vemanner

Haha mate i wanted a photo of me standing up with the fish but i was so wrecked i couldnt even pick it up. And im a bug guy at 145kg/6’5, so it shouldnt be that hard to pick up 30kg. They had to sit it on my lap for the photo and even in one the photos you can see if fallibg forward. Took everything to just lift it back up! You can see the strain on my face haha But who wouldnt just go straight back in for number two though!!

Long time since ive posted but trying to get into the habit, so will at least put up one semi recent trip. This was july last year. This year ive mainly been doing spear fishing trips, but another highlight was a trip chasing Pacu, Dorado and Jau in the Pantanal Brazil. I may do a post on that next. Anyway, highlights from this trip. *30kg GT on 20lb line with morethan branzino 3000, and Smith KGS-68m. Caught it on the flats with a lot of luck and chasing. * First Green Jobfish on same gear as above. Something ive wanted to catch for more than 20 years, nearly capsized the boat with excitement * First Jungle Perch. Landed half a dozen that day. Everything caught and released.

Hello all, Far, far too long between posts. I've been slack sharing trips, but this was was epic! 5.5 days fishing the worlds largest wetlands - The Pantanal in Brazil. The main targets are Pacu, Piau Açu, Dourado, Juaj and Pintado. Pacu is probably the most prized locally, as it eats increadibly well. It eats nothing but fruit, so you literally pick fruit from the shore, and put it on your hook. Every fish there has huge teeth, is angry as all hell and pulls like a freight train. Anyone who's had to battle through the Leather Jackets out wide will know what it's like fishing around Piranha's. The hit your knots, your braid, and anything that has been touched with fishy fingers. We even had a Pacu come back to the boat with a head and only a skeleton. I first read about The Pantanal in a fishing book when I was 12. Nice to get there 26 years later. Travel there is very difficult and takes a lot of help from locals and none of them speak english. Once you arrive in Brazil, there's 26 hours of bus trip, 16 hours heading up river on the mothership and then you're there. Here's a video of the trip: Marty

I live right by where you were fishing mate. Thats basically my front yard, and I fish there a lot. I always fish light there too. I don't know why those blokes use those big outfits like that. You would outfish all of them fishing light anyway. My most common outfit for around that area is a old style certate 1500, 10lb braid, and a really light stick. But then, I'd rather get smoked by a big fish than skull drag in a decent size.

Hi Ray, I may be interested! Do you have any further details? Prices? Where you're going, what you are fishing for? Is it all from the mothership, or do they have dories? Cheers Marty

Yarraone, that sounds great mate. Definitely keen for that

Hello fellow raiders. I'm a very passionate fisherman who has just moved to Sydney Harbour (north sydney area). I've been doing some land based, but would be keen to get out amongst the other off land options. So if anyone is looking for company on their boat, I'd be happy for an invite. I'm interested in all forms of fishing. I've fished my whole life, so wont be a burden at all. I've also spent a lot of time in boats, so wont be useless there either. I will split costs, split tasks, help at the boat ramp and help clean up afterwards. I have all my own tackle too. I look forward to meeting some of you locals Cheers Marty

Hello fellow raiders. I'm a very passionate fisherman who has just moved to Sydney Harbour (north sydney area). I've been doing some land based, but would be keen to get out amongst the other off land options. So if anyone is looking for company on their boat, I'd be happy for an invite. I'm interested in all forms of fishing. I've fished my whole life, so wont be a burden at all. I've also spent a lot of time in boats, so wont be useless there either. I will split costs, split tasks, help at the boat ramp and help clean up afterwards. I have all my own tackle too. I look forward to meeting some of you locals Cheers Marty

Doesnt get much better than cuttlefish. especially the candle. fresh squid is a gun bait too, but I'm always more confident with cuttlefish IMO Marty

