2Dans Fishing

2Dans Fishing - Radio Program 9 - 3rd October 2010

2010-10-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

FUTURE FISH
Always a touchy subject - the future of Marine Parks in Australia. With the relatively new government in place and their back room deals with the Greens still cloaked in mystery, there are many Australian fishermen very nervous about what is going to happen to our rights to fish where we want when we want in the foreseeable future.
Marine Parks it is argued are a necessary part of fisheries management and conservation. However as many scientists around the world have shown this is not necessarily the case. There is no denying that the conservation of the marine environment and the organisms that live within it is an imperative no one can afford to ignore, however are Marine Parks really the correct solution to achieve this end or are the merely a political manoeuvring to increase the funding from large scale international NGO's? In society perhaps the most environmentally aware individuals or groups of individuals are those that are out and about within the environment themselves - when it comes to the oceans the people who see what is happening the most are the fisherman. As a result many fisherman Australia wide can be counted as passionate guardians for the oceans, and have as history shows on numerous occasions been the group to encourage and introduce better management practices for all manner of fish species.
Unfortunately there are groups of so called conservationists who would have the public believe that the decline in fish stocks and marine biodiversity is directly attributable to over fishing by recreational anglers, when time and time again scientific research has shown that this is simply not the case.
All of the debate aside what is clear is that the Labour Government of Australia has sided with the Greens and plan to push through further Marine Protected areas where fishing of any form will become prohibited.
It is important for recreational anglers to get educated, activated and stand up for what they believe in, the future of your access to historical fishing grounds in this great fishing nation of ours is in all of our hands.
Here are some links to get a broader understanding of the issues at hand;
Marine Parks Mayhem
Emeritus Professor Bob Kearney - On Marine Parks in NSW
A review of the Batemans Bay MPA paper by Professor Bob Kearney
Ben Diggles - The Science of MPA's

TACKLE HAPPY - Spinning or Threadline reel reviews
In Tackle Happy this week Dan Burgess and myself took to the water armed with two different spinning reels from two different manufacturers to put them through the paces.
The Pflueger Patriarch 9540 matched to the Pflueger Patriarch XTR 7" rod is designed to for light offshore or medium estuary spin targets. Expect to catch yellowtail kingfish, snapper, silver trevally and mulloway on this super light weight outfit packed full of impressive technology, with an impressive drag rating.
You can check out the reel here. They are priced competitively in the market and should deliver years of fishing pleasure.

The NEW Daiwa Certate 4000 is a high end reel with a high end price tag for those who take their fishing seriously and are happy to spare no expense. The technology that has been folded into the new release reel is a magnetic fluid in the bearing casing or housing. The purpose of this fluid is to prevent any water getting into the bearings and oxidising the bearings and reducing their working life. As always the reels are built to high standards and punch a drag out well above their weight for the size of the reel. Check it out here

2Dans Fishing – Radio Program 8 – Sunday 26th September 2010

2010-09-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

On The Fishing Line - Matthew Hayden Australian and world renowned cricketing legend talks about why he loves fishing and recalls his early memories of days on the water.
Dan Trotter recently had the fantastic opportunity to catch up with Matty, keep listening to our weekly radio show broadcasting at 5am Sunday mornings Australia wide on one of the stations listed below for more interview segments from Matthew Hayden and loads of fishy info and fun.

Local Works Network - covering regional and metro Australia

NSW
Coffs Harbour - 2CS-FM
Port MacQuarie - 2MC-FM
Griffith 2RG-FM
Orange 2GZ-FM
Wagga Wagga - 2WG-FM
Central Coast - 2GO-FM
Albury - The River-FM

QUEENSLAND
Townsville - 4TO-FM
Cairns - SEA-FM
Gladstone - SEA-FM
Mackay - SEA-FM
Fraser Coast - MIX-FM
Sunshine Coast - MIX-FM
Darling Downs - 4GR-AM
Gold Coast - GOLD-FM

VICTORIA
Bendigo 3BO-FM
Mildura 3MA-FM
Shepparton 3SR-FM

South Australia
Mt. Gambier 5SE-AM

Tasmania
Hobart - HEART-FM

Western Australia
Albany - 6VA-AM
Bunbury 6TZ-AM
Esperance 6SE-AM
Kalgoorlie - 6KG-AM
Merridin - 6MD-AM
Narrogin - 6NA-AM
Northam 6AM-AM
Bridgetown - 6BY-AM
Busselton - 6CI-AM

Style Guide - Top three bait fishing rigs for fishing in Saltwater.
When you start out fishing the choice of what rig to use can prove to be incredibly confusing, when in actual fact three main rigs will enable you to catch the majority of fish you are likely to encounter.
Firstly lets take a quick look at the two most popular knots to tie terminal tackle to your mainline.

The Uni Knot
The Locked Half Blood knot

The running sinker to hook rig
The running sinker to hook rig is essentially just that a rig where the sinker is threaded onto the mainline and allowed to run all the way up to the knot attaching the line to the hook.

Uses: This rig is perhaps one of the most useful of all rigs, the key to it's success is using the lightest weight sinker possible, so that the sinker can slide up the line away from the hook when a fish picks up the bait. Use just enough sinker weight to assist with the cast or to get the bait to slowly sink through the water column, do not use a sinker that will see you bait plummet through the depths or become anchored to the seafloor.
This rig is great in estuaries as well as in depths over 100 metres offshore. Known colloquially by some anglers as the floater rig, when fished at anchor in conjunction with a steady berley trail this rig allows the angler to fish the bait all the way through the water column and will successfully help you catch many species including snapper, yellowtail kingfish, yellowfin tuna, bream, silver trevally and many other popular table fish.

The Paternoster Rig
The Paternoster Rig is a amongst the most popular of all rigs simply be cause it is effective on a range of species in a huge array of locations and water depths. This rig used in almost every saltwater location in the world, whether you are fishing from the shore or from a boat this rig can be used to great affect on hundreds of species. When fished from the shore it allows the angler to cast the rig away from the shore and once settled on the bottom keeps the hooks free of rocks and weeds, when fished from a boat on the drift it allows the angler to keep the rig and baits near the seafloor and in the 'bite zone'. It is also often fished from a boat at anchor where the boat is positioned directly above the holding fish, the rig is then lowered to the depth the fish are feeding at, it can be modified to only 1 hook and fished with livebaits for many predatory species. Again use as little eight as required to get the bait into the bite zone.

Uses: The Paternoster Rig is a favourite amongst Australian anglers of all skill levels it can be used off the beaches for whiting and bream, off the rocks for snapper, jewfish and other demersal species, on the drift anglers will catch morwong, snapper, flathead, yellowtail kingfish, John Dory and a plethora of other bottom dwelling reef species.

The running sinker to swivel rig
The running sinker to swivel rig is a simple adaptation of the running sinker to hook rig. Basically the sinker is threaded onto the main-line and then the mainline is tied to the swivel, from this a length of trace line (30-200cm's) is tied and the hook tied off of the end of the trace. The main purpose for using a trace is to present the bait with more finesse where fish are flighty or timid, having a trace also allows you to fish a heavier or more abrasive line than the main line and can prevent bust offs from reefs or bite off's from toothy targets. It is also a great rig to use when fishing live baits as it allows the bait to keep swimming unimpeded by the sinker and can be lowered to the correct depth in the water column. Not here that if you are using this rig for livebaiting large baits offshore you will need to lower the bait slowly to avoid the the trace wrapping itself around the mainline, keeping this in mind many anglers opt to using a Paternoster Rig when dropping live baits in water depths over 30metres. If you are planning to cast this rig off the beach, rocks or estuary shoreline you will need to keep the trace relatively short say 30-40cm's in length to enable a distance cast.

Uses: Great for drifting for flathead in estuary situations, or casting from wharves beaches or ocean rocks where the seafloor is not covered by rocks and weeds where the rig can be snagged. Can be effectively used to catch flathead, yellowtail kingfish, jewfish, bream, silver trevally, sharks, whiting, tailor, Australian salmon etc etc etc.

If you have any questions or suggestions about fishing items, issues, rigs or styles send us an email info@2dansfishing.com.au

Stand-by for the blog for Program 9 ...

2Dans Fishing – Show 7 19th September 2010

2010-09-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

2Dans Fishing – Show 7 19th September 2010

Boat Bits – Don’t come up short this season.

With the water warming up around the country what better time to make sure our boats are fully equipped and ready to go. The interesting thing about fishing is that no matter what your fishing for or whereyour fishing that one small piece of equipment you forgot seems to be the key to the puzzle of fish catching. I’ll give you an example, for years I chased Jewfish out of my tinnie, I had a kit of gear that I would throw in the boat each time I went which included a small hand gaff. Unfortunately I had limited success and had never actually used the gaff, the fish I caught were not big enough to warrant it! One lazy afternoon I felt like some salt and pepper squid to go with my beer so off I went with some squid jigs in hand and a light rod, and out of habit also took a slightly heavier bait rod. After a good squid session I got stuck into the laborious task of cleaning the inkers. The first gut bait I pulled from the fresh squid tube went out on my bait rod while I cleaned the other squid. By now you probably have realized the end of the story so I wont go through the pains of that afternoon blow by blow, needless to say I lost the XOS jewfish I had been hunting for years because I didn’t keep one small piece of equipment in the boat, a hand gaff. I infact had it stored with my fishing gear….big mistake! Now I have a gear tub that is always ready and goes in the boat every time I fish even if I am only chasing goldfish from a bowl.

So here is the list of must have items for this season:

- Hand Gaff – for obvious reasons!!
- Net – Have you ever tried to land a large flathead without one…..your hands will never forgive you
- Handline orgy- a strange one I know but hear me out. If you have an enormous boat with many rod holders you probably have enough room to have outfits for everything rigged and ready to go, most people don’t own this boat. So handlines are a great option to tick a few of theses mandatory ‘rigged n ready’ outfits off the list. So a 6-8lb hnadline with a small bait hook for when the perfect bait fish come up the berley trail. A 20lb handline rigged with a squidjig for when they follow your baits to the boat. And an 80lb handline with a big hook on it for when the monster king appears behind the squid that just followed the bait up to the back of oyur boat
- Berley bucket and a berley bomb or as I have a small container which I just mush up bread and pillies in
- A spare bucket and rope – these are just so handy on a boat and almost as good as wd-40
- WD -40
- A baitboard (old bit of timber) and bait knife (old bit of metal)
-

They are all the essentials I have for my tinnie but here are some more elements that are great to have if you want to really make your boat a fishing weapon.

- As many rod holders as you can fit. I have called my tinnie the hedghog for obvious reasons.
- Live bait tank. Ideally a fully plumbed one or if you want to go the other end of the spectrum a fish bin or esky and a spare bucket combined with some elbow grease can do the job.
- Lowarnce sounder/GPS combo unit, these are amazing for fishing offshore
- Anchors – regular and para anchor
- Gimbal if your chasing bluewater species
- And a downrigger if you really want to make good use of those livebaits.

