Le Pasha

Hey fishlexic, Warnie is talking about the bluewater squidgies that Shimano makes. They look like this: Daniel

Hey Mike, another website that I use along with seabreeze and BOM thats really good for offshore weather is Buoyweather.com The only thing is that you cant get long range forecasts unless you are a member, however even if you are not you still get the forecast a couple of dats out. Pretty accurate too. Daniel

Thanks Red and Stewy, I had a chat with Tony and while I agree with your comments about the quality of the rods, they are a little too expensive for me, however they do look awesome. Do you think that a King Mack is a little too heavy at 8-12kg???? It looks a nice rod but thats a little heavy for reds. The Nitro Viper is 6-8kg and I have heard nothing but good reports on them, especially regarding there warranty and replacement policy. Red, thanks for the advice on the bluewater spin. I am still leaning towards a Nitro Viper 6-8. Has anyone used one or knows anything about them? As I said go ahead and recommend anything else you want to. Daniel

Thanks Shane...anyone got any opinions on the nitro viper or any of the other rods mentioned above. Daniel

Hey boys, looking to set up a combo to fish for snapper at the Hump. I am sure you guys know the size of fish encountered at the Hump after reading some of Ross' reports and viewing the pics, and some are thumpers, so need some tackle to suit. For the reel I am pretty well set on a baitrunner 4500 loaded with 6-8kg braid. These are proven and you cant go past the baitrunner feature especially for snapper. It is more so the rod that I was looking for advice on. Looking for something that can handle the above line class. We will be bait fishing only, so dont need a rod that is capable of doing plastics work, just bait. I was thinking maybe either a Nitro Viper 6-8kg Inshore 7' or Shimano Bluewater Saltwater 702 Spin 6-10kg. Any opinions on the above rods are appreciated, and also feel free to recommend any other rod that you can think of, we are new to reds fishing after heavy game and I am sure you guys can recommend others if you dont think these are suitable. MAX. price $300 (price of nitro) Thanks, Daniel

Hey mate, there is very very little life out there. We were out today and saw no bird activity, no bait and definately no fin. The water is som of the worst we have seen and is a dirty green all the way to browns. You have to go another 10 mile to get into some blue water where a few boats seemed to have congregated. Regarding the raider day I think Tony on fishfinder got one, but that was the only report for the whole day of any fish caught. Water temp ranged from 18-19.3 out wide, plenty of dolphins and plenty of whales, but sad to say no tuna. We left early so who knows the bight may have picked up, but when we left it showed no signs of doing so. In summary, green water, no fish, beaut condiotions though. Daniel

Hey guys thought you might like to know that the first boat is actually a 7 metre 1 piece vinyl decal according to the owner, not paint. Still looks sick though. Not sure about the other boat though. Daniel

red herring which one are you talking about? 1st or 2nd?

Some of you guys may remeber this boat from a past bluewater mag and boat review. Pretty nice paint job here too. Daniel

Nice fish Warnie, congrats mate, and congratulations for working out how to post your pics lol Daniel

Hey boys didn't get out due to this crap weather, would have been a cold miserable day a long way out . I hate to leave the fin biting though! Daniel

Thanks for the report Warnie, at least there are some fin around. I also heard there were a few makos on the mountain if the fin fail. If your having trouble with the pics email me at le.pasha1@gmail.com and I will put them up for you if you would like. Daniel

Hey Warnie, we will be out on Sunday, unfortunately busy tomorrow. Good luck having a bash, will you be having a crack at the fin at all?? Daniel

Hey Seazar, I assume Reel Invader is talking about Heaton's Hill? Heatons is 50nm straight out of Botany (twice as far as browns) and therefore you don't hear much about it as not many boats have access to it. Big boat country, there are definately fish there, seems as thought the YFT are hanging wider. Also a known spot for big blue marlin. Despite its name it is actually a very large underwater canyon, not a seamount, and as we know structure attracts pelagics Daniel

