Monday 30 April 2012

Big Sea's

Ebb Tide Adventures is about more than just fishing which is just as well as this is not much of a fishing report! 

After our amazing recent session at Portland chasing bluefin tuna, (see Mad Friday) using alternate techniques we could not wait to get back and we were armed with more casting and jigging rods and camera's than you could poke a stick at. 

Massive swells but light winds gave us the small fishing window we were after although we were a little perturbed by the dodge tides and indifferent reports however we forged on none the less.  Jason Taylor's Evolution 650 Predator was the platform and well up to the task and we had a capable crew with Victorian Game Fishing Club members Anton Vogiatzis and Justin Clarke on board.  The sea's certainly were large and its hard to get out a tape measure but they were among the bigger Southern Ocean swells I has seen for some time but the conditions were certainly fishable.  The waters behind Lawrence Rock in the 100 - 130 meter line was alive with a mixture of pacific gulls, gannets and albatross harassing the red bait being pushed up relentlessly by dolphins and seals.  Although there is a chance of tuna being amongst them when bait is balling up like this we could not find or at least failed to temp them this time.  Late morning we pushed wider still to the Horse Shoe area where we had enjoyed the great session Mad Friday but it was lifeless excepting a small lonely albacore that fell to a Jaks Barrel Bullet in Rigid Regie color.  As the afternoon wore on we made our way back to the scene of the morning bait activity and the bait and birds were still present in numbers but no sign of obvious predators from below.  Calling it a day we made the trek back in the dark and it was one of the few times during the peak of tuna season where I have returned to a deserted boat ramp and empty cleaning tables.  Please enjoy some photos which never do justice to the size of the ocean!

Please click on the images for a better resolution.

















Sunday 22 April 2012

Mad Friday

Whilst I did not expect to spend any time in Australia during 2012, a necessary visit saw a great opportunity to get amongst my beloved blue fin tuna on the west coast of Victoria.  In as little as two weeks I have managed a couple of visits firstly with long time fishing mate Dave O'Brien where we found the veritable 'chook pen' with as many small albacore as you could care to catch as well as some big striped tuna but not a blue fin in sight at least not for us.  A highlight however was the effectiveness of jigging and stick bait techniques on the these fish once the right location to these techniques was zoned in on.   

A week later I was back and again fishing the ubiquitous ;horse shoe' area on the continental shelf west of Portland this time in company of Kyle Stacy (Jaks Lures Australia), 'Ace' Jase Taylor and friend Randal in Kyles Formula 233.  This fantastic boat made short work of the sloppy morning's chop and we found ourselves dropping lines in approximately 200 meters of water where a temperature break of .4 degree's Celsius was located, also an area where Kyle had enjoyed good success a week before and only a few miles from where Dave and I had found the albys.  This was a dedicated light tackle trip and there was not a Tiagra 50 wide in sight; it was all jig and casting tackle.  As we set the spread comprising all Jaks lures and one Rapala X Rap in close, three rods went before the fourth rod was in the water.  The next time we tried all four went, it was clear we were on a hot bite and friends nearby were into the same kind of action! 

We turned our attention to what we had come for, some close quarters action.  Trolling now with only one lure in the water, an old Rapala X Rap in close to the transom, we would once hooked up commence to cube chopped up pilchards and cast in the direction of the hook up.  It took a few occasions to raise the fish to the boat and a constant supply of pilchards to keep them there, but what followed was two hours of the most entertaining and fun fishing you could hope for.  Although not big fish, a seemingly endless supply of bluefin would rise to inhale our pilchard supply while cast stick baits and poppers were either inspected closely or crash tackled by ravenous blue fin, it was a sight to behold and experience, I would truly rate this as a 'top ten' fishing experience in my life. 

As the last cube trail disappeared down a tuna's gullet they soon moved on but we were some pretty satisfied fisho's.  Although never a numbers man, at least 40 fish hit the decks that morning and I'm pleased to say only 5 made it back to the cleaning table for our immediate sashimi needs, all fish that had a slim chance of survival.  A truly special day - I encourage all tuna hunters with a few seasons under their belt to think about the fun they are perhaps missing out on, 15 to 20 kilo fish don't need heavy game tackle and the visual strikes and hand to hand combat you can experience is so much worth it.