Remember thisw does not include all the safety gear which IS A NECESSITY without question. Check your local state based regulations for this. Have fun out there.

2Dans

2Dans Fishing – Radio Program 6 – Sunday 12th September 2010

2010-09-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Tackle Happy – Squid Jigs and Hayes Crab Pots
Recreational fishing for squid over the past decade has grown increasingly popular, these days there are squid fishing competitions, a plethora of rods designed for the purpose and more styles and brands of squid jigs than one could hope to use in a season.
There are two common species regularly encountered by squid anglers in Australia, amazingly there are over 300 species of squid worldwide. The Southern calamari squid (Sepioteuthis australis) and arrow squid (Nototodarus gouldi) are both caught throughout a wide range of Australian waters. Seek out locations in estuaries near rocky points with good boulder country covered in kelp, weed beds, as well as bridges and wharves where there is light illuminating the water. Offshore, squid of both varieties seem to turn up anywhere there is reef structure and are encountered in waters up to 100 metres deep. The arrow squid is also commercially caught well out to see by professional squid boats and are far more aggressive and swim a lot faster than the southern calamari squid. To fish for either species either cast squid jigs weighted appropriately for the water depth you are fishing and work them back to the rod tip utilising a few quick sharp lifts of the rod, then allow the squid jig to drop through the water column, this is usually when the squid will grab the jig. If you feel additional weight to the jig itself set the crown of hooks by firmly lifting the rod tip and winding the handle, keep the rod tip high and the pressure consistent. Alternatively bait up a squid spike with a baitfish and suspend under a float. A brand new design of squid spike called the ‘Squidator’ has been developed by two keen anglers from SA, it allows the crown of hooks to sit away from the bait and when the squid grabs the bait and starts to move away the spike slides down the line and the crown of hooks find their mark.
When it comes to prawn imitation squid jigs fortunately all the quality brands will catch squid successfully, it is well worth having a range of colours, sizes, styles and different sink rates to allow you to fish the various squid habitats. To get started with lets look at the basic outfit for squid fishing. In the estuaries a bream or flathead threadline outfit, consisting of a 2-4kg, 7 foot graphite rod, a 2000 size reel spooled with 4-8lb braid and a 6-10lb leader will work a treat. Offshore a heavier outfit consisting of a 6-8kg 7 foot graphite rod, a 4000 size threadline reel spooled with 10-15lb braid and 15-30lb mono leader will see you ready to cast larger squid jigs and fish deeper and come up with the goods.
For squid fishing enthusiasts here is a link to the premier Squid Fishing forum;
http://www.squidfish.net/forums/

Here's a collection of my cheap and more expensive high quality jigs. You will notice that my high quality jigs are very low at the moment, that's because I fish them more and as a result have lost a lot of them to the ocean floor. Note that offshore the less expensive jigs work better than in the estuaries.

Here are links to the various brands of squid jigs available on the Australian market today;
Shimano Squid Jigs – available in Australia SOON
Shimano Squid Jigs - Riika
Shimano - egi/dandy
Shimano - Sephia Egi

Daiwa
http://daiwafishing.com.au/?p=676
http://daiwafishing.com.au/?p=655
http://daiwafishing.com.au/?p=638
http://www.daiwaseiko.co.jp/fishing/

Yamashita
http://www.yamaria.co.jp
Yo-Zuri Squid Jigs
http://www.duel.co.jp
http://www.amazonoutdoors.com.au/Product/Lures/Squid-Jigs/Yo-Zuri2/YO-ZURI-AURIE-Q-REAL-SQUID-JIGS-
Marukyu
http://www.marukyu.c...lee_flocky.html
HAYABUSA
http://www.hayabusa.co.jp
Jackall
http://www.jackall.co.jp/

Jarvis Walker
http://www.jarviswalker.com.au
Kokoda
http://www.kokodafishing.com
Juro Oz Pro Tackle
http://www.jurofishing.com/

Not only do squid make great meals fried, grilled, broiled, steamed or stuffed and baked, they are also awesome fresh bait for pretty much any predatory fish in our waters.

The above information should give you the basics for getting started and out onto the water catching a feed of tasty ‘ink-belchers’. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll happily try to answer your questions. So what are you weighting for, get the gear and get out there – Happy Squiding!!

CRABBING season upon us now!!!- Get yourself a Hayes Crab Pot

On the note of tasty feeds the crab season is upon us, whether you live north or south there are some delicious crustaceans to be had. Jeff Hayes from the Gold Coast has developed a new crab pot design with 4 slightly different versions depending on the duration of time you want to leave the pots in the water.
The great thing about these apart from being collapsible is that by simply turning the pots upside down the you can funnel the crabs out of the pot and into the waiting bucket or esky, no more finger pinching here…!
Check out the designs below, and if your local tackle store isn’t stocking them ask them to contact us and we can pass on the details so they can get them in for you,,,

Style Guide – Surface poppers for pelagics

One of the most exciting forms of fishing is casting lures and flies to hungry predators, when this is coupled with a visual element the exhilaration intensifies. Popper fishing as it is known in fishing circles involves casting and retrieving a floating lure of various sizes, shapes and styles to imitate a fleeing baitfish.
From micro poppers weighing only a couple of grams to huge poppers weighing 300 grams there is pretty much a popper for every predatory fish out there.
Surface popping is one of our favourite forms of fishing because you can literally watch the fish chase and strike the popper. From southern Australian pelagic species like yellowtail kingfish, Australian Salmon, tailor to northern species such as giant trevally, dogtooth tuna, wahoo, queenfish and the mighty tuna species which inhabit pretty much all Australian saltwaters there is a species in everyone’s local waters. In addition there are massive arrays of estuary and reef species (which are not considered pelagics) which will also readily smash a well presented and worked popper – these include on the small end of the scale whiting, bream, flathead tobass and freshwater cod in the sweet water to northerly species like barramundi, mangrove jacks, coral trout, cod, red bass and more.
The basic premise is to identify structure that will hold your desired target species, start with ocean washes, harbour markers and pylons, as well as bombies, coral atolls and submerged steep drop-offs. Once you have selected the location cast the popper as close as you can to the target area and give it a few jerks with your rod, this not only starts the retrieve but also takes up any slack line between the rod tip and lure, then work the popper back towards you imparting bloobs and jerks with purposeful pauses. What you will notice when the fish turn up is that they will often chase or follow the popper but won’t strike at it (all that often) whilst it is moving, instead many predatory fish will wait until the popper is paused before attacking it. Ideally you need to find the balance between keeping the popper moving to keep the fish interested and also pausing it to get the fish to eat it.

There are a massive variety of poppers available on the market today, cup-faced bloopers, pencil poppers and stick baits represent the three basic styles of lure, from here there are so many variances you’ll just have to get out there and select and test which ones work best for the fish you are chasing. Sometimes different conditions, locations, times of the day and different prey species will determine which popper works best on any given target species. Ensure you have an array of popper styles to try on any given outing and make either metal notes or notes in your fishing diary for future reference.

Tackle for pelagic popper fishing needs to be strong yet light weight, ideally start by using a 7-9 foot threadline rod capable of fishing 30 or 50 or 80lb braid over depending on the size of the bruisers you hope to catch. There are many specifically designed popper rods from every manufacturer on the market, so pop into your local quality tackle store and have them take you through what is on offer. Couple the rod you select with a high quality threadline reel capable of holding 300 metres of the selected braid. Reel models like Shimano Stella’s and Saragosa or Daiwa’s Saltiga, Saltist and Certate ranges as well as the Tuff Tackle and Ryobi Safari offerings all stand up to the job and push serious drag pressures.
Because there is hours of casting involved in popper fishing the joining knot between the braid and mono leader needs to be smooth and able to run through the guides without too much clunking. Check out the link below for info on rigging and knots.
http://www.gtpopping.com/
Where ever you in our fishy nation popper fishing is well worth the effort, not only can it connect you with some seriously hard fighting fish, it’s great fun and so visual you’ll want to get out there and do it again and again.

AROUND THE GROUNDS
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
It’s been tough to get out fishing in SA the last few weeks, strong winds mean a wild ocean. However in the breaks between the weather the King George whiting fishing on the Metro beaches has been great, and at this time of the year the blue swimmer crabs start to turn up in good numbers. So watch the weather forecasts and get out on the water.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Around Bunbury the whiting and herring are still biting as are the bream, the colder weather means the fishing has been better in the afternoons and evenings once the suns warmth has raised the inshore water temps a little. Use a steady flow of berley to get the fish eating and use flesh baits to increase your chances. Further north around Exmouth there has been some great fishing for bonefish and permit on the flats and this should continue until the water temps get to warm sending this highly prized fly-fishing specis back into deeper water.
VICTORIA
Loads of squid around the Mornington Peninsula peirs and wharves, squid up to 2kgs. In the Port Fairy estuary along the rock walls the guys in the know have been catching good numbers of medium sized silver trevally and Australian Salmon on blade lures.
NEW SOUTH WALES
On the inland freshwater front, the dams, lakes and rivers from Orange NSW, down to the Victoria border and beyond are swollen to almost flooding in areas, with this much water around once the high levels subside the cod and bass fishing should really come to life. So make sure you have your lures stocked, your gear ready and stand by to hit the water. There are scattered reports of decent cod captures around Echucha, Victoria.
Back on the south coast around Tathra, Merimbula there have been good catches of Tasmania striped trumpeter, hapuka and blue eye trevalla.
Dan B managed to get out for a fish on one of the deepwater ledges of the Central Coast and caught some good sized silver trevally and Australian salmon, he said the salmon was a treat hot smoked, the silver trevally delicious as sashimi, both washed down with an icy cold ale. A few weeks back Port Macquarie experienced the arrival of the dreaded Chinaman leatherjackets, akin to a saltwater plague of piranha the aggressive schooling fish will demolish anything in the path. There have been some large specimens around 3kg and with the use of wire can be caught in solid numbers and are a welcome addition at the dinner table.
QUEENSLAND
Southern Queensland around the Gold Coast and Moreton Island the inshore reefs have been bountiful for solid snapper, a bit wider on the jigging grounds big kings and amberjack have been testing anglers strength and knots. Scattered reports of blue marlin out wide have also been coming in.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
As we always say to each other at this time of year, if the winter or early spring weather is getting you down, beat the blues and head to the north, the fishing rarely disappoints the weather is warm and the locals friendly.

If you have any reports of your own that’d you would like to share with nation email us; info@2dansfishing.com.au

2Dans Fishing – Radio Program 5 – Sunday 5th September 2010

2010-08-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Fishy Fact File – Mangrove Jack Lutjanus argentimaculatus.