Hello Raiders! I've orginised a brilliant fishing trip in Vanuatu. If you are mad keen about Doggies, GTs and other tropical fish species, read on. You will dead-set need to be an easy going, friendly person who doesn't get too wild or drink to much. We can have no trouble at all on this trip. We are staying with local villagers in Vanuatu, and offending them is not an option. We get access to places like this because of trust, and offending these cultures mean they will simply disallow any westerners on their island again. So please do not take this lightly, its not a 2 week party, its a great opportunity to fish area few have the pleasure of fishing. If everything goes well with this trip, you will be invited to the very,very remote parts of Vanuatu, where no-one gets to go at all. But like I said, its a trust thing, and if we're not trusted over there, we wont have the opportunities. Overall this trip ticks all the boxes as a jigging, popping, sportfishing adventure in a pristine environment; while the accommodation is in traditionally styled and more simple basic bungalow accommodation. Located just off the main island’s north coast, it’s very isolated and fishing pressure is well away from the waters fished by Port Vila boats. From here you’ll fish areas such as Scotts Rock, Nguna, Cooks Reef, Monument Rock and Mataso Fishing each day is on the 32ft EdgeWater, powered by twin 250’s this vessel is ideal for getting to the best spots quickly and comfortably fishing up to 5 anglers. Day 1 we arrive in Port Vila, Vanuatu, and stay the night in town. Early we'll travel by car across to the remote other side of the island. The departure point is where we'll board the vessel and transfer 10km to Pele island, for your first evening of accommodation on Pele. The bungalow accommodation is clean, simple and very basic for anglers, added comforts are the warm hospitality and superb location. This is not 5 star luxury resort standard, think island style with bucket showers and toilets! Nor is it a resort as such, rather 2 bungalows on a beautiful island beach capable of accommodating 4 single guys or 6 max as couples. All meals are catered for and provided during your stay, local produce, fresh fish and fruits, supplemented with extra provisions bought over by our hosts Fishing Days (8 all up) We board our vessel early mornings and commence our charter. During this adventure we’ll fish pristine reef systems, underwater sea mounts and remote volcanic islands with steep cliff faces not only offering superb fishing but spectacular scenery. Sports anglers will target a variety of species including GT’s, coral trout, bluefin trevally, red bass and jobfish. Then there’s sailfish, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, mahi mahi and of course Vanuatu’s famous blue marlin. If jigging is your thing then Vanuatu holds massive and unstoppable dogtooth tuna, a species we are very fond of... Bring heavy tackle, a strong back and plenty of jigs! After each enjoyable days fishing we will return to our base where you can enjoy a swim, snorkel and a cold beer. Spend the evening at our own leisure whilst sitting back and planning the next days fishing events. We have one free day in there too. Second last day we go back to Port Villa, and stay the night. Next morning we fly back. Everything included, except your fishing tackle and flights is 4480pp. We have two spots left. And anyone who has done this sort of trip know that is a bargain price for this many days fishing. Dates are from Mon, October 24, 2011 – Sun, November 6, 2011 Cheers Marty

Was out there on Friday. Lost more jigs than I ever have out there to jackets. Including 4 jap imports. Ouch! an expensive day.

Dear Raiders, I just wanted to let you all know about a recent experience with a fellow Fishraider. He's known around here as Yarraone, and I've never met him in person. Only through Fishraider. Yarraone offered spots on a game fishing charter early last year, and I jumped at the opportunity. He kept me in the loop about what was going down and gave me his bank details to transfer my share of the charter. I paid a deposit, and then shortly before the charter paid the rest of my share. I had never been game fishing, and with Marlin and Tuna on the horizon, I looked forward to this trip all year. Then the bad news... A few days before the charter I got a fever. I reached 40 degrees and my body shook straight for 6 hours. I had never experienced anything like it. I then slept straight for 32 hours before a bunch of hallucinations and bad dreams. I could barely get up to take a leak. It ended up being tonsilitis. Yeah, who knew it could get that bad. I ended up being bed ridden for 2 weeks. Worst of all, this happened right before the game fishing trip. I let yarraone know I was sick, and couldn't make the trip. I was bitterly disappointed. I'd been hanging all year. My doctor told me that I could rupture my spleen if I exerted myself, as I had a combination of viral and bacterial tonsillitis. My doctor even reluctantly said that maybe a Marlin wouldn't be worth that! That's was a scary thought. Why I'm writing this is because yarraone refunded me the money for the trip. I didnt ask for that, and I honestly think it fair that I should pay my share come hell or high water. I dont think its fair that I leave everyone else out of pocket for an expensive fishing charter, just because I cant make it. Nevertheless, someone I've never met, transferred it back to me out of the goodness of his own heart. My wife was stoked! I just wanted to share this story because it blew me away. I think thats a really stand up thing for yarraone to have done, as I definitely don't think he had any moral obligation to do it. Bloody hell fishermen make good people! Thanks Yarraone! I hope we get to meet one day, and maybe even catch a marlin in the process! Cheers Marty1

