without the risk of getting spooled, and with landing many snapper round the 7kg mark it still performs great.

One other part that I really like about this reel is its foam handle. After purchasing it I thought that the foam would become very slippery after a lot of use and was going to change it, great thing I didn't as it's just so nice on the hand while constant spinning and even after a day it was still dry and comfortable to use.

So if your after a very nice mid range light tackle reel to chase snapper and sambos, or for light jigging I cannot recommend this reel enough. Definitely go out and pick one of these up if your your local tackle shop next

Tight lines 

Reece

Early morning tailor session

A great thing about working shift is the ability to fish the weekdays when others are at work.

Today was one of those days when I was able to get out for a nice early morning fish. With the weather reports stating a bit of wind and swell I thought I'd try my luck for some tailor.

A quick drive up to a favorite beach spot showed I would be up for a good morning, very nice chop and swell that would surely hold a few fighting fish. There was a bit of weed around but the gutter was still fishable with it only occasionally clumping up on the line.

With a bait in the water just as the sun was coming up the bites started. A few small tarwhine to begin with, then the fun began. The next hour and a half was full on with good bites nearly every cast with tailor and herring landed.  The average size if the tailor being round the 45cm mark with a nice 48cm being my best.

Most were released with two kept for the table. I find with tailor that they are a nice eating fish but only fresh. Trying to keep these fish in the fridge or freezer for a time they turn to mush. A good thing about that is I've always got a good reason to head out for another fishing session.

Mulies were the bait of choice on a set of 3/0 ganged hooks, 60lb leader was more than enough for these smaller tailor. If I was up further north where the bigger ones are more common I'd be running 5/0 gangs and wire, but these metro ones were easily sorted out on the lighter stuff.

If this morning is what the few months are going to be like then I will be putting in a few decent hours beach fishing. 

Hope to see you out there

Tight lines 

Reece

Great all rounder fishing rig

With fishing I've always been struggling with the idea on which rigs to use in what type of conditions and areas etc. Over time I've come up with many that have worked brilliantly and some that have just utterly failed.

There is one rig that I was shown by a mate a while back that for me works in about 90% of my fishing that I do, whether it be baitcasting, soaking a bait on the beach or anchored up in a boat.

What you will need to make these is the following:

40Lb nylon coated multi strand wire

60Lb mono leader

2 x 5/0 octopus hooks

1 x 50lb crane swival

1 x soft lumo bead

1 x barrel or bean sinker (weight to area being used)

First thing is cut a piece of wire around 40cm, grab a hook and snell the hook using the wire. Snell the second hook 6-7cm from the first depending on the size of baits you are going to use. 

When snelling the second one I find that offsetting the second one allows for better presentation of the baits and makes them easier to hook up.

About 10-15cm up from the second

Hook bend the wire and using a piece of the mono leader (around a meter at most) tie an Albright knot on the wire. This at first seems very difficult but once you have tried doing it a few times you start getting the hang of it.

Slide a lumo bead onto the line, this helps protect the Albright knot from the sinker continuously hitting it.

As for a sinker, when I'm using these off the beach I use a size 6 bean and for baitcasting ill use a small barrel. It really just depends on what application your going to use it and what the swell conditions are where your fishing.

Finally attach the swivel and your ready to go fishing.

These rigs are absolutely brilliant to use in most fishing conditions. I have landed many fish from tailor, mulloway, pink snapper and sharks just to name a few. I was always told that wire scares off most fish and you'll only get sharks. Yet fishing with these I've landed dozens of

Mulloway and my biggest snapper to date. What makes them good is that if you do run into a toothy critter you've got a way better chance of landing it.

Hope this helps you out and I'll see you out there fishing.

Tight lines

Reece

Wagoe beach

One of the biggest reasons i got into fishing really big is not the thrill of catching but the ability to be able to roll up the swag and head up to the beach for a night or two, camping under the stars with a roaring fire.

A really great place that I've been to that's not too far from Perth would have to be Wagoe Beach. Only being around 550km north of perth and about 20km south of kalbarri it can be driven easily in a morning. Not only does it produce some spectacular fishing at times but it also has some magnificent scenery to admire. 

A great thing about this place is if your not totally into your camping but still love fishing you can always stay at the chalets that are located on the farm. Although these are not a five start accomodation they are perfect for somewhere to stay while you are fishing.

Reef fishing

The beach and reef fishing here is something to really appreciate, with plenty of snapper, trevally, tailor being caught with the added possibility of landing a dhufish or baldchin groper with the latter two usually stitching you up in the first few seconds. 

My favorite fish here has to be the pinkies  as there's are a great fighter, and with them being so plentiful up there your always in with some fun. At times they are there in massive numbers but its usually the smaller ones they get to the bait first. The average sizes i have usually caught here would have to be round the 3-5kg mark but I have seen ones up to 8kg lying next to the cars of some lucky anglers.