This species has a huge range throughout the Indo-Pacific region as well as the Red Sea, and an impressive distribution throughout Australia. The Mangrove Jack is a member of the Lutjanidae Family, this group is known commonly as the sea-perch and pacific snapper family. The various species are categorised by robust body’s strong tails, canine like teeth and aggressive carnivorous feeding behaviour. The mangrove jack is the second most sought after coastal species after the Barramundi for northern based anglers. In addition to the recreational value, there is growing interest in Mangrove Jack stocking into impoundments as well as a number of ventures testing the viability of this species for aquaculture.
These amazingly powerful fish spend their juvenile lives in estuaries, creeks and rivers, migrating offshore as they reach sexual maturity. These fish are the prize to many anglers and for their size and weight there are few fish that fight this hard over short distances. The can be taken on a variety of lures and live baits. The best fishing for them late afternoon/dusk into the night and through till a few hours after dawn. Anglers should fish the heaviest tackle they can hold onto and still be prepared to loose many fish. They taste great on the plate and should be treated with culinary respect.

Distribution and Habitat: In Australia its range includes all northern coastal rivers systems from northern New South Wales (although they are sometimes encountered as far south as Sydney's offshore reefs and coastal lagoons), through Queensland, the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Northern Territory and into Western Australia as far south as the Ashburton River System. They are encountered on reefs up to 100 metres deep right up into brackish and freshwater reaches of tidal rivers.

Size: The unofficial Australian record was caught offshore from Byron Bay and is around 15kg and well over the magic 1 metre mark. Most fish encountered however are between 800grams and 3kg, although any ‘Jack’ over 1kg is a catch worth being super proud of. Very little is know about their reproductive biology, although it is thought they broadcast spawn millions of eggs into the pelagic environment from the estuaries.

Age, growth and sexual maturity: An interesting research paper was recently released on a three year study looking at the ‘Biology, management and genetic stock structure of mangrove jack in Australia’. Five scientists from Fisheries Research and Development Corporation sampled and collated data from around the country to bring out the most comprehensive study of these unique and important fish.
Their research indicated that Mangrove jacks living in the freshwater and estuary environments are juveniles and that sexual maturity is not attained until they migrate offshore. This seems to happen between three and 11 years of age. It is thought that they spawn at sea and the juveniles travel up into the freshwater reaches of coastal streams during the wet season.
Otolith growth records indicate that mangrove jack are long-living fish, with the oldest specimens at least 37 years old and possibly 40 years or more. Growth rates slow down measurably with age. The longest confirmed length of ‘Jack’ was an astounding 120cm, whilst the smallest caught throughout the project was a mere 20mm, taken at the mouth of a northern QLD river during the wet season.
The study showed that the juveniles migrate inshore during the wet season, after being spawned well offshore It was also observed that population density was at its greatest around the mouths of estuaries and decreased moving upstream. The number one habitat location for the mighty mangrove jack was found to be rock walls and bars, followed by submerged timber snags.
Throughout the study (and from other tagging data) fish were tagged and released, results from this showed that juvenile jacks are territorial, 73% of recaptures occurred less than one kilometre their capture and release location. In numerous instances individuals were recaptured in the precise location the were originally tagged in. Interestingly fish that migrated offshore are capable of traveling vast distances with the record holding individual swimming a remarkable 335km along the north Queensland coast.
Essentially all mangrove jacks caught by rec. anglers in estuaries and river systems are juveniles. It is noted that 50% of female jacks reach sexual maturity at 512mm and males at 459mm. This should be noted and considered by anglers as the QLD legal size of 350mm is well below the size at which they become adults and have the first opportunity to spawn and create stock for further generations. In NSW there is no minimum size limit, so anglers need to make there own judgement. This being said authorities feel that the current size limit allows recreational anglers to catch and ‘take’ fish from the estuaries, as the larger fish will have moved offshore. Another interesting fact is that fish from the southern reaches of the distribution grow faster than their northern counterparts, as a result larger fish are sometimes encountered within estuaries in NSW.
For the full document click on the link here; www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/7096.html

Tackle: Due to the power and aggressive nature of these fish the tackle used to specifically target them needs to be strong and capable of heavy drag settings. Overhead set-ups are generally preferred although the latest quality offerings in thread-lines would definitely stand-up to the challenge. I would recommend nothing less than 30lb braid, and a rod of six to seven foot in length capable of fishing 8-12kg of drag over. Leaders need to be heavy in order to stop the fish in it’s tracks, and I’ve noticed some gun ‘jack’ anglers using a 30cm length of 60-80 lb single strand wire connected to the lure or live-bait hook to survive the inevitable bust-offs that occur when the fish make it back to the snag. It is often said that mangrove jacks hit their prey, lure of live-bait on the way back to their nook or cranny. So you’d better hold on and be ready for action.

Eating qualities: Mangrove Jacks are amazing to eat, the flesh has tasty medallions when cooked properly. Smaller fish can be baked or steamed whole, whilst larger fish are best filleted and then pan-fried or cooked in foil with a selection of herbs. For more nutritional information click on the link; www.australianseafood.com.au/species.php?f=114&v=f

Tackle Happy – New tackle treats from the Fishing Tackle Trade show
Well Dan Burgess and myself were fortunate enough to recently travel up to the Gold Coast or GC as it is affectionately known and attend the Fishing Tackle Trade show. Unfortunately this event is only open to the industry to peruse new products on display and get their orders in for the upcoming season. It is quite an experience for a tackle junkie like myself to be let loose in an exhibition centre big enough for almost every tackle manufacturer and distributor in the country to be represented. New reels, new rods, new lures, new hook and jig head ranges, plus more accessories than you could ever hope to need. There were a number of stand-outs amongst the millions of items on display, and perhaps most notable was the huge range of squid jigs from almost ever tackle house in the world. Daiwa, Shimano, Mega-Bass, Yamashita, Yo-Zuri and on and on, so if you like your squidding stand-by for some amazing new releases – in next weeks show we will have a quick look at the new technology being packed into the not so simple design of the new breed of squid jigs.. Interesting to also have a play with were the new range of Loomis rods, whilst Shimano have released a new series of the infamous Trinidad overhead reels. Daiwa never cease to impress with a new Certate reel sure to be dynamite and a new Steez rod with a 7’10” length for those snapper anglers wanting to get a touch more cast in. On the jigging front Tuff Tackles budget jigging reel and well considered jigging riod will please anglers after a well priced robust fish stopper. I’m also excited by the arrival of Abu’s Dreadnaught series of Jig Rods, I now have two of these (the 30lb and 50lb versions) in my hands for fishing, testing and review – Standby for updates on these. Also a brand new range of threadline rods and reels from Pfleuger which I am keen to get out and test this afternoon on Sydney Snapper, the Patriach rod and reel set-up are quality super light items with modern technology delivering superior strength at a friendly price point. Other items we will review in coming weeks are Hayes Crab pots, the Squidator (new style of squid spike), Mako’s new range of polaroid sunglasses, the Seeker jig heads and a few of the recently released braid lines.

2Dans Fishing – Radio Program 4 – Sunday 29th August 2010

Tackle Happy - How to Keep a Fishing Diary

Keeping a fishing Diary is a process that many anglers neglect, and one that at times I forget to keep up to date, especially on days when the fishing was slow. However if you really want to improve your chances of catching more fish regularly a fishing diary will help you do just that.
The basic diary records the date, the time of day you fished and the locations you fished and the fish you landed, it is also worth noting the moon phase and tides, although an old alt tells me these are the same each year (I have yet to check and see whether this is indeed the truth - anyone confirm or deny this??). If you desire to keep a more complex diary then you can also keep info like prevailing conditions, water temp, water clarity, previous days weather conditions, the bait you caught as well as used, what the air pressure was doing (barometer readings) and so on.
The aim of a fishing diary is to help you get in synch with the natural cycles that happen in the oceans and your local waters. What you will begin to identify is that everything has a natural cycle with the same species of fish turning up at the same locations at the same time of year each year. Water temps will alter this some what, and a falling or rising barometer will affect whether the fish are biting. But for the most part the calendar will help you determine what to fish for and when, so get started all you really need is an exercise book and a pen. If you want to go back over past info, pictures that are dated will help you recall dates and for memorable trips your memory will have a lot of the other info.

Boats and Bits - Evinrude E-Tec

There are many outboards on the market these days, essentially there are two categories of outboard available to the consumer. Old school 2-Stroke technology which has been around for decades. And clean technology outboards which are then divided into 2 separate categories; 4-Stroke Technology and Direct Injection 2-Stroke Technology and the latter is what we are really all about. As the name suggests Clean technology delivers a cleaner more efficient use of fuel and releases far less pollutants into the water and atmosphere.
The benefit of Direct Injection 2-Stroke technology is that in addition to giving you greater fuel economy, lower emissions of pollutants into the water and a quieter ride, they also deliver greater torque and power than the same horsepower 4-Stroke outboards and weigh less too. As a result there really is no other choice.

Envinrude E-Tec lead the direct injection 2-Stroke market today, they are easy to own and operate, require far less servicing than 4-Stroke outboards, and deliver amazing power and torque for their weight and keep up with 4-Stroke outboards when it comes to fuel efficiency and low emissions.

If you haven't been on the water with a boat powered by an E-Tec then you owe it to yourself to experience what they truly deliver.

For a review of the Evinrude E-Tec 150HO check the link below;
modernboating.com.au

or for more information for the manufacturer or to locate a dealer clink on this LINK

Thanks for checking out our blog, and remember to tune into our radio show every Sunday morning across our Fishiy nation, see below for Radio Station details in your local area.

NSW
Coffs Harbour - 2CS-FM
Port MacQuarie - 2MC-FM
Griffith 2RG-FM
Orange 2GZ-FM
Wagga Wagga - 2WG-FM
Central Coast - 2GO-FM
Albury - The River-FM

QUEENSLAND
Townsville - 4TO-FM
Cairns - SEA-FM
Gladstone - SEA-FM
Mackay - SEA-FM
Fraser Coast - MIX-FM
Sunshine Coast - MIX-FM
Darling Downs - 4GR-AM
Gold Coast - GOLD-FM

VICTORIA
Bendigo 3BO-FM
Mildura 3MA-FM
Shepparton 3SR-FM

South Australia
Mt. Gambier 5SE-AM

Tasmania
Hobart - HEART-FM

Western Australia
Albany - 6VA-AM
Bunbury 6TZ-AM
Esperance 6SE-AM
Kalgoorlie - 6KG-AM
Merridin - 6MD-AM
Narrogin - 6NA-AM
Northam 6AM-AM
Bridgetown - 6BY-AM
Busselton - 6CI-AM

2Dans Fishing – Radio Program 3 – Sunday 22nd August 2010

2010-08-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Fishy Fact File – Flathead – Platycephalus sp.

Flathead are indeed an interesting fish species, loved by Australian fishermen and seafood consumers alike there are a number of species that are regularly caught by line fishermen, and a whole bunch of other species which are less often encountered. Here’s a link to show you just how many species of flathead are finning Australia’s waterways http://www.fishnames.com.au/fishnames/fishnames.php?caab=37%20296002 – AMAZING! For the purposes of this Fishy Fact File let’s take a look at the ones regularly caught by anglers around Australia. These are; the Dusky Flathead of the East coast definitely the largest of the ‘lizard’ clan, the Southern Bluespotted flathead, the rock flathead, as well as the Deep- sea flathead not to be confused or Southern Sand Flathead or the Northern Sand Flathead. It is simply quiet amazing how many species of flathead there are, and what’s more amazing is that flathead are found in only a few other regions around the world. New Zealand has none, although South Africa has a few species, however through out South-East Asia there are a number of species caught and sold commercially. The great thing about these fish is that they are accessible to all anglers whether shore based or boat based and they can be caught in almost every saltwater environ across our great country, additionally no matter which ones you catch they all taste great. Just be sure that you know the correct size and bag limits for your local waterway and adhere to them.