Will be heading out wide Sunday in search of some YFT. Hopefully 4 succesful trips in a row Daniel

Hey mate, the fin are around in summer just not in the numbers they are in winter, and they are more so a by-catch when trolling marlin lures. Half the time they are just jellybeans which people bridle up as baits for big marlin, but sometimes in the summer months you can hook up to some big fin on the troll, and they are a nice surprise when the marlin aren't biting. Also, I wouldn't say that there are 'more pronounced' temp breaks in Winter. In both Summer and Winter a good temp. break would be a one degree jump, its not so much the break but the lower temperatures suit them better, but that doesn't mean that you won't catch them in Summer, for example one of the club boats this year got marlin, wahoo, and a 40kg yellowfin on the same day in some 24-25 degree water. Something else that you might find strange, look at somewhere like Vanuatu and Fiji, where the water is hot, they are catching big fin in 28 degree water. Just gotta find em mate.

Here are some pretty sick US centre consoles. First boat has twin suzuki 250's, the second boat triple suzuki 250s i think. One more. Triple 275 Verado's on this one!! Daniel

Hey Warnie, can't make this year due to commitments over the weekend . It is a top tournament though and good luck for everyone who is fishing it, make sure you put up a report with sme pics too. Daniel

Lately we have been finding large patches of birds diving and bombing and have trolled the area but still haven't hooked any fish, seems a little strange. Couple of weeks ago they were divng 20 metres of our port side, but it was still another 2 hours before we had a fish on. I should correct myself, we did find some 18.0 degree water away from the 17.8 degree stuff that was present at browns and thats where we picked up that YFT pictured above. Out of interest anyone fishing the SGFC monster mako tourney, sorta sucks its on the boat show weekend ?? Le Pasha (Daniel)

Hey Craigie, heard you guys on the radio a couple of weeks back being harassed by those seals when we spoke to Rob lol, The Blackwatch must attract them. Good on ya for finding the 19 degree stuff, we could only manage to find the 17.8 degree water with no breaks the Sunday before last, still picked up 1 fin and counted ourselves pretty lucky to get it, as it was maybe one of only two for the day. Rob knows his stuff ay, how wide were you guys? Were you at the Botany Presentation Lunch?? Heres a pic of one of marquis bluefin last sunday (congrats to the marquis crew) and the next is our YFT from the sunday before that. Enjoy Cheers, Le Pasha (Daniel)

Heres ours....2005 caribbean 35 with twin 330 cummins

I like to use the black magic ones with the lumo beads on top, they suck to store though like all bait jigs. Le Pasha

We put the rod in the rod holder and strip line off while it is in freespool. If you strip it off at an even rate as opposed to yanking it off you wont get overrun. We strip off a bit, put the reel in strike, wait for the slack to, go and then strip some more off and so on. Personally I use gamakatsu live bait hooks in 6/0 to 8/0 for cubing, but have also been using the eagle claw circles of late, both have worked well, with some 80lb ANDE pink trace, either connected to the mainline via a small ball bearing swivel or a special albright knot. With a swivel you will not get line twist, which is good if you are starting out, but if you decide to use no swivel, make sure you yank your pillie off when you bring it in. After a cubing session to get the twist out you can let some line out the back of the boat with nothing on it while you're heading in and that will do the job. Hope this helps, Le Pasha

In my opinion the TLD 25 is more suited to fishing for tuna and marlin up to 100kg. Sure you can land them on a Tekota, but the TLD would be my choice for its lever drag as opposed to star drag, and no levelwind as well as greater line capacity. Try to steer away from levelwinds, another option to look at would be a tyrnos 30, the next model up from a TLD. Le Pasha

Hi guys, first post here, been reading for a while though. Fishlexic, unlucky, maybe next time. Sometimes it pays to set your trail a few miles away from the big crowd at browns. The fin fishing seems to be on and off, we got a 40kg fish last Sunday on another dead day, however there are a few buefin being taken on lures around the 50kg mark which is a bit of a change. Le Pasha