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Question from a reader:

"Love to understand more about Browns. I think you have some info on your website I will read. Is it mainly a bottom bashing exercise with electric reels or is it also a trolling spot?"

Good timing! Out there on Monday on a friend’s boat. We had some success:

I reckon the key is bait presentation. Think for a minute about the reality of life for a fish living at 400 metres?

Pitch dark;
very cold water;
and most importantly,
low oxygen content.

Watch Florida daytime swordfish videos. You will see the anglers carefully studying the rod tip for any movement. And when it gets a tiny bump like a whiting bite it means you’ve hooked up the most powerful fish on fins. Here’s a good example:

Why is that?

Because at that depth, the fish are almost in suspended animation from the cold, the dark, and the low oxygen levels.

How is that relevant to us, fishing for blue eye and gem fish?

Same depth, same cold water, same zero light, same low oxygen. And therefore same low energy fish. Consider our experience on Monday. We followed the same method I always use. That is, go directly to the highest point we have found on Brown’s, which is about 360 metres deep.

Put the boat into neutral and over zoom the plotter, while we attach rigs and cut the baits. Then, check rate and direction of drift. Yesterday, that was from the north at between 1.8 and 2.1 knots. According to my calculations that’s around a metre per second. Can most of these deep water species swim 60 metres per minute to catch and eat - on a circle hook, which needs to go down the throat - a bait that’s moving away from them in the pitch dark? I don’t think they can easily do that:

Another question from a reader:

"Hi Andrew hope you’ve been well! Just wondering if you could give some advice in terms of fishing browns for blue eye. I’m sure it’s like any fishing from last experience in terms of a lot of it being based on luck but it has been some time since we have landed a decent blue eye and my aim is to try and get my girlfriend her first this year! I just wanted to know if there is any part of the mountain in particular that is renowned for producing or if it is just a case of having fresh bait and being in the right place at the right time. Any advice is appreciated and we will be sure to send you some photos next time we get out! (Provided this weather backs off in the coming weeks!)"

Let’s talk about the rig. I gotta be careful here because a lot of people have their favourite setups and they get pretty antsy if you don’t do it their way. But here is what works for me, and why:

Firstly, the prime directive is to get to the bottom fast. When you first free spool your reel the heavy weight takes things down so fast that overruns are not uncommon. But as you get to 300 or 400 metres the rate of descent can slow to a crawl. Why? Because of drag. Anything you add to your line adds to the drag caused by friction, on the way down. For me, that means avoiding anything that adds to drag and slows the drop. That includes:

big baits
chemical or battery-powered lights
shark clips
weights other than lead - sash weights, cement cans, reinforcing rod, bricks etc.

I use;

80 pound main line
130 pound droppers
9/0 Mutsu offset semi circle hooks
160 pound 3 way Crane swivels
Green lumo beads
Aluminium crimps
2 – 4 pound weights, connected by a loop
And all tag ends are melted and flared, so they can’t slide back through the crimp:

To baits. Have you seen the pic showing what happens when a Styrofoam cup is dropped to the bottom in 400 metres? It’s reduced in size by about two thirds, by the intense pressure. That factor is super relevant to bait selection. Why? Because it means you can use way smaller baits when fishing deep then you can, in shallow water. Especially if you use oily fish flesh like mullet, slimy mackerel, or pilchards. It’s important to use long thin fillets hooked just once through the top of the bait. No folds. And when I say long, just as long as your middle finger is enough. At 400 metres, the pressure will force the oil out of your bait, making it become its own burley trail and giving it a signature way bigger than its actual size. We used long thin strips of mullet for this double hook up on Monday:

And here’s the fish coming aboard. Our best guess, 22 kilos:

So we’ve talked about the importance of using low drag terminal tackle, to get to the bottom as fast as possible. And we’ve talked about using small oily fish bait, to generate a burley signature using water pressure, at 400 metres. Now let’s talk about tactics.