As for the gear to use i run a shimano spheros 18000 loaded with good quality 50lb braid on my oz flex SU400 rod. For me personally I have found this to work the best up there, with the rod being stiff enough  to muscle the fish out but has just enough give to no pull the hooks. The only negative thing with using braid in these types of areas is if it touches the rocks 9/10 times it'll ping. A good way to overcome this is just run a few meters of wind-on leader just to give you some abrasive resistance.

With rigs for me it has to be the Simple ball sinker and hook rig. A big size 10 ball sinker running down to a 6/0 hook works well for me. The ball sinker hitting the rocks on retrieve for me stops it snagging  up and loosing a rig. I've used many others like paternosters but usually you get a few cast before its lost to the sea.

Balloon fishing

One thing that draws many fishos here is the ballooning, being able to send out a gardie under a balloon and be in with a good chance of a pelagic not too far from Perth is a big drawcard. As yet I'm still chasing my first wagoe mackie but I've seen plenty caught and landed so it keeps me in the game.

A good thing with here is that the range of pelagics are quite vast, with yellowfin and longtail tuna, mackies and even cobia being caught. At times tho it can be pretty hard to get past the nor west blowies, these can be a pain as they have the nasty habit of biting 10/0 hooks like butter.

Since the sharks are not as bad and prolific as places like steep point and quobba, there is no need to muscle the fish in you can let them tire and float them in. This is great as once you hook a fish you don't have to worry about it being bitten in half.

My gear is a trusty tyrnos 30 running 600yd of 65lb braid topshot with 250yd of mono, this is more than enough line as after a mackie makes its first run its usually beat. My rod is a shimano catana 10ft and for the price of these they are the best on the market, but coming past these rods are hard as these have been discontinued for a while now.

Weather

One major factor with this place is the weather, it can be your best friend or worst enemy. Care should always be taken when fishing, especially when off rocks or cliffs and this place is no exception. It's been a few times I have been knocked over by a wave coming from nowhere. 

A swell of round 1-1.5 meters will allow you to fish the reef very comfortably and be able to get close to the edge with not too much hassle. I have fished it as high as 3 meters and it can be done just very very safely and standing further back away from the waves. If the rocks do get too dangerous or your not too sure there are always the cut ins and beaches between the reef, just be careful here too as the waves can break close and big next to the edge.

Other than that this place can be a real pleasure to fish and I hope to see your out there sometime.

Tight lines

Reece

The cheaper alternative - DIY grip leads

Being an avid landbased fisherman one thing I find is the places I fish can be really snaggy and account for alot of lost gear. Using grip sinkers from local tackle shops allows me to hold my bait out there nicely but usually gets lost in the rocks or snagged in reef and when they can be as much as $7 AUD it can become a costly exercise.

So it got me thinking that these mustn't be hard to make. After a recent shark fishing trip and turning 20ounce snapper leads into grips for paddling out I started scouring over the net looking for ways to do them, with finding a few different ways on doing them I thought I'd give it a try at some smaller ones for beach casting. These were the best way I could find and after a bit if tweaking the design i think it's the easiest way to make them.

What you will need is the following:

• 3mm drill bit

• a roll of small diameter  galv wire 

• vice grips

• file

• snapper sinkers (6-8 ounce)

First thing to do it use the vice grips or a vice if you have one, holding the lead sinker drill a hole near the end of the sinker. Care should be taken to not break the drill a good way to tackle this is to have the drill on a low setting and constantly clean the drill bit of swarf.

Using the file clean up the holes drilled and use the edge of the file to put a groove in the edge in the sinker to allow the wire to sit neatly.

Grab a strip of wire cut around 20-30cm (depending on size if sinker used) and push it through two holes on one side until they go thought to the other.

Repeat on the other side and once you have you should have something that starts to resemble a grapnel.

 Using plies, grab the ends of the wire and pull it tight locking the wire into the groove on the sinker. Trim the ends to the length you desire.

These will work on most fishing trips where you'd use normal grip sinkers and being quite simple to make you can knock up a few in to time. If your after that bit of extra distance in your casts then just cut a small strip of wire, go through the eye of the sinker and wrap the end around it locking it down. Use the pliers and put a nice kink on the wire. 

With this you can clip it onto your end hook allowing you to get more distance in a cast. With these only being round 1/4 of the price of buying grip leads you'll be able to spend the coin on the much more needed fishing gear. Hope this helps you out and ill see you out there fishing.

Tight lines

Reece

Fish lollies- SRX14 lure review

With all the hardbodied lures and poppers put there I've always wondered what ones to use for what location. Doing numerous trips up north every year to places like steep point and quobba, spinning off the cliffs it's always hard to find the best lure that gives the best result.

I've used Yo-Zuri's, halcos, bombers and many of the others on the market and I'm quite impressed with the rapala. The swimming action and just watching it swim you can see that your in for a good fishing trip. It has a slash action kicking from side to side as it rips through the water on the retrieve, an action that is hard for large predatory fish to ignore. 

With the range of colours to choose from you should have most bases covered. The 3d holographic bodies with Internal holographic foils make these some of the best lures I've seen. Coupled with the rattle its no wonder they work well.