Range and Habitat: A quick look at the range and habitat of the various species. The Dusky Flathead is encountered from about Hinchinbrook Channel down the eastern seaboard to the Gippsland Lakes of Victoria, they are mostly estuarine dwellers and can be caught in brackish waters at times. The Sand Flathead of which consist a number of species (which only Taxonomists can see the difference between) are encountered from about Coffs Harbour in mid-north NSW around the southern half of Australia to Lancelin (Just north of Perth) in WA, they are also encountered through Bass Straight and Tasmanian waters. The Sand flathead as there name suggests inhabit sand stretches of bottom from the estuaries out to 100-150metre in depth. The Bluespotted Flathead (of which there are also a number of species) Can be found from Moreton Bay (Brisbane) around to Kalbarri in WA, this species is predominantly encountered offshore.

Size: The ruler of the flathead clan is without doubt the Dusky Flathead, impressive at any size over 3kg, they are most commonly caught around the 1kg mark. Whilst the Australian record is 9.44kg, Dusky’s have reportedly been caught up to 14kg and over 1.1 metres in length – WOW. Most of the other species in the genus grow to a maximum size of 3kg, again most fish kept are between the legal size limit and 1kg.

Age: From the information available it seems that different species of flathead grow at different rates and become sexually mature at different ages – which is really not surprising.

Spawning and sexual maturity: Whilst studies have been done on many of the commercially important species of flathead, there isn’t time or space to represent all of these so lets take a look at the Dusky. Sexual maturity in Dusky Flathead occurs at different rates between the males and females, studies show that females reach sexual maturity at approx 56cm, whilst male Dusky flathead reach sexual maturity at approx 31cm. These lengths correlate to the ages with females being about 4.55 years old when reaching sexual maturity and males only 1.22 years old. The NSW size limits in place represent these findings with the minimum size being 36cm and only 1 fish over 70cm allowed to be kept. This is to protect the large breeding females which are super important to future fish stocks.
www.ecofishers.com/pdf/WF-2008_Gray-et-al_Dusky-Flathead-Final-Report.pdf

Tackle: The best tackle for fishing for flathead varies depending on where and how you intend to catch these beautiful fish. For estuary soft-plastic fishing the rods should 7-8ft in length and suited to fish 2-4kg line classes, which equates to 4 to 8lb braid depending on your preference. Basically a light estuary outfit with a size 2000-2500 spin reel is optimum. You can also fish baits with the same outfit, ensure to fish lightly weighted or unweighted baits. Fishing live baits for Dusky flathead is the way to target the big ones, either from a stationary location or anchored boat or drifting across sandy bottoms interspersed with rocks and weed-beds. If drifting in the harbours and bays, you can either fish a running sinker to a swivel with a 30-40cm trace or use paternoster style rigs. Offshore drifting for flathead is the domain of the paternoster rig, use enough weight to get to the bottom, two droppers and if your keen a lumo bead on the dropper can improve catches. Try drifting over sandy and broken reef terrain, this will work well both in estuaries and offshore. For the most part drifting flathead anglers use an overhead rod and reel set-up, although a 6-8kg threadline set-ups will also do the job. For bite sensitivity it’s best to use braid. Leaders should be between 6-20lbs depending on the size of fish you expect to encounter (and other possible by-catch) and how ‘bite-shy’ the fish are.
For more detailed info on the hooks, jig heads and soft plastics get in to your local tackle store. Or stay tuned for updates on our blog
Eating qualities: Flathead are amongst Australia’s most favourite fish to eat, they are popular in restaurants, fish and chip shops and homes nation wide. Studies indicate that recreational anglers catch more than the commercial sector, how truthful this research is (being based on assumptions and statistics) will never be known. Regardless like all fish stocks in the world, the pressure of fishing in the future is only going to get greater so consider this when catching a feed of flathead for your hungry family.

Future Fish – Fishers For Conservation
Concerned about the future of the fish in our oceans?? Want to get educated and educate your peers and friends?? Perhaps you may even want to get active, as you are hopefully aware there is plenty being done about marine conservation and sustainability, more importantly a lot more needs to be done. An organisation set-up in 2005 called Fishers For Conservation is doing something about these issues, the information provided and the education they are promoting is very important so click through this link, have a read get educated and become active. Whether you are pro Marine Parks or anti them if you want to have a point of view then you owe it to yourself to get educated.
Fishers For Conservation

On The Fishing Line – Mark from Lake Macquarie
Mark does a fair bit of fishing for Bream, but finds he’s only catching the small ones, he wants a few tips so he can catch the larger ones.
Fishing for bream is fun and can deliver a good feed, the great thing is they can be caught by both land-based and boat based anglers. Lake Macquarie is a shallow coastal lake on the Central Coast of NSW, since commercial fishing was banned in the lake the fish populations have grown in size and diversity and there are indeed great numbers of bream in the system.
The tips for catching bigger bream are as follows;
1) Use a fine misty berley to attract the fish in, most often you will notice that the small ones are first to arrive and hang in pretty close, try flicking out beyond these fish to find the warier large fish.
2) Whilst prawns and pilchards will definitely catch bream, often what is need is a tougher bait that will stay on the hook long enough and take enough battering from the small ‘pickers’ to be scoffed by the bigger bream lurking with a watchful eye. Try mullet, yellowtail or striped tuna strip baits, squid will also work well as will mullet, chicken gut and believe it or not steak.
3) Use larger hooks (Octopus or bait holder 1 and 1/0) to avoid catching so many small fish and potentially damaging them.
4) Fish the tides and the change of light (dusk or dawn) for best results.

Around the Grounds:
QUEENSLAND
Around the Hinchinbrook area there have been some catches of Permit on fly for the wily anglers in the know. Also on the chew have been smaller specimens of Barramundi in the mangrove lined creeks. It’s also a good time of year to catch mud crabs, be sure to know the size limits and always release the females in Queensland – that’s the law.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
South WA there are good numbers of Australian Salmon along the beaches
Further north from Perth to Shark Bay larger Tailor are feeding, try lures and ganged pilchards for best results.
TASMANIA
In the highland lakes region it trout time, try fishing days when the weathers warmer and there’s less wind. Either walk the shoreline and Polaroid for trout, be ready to cast wet flies just in front of the trouts path and tweek them just as they go past.
VICTORIA
Back on the coast of Victoria offshore from Warnambool to Portland the mighty Southern bluefin tuna have been around in decent numbers if you don’t have a boat there are plenty of charter operators that can get you amongst the action.
NEW SOUTH WALES

All throughout NSW waters on the wider grounds the Yellowtail Kingfish have been schooling up. Try jigging or fishing live baits on the 50-150 metre hard reefs. Up around the Coffs Coast region the snapper have been active. Further north there have been occasional catches of Cobia.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The King Gorge whiting are in decent numbers although the weather has made it hard to get amongst them. The snapper are also active again crappy weather has kept most boats inshore. Tasty tasty fish indeed.

If you have any reports of your own that’d you would like to share with nation email us; info@2dansfishing.com.au

2Dans Fishing - Radio show rundown 15th August 2010

2010-08-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Fishy Fact File – Snapper – Pagrus auratus

As most of you reading this will know Snapper are amongst the most sort after fish species finning Australia’s coastal waters, however scientifically ‘our’ snapper are different to what most of the world refers to as a snapper. Unique to only a number of countries around the world, we are fortunate to count Australia as one of them. Other countries which have populations of Pagrus auratus are New Zealand and a reproductively isolated population in Japan, a closely related species Sparus auratus is found in Europe.

Range and Distribution: Snapper inhabit Australian waters from Gladstone on Queensland’s coast all the way around to Shark Bay in WA, also encountered occasionally around the Islands of Bass straight as well as Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. This species has been the focus of countless research papers and fisheries projects, whilst anglers nationwide spend inestimable hours, weekly, monthly and yearly trying their hand at catching a specimen worthy of the title trophy sized snapper. Research points to a number of essentially geographically separate populations. Here is a link to a map showing the distribution of this magnificent fish; Map of Snapper, Pagrus auratus range and distribution

Size: The Australia record for snapper is 18.4kg, although fish of this size are few and far between, any fish over 5kg is considered a very respectable catch in NSW and QLD waters, whilst in SA and VIC fish over 10kg are regularly encountered. Most fish encountered are between 1kg and 3kgs.

Age: Snapper for the most part grow very slowly, there growth is said to be ‘plastic’, which means fish from different areas and even fish from different genetic stocks in the same locale can grow at very different rates. As an average rule of thumb a snapper measuring 60cm’s fork length can be between 8 and 30 years old, however most fish of this length tend to be closer to 30 years in age research has found. In light of this we ask you to be conscious of this when you get onto a hot bite of snapper.

Spawning and sexual maturity: Snapper spawn at various different times according to location, unfortunately this tends to coincide with the peak fishing season in many locations, due to the groups of snapper that form at these times. The more northerly stocks, seem to spawn earlier throughout winter, whilst those in southerly waters spawn from spring to early summer.
When spawning, the males turn grey along their back and patches are also noticeable on their heads, the females remain silvery pink and feature swollen abdomens and outwardly protruding vents.
Research has shown Snapper spawn repeatedly over a twelve to fifteen week breeding season, which increases the chances of survival of the juveniles and species. Apparently males butt the females repeatedly with their heads to stimulate egg release. Once fertilization occurs, the eggs float upwards through the water column. After approximately two days they hatch into tadpole-like larvae adrift in the current. The ensuing three weeks, see the larvae move towards the seabed, slowly changing to represent recognisable juvenile snapper.