Unreal Tobe, Thanks for the reply. I've thrown out the whole 'traditional game outfits' in preference to heavy jigging gear. So only jigging gear and popping outfits. I do a lot of jigging, so I'm glad that it will be something i'm familiar with. I've talked to a bunch of people who just use jigging gear for all their marlin fishing now, and I'm keen to go down that path. Also, I'm gonna have a monster jigging outfit for the big doggies. I really would love to get one close to 100KG, so I'm gonna have an outfit capable of turning one of those suckers away from the reef! Cheers Marty

yeah wish i had of thought of that. If I had a mate around and knew better, I would have thrown it at him! Make a hell of a wooopy cusion too!

Also, just read they grow up to 60cm (but usually not more than 40cm) and the one I caught would be easy over 60cm! So i may have caught the IGFA world record numbfish and not even known it!

Legends! Thats insane! I had a good look for spines, but couldnt see any so at one point handled it! It was stuck between a couple of rocks and grabbing it was the only way to get it out! Luckily, i didnt zap me. I guess thats why its best to always know exactly what you're dealing with before handling it. I thought you may all like to read this post below. It talks about a bloke who got stung and had to go to hospital as a result. As you'll read, he was stung, went to the surface and then fainted. http://wadivers.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=942 Thanks for the help guys. Stoked to say I've caught one now!

Hey guys, I caught this one a couple of nights ago. Really strange looking fish. I dont like to call anything animal ugly, but if you were gonna call anything ugly, it would be this slimy sucker! I'm not even sure if it it a ray, as it didn't really have flaps. The only flaps are the small ones located on the tail. The rest of the fish was like a blob! It had a really puffy stomach too, which can be seen from the photo of its belly. I caught it at night, bait fishing off the rocks. The depth the fish was caught in would be roughly 5-10 metres. The following image is from above. the fish is on a rock, with the front of the fish at the top of the picture. The tail is not in view on this photo, but it would be at the bottom. At the top left you can see where I have hooked it, and the bait still on the hook. This image is from underneath this fish. The tail is at the top of the photo, and the mouth and nostrils(???) at the bottom of the photo. You can also see its puffy mouth. The following image is the fishes tail. This is a close up of its eyes. It only has two, and beneath each eye is a funny discolored patch of lumps and bumps. Like i said, don't like to call any creature ugly but I'm glad my wife doesn't have eyes like that! Any of you guys got an idea of what it is? Thanks, Marty

Yeah good to know! I've caught them in north Queensland, and i've always released them up there. I've never heard of them down here... amazing. After googling, they're even found in brisbane waters!

Wow... whats the go with the esruqry cod!! did you eat or release it?

Hello Raiders! I'm doing a trip next year to the coral sea and researching the gear I should use, especially for trolling. I really love to catch the biggest fish possible on the lightest gear possible, thats what gets me off ok. So designing a game outfit, thats the approach I'm going for. The last thing I want to do is 'skull drag' a fish in. So what I've been thinking is, I want line capacity but at the same time a lighter rod and smaller reel. Chances are I'll be wrestling with biggish wahoo, dogies and maybe marlin etc. I've got a daiwa oceano game 15kg rod for a good price, and thats what I was after in terms of size. Correct me if I'm wrong, but testing this rod out it seams it can handle quite a bit of drag, and the 15kg thing is more an indication of what line the guides are designed to run? I mean, 5kg of drag barely puts a bend in it (going with the 30% rule). I've tested it with 15kg and 20kg of drag and it looks like it can handle that all day! I even pushed it a little more, and had some confidence it could manage. Anyway, where I'm going with this is I'm thinking about running braid with a similar diameter to 30lb mono (something like 130lb) just to ensure it runs through the guides properly. I've checked out the Avet pro 30, and with that reel I'll be able to get 500m of braid and a small top shot on. I'll also be able to put 15 to 20 kg of drag on if I think I'm gonna get dusted by a big dogie. I've been looking into it, and it looks like a lot of US marlin boats are all running braid now and the only thing they say it to use a little less drag when trolling so you dont pull the hooks. Mainly because you have less stretch on the strike. At the end of the day though, I've got zero experience game fishing and would love some of you seasoned pro's to check over my thinking and let me know if you think I'm going wrong somewhere. Thank you very much!

