Fishing reports, tackle specials and angling politics from Downrigger Shop, Monday 25th July 2016

In the depths of a cold and windy winter, meaning a lot of our readers have found it difficult to get offshore. But for those who’ve found a weather window the rewards have been excellent. Here’s Jason Hotop with a big beautiful spawn run gemfish:

That’s a ripper, Jase! Grant picked up what might be its twin:

Trent Bracey hit Texas Reef off Terrigal for a jigging session:

Cheers to you buddy and most grateful for your report. Murray McGuire on Texas too. Here’s his mate with a couple of keepers:

Richie Inglis out wide off Sydney and finding one of my favourite fish:

Mad keen fisho Steve Menown didn’t let big seas faze him – he stayed inside the Heads.; Thanks for the report ol buddy, some light line trevally fishing sounds just great:

Mike Fitzgerald headed out chasing snapper and found more than he bargained for:

Plenty of action in the Deep South. Here’s David Clarke:

Up north and Lachlan Bilston is always out there into it. You’re an inspiration mate, you really are:

Better to be safe than sorry Lach. Mad keen fisho Bevan Jones targets remote Indonesian waters near his place of work. When things go wrong, he soldiers on:

Hardcore! I’m feeling woozy just looking at that. Lots of international action from those able to get away from chilly weather back home. How’s this? Craig Phillips:

Super impressed but I’ll confess to mixed feelings, Craig. We once had yellowfin that size along the NSW south coast in big numbers and not far offshore. Thanks to AFMA mismanagement (like with SBT in the 90s) they are now a distant memory. Grant orders 60 jigs and sends a video of his recent Fiji stickbaiting trip. Just so good! Don’t miss it:

Fiji Stickbaiting

To boats, and I ran into Brad and Greg (from Mobile Marine Services) at the boat ramp last week. What a beautiful little Formula 15 this is! A real credit to you:

Spotted this sweet setup at Twelve Mile Reef last week. Congratulations to its owner:

‘The new project boat is here, hon! Leaving it on the front lawn until I get to it, won’t be long.’ Chittaway Bay last weekend:

To tackle, and a reader writes:

They’re awesome. Here’s my best tuna on them, and here’s a link to the page. At $48 for ten (including delivery!) you can’t go wrong.

40 GRAM JIGS

Sergio stopped by with his new jig rod, looking for a reel to go with it. Ryobi 8000 with full spool of 24 kilo colour change braid and a power knob the perfect match for size weight and drag rating:

Only $155 including power knob and line which is probably why they’re so popular. Tim spooled up and retrofitted knobs to ten on Thursday, we carry them in both silver and black colours:

Here’s Tom’s 90cm king taken on a Ryobi, Friday 15th July:

And here’s Josh’s 89cm on his Ryobi, Monday 18th July. It’s been a great week for us:

Last but certainly not least! Chris Wallis from Ecofishers gets away from it all:

To politics, and readers might remember that, when we launched Dean’s boat at Brooklyn last month, a sign at the ramp told boaties that the trailer washdown facility had been closed ‘until further notice’ due to water restrictions.

This was in the same week as Warragamba Dam was overflowing, so why was the washdown bay still closed? I wrote to Hornsby Council (who manage the ramp) asking when the washdown hose would be reconnected, given there were no longer any water restrictions. I copied in the Hornsby Advocate newspaper (who are excellent) and local MP Matt Keene (who is useless.) Hornsby Council responded that the real reason the washdown facility had been closed was due to noise complaints, from nearby houses. I figured that was a lie because the nearest houses are 200 metres from the washdown area, and who’s going to complain about the sound of a hose that far away?

So on Sunday I drove up to Brooklyn and knocked on a few doors. No one has made any complaints, and the bloke living closest to the ramp didn’t even know there *was* a washdown area. Conveyed that intel to the Advocate and they decided to publish the story:

This is not the biggest story of all time. But it is indicative of the creeping way that so many of the services we pay for are being eroded. The price of our fishing licences, the cost of registering our boats, renewal of our trailer rego keeps going up. And services keep going down. Will keep on this one and keep our readers informed. And as I always say, please keep the reports and pics coming in! so many readers enjoy what you have to share. Until next time
Andrew Hestelow

Also in Tackle News