Fishing Reports

A Whale Of A Time

What could be more enthralling than quietly drifting along catching grunty Snapper, grunting Gurnard and John Dory, as well as the occasional Kingfish, when out of the calm blue a Whale blows just 50 metres from your boat as it seemingly effortlessly rises half its massive bulk out of the water, gracefully turns upside down then explodes the water in tumult, plunging back to the depths, baitfish spilling from its mouth with the boat gently rocking in its wake. I was again privileged to witness this phenomenal visual treat this week. What a wondrous creature just a handful of miles north of Tiri, thoroughly captivating for me to be allowed alongside as an observer. Any self-proclaimed fish-catching mojo rising had more to do with the Whale feeding than actual fishing ability. Good on ya mate.

Over the past few windy and cold weeks, the various Whale species and many individual pods of Dolphins have moved around the Gulf quite noticeably. And when you’re able to witness the food chain being rattled, it’s an amazing sight. When one Brydes Whale this week decided to swim along the surface towards me, then dive just under my boat I hurriedly looked for my wetsuit and other equipment to try and have a swim with it, but my mere human swimming abilities weren’t up to it at that time. Next time I’ll hopefully be ready, the last time swimming with Whales was breathtaking and near impossible to describe.

Some of the workups with Whales in attendance have been intense and rewarding, other times workups can be frustrating affairs when target species are playing hard to get. That’s fishing I guess.

Chicken Or The Egg?

The size and line stripping tenacity of the Kahawai has been amazing recently. These fish are in larger schools in the general Gulf, from inner areas