"Hi Andrew, Let me know what you have and I might buy when I drop off rod. My mate is determined to get a blue eye as we have only been able to land gems an the half dozen attempts over the last 5 years. Any pointers on bait, rigs, best times location or anything that you think will help us in landing a blue eye would be great"

I’m very fortunate in being able to fish any day of the week. That’s why, in most of our Youtube videos, the seas are either calm - or even, glassed out - in the background.

But most blokes don’t have that opportunity. They hope and pray that one day on the weekend will have weather good enough to permit a long run offshore. It often doesn’t work out that way. The wind is often stronger and the chop is often steeper than you’d want. Which is why the drift rate mentioned earlier is so important. I believe the single biggest factor in success or failure at fishing 400 metres down is managing the drift rate. Because most of the time, you are pulling your bait away from the fish trying to eat it.

There are a few ways to increase your strike rate.
Use a sea anchor to slow the drift. Note that this only works for drift caused by wind. It won’t help when the drift is caused by the current. It will more likely make it worse;

Reverse the boat into the current, trying to keep the lines vertical;

Learn how to optimise the performance of your depth sounder. It’s not essential to mark fish on the screen, but it is essential to know whether you are going into shallower or deeper water. If you are going into shallower water, you need to wind up your lines. Otherwise, you’ll get snagged. If you are drifting into deeper water, you need to let out line. Otherwise, your baits will steadily rise in the water column until they are way above the fish. Here’s a good place to start:

One thing that works for me - but might not be for everybody - is to use a lighter rod, reel, and line than usual. I use a Daiwa Tanacom 750 reel spooled with 24 kilo line and a soft action matching rod. That combo shows the bites beautifully, because of the sensitive rod tip. As soon as I see a tap tap tap on the rod tip, I either put the boat in hard reverse or, free spool the reel. What’s happening is the fish is swimming after and pecking at the bait. The forward progress of the bait has to stop so the fish can catch and swallow it. After maybe five seconds I slowly bring up the power lever. Usually, the rod loads up:

More details on our Tanacom 750 combo here:

The Tanacom 750 combo is no longer stocked.

We also offer the bigger Tanacom 1000 reel, in a bent butt rod combo. Here’s both size combos in action. The Tanacom 750 to starboard, and the Tanacom 1000 to port. Both pulling up big gemfish:

Details on our Tanacom 1000 combo here:

Click here to buy the Tanacom 1000 Combo

For those on a budget or who just want to fish occasionally, we are developing a new economy combo:

More to follow on that one after testing is finished:

Get back to me with any questions whatsoever? Deep drop season on the east coast traditionally starts on the 1^st of June, and runs through to October. Meaning we have six months fishing ahead. Let me tell you, the only thing better than swinging a good blue eye aboard is sitting down at the table to eat it:

Thanks for reading,
Andrew Hestelow
Managing Director

https://www.downriggershop.com/
http://www.downriggershop.com.au/
Tel. 0402075000
Fishing and angling politics reports
100+ videos on Youtube
https://www.instagram.com/downrigger_shop/
How-to audio clips
Multiple daily fishing updates on Facebook
Feel The Love

Last week I headed north with the boat in tow and some serious fishing planned. Before departing we converted the console to a tilt version to lower the profile and reduce wind resistance. You could notice the improvement in fuel consumption:

First stop South West Rocks, fishing solo. Helpful readers on the Facebook page had told me the inshore water was green, cool, and murky. Meaning the mackerel bite had shut down. No problem! I headed straight for the FAD. First cast scored this 110cm mahi:

Unfortunately, that was the only fish I saw for the next two hours. Pulled the pin early. Up to Wooli (east of Grafton) that afternoon and prepped for a dawn patrol the following day.