Hows it going yarraone. I'd definitely be keen. Can I have one of those spots? Cheers Marty

Congratulations! I've been trying to catch my first EP on hard body lately myself! Well done.

Yeah nothing like catching a species you've always wanted to catch. Glad you guys agree about the coral trout as an eating fish. I reckon i'll be hard pressed to find something better tasting, although... only one way to find out. I reckon port douglas would be the perfect place to take your own boat. I did all my fishing off the shore, but reckon a boat and a sounder and just about anyone could do well. Especially in the estuary systems around there. There's a bunch of rivers north of port douglas I'd love to spend a day on. It's funny that you mention the Norseman. I was casting lures at it where it lived at night on a bunch of different occasions!

Hello! I've just returned from a 3 week family holiday in Port Douglas. We absolutely loved it. My daughter decided to start crawling while we were there too, but when I wasn't running after her I managed to get a bit of fishing in. Its a really top place to fish. Lots of options. Fishing off the rocks for all kinds of fish. I caught my first GT's throwing little metals into the bait schools. Great fun. There are also stacks of reefs just off the beach too. On clear days with the polaroids on, you can see hundreds of them. I got out amongst it one day and pulled out 3 good sized coral trouts. The biggest of which, around 50cm. I kept that one for dinner, and I've got to say its the best fish I've ever eaten. I also caught a couple of small and large mouth nannigai and a moses perch. There is also an estuary with a lost of structure to fish amongst. I caught a pretty big flathead casting small plastics at pilons near the river mouth. I didnt know you got them that far up, and it ended up being my biggest flathead on plastic, even though I didnt measure it. I also caught a Dorab Wolf Herring on a deep diver I was casting at the wake of kayaks. First time I'd ever seen one. Lots of barracuda while I was there, which I caught most often. Further up the river I spent quite a bit of time casting lures around the marina. I saw barra on a couple of occasions but could never get them to take my lures. I caught some estuary cods, different trevallys, and random other bits and pieces all on lures there too. I must say I had a fair bit of trouble with the charter operators up there with many of them not calling me back and some stuffing me around etc. There are a heck of a lot of them up there, with dozens to chose from. I would recommend you get some good references of charter operators if you plan to go out with them up there. I had the feeling some of the ones I got onto would rather go to the pub. I dont want to upset anyone, but it was just nothing like the kind of professionalism and knowledge I'm used to with the charter operators down here on the central coast. Although I did meet some other fishermen while I was up there who ended up giving me some good contacts... so feel free to message me if you want them. Great fun all up. Lots of different fishing options and a great place to take the family. Marty

yeah i have to agree. I get sharks off the beach all the time even when i dont berley up. i've also seen a big hammerhead 20 meters away from swimmers who would never have known. there are always sharks around and in healthy fisheries. berley will bring them to your baits from other parts of the beach. but it wont bring them from the deep blue yonder to your beach... they're already pretty much there. thanks for the guide. shark fishing is a great fun and such a positive thing as most people i know let them go afterwards. Maybe if we start respecting them more as a sport fish, we may become as active about preserving their numbers as we are with billfish and tuna. i read an article about berleying up once. it said dig holes at low tide, fill them with fish frames, pilchards and little tuna oil and then come back and fish there on the high tide. Still haven't tried it, but am keen to give it a go. Marty