Tackle: The best tackle for fishing for snapper varies depending on the depth of water, the size of the fish you are targeting and the style or technique you implement. For soft-plastic fishing the rods should 7-8ft in length and suited to fish 3-8kg line classes, which equates to 12 to 20/30lb braid depending on your preference. Personally I have 2 set-ups one which I fish 12lb braid over (breaks about 20lb) and the other I fish 15lb Stren micro-fuse over which breaks closer to 35-40lb. The reels should be either 3000 or 4000 size and as high quality as you can afford or justify, select a reel that enables you to fit 250-300 metres of braid, as these outfits are so versatile you will find yourself fishing for loads of different species with them. If bait fishing at anchor with floaters and a berley trail again a seven foot rod is well suited, it is also considered that 20-30lb mono straight through to the hook is a better line for fishing floaters at anchor offshore in a current. Some die-hard snapper guru’s use a 10ft fibreglass rod and an Alvey loaded with 30lb mono, in Port Phillip Bay where there is generally less current than the offshore environs of the east coast the set-up is different again. If fishing with paternoster style rigs and drifting over reef terrain select an overhead rod and reel loaded with 20 – 30lb braid. Leaders should be between 15-40lbs depending on the size of fish you expect to encounter and how ‘bite-shy’ the fish are. For more detailed info on the hooks, jig heads and soft plastics get in to your local tackle store. Or stay tuned for updates on our blog.
Fishing Techniques: As touched on above there are a number of techniques that can be successfully employed to hook and land snapper. For details on this buy our DVD, ‘In Search Of Old Man Snapper’.
Eating qualities: Snapper are rated highly by everyone on the dinner plate, which is why they are so popular in restaurants and homes Australia wide. It is also why the stocks of snapper around the country are under such continual pressure, and fisheries are undertaking exhaustive research and continually changing regulations to try and protect this very valuable fish and fishery.
PLEASE NOTE: If you love catching and eating these fish, please limit your take to what you will eat fresh and release those fish which you cannot, especially during spawning season. Whilst your friends, families and neighbours will appreciate your generous offerings, you, your children and future generations will appreciate it more if there are healthy stocks of Snapper in the future.

On the Fishing Line – Dave from the Gold Coast in southern QLD.
Dave sent in an email to find out how he can catch fish on soft-plastics. He has read the articles, bought the gear and spent a bunch of time fishing with them, but is having limited success.
Dan Burgess a master of fishing with soft-plastics and myself offered the following tips;
1) Slow your retrieve right down, the temptation and impatience is to fish soft-plastics too quickly. A slower retrieve with small purposeful twitches and flicks will catch more fish.
2) Fish Structure – edges of weed beds, rock bars or walls, submerged timber, sandy drop-offs, mooring chains, moored boats, harbour markers and buoys.
3) Select a species to target and select a soft-plastic lure (and jig head and hook size) that resembles the type and size of prey that species regularly eats.
4) Many manufacturers sell scented soft-plastics, others provide scents which can be added, these can help entice a bite.
If you have any further suggestions to increase success with soft plastics, please shoot us an email info@2dansfishing.com.au

Style Guide – Jigging
Jigging is an awesome technique that works well on many species, it is rigorous and strenuous on the body and the strains on tackle can be quite immense, so always select the highest quality gear you can afford.
In Australia, anglers target a wide array of species jigging and what species this is, is dictated by their location. Throughout southern NSW the go to species is yellowtail kingfish, further north on the east coast large amberjack and yellowtail kingfish are both encountered regularly, bar cod can also be effectively targetted. Tuna of all species can be caught on jigs where ever they are encountered. In South Oz again jumbo yellowtail kingfish, amberjack and tuna are caught by jiggers. Whilst over in WA the Samson fish rules the roost, there is a great fishery and charter industry set-up to catch these fish, expect to come back with longer arms than you left though. Up in the tropics there seems to be no limit to the species that are regularly caught on jigs, perhaps the most encountered would be Giant Trevally known as GT’s followed by Dogtooth Tuna and a host of aggressive reef species.
Basically for anyone who doesn’t know Jigging is a style of fishing that uses a lure made from metal or lead (which is shaped and painted to resemble a fish – kind of), the jigs themselves can be a variety of shapes, lengths and weights and suit different jigging styles and different water depths as well as species. Originally developed in it’s infancy in Hawaii, it’s popularity spread around the world in the 1970’s and 80’s. Back then the rods were long, the lures very basic and the technique simply a matter of dropping the lure to the bottom and cranking it to the surface. Since then much has changed in the technology used in fishing, rods are now made from graphite, the reels have far superior drag systems and are built to withstand massive torque and forces and most importantly of all, BRAID or GEL-SPUN super lines were invented. Much of this the world has to thank the Japanes and their pioneering ways for.
The new jigging craze has been led by the Japanese and the rest of the world has followed and copied.
With the advent of the new tackle much more specific styles have developed for targeting different species of fish, or targeting the same species of fish in different feeding moods or when feeding on different types of prey. The basic premise is still the same, locate a reef with substantial vertical rise over a short distance, sound around to locate the school of fish and drop the lures into the depths below. Once the lure reaches the bottom, start winding it back to the surface actively jigging or jerking the rod (long and or short jerks) to impart an erratic action to the lure. AND HANG ON.
For further details check out these links below and keep an eye out in Modern Fishing magazine for future articles.

Tackle: One of the most immediately obvious oddities about the tackle is the shortness and curve of the rods. The best rods for jigging these days have a parabolic curve, with a fast taper at the tip. There are many brands making great rods for jigging so get into the local quality tackle store to see what is available and what you are prepared to pay for. Jigging can be done effectively using either a threadline or overhead set-up, both place stresses on the body in different ways and many anglers have one of each to change between throughout a session. As a general guide select a 5 to 6’6” foot graphite rod suited to fishing between 30lb to 120lb braid. Select a high quality thread-line or overhead reel (Daiwa and Shimano arguably make the best reels for this style of fishing) capable of holding up to 300metres of line and pushing up to 14kg’s of drag. The great thing about jigging outfits is they can also be used for live-baiting, and the threadline reels in particular can be used for casting poppers and metals on the correct rod very effectively. I love to hate to say it – but spend as much money as you can afford so that you get an outfit that will consistently deliver excellent service and help you catch more fish.

Around the Grounds

TASMANIA
In Tasmania it is a good time of year to head to the lakes region and try your hand at fly-fishing for brown or rainbow trout. In the salt-water the next few weeks present the last opportunities to get out and fish for Tasmania Striped trumpeter before the closed season commences (The closed season occurs during the main spawning period for the Tasmanian Striped trumpeter ; 1st September through till the 1st of November 2010 ). If you love a feed of squid or calamari, right now is good time to get the squid jigs out and catch a feed of southern calamari.
VICTORIA
Back on the mainland in the mountains of Victoria there are some great places to go and catch some trout. Try walking the banks with a fly-rod in hand, or slow trolling Tassie Devil lures in the shallows above weed beds and rock bars.
Back on the coast of Victoria offshore from Warnambool to Portland there have been sporadic catches of tuna, although much quieter than a few weeks or months ago.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Whyalla, Snapper Capitol of the world, it is a good time to chase King George Whiting. Along the coast around Ceduna get amongst the Australian salmon off the beaches or fish larger baits around dawn and dusk to chase Mulloway or Jewfish.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
South around Busselton it’s there are good numbers of Australian, Salmon and Tailor as well as bream in the estuaries and rivers.
Further north from Shark Bay to Exmouth the pilchard run has commenced and creates a great opportunity to chase a huge range of pelagic species. Metals, soft-plastics or fly, just look for the schools of baitfish and go fish around them, awesome fun.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Darwin what have you got to say. Get up there to escape the cold weather catch plenty of fish and have a ball.
Great time of year for mackerel fishing, the Barramundi however will be slower due to colder water and slower metabolisms.
QUEENSLAND
Up in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park if you can get up there and find a gap in the windy weather there is a host of great fish to be caught. Offshore there have been catches of Large Mouth Nannygai, Red Emperor and coral trout. Inshore there has been a good run of spotted mackerel and Spanish mackerel, look for shale areas along the coast, or fish the shoals with live-baits for the Spaniards.
In Southern Queensland off of the Gold Coast winter is a good time to get out and enjoy targeting the Blue Marlin that fin those waters.
Inland Southern Queensland is enjoying one of the best winter bass seasons in years due to the amount of rain over recent weeks and months. Seek out the fish in deep water on the sounder where they are holding up in large schools around rocks bars and sunken timer. Fish deep with vibes for best results.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Throughout the Northern Rivers area of NSW I’d be putting my time and effort in to catching snapper and pearl perch on the inshore reefs.
Whilst in Southern NSW head to the wider 50-100 meter reefs, sound around until to you locate fish and drop away and start jigging for yellowtail kingfish.
If you have any reports of your own that’d you would like to share with nation email us; info@2dansfishing.com.au

2Dans Fishing - Radio show rundown 8th August 2010

2010-08-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

2Dans Fishing – Radio SHow – Program 1 – Sunday 8th August 2010
By Dan Trotter

Fishy Fact File – Bream, Aconthopagrus sp.

There are many species of bream in Australian waters. Three however standout as the species most regularly encountered by recreational anglers, these species are; the eastern black bream or yellowfin bream Aconthopagrus australis, the southern black bream Aconthopagrus butcherii and the Pikey Bream Aconthopagrus berda.
Distribution/Range: The Eastern Black Bream is found from the Cairns/Townsville region down the east coast to approximately Lakes Entrance in Victoria, The eastern black bream inhabits a huge array of environments from brackish (almost fresh) headwaters of many estuaries and is also found along the ocean, beaches ocean rocks and near-shore reefs. The southern Black bream’s distribution overlaps that of the eastern, and is found from Merimbula in southern NSW around the bottom half of Australia and up to Geraldton in WA. This species if much more likely to be encountered in the estuaries and harbours as well as coastal lagoons, rather than offshore environs. It is however caught around the islands of the Bass Straight, as well as Tasmanian and Kangaroo Island estuaries and creeks. The Pikey Bream is found in Australia’s northern waters from Exmouth in WA around the top to about central northern QLD.
Size: The Australia record for bream is about 4kg, although fish of this size are few and far between, with any fish over 1kg considered a very respectable specimen. Most fish encountered are between 600gms and 1.2kgs
Age: Bream of all species are relatively slow growing and big bream are almost always quite old, respect this when catching bream for a feed, and release those you cannot consume fresh.
Tackle: The best tackle for fishing for bream should be light and sensitive. For most situations a 7foot high modulus graphite rod suited to fishing 2-4kg braided line across is going to be your best option. Select a spinning reel to match again small reel either in the 1000 to 2500 size from any of the quality manufacturers. Use 1-2kg (2-4lb) gel spun braid and a light monofilament leader from 4-10lb. If using bait select a 1 to 2/0 octopus style hook, use as little sinker weight as possible for the location you are fishing. If using lures there are many options, try small soft-plastics, hard-bodied lures, poppers or blades.
Fishing Techniques: For easiest and best results bait fishing is the way to catch a decent number of bream, highly experienced pro-anglers who are guru’s with lures may argue otherwise. For most of us, a fine consistent misty burley, a little bit of current, in conjunction with fresh baits of strips of yellowtail, slimie mackerel, mullet, tuna, squid or beach worms, pipi’s or saltwater yabbies is the best bet.
Eating qualities: Bream are rated highly on the dinner plate, personally I find the ones caught from estuaries can have a stronger oyster like taste. Whilst the eastern bream caught along the beaches, ocean rocks or nearshore reefs are pretty difficult to beat, with a clean, salty fresh taste, best cooked whole in a pan and served with lemon pepper and salt, or cooked in foil with Asian herbs, chilli, garlic and ginger and served with fresh vegies.