But the plan didn’t work so well. The reason being the tide was low and the ramp had a steep drop off at the concrete edge. The boat trailer is 8.5 metres long and if the back axle got over that ledge I would be in a world of hurt. Mainly because word had got out the mackerel were on. Meaning that if I blocked the ramp, and stopped boats from launching, there could be a Wooli necktie party. Thankfully local client and friend Rod invited me to join him and father-in-law Ron, on their boat. Soon after we dropped the pick on a reef two clicks offshore, and got the burley and live baits going. Strikes came thick and fast:

Within a couple of hours we had five spotted mackerel on board:

On the road north again, heading for Hervey Bay in Queensland. Three mates from the old days were flying in for a week of fishing and camping, on the western side of Fraser Island. But the morning they arrived I’d been invited on a short offshore run by Greg Pearce, the owner/operator of Double Island Point Fishing Charters. No way was I going to pass that up:

We had to be back in by nine so I could get to the airport. A quick and successful mackerel session then a run back along Rainbow Beach. Watching the bustups got me pumped so I asked Greg if we could stop for a cast. Our 702 snapper combo gave me the distance needed to put a 40 gram jig right in the middle of the splashes:

This outfit was one of the best fishing tools on the trip. Here’s Brendan from Vikings Fishing Club in Canberra. He ordered one just before I left:

"Hi Andy, Thanks for the quick delivery on the 7ft spinner combo. I took it to Mary River for the Vikings Fishing Clubs 2018 Mega trip to fish the wet run-out. My PB was this 82cm girl, which was released to make more. The biggest of the 16 club members was 1080mm and 1030mm. Looking forward to you presenting some deep dropping tips at the club in July."

I’m looking forward to it too! Raced back to Rainbow Beach and on to Hervey Bay airport with the boat in tow to pick up the lads. Straight down to the boat ramp and out into the bay, looking for tuna bust ups. We found them:

This outfit will cast 65 metres with a 40 gram jig, and that will put you right in the strike zone. Note that we have upgraded the reel on the webpage to the Ryobi 4000. The drag on that one is super smooth:

Like to know more?

Click here to buy the Snapper Combo

The trip had started extra well although our biggest hook up – a solid northern bluefin - ended up getting sharked. Then something bad happened. Our plan was to camp on the western side of Fraser Island, as I did with John Verano so successfully a few years ago:

But then we got hit with a cold snap, blowing from the south west. That meant 9 degree air would blow directly on to our camping beach. Even fuelling up the boat was freezing:

So instead we rented a house – at only $40 PP per night. Next day we launched at Rainbow Beach, figuring we could find some wind shelter from the high cliffs there. That worked. Here’s my 118cm PB amberjack, which went back over the side. Note our new black Phoenix reel, the star of the trip:

But the temps kept going down and the wind kept going up. So we booked in with Greg. The thought being that we had to get out of the wind, the only place to do that was south of Rainbow Beach, but we didn’t have any marks for that area. It turned out to be one of the best calls we’d ever made:

The way Greg operated was to run the boat across pinnacles and bumps in the 40 to 50 metre depth range. When a good show was spotted, we would drop cut baits to the bottom, and run out live baits on the surface. Both methods delivered excellent results:

I was using every opportunity to test some new tackle. And the big winner of the trip was the new Phoenix overhead jigging reel.

Weight: 430 grams including line
6 bearings
Lever drag max 10 kilos
Line capacity 275 of 50-pound braid
Gear ratio 6:1
Stainless gears
Power knob
Price including rod, reel and full spool of 24 kilo CC braid: $345
Great ratchet! Which I found really helpful, when live baiting:

Haven’t been so taken with new tackle in a long time. The amberjack above was caught on this one. It performed very well on big mackerel too:

Like to order one, or need more details? Send me an email. The fishing was so good we ended up putting 15 kilo mackerel back over the side:

Got back four days ago and still on a high from such a great trip. It’s an expressway pretty much the whole 1200 kilometres which makes trailering very easy. With the lads kicking in for car and boat fuel – plus the cheap accom Greg arranged for us – the trip wasn’t expensive. If you’ve got some mates and a trailerboat maybe consider something similar? It’s an adventure you’ll never forget. Thanks for reading,

