Fishing reports, tackle specials, and angling politics from Downrigger Shop Sunday 1st May 2016

Autumn always a great time for fishing but this year has been absolute corker. Thanks to our generous readers we’ve got some fantastic pics and reports for you. Let’s get started. My eldest son’s girlfriend tells me her best friend went fishing up north. I asked if she could send through a pic or two. Impressive, in every way:

Well done! Especially from a small tinny. Kris Barber’s beast, Friday 29th April:

So good, Kris! Just like your snapper:

News from Graeme Henderson. That’s a top achievement on light gear champ, I take my hat off to you:

Bevan in FNQ confirming Head Starts off the downrigger are a deadly combination for Spaniards:

Go Hannah! Much appreciated, Bevan. Head Starts working for Geoff Selvey too:

Take a kid fishing! Good on you Geoff and hoping to see more of Joey’s accomplishments in the future. Regular contributor Ethan Montford getting into some great autumn wahoo action:

Markings are amazing, Ethan! Local news, and Matt Cassar is a fisho I’ve always admired. He’s representative of maybe 90% of the blokes on this page. A hard working family man with a trailerboat out in front of the house who gets out on the water nowhere near as often as he wants to – just like all of us. But when he can get out there he goes hard. He was fishing on his mate David’s boat and nailed a billfish. I’m extra chuffed because the lads used our bent butt combo and copy Zuker trolling lure to do it. Well done boys that’s fantastic:

Congratulations to David and yourself Matt! Super grateful for your support. Leo Miller breaking open the Tasmanian broadbill fishery. Keep this gold coming champ –PLEASE!

News of the Weird, and I was cleaning up some old tackle boxes this and found this gem. A wooden Bellbrook bass lure, maybe from the Sixties, in original packaging with the instructions page. Super chuffed:

Thanks, Gatesy! I’d forgotten how small they are, but that doesn’t make them any less deadly:

Sean from Shannon Outboards sends a sad story – which is also a good warning:

Thanks to Dan for this worrying heads up:

That’s a good heads up, Dan. To tackle, and some kind words from Troy Bell:

Will do Troy, especially after your generous encouragement. The aftermarket power knobs feel so great when your fishing involves a lot of winding – like spinning, or jigging. But they look so much better, too. Check Nguyen’s install, before and after:

You’ll be pleased, Nguyen. Here’s a good deal for you, lads. 7/0 straight shank hooks in a 200 pack. These can be ganged without tools so ideal for rock, beach, or mackerel fishing. Good for charter boats, tackle stores, or that trip to the Swains with your mates. Quality saltwater hooks at the great price of $48 for 200 - *including delivery.* Send me an email if you’d like to order? They’ll never be cheaper and we haven’t many left:

Just a quick heads up to mention I’ll be giving a talk at St George Angling Club here in Sydney next Wednesday. Topic, your first run to Browns: jigging, and deep dropping. They’re a super friendly bunch who get a great roll up at meetings, so please join us if you can? Here’s the details:

Where: The club is on cnr Smith St and Alexander Ave, Taren Point (at the end of a right of way)
When: Wednesday 4th May. Meeting starts at 7:30 and talk usually starts about 8:15-8:30

See you there for what will be a good night. Jay Barker, now a fishing guide on Norfolk Island. I follow this bloke’s adventures the way I used to follow No. 96, back in the Seventies:

Mate you always come through. Paul Marrum has fished on our boat many times this year. But this action machine can’t get enough on-water time:

Good one Paul and grateful for your pic. Andrew Westlake offshore in SW Vic yesterday. Very good of you to send a report after a big day on the water, champ:

Adam working in Nauru with his family, the place is a fishing paradise. Here’s his latest update:

Not much to report from yours truly, because we’ve been super busy moving house, over the last couple of weeks. With inshore pretty quiet and the 100m kingie reefs dead we’ve been heading wide for deep dropping in 400m +. That’s worked. Here’s Callum with a gemfish from Browns:

We backed up last week and found some good marks where the Mountain slides away on the eastern side:

They produced this solid blue eye, for Dan:

With good weather forecast for the end of this coming week super keen, for another Browns run. To politics, and regular readers know how worried I am about the soon-to-be-announced Sydney marine park. We fishos are facing a perfect storm at the moment. The politicians who told us they would stand up to the greenies, are instead selling out to the greenies. And every day brings new revelations as to how bent and selfish these people are. More concerned with feathering their own nest, than they are with doing what they promised us. That’s not good news for the marine parks decision. Check this out - NSW MPs padding their incomes, with well paid do-nothing committee positions. Keep in mind that Maritime Minister Duncan Gay is on a salary of around a thousand dollars a day? And has been in the NSW Parliament for 37 years, meaning his superannuation amounts to many millions of dollars. That doesn’t worry me, as long as he gives value for money. He doesn’t:

Here’s what we’re facing. Danny writes:

What can be done? There’s no easy answers. The submission process is corrupt, as we saw in the bag limits review. The marine reserves themselves have negligible conservation benefits, as we observed at Fish Rock. They’re mostly driven by the unholy alliance of the charter diving industry and the deep green lobby inside both Fisheries, and National Parks. But we do have one arrow left in the quiver. That can be fired on election day, 2nd July 2016. We know that neither Labor nor Liberal governments – in this state, anyway – keep the promises they make to fishos and boaties. One party that has gone into bat for us is Shooters and Fishers, who traded their support on key legislation for a five year moratorium on marine parks in NSW. While South Australian waters were being locked up, that saved us here. If you want to defend the sport we all love make sure your Senate vote (on the big ballot paper) is for a party that doesn’t ask ‘how high?’ when the greenies tell them to jump – like Labor and the Liberals do. More to follow as the election draws near and thanks to all those who contribute the reports we enjoy
Andrew Hestelow

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