LINKS
www.ausbream.com/bream.asp
australianmuseum.net.au/Yellowfin-Bream-Acanthopagrus-australis-Owen-1853
www.sportsfish.com.au/pages/fishing/fish-saltwater/bream.html

On the Fishing Line – Mick from Sale in Victoria
Mick rang in and wanted to know how to catch more fish in Winter time.
There are a number of ways to improve your catches at anytime of the year and these apply to winter also. Start by doing some research into what species are biting and where. Always set out on a fishing trip with a target species in mind and go about the place you fish, the rigs you use, the baits you select with purpose. E.g.: If fishing for trout in winter time, head to the lakes and dams. (As the rivers and creeks are all closed as the trout will have spawned in the sand and gravel beds and fisheries management want to protect the eggs for hatching and future generations). When fishing the dams, and lakes in winter work the shallow areas of and the shorelines. The water is warmer here and the fish more active. If fly fishing walking the bank can be a great way to spot fish and then cast in front of them with a gentle presentation, wet flies are the way to go and small twitches seem to work well. If trolling use Tassie Devil lures and makes ure you are going super slow, work the shallow weed beds and rock bars for best results.
If fishing in the saltwater for a variety of species the use of berley is a great way to entice many fish species to get active and feeding. Due to the lower temperatures many species of fish will be less active due to a reduced metabolism, as a result using bait will help improve catches.

Style Guide – Snapper on Soft Plastics
Fishing with soft-plastics has become very popular in the last ten years, once upon a time there were limited options like the Mister Twister soft-plastic lures, these days the choices are so numerous and the species you can catch on them so vast it can be very difficult to decide where to start when gearing up.
Targeting snapper on soft-plastics is one of the more recent style’s of soft-plastic fishing to become super popular and with good reason it works amazingly well, unfortunately for the snapper too well.
Ensure when you get out and start achieving success on the snapper using this technique that you are mindful of the fact that snapper grow quite slowly and that one 5kg fish apart from likely being 30 years old is enough for a fresh feed for a whole family. Always release fishwthat you know you won’t be able to eat fresh and keep in mind the fish stocks which are under heavy pressure already.
Tackle: Select a 7 to 8 foot graphite rod suited to fishing either 4-6kg or 6-8 kg braided line over. Select a high quality thread-line reel capable of holding up to 300metres of line and pushing up to 4kg’s of drag. The great thing about a snapper on soft-plastics outfit is that it can be used for a range of applications from fishing for Barramundi, to popping for kingfish in the harbours or spotted mackerel in the north. Leader material should be between 15 & 30lb and can be either monofilament or fluoro-carbon. Jig heads should have strong hooks in a 3/0 size and the jig head weights should be between 1/8 ounce to 1 ounce depending on the depth of water you are fishing and the current speed. A good place to start for most offshore snapper fishing is 3/8 ounce. Soft-plastics should be 3 to 7 inches long, and whilst a variety of styles and shapes will work, the most popular style of soft-plastic lure is a simple stick bait or flick bait style.
Fishing for snapper with soft-plastics is really a job done best from a boat, although a handful of dedicated land-based rock fisho’s have found places to catch quality fish from time to time. Most fishing for snapper is done offshore these days, although some estuearies and large harbours or bays do have great seasonal runs of quality fish. Start by fishing on the drift over rugged terrain with substantial variation of water depth, somewhere between 10-30 metres is a good place to start. Cast at a 45 degree angle from the direction you are drifting and allow the lure to fall through the water, try to stay in contact with the lure but do not impede its drop. Once you think it has reached the bottom twitch it up into mid water and allow it to sink again. Once the lure is under or behind the boat, wind it in and make a cast down drift again. The snapper seem to almost always hit the lure on the drop, so be ready for a bone rattling first run, good luck, enjoy, and remember: If you are catching plenty, release plenty and show care and respect for the oceans you love so much.
For more detailed info purchase our DVD "In Search Of Old Man Snapper" from our online store; 2dansfishing.com.au

Around the Grounds:
Spoke with Richie our WA connect his projection and report was enticing to say the least. For the fly fisho's- Exmouth bones on the flats, water temp is right. Some permit although summer months are better. In more northern waters from the Dampier archipelago to Broom the sailfish have begun to turn up, the season builds to a peak for the next few months with October being the best, talk of 30-40 fish up in a day. In the southern parts of WA there was a great run of tuna, amazingly with juvenile SBT and Longtail being caught in the same waters - Awesome. There's plenty of bream about and the XOS winter tailor are coming on the chew. The SBT continue to show up in good numbers off of South Australia and throughout offshore Victoria (try fishing from Portland, Port Fairy etc) and into the southern reaches of NSW around Merimbula, and Bermagui with some catches just south of Sydney out from JB and even Nowra. Winter fishing for gummy sharks is keeping anglers out well into the night in Western Port Bay, or head to Mallacoota and flick lures for flathead and jewfish (mulloway). Inland NSW the fishing for Murray Cod around Wagga Wagga is good at this time of year. The Australian Salmon are prolific during winter from South Australia, along the Victorian coastline and through out NSW, the beaches of the Central Coast and Gosford produce plenty of the sporty fish to those keen to wet a line. In Tassie, Victorian and NSW lakes it's trout polaroiding time. Scotty Thorington from Terrigal said with a new burst of cold currents coming through the whaler sharks and leatherjackets which have been harassing Jigging anglers have moved on, making for great days on the 100m+ grounds targeting yellowtail kingfish. Nathan from Townsville reports lots of wind has kept anglers from venturing far offshore, the closer waters however have been producing lots of grunter, the close shoals spanish mackerel, the weed and rock beds gray and spotted mackerel, whilst the blue and threadfin salmon are holding near the mouths of rivers, The barra have been a bit quiet. Whilst we're up north the NT always a great place to catch fish and an awesome place for an Australian winter escape. In northern NSW areas north of Coffs Harbour up to the Tweed are seeing decent cobia catches although the pick of species to target up there at this time of the year is the amazing Snapper. The Gold Coast has good winter jigging grounds, ample pelagic fish activity and a winter blue marlin fishery to boot.

Cheers from Dan and Dan.
Remember Catch Plenty Release plenty and take care of our Oceans

getting back to it!!

2010-07-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Modern technology is quite something isn't it, rest for a second and a year passes you by. It's been a challenging year, and finally the light is visible at the end of the tunnel.
On the 1st of August 2010 2Dans Fishing will launch it's Australia wide radio series, coming to you across the airwaves every Sunday morning with plenty of news, tips, info and hard facts to help you become a better fisherman, catch more fish, care for our beloved Oceans and have some fun whilst your at it.
Standby for details on time and the stations the show will be airing on.
In keeping with the weekly radio series, there will be weekly updates here, on our website and on our facebook page tying back into the radio show. Expect info on fish species, what's biting where, gear reviews, boat reviews, upcoming sales, fishing tournament news, industry happenings and loads more.

Tackling up for Snapper on Soft Plastics - Part 1

2009-04-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

G'Day Fisho's well our semi regular blog is back in action and we have loads of great info coming your way over the next few posts. Expect info on Tackling Up to catch snapper, a review of brand new ebook on catching Tuna, plus more reviews and news.

With some of the prime NSW snapper months upon us Dan and I figured it would be a great opportunity to go over the basics of catching snapper on plastics and remind all the keen snapper on plastics anglers out there, that the opportunity to fish the Dave Irvine Memorial Snapper Classic is not far away. In fact it is scheduled this year for the June Long Weekend (fishing is on the 6th and 7th and Monday 8th June is the Public Holiday)so there's no excuses. For entry forms email snapperonplastics@hotmail.com or contact Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing Club on 02 6652 1534. We'll be there again this year with a big group of mates for a fun, fishy long weekend, so come and say hi if you're going.

Tackling Up to Catch Snapper on lures,,,

Rods, Reels, Line, leader, plastics and Jig heads.

As you can appreciate Dan and I fished pretty hard for snapper on soft-plastics over the last 2 years to produce our DVD ‘In Search Of Old Snapper’. During this time we've had the great fortune to fish with some awesome rod and reel combos. The next few blog post's will cover all the basics of tackling up to catch snapper.

In this post I've covered a list of the rods and reels we've come across which we believe offer a cross section of the tackle available to the avid angler. It is in no way an exhaustive list and if you think we've left off something that ever snapper angler must have in there arsenal then either write to us or leave a comment on this blog post..
To get the low down on which braids, leaders, lures and jig heads we recommend keep your eye out for the next post which is not far away.

Our experience has taught us that there are only a few hard and fast rules for selecting tackle to chase these amazing fish.
Firstly spend as much money as you can rationalise on the rod and reel combo, spend the most $$'s on the reel and line then select a rod to do the job with the $$$'s you have left from your budget.
Rods should be made from high modulus graphite and suited for use with fine diameter braid or gel-spun lines and should be no shorter than 7ft and do not need to be any longer than 8ft. The length gives you the ability to make nice long casts, whilst the graphite gives you increased sensitivity and the ability to work the plastic effectively. Rods for this type of work need to be as light weight yet strong as you can afford, a fast to medium fast action is essential for plasticing; for the cast, the feel and to impart an action to the lure and finally to set the hook when a smart hard mouthed snapper does take your lure. Lastly whether you choose to fish a rod suited to light line (*8-15lb braid) or heavy line (*15-20lb braid), will determine which rod you select. (*Remember braid rate at 8lb does not have a breaking strain of 8lb it is more like 20lb, and for a 15lb braid it is up around 35-40lb breaking strain - So depending on your sportiness either of these will definitely do the job... but more on that in the next post.

Dan and I now have 2-4 outfits for this style of fishing and whilst it may seem like overkill we have found these outfits to be the most adaptable ones in our quivers. We used them to chase and catch, Australian salmon, the ever favourite yellowtail kingfish, Barra in the NT, GT's in Samoa, Yellowfin, albacore and mac tuna offshore plus jewfish (Mulloway) on plastics in the estuaries and on baits offshore. So it is definitely worth getting one of these super versatile and very effective outfits to fit in your tackle arsenal, as it will do so much more than just help you catch serious snapper.

RODS FOR THE JOB

Firstly to the pointy end of the equation. Selecting a rod for snapper fishing is no simple task, it doesn’t need to be complicated its just that there are so many choices of rod brands/lengths/actions/prices on the market it can be extremely hard to know where to start. From the top end of the price spectrum of Mega Bass, Daiwa, Shimano and Loomis rods built for the purpose to the less expensive graphite rods produced by every tackle manufacturer out there - Where does one start… here are the basics 7ft-8ft, 1 or 2 piece, medium to fast action (light in the tip folding away to a strong butt section), light in the hand (think about this you will be making 100’s of casts in a session), quality guides and reel seat and that the gist of it.

Here’s a list in no specific order of rods built to do the specific job of cast lightly weighted lures long distances, work those lures effectively, set the hooks and have muscle to end the fight.