Andrew Hestelow
Managing Director

https://www.downriggershop.com/
http://www.downriggershop.com.au/
Tel. 0402075000
Fishing and angling politics reports
100+ videos on Youtube
https://www.instagram.com/downrigger_shop/
How-to audio clips
Multiple daily fishing updates on Facebook
Feel The Love

Like a lot of our readers I had some friends in town over the break. Doug and Richard are from California, where they usually chase stream trout. Those are hard to find around Sydney so Bonito Alley was our planned area…

Such a great time of year! Not just holidays and Christmas celebrations but because it’s when hardworking busy clients get to put their new tackle to good use. Luke Fogarty used his downrigger and squid light to deadly affect:

"Andy. Squid light worked a treat. Got a few good sized arrows at Shoal Bay and converted one on the downrigger into a good sized hoodlum. Went 1150mm"

Needless to say it’s not all meter plus kings and mackerel. You gotta start somewhere! Here’s Bruce Clarke out on Sydney Harbour this week:

"Thanks for all your help Andrew … 2 kings on the downrigger today at first attempt!"

It’s great how easy it is to swap sides on the boat with the downrigger

Bruce gave our Head Starts a try too:

"Hi Andrew, Great to chat, here is the photo of the King caught on the Head start rig with a fresh garfish Thanks for the chat today. If you can send through the map of the South head spots for Kings … that would be great"

Done! Good trade. Charlie Michael took his downrigger on holiday to Port Stephens. That worked:

"Mate great set up with your downrigger still getting used to it second time out going for Kingfish in port Stephens but ended up with a great size snapper in the bay!"



That’s great, Charlie! Good size red, especially for inside the Heads. Glad to hear the downrigger is delivering. Just by the way, Lindsay Thorncraft recommended a good spot on our Facebook page for anyone up Port Stephens way:

"Hi Andy here is another good spot for Kings and Jew called the pinnacle they stack up either side of the mount lee side on the tide flow use live baits."

Appreciate it, Lindsay! You don’t need a big boat to get into it at the moment because there’s solid kings inside the harbours and bays. Here’s Ben Chadwick and the team from Rhino Rack yesterday morning, when we caught up with them just inside Quarantine Head, Sydney Harbour:

Kingfish fanatic Nan out for a midweek session. Glad to see you’re getting them and super grateful that you shared, cobber:

"Hi Andy, Downrigging in the Harbour worked a treat yesterday. And I used the slider rig you posted with a treble stinger to land this one. Catching squid was tough but reward was worth it."

Slider rig is a deadly set up for kings and any other fish that are known to tear the head off your squid baits. The main hook is the tow point which goes through the top of the hood. Distance between the tow hook and the treble is adjustable so it fits neatly on any size squid:

Don't use a too small treble because kings and jewfish often swallow the stinger hook deeply. Meaning that, if you want to return them, it's hard to do so without some damage to the fish:

Our downrigger goes into your rod holder, making it easy to use and remove. You don’t have to drill into your boat gunwales to mount it, and it doesn’t get in the way when you’re not using it. Fits on gameboats:

Offshore trailer boats:

And tiller steer boats:

And it comes as a complete package. You don’t have to buy it then go spend another hundred bucks on weight, release clips and mounting system. It’s supplied complete and ready to go:

Click here to buy now

Or, send me an email if you’d like a free downrigging DVD in the mail. Thanks for reading and best wishes for 2018,
Andrew Hestelow
Managing Director

https://www.downriggershop.com/
http://www.downriggershop.com.au/
Tel. 0402075000
Fishing and angling politics reports
100+ videos on Youtube
https://www.instagram.com/downrigger_shop/
How-to audio clips
Multiple daily fishing updates on Facebook
Feel The Love

Squid. I don’t need to tell our readers what a fantastic asset they are. Just about essential, when chasing jewfish. Deadly on snapper. Preferred over everything else, by kings. Right now in Sydney we're experiencing a…