The Rapala SXR14 is an awesome lure to have ready for lagoon and reef exploring,  casting around the shallow bommies will be sure to produce Coral Trout, Mackerel, GT's and various other species that inhabit the shallower water in these areas.

These lures come rigged with quality trebles but the use the double slipt rings and single hook method works well with them, as the hooks seem to set and sit beter as well as being lighter giving the lure a better action.

After using these on my last few trips up north I'm now wondering why I haven't use these earlier. With one morning alone having Mac tuna, spanish mackeral, yellowfin and queenies follow and hook up I'm now hooked on these.

So if your ever heading up north or just wanting to go out for a flick I definately recommend having a few of these in your tackle box, money well spent.

Tight lines

Reece

Pelagic rigs made easy.

After being bitten by the balloon fishing bug big time, I've started experimenting with different rigs and setups, and this is the one I've found to work the best. Depending on where you buy the tackle from it can become quite an expensive hobby, with times loosing half a dozen rigs in a morning. 

Instead of buying the terminal gear from tackle shops I've gone to the online stores and have found I can get alot more for less, yet I have not had any of it fail or be faulty which is a Bonus. When you can buy 40 meters of 100lb wire for the same price as 10 from a store its really quite an easy decision. Here's the gear of choice for me:

•100lb multi strand wire

•50kg ball bearing swivels

•11/0 owner hooks

•8/0 octopus circles

•200mm squid skirts

•4/0 trebles

I cut a nice long piece of wire about 2 metres long and the first thing i do is a nice Flemish eye to tie on the treble with a crimp to hold it onto place. 

Then I snell a 11/0 owner hook on, about 10cm up from the treble, and repeating this with another 11/0 around 8-10cm above it depending on how big the baits are your using.

If you don't know how to snell there are plenty of videos on you tube that can explain it, and once you get the hang of them you'll be doing them in your sleep.

With me i use the 8/0 circle hook just to pin the head in place, saves using another 11/0 but its all up to your personal preference . With all the hooks snelled on slide a 200mm squid skirt along the wire. I use a nice pink one, but as before its up to personal preference as there are quite a few different colours out there to choose from and I've just found pink to work the best. At the end of the wire tie another Flemish eye to the ball bearing swivel and crimp it in place.

Once you've got the technique down they are really quite easy to make and normally take me around 5 minutes each. I've also found using these rigs rather than the gang sets of hooks you can buy from tackle shops that you get a far better hookup rate and they will also allow the bait your using to look alot more natural in the water.

 

Tight lines and hope to see you out there

Reece

All about patience

Well after a few pretty dismal attempts at trying for a landbased snapper after the storms (managed to net someone else's tho) I was invited out on my cousins boat for an after storm fish, how could a say no. After hitting the water around 6:30am we done a bit of drifting for some squid, brilliant four in the bag, perfect fresh bait.

A nice 20 minute motor out to the spot saw us anchoring up in around 14meters of water, with the mulie cubes going into the water it was only a matter if time for some action.

With burley the key I've found is having a nice constant stream going into the water, you don't want big chunks of fish in the trail just nice tiny cubes or the fish will scoff it down and have no room for your bait. One other thing is also try and match your bait to the burley being used, no use using gardie if the fish have a scent and been chewing on mulies.

It would have been around an hour and half before the burley started working with my cousing rod screaming off. The stradic 4000 ci4 and the gomoku storm rod doing a great job of knocking the fish over, if you've never seen these rods they are a bloody great light jigging rod that always loom like there going to snap and fold yet it managed to turn the fish quite easily. Bam first size fish of the morning landed.

With high fives all round, a bit of squealing in excitement and photos had it was back to fishing. The next few hours proved quite entertaining with many runs and hits. Two nice size eagle rays one around the 25kg mark boated, again on the gomoku. At one point even I was getting worries that the little noodle rod was gonna give, but as before it held its ground and turned the ray then quickly knocked it over.

With the bait all but gone and the burley drying up it was last drop for the day, with me yet to hook anything decent. Casting out the bait and letting it sink to the bottom i took in the slack to have the line start peeling off the reel like a bullet. First call was a sambo as the sustain 5000 just screamed in excitement, I can say for a little bit i felt i was gonna get spooled but slowly the fish began to tire. These sustain reels are absolutely awesome, with a reasonable pricing and a lovely smooth drag its a pleasure to use. After around 10 minutes of tug and war the fish slowly begun the float up, as we saw colour the next call was a nice mulloway, wrong again up floats a very nice pink snapper. 

Now as with most fish this is where's my are normally lost, first attempt at landing it proved quite difficult with it not fitting into the net, just my luck. A few more attempts sees us able to get the head of the fish In, just barely and lifting it into the boat. Now I can say that I was more than happy I was ecstatic, hand legs and knees were shaking just from the adrenaline of landing a monster pinky.

With a great day out it just proves that burleying up on anchor can produce some great fish, it may take a while for the scent to attract them but when it does its sure worth the effort.