Essentially every tackle manufacturer distributing rods in Australia has produced a rod for targetting snapper, the one you choose will be dictated by your budget and what feels comfortable in your hand and the recommendations we've given above... here are a few too consider amongst which are our favourites;

Berkley Dropshot Tournament Snapper - 7ft, 1pce, fast action suited to heavier line classes www.purefishing.com.au
Sakana Alien SA-701SH - 7ft 1pce, fast action suited to lighter line classes. Available from Freddies fishing tackle stores check them out at www.sakana.com

MegaBass Silvershadow SSX-72ml - 7ft, 2pce, super fast action for medium to light line classes. This is the top of the range rod with a price tag to match.

Shimano offers many rods to choose from depending on your budget and your sportiness; here's a few from across their list;
TCurve Snapper Tournament 701 - 7ft 1pce, fast action is probably their most sold snapper rod. (featured to left.

TCurve SPIN 722 SNAPPER - 7ft2inch 2 piece rod for those who like a little more rod length and the ease of travelling that a 2 piece rod provides.
FireBlood 701 SPIN M - 7ft 1pce fast action medium line class snapper rod
Raider MF Snapper Range
Starlo StiX SNAPPER range with a heavy rod in the form of SP HVY 701, a 7ft, 1pce fast action extra heavy line class 6-10kg.
Catana SNAPPER range
To see the full range of Shimano rods go to; www.shimanofish.com.au/

And of course there is the magnificent range of rods from Daiwa some of which are suited to snapper fishing the way we like it;

Luvias range of 7ft snapper rods is at the top of the Daiwa range
Heartland 702 ULFS - 7ft, 2pce - fast action light weight snapper rod
Heartland 701 LFS & MLFS - 7ft, 1pce - light and medium/light fast action snapper rods.
Team Daiwa Sol Snapper range 7-8ft $299 - $329 RRP
Team Daiwa Saltwater in 7ft-8ft - $250++ RRP
Team Daiwa Tierra - mid market $150++ RRP
Excellar range within which there is a heavy 7ft rod for extra stopping power.
At the time of writing I've just got off the phone from Evan at Daiwa and we were chatting about rods, reels, theories and so on and he now exclusively fishes for all his snapper on 8ft rods which are available in the TD Sol and TD Saltwater ranges to add just that extra length to the cast, he finds that the biggest fish are often picked off by those who make the longest cast - check them out at www.daiwafishing.com.au/

REELING THEM IN
Now for the reels, as far as we're concerned these days in Australia there are really only a few brands to consider when it comes to the business end of winding the fish end. Daiwa and Shimano are without argument leading the world in fishing reel technology and development, whilst Penn, Berkley and Okuma also make quality reels for this type of fishing.

No matter what brand of reel falls into your favourites category almost every manufacturer on the market produces a reel suitable for fishing light to medium classes of braid. Here’s the low down; The reel size which seems best suited for this style of work is the 3000-4000 size reel allow for good retrieve speeds, solid drags and line capacity, personally I'd select for models with a precision worm drive oscillating mechanism will give the best results and provide the end user with a more enjoyable fishing experience, spend the most dollars here you can afford or justify

Here’s my pick of reels that will do the job perfectly;

Daiwa – Exist 3000
Daiwa – Custom Hyper Certate 4000
Shimano – Stella 4000FD
Shimano – Fireblood FA
Daiwa – Team Daiwa Heartland 4000
Daiwa – Morethan Branzino 3000
Shimano – Aspire 4000FA
Diawa – Team Daiwa Sol
Shimano – TwinPower 4000FC
Shimano – Saragosa 4000
Shimano – Stradic 4000FI

To read more about these reels visit ; www.daiwafishing.com.au/ or www.shimanofish.com.au/ .

Which ever reel you decide upon that suits your budget be sure to take good care of it so it serves you well. The reel manufacturers recommend that at the end of each session you wipe it down your reel with a hot damp cloth, to remove the salt, dry it with a clean dry rag, then spray with a silicone based water repellent (BALLISTOL or SPORTSGUARD) before backing the drag off and then storing in a cool dark place away from the elements.

Having said this personally I give my reels a good wash down in the shower with warm water with the drag screwed up tight, then I shake them dry, tip them upside down to free any residual water and wipe them with my bath towel and then back the drag off, because I fish regularly I leave my reels attached to the rods for ease of preparation for the next trip. The reasoning behind not hosing down your reels is that the force of the water, pushes any saltwater from the days fishing into the reel and over a period of time will cause corrosion.

Well that should be enough to get you thinking about your next rod and reel purchase tune back to our blog soon for Parts 2 & 3 on catching Snapper on plastics and for reviews on new books, new tackle and few untested theories...

Hope to see you all at the Dave Irvine Memorial Snapper Classic,,, but expect to hear a lot more from us before then...

Cheers

Dan and Dan

It'd be Un-Australian not to go fishing !!

2009-01-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

Belated Happy Australia day fellow anglers!!!

A few weeks back I was invited to join a group of keen Aussie Fisho's for a trip away to an almost secret seaside fishing village for a weekend with the boys chasing one of my favourite species Pagrus auratus that's right snapper. This left me in some conflict as I was also super keen to get along to The Big Day Out and catch my favourite Australian rock band COG, knowing however that tickets to the BDO were sold out and that the opportunity to fish this dream destination was rare I selected for the fishy weekend vowing to catch COG at their next Sydney appearance. As part of the fishing invitation I was asked not to reveal the location of this place so for those of you in the know you'll recognise the location for everyone else, well don't tell anyone about it if you figure it out!!

We left the busy city streets behind on Friday a.m. and by mid afternoon in sweltering heat we were unpacking the rods, reels, ice, food and tackle and preparing for a quick session before beers and dinner that evening. Now given the lack of an estuary all launching is off the beach, some use their 4x4's to launch, but the locals know the best option is to use a tractor, now I've never seen this technique before so learning the process was part of the fun and adventure of the weekend. Roll the boat off the trailer and onto the sand, using the 'drag strap' hook the boat to the strap and drag it along the sand to the waters edge, spin the bow of the boat so that its facing the shore break and then use the nudge bar to push the boat into the water, just so its floating. Then comes the launch, with skipper on the starboard side and me the 'deckie' on the port wait for the skippers call (that the waves approaching shore will allow for a break in the crashing dumping break) and then push with all the might you can muster often using 'man' power to push the boat through 1 or 2 cresting waves, jump on the back and your off... too much fun... anyway, suffice to say we managed a successful launch on all attempts and less than 5 minutes later were casting 'softies', 'gulps', 'squidgies' and 'powerbait' soft plastics (SP's) into some of the fishest washes I have ever had the pleasure of fishing!!!

Over the 3 sessions we targetted snapper Steve and I managed to catch a top notch brace of snapper.

Ranging from this beauty (4.94kg's and 75cm's) to many fish around the 800g to 3kg bracket. We used 3/8 to 1/2 ounce jig heads molded onto 3/0 'Owner' jig heads and mixed it up with SP's from 3" to 7" in a variety of colours and brands.
We concentrated our efforts around the change of light and and tide and fished hard reef and the associated drop-offs plus the washes of headlands and bombora's in water ranging from 6 - 29 meters.... AWESOME!!

If you are interested in targeting snapper why not purchase our Australian Fishing DVD "In Search Of Old Man Snapper" and subscribe to this blog. As over the next few weeks I will be detailing the rods, reels, lines, leaders, jig hooks and soft-plastics required for this style of fishing. Plus I'll also be covering the basics of what terrain to fish, and what techniques to use... So keep your eye out for a multi part blog with all the info you will need to get kitted up and out onto the water to target this magnificent species...

Till then hope you all had a great Australia Day and did your bit to keep it real and got out on the water for good old fashioned fish.

Catchya

Dan T

2009-01-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

During the summer months (well actually all months with an 'r' in their name) I like to get out and catch a few blue swimmer crabs, these are deliciously tasty treats and with a bit of preparation and thought it is not too difficult to catch a feed for the family. Personally I like my blue swimmer crabs BBQ'd although I did grow up with them being boiled or steamed, but before I go into preparation just a few quick tips on how and where to catch them.
The best locations to catch blue swimmer crabs are in estuaries, search for areas with extensive sandy drop-offs supporting good seagrass beds. Sandy bays with adjacent mud-flats are also worthy areas. Use fresh baits of fish frames, and change these every 24 hours if keeping the traps in the water for long periods of time. It is important that you read the rules and regulations on the maximum number of nets and or traps per person and per boat (current regulations stipulate 5 nets and 1 trap per person (including possession at any one time)), the float must be a minimum of 10cm in diameter and have your name and the words CRAB TRAP written clearly on the float. (Recreational fishers regulations crab traps & nets)

In NSW the law states that it is illegal to keep female crabs in 'berry' (laden with eggs), and must be released immediately. Having said this it has always been an unwritten rule amongst my friends and family that you should release all female crabs and keep only the large males. The legal size of the blue swimmer crab in NSW waters is 6cm measured from the front to the back of the carapace (shell) and the bag limit is 20.

Whilst these are the rules a crab with a 6cm measurement is hardly worth the work involved in eating it, so if you can find your way to releasing the small ones and keeping the larger crabs, there is no way you will ever need to catch and keep your bag limit. I tend to find that 1 reasonable sized crab per person is more than enough. To differentiate between a male and female crab firstly you can judge by the colour, with the males tending to be a more vibrant almost royal blue and the females being browner in colour. The most accurate way to tell the difference however is to turn the crab onto its back and take a look at the 'flap' on the underside of the body, an oval shaped flap indicates the female whilst a slender more pointed flap identifies the crab to be a male.

Just out of the 'Witches Hat' these two male crabs are destined for the BBQ and a tasty lunch.

To cook these tasty crabs, firstly you should kill them humanely (DPI, Fisheries), the two best methods are to either place them in a bucket of cool fresh water and place a lid on top, or the method I prefer is to put them into a freezer for up to an hour or the fridge over night. This will send them into a coma or send them off to sleep completely. Once the crabs have been euthanased turn them onto their back, lift the flap from the shell and smoothly but firmly pull the entire top portion of the shell away from the rest of the body (NB if you remove the crabs shell or try to cook it or cut the crab prior to killing them the crab will drop its claws making the cooking process more difficult and if boiling allowing the tasty juices to escape). Once removed the shell pull the gill filaments and 'mustard' away from the body and rinse in saltwater. NEVER rinse seafood of any description in freshwater unless absolutely necessary, as this will affect the taste of the fish adversely.
Once you have removed the shell and gill filaments and guts, wash the remainder of the shell well and rub off any muddy build up from around the joints.

Blue swimmer crabs cleaned, halved and ready for cooking

To prepare for cooking, I like to then cut the crab in two straight down the centre, use a strong bladed sharp knife and a swift cutting motion, do not swing or chop the knife as this can cause a cracking of the shell. Now allow the crabs to come to room temperature (This is a good idea when cooking all seafood, so that the centre of the flesh is heated by the cooking process) and when your about 10 minutes from sitting down for your tasty meal place the crabs onto the open grill of a preheated BBQ with body section on the hottest section of the BBQ and the legs and claws on the cooler part of the grill. Allow the crabs shell to turn a bright orange and avoid flames that will char the shell resulting in over cooking of the crab meat, it is best to keep turning and shifting the crab pieces so that you cook all segments evenly. The easiest way to identify when the crab is ready for eating is to watch the flesh in the body section and once it has turned white instead of translucent remove it from the BBQ and place on a serving platter for 3-5 minutes.

