Fishing reports, tackle specials and angling politics from Downrigger Shop, Friday 24th March 2017

Autumn! The best fishing season of the year, in my humble opinion. Only downside, the East Coast has had two weeks of horrible weather, with Sydney experiencing nineteen days of (often, heavy) rain, out of the last twenty two. Here’s the Manly Ferry, *inside* Sydney Harbour last week:

The good news is, our readers are finding solid fish in between the rain showers. Here’s Richard Jamieson:

Brendan Walsh bought a couple of downriggers at the start of March and is putting them to good use already, in Port Philip Bay:

Brian Kwan finding some cracker kingies at the end of last month. His mention of a bonito report is from a post on the Facebook page, where I’ve posted over 300 short videos. Check it out? I try to post at least five reports every day:

Downrigger Shop on Facebook

So glad to hear of your success, Brian! More good news from the north coast, as the 2017 mackerel run picks up speed. Here’s Mitch Reeves and mates braining Spaniards at Grassy Head. Beautiful fish and well done:

BRILLIANT report and pic from Mathew Scott. Thanks so much, cobber:

Commiserating with Craig Marsay from Nambucca Glass, a couple of weeks ago. Subject, the relentless bad weather, and how difficult it’s been to get offshore. When the break came, he and the crew were ready:

How’s this! Sean Morgan at South West Rocks. Well done and thanks so much for this great pic, cobber:

To boats, and stopped by Jason H’s place last week to commiserate over the rotten weather we’ve been having. The wrap on his Barcrusher looks so good:

Kurt stopped by for a downrigger and mentioned he’d rebuilt his old Marlin Broadbill.
Me: got a pic?
Kurt: Sure. Here you go.
Me: BLEEDIN HECK WHAT A BEAUTY!!

Regular contributor and all around top bloke Kevin Olsen reports a tragedy just when you don’t need it. It could have been a lot worse. I was planning to say ‘dang P drivers!’ but as someone who had eleven prangs in my first year of driving – including two in one day - I better shut up. So glad the Rough Diamond survived:

Here's another angle. Dinged the Rough Diamond and bent the jockey wheel:

Over to Watsons Bay the Friday before last in the boat, to pick up fish and chips. Got a friendly wave from a businessman having lunch on the Sydney game fishing club balcony. Turns out it’s Greg Wall who I know of, but have never met. Too modest to mention it at the time but I now discover he was on the boat that won the Interclub. And has some fantastic pictures from the event:

To tackle, and Tone super pleased with his carbontex drag upgrade. At around three bucks per reel what are you waiting for, lads? Make your drag smooth and strong:

Here’s Bob replacing his Calcutta drags:

Full details here:

carbontex drag washer upgrades

Stuart McAlister happy with our $95 light combo. Price includes rod, reel and full spool of colour change braid:

Too kind of you Stuart! Gary Earl a big fan too:

Thanks champ! I’ve scored my PB bream and whiting on lures using that one over the summer. Couldn’t be happier with it:

More information here:

$95 spin combo

Some lads asking for more details on the squid slider rig. It’s adjustable to fit all sizes of squid and has a tow hook that goes through the top of the hood. And, a stinger treblethrough the skin between the eyes, to hook fish that tear the bait’s head off. Here we go:

Glad to be of help! Patrick used the where to find squid map to score some quality bait. Then turned the squid, into a beautiful Sydney jewfish:

Glad it worked for you Pat! Victoria suffering some bad weather too but the fish are there when the skies clear. Thanks to Geoff Wilson:

Beautiful. I’ve always wanted a red like that. FNQ, and Brett Driver has a big session on small mouth nannygai a.k.a. saddle tail snapper. Like most of us - Brett isn’t on the water as often as he’d like. So when he does get out, he goes hard and usually brings home the bag limit:

To politics, and Phil Cole sends news of a near tragedy on the Macleay River bar at South West Rocks:

Full story here:

Boat Rollover

Here’s how it ended up:

Crossing the bar can be a white knuckle ride:

So when Marine Recue SWR sends notification of a NSW Ports review, it’s time to take notice:

Is it for real, or is it the usual cosmetic consultation we boaties have come to expect? Hard to say. But getting cynical won’t fix the problems. Click here and follow the prompts if you’d like to make a difference:

NSW Ports Review

Thanks to our readers and contributors, as always! Please keep the pics and reports coming, there’s over 4000 subscribers enjoying them now. Until next time
Andrew Hestelow

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