Freshly off the BBQ - Yum Yum

Have a pair of nut crackers at hand to break the shell and a nifty trick is to use the pointed section of the claw to get the flesh out of hard to access section of the shell.

Serve with Asian vegetables, or greens dressed with fresh lemon and sesame oil.

Enjoy with a cold amber ale or a chilled glass of your favourite wine!!!

Sydney Summer fishing

2009-01-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years break and that the time you spent fishing was productive. At this time of year it is hard to go past chasing the tackle busting yellowtail kingfish to test your angling skills and put some tasty food on your plate.

I was lucky enough to spend a number of days in pursuit of these majestic fish and after a few days of catching nothing but undersize fish, the plan was hatched to get up well before the sun catch some livies and head to the near-shore reefs and try our luck.
After an hour or so of fishing one headland where fish had been sighted days earlier, the call was made to move to another rocky reefy headland and tow the weighted baits (in this instance yellowtail scad affectionately known as 'yakkas') around there before calling it a day and heading for home and the comfort of a reclined deck chair and a refreshing amber ale. On the first pass we noticed some great looking reads on the colour sounder and after passing back into the deep water and approaching from a different angle, the doubled over rod and singing drag was almost instantaneous to the reads on the Lowrance. As quickly as the first bait had been smashed the second rod doubled over and we had a brace of solid fish hooked up and fighting hard. With little more than 35 feet of water between us and the reefy bottom, the battles were hard fought with hands on spools stopping these fish from making it back into structure and bringing our rush of excitement to an abrupt end. As the fights drew on a got a glimpse of what I wanted to see, flashing colour just below the boat, reaching for the net single handedly, after a few attempts I managed to get this beauty in the net, before swiftly clearing the landing net and more gracefully sliding this prized fish into the net for my brother. The perseverance had paid off with a pair of solid Sydney fish, the bite lasted for about half an hour and saw us land and release a number of 80cm+ fish before the 'rats' (undersized yellowtail kingfish) moved in and we decided to move on.

When planning a fishing trip I always refer to the tides and with that in mind schedule my bait catching and travel time to allow us at least an hours fishing before the tide and an hour after the tide to maximise the chances of success. When heading offshore to target large predatory fish always aim to have a variety of fresh or live baits to present to the target species. When chasing yellowtail kingish (legal size limit in NSW waters 65cm, bag limit of 5 per person) the following are the baits I'd select for; slimie mackerel are my first pick, followed by Southern calamari squid, then yakka's (yellowtail scad), garfish if you can find them and finally the yellowfinned pike. Areas to target when catching baitfish should have some form of vertical structure, wharves are often great places as are shallow water reefs close to rocky headlands. In Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) most of the wharves east of the harbour bridge will hold yellowtail most of the time. For best results start early and concentrate your efforts around dawn, once the sun gets to high in the sky baitfish seem to get skittish and whilst they maybe visible getting them to eat a bait on a small hook with light line can be one of the most frustrating ways to start the day. Also try the larger channel markers like the eastern wedding cake, use a fine oily berley consistently to draw the small fish to the back of the boat and fish lightly weighted or unweighted baits on size 8-12 long shank hooks. Slimie mackerel whilst a great bait can be hard to come by, if they are in the berley trail and are not eating your presentations try taking off any weight you may be using and flick the bait away from the boat and allow it to sink slowly, weighted baits will often be ignored so have both set-ups at the ready. A large plumbed bait tank is a must if you plan to keep the baits alive for any length of time, if you do not have a live bait system using a large bucket or tub with a secure fitting lid and change the water regularly to keep the supply of oxygen high and thus the fish healthy and active, pouring the fresh sea water at some height into the tank will increase the amount of dissolved oxygen. Catching squid is a bit of an art, again concentrating your efforts around dawn and dusk, the change of light times of the day will increase your chances of success. Once the sun's rays are shining deeper into the water try moving into deeper areas with good weed cover and add a ball sinker to the rig running straight up to the lure in order to get the squid jig nice and deep so that you can work it just above the kelp or rocky bottom.
Once you've got enough baits to fish head to your target spot ASAP and get your baits into the water. Good locations for yellowtail kingfish are areas with substantial vertical rise, try working wrecks, hard reefy structure, buoy chains and markers poles, also areas with numerous moorings can produce the goods. In Sydney Harbour I spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours catching bait then head for places like the eastern wedding cake, the yellow marker off Neilson Park, also try the yellow marker off 'Old Mans Hat' and work the moorings in deep water either side of the Spit Bridge. If you have a down-rigger, pin your live baitfish through the nose with a hook to match the size of your baits, or pin the squid through the pointy end of the hood (if the squid is big, consider using a double hook rig with the lower hook pinned lightly through the head - this way any bait snatchers can also be hooked rather making off with a free tasty meal. If you don't have a down rigger but still want to cover some territory, try using a large sinker and the slowest troll speed possible, whilst not as effective at getting your baits down covering more of the water column will again improve your chances. If you want to anchor try and position your boat over the highest point of the structure or reef, or within easy casting distance of the bouy or marker poles. Many people think (wrongly) that because the yellowtail kingfish is pelagic fish it spends all its time hunting in the surface waters, this is a incorrect assumption, always fish your baits intended for kingfish in the middle or lower half of the water column, having said this it is also worth having one bait unweighted and out the back under a float or ballon, for the just in case fish that breaks the rules. If fishing in water greater than 80 feet at anchor I usually bring my bait 3-4 full arm lengths off the bottom and set it there, I also like to fish my kingfish baits with the drag set at the level I plan to fight the fish, remember these fish will head for the closest cover once hooked so be ready to start the battle immediately.

Keep watching this space for new blogs popping up regularly... how to catch and cook blue swimmer crabs will be the next installment

Dan and Dan

Christmas Chaos

2008-12-05T02:44:00.000-08:00

I have started December with a cracking little session. I'll walk you through it and it might inspire you to have your own weekend adventure. 3 of trundled up to the Northern Beaches of Sydney with kayaks on the roof a sleeping bag each a light spin rod and tents to boot. The plan was to kayak over to the basin and camp out for the night, for those of you who dont know it its agreat little camping spot that you can only access by water. It has a small protected bay area that is idealic. To make the trip a little bit more fun we didn't take any food, just some foil to cook our catch in. Nothing like some hunger to spur on your fishing!! Actually the motivation was more about getting healthy and slim as well as a bit of friendly fishing competition. No need to do a blow by blow description but we manged a bunch of edible fish, bream, flathead, tailor and flounder. Foil, salt & lemon...oh yes drool material when you have not eaten all day and your arms are doing there best impression of sausages made from jelly! Obviously i have not been doing enough surfing.
Anyway back to the fish, all were caught on plastics or poppers. Standout performers where the new biodegradable soft bait from Fishbites - the shrimp pattern. The best thing about these new plastics are how well they last, one plastic caught several flathead a bream and a flounder and was still fishable...not bad eh!
Standout poppers where a megabass dogx jnr. (my allround favourite) and a new little daiwa called a lazy gekkabijin (i think)...affectionately now named the 'Lazy Ghekko'. I did notice that the ghekko which is much smaller and clear worked better when the condition where calm, once it got windier the bigger popper was better. A valuable lesson for the upcoming summer popper sessions.
Might see this in our next fishing DVD
Sorry about the lack of photos, keep your eyes on Modern Fishing and you may see the photos. Also if anyone is looking for a great chrissy prezzie check out the subscription deal, you get a free fishing reel! Also on the new issue is a free fishing DVD we produced with some footage from our latest snapper fishing DVD "In search of Old Man Snapper" and some other footage never seen before of popper crunching tropicals.
My red hot tip....get the hell out of the city your in and go camping and fishing!!
See ya
Dan B

Summer on its way

2008-11-16T01:14:00.000-08:00

Well its been another good week of warm weather, warm water and some really fun fishing. Earlier in the week we were lucky enough to do some shallow water vertical jigging with a couple of Japanese anglers that field test much of the Yamashita range of rods, lures and accessories. I think you can see the range at www.ejtodd.com.au We chose to fish the reefs off northern Sydney concentrating on water only 50ft - 150ft becasue its shallower than what most people jig, and thought it would make a good inclusion into a future fishing DVD This made for an interesting couple of days fishing with alot to learn. Most notable was the amount of species you can catch on 80-120gram jigs in fairly shallow waters. Unfortunately we didnt get any big fish but there were plenty of small kings, solid silver trevally other reefies we even got some xos squid on the metal jigs.

Over the weekend there was some crabbing action with good results of big male blue swimmers from the harbour. And some good flatty plastic fishing was also on the cards. Some nice 60cm flathead found their way to our net and a monster was hooked but the hooks pulled!! Interstingly they were all caught in deepwater. I thought the warm weather and bit of rain would have brought them up onto the flats but i couldn't find any in the shallows. Not sure if anyone else is having the same results??

Anyway the water is really starting to warm and over the next month it will be really hit and miss, the bonus is however i think there will start to be some really interesting captures with tropical species making their appearance on the front of the warm east Aussie current.

See You on the water.
Dan & Dan

2dansfishing.com.au BRAND NEW DVD and WEBSITE

2008-10-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

Our new fishing DVD, filmed in and around Australia's east coast including legendary Sydney Harbour is on sale NOW!

An awesome big snapper fishing DVD with plenty of information on how to catch Snapper, Pagrus aratus, and other saltwater species.

To coincide with the launch of our 3rd release Fishing DVD we have also launched our brand new website 2Dans Fishing DVDs is now officially ONLINE. Check it out for plenty of fishing articles, great fishing tips and techniques and awesome fishing pictures in our image galleries.

"Welcome to our site. We're thrilled to be able to share some of our knowledge and experiences online after so many years of fishing adventures."

Making "In Search Of Old Man Snapper" was an awesome adventure for us. We reckon we've managed to produce something that is instructive and practical, but at the same time captures the thrills and spills of small boat fishing. If you're interested in an entertaining and informative DVD that has the feel of great fishing days with mates, we know you'll love it!"

Dan Trotter and Dan Burgess are two young, adventurous fishing mates obsessed by the excitement of small boat, big fish action. In this entertaining DVD they share their techniques for catching great fish in Australia’s most heavily fished waterways. Have a laugh and learn new skills to target big fish in your favourite locations

“…After the success of The Kingfish Sessions and Angler Anonymous Dan and I decided to turn our fishing adventures towards the wily snapper and learn how to catch these magnificent fish on soft-plastics and baits. Once again we feel we've captured the adrenaline and chaos of trailerboat fishing by filming the Fun, the Fish and the action as it happened. We are really excited about sharing our journey In Search Of Old Man Snapper with you….”

Join us on a journey a year in the making... as we present the ultimate DIY guide to catching awesome snapper from your own boat.

See you on the water

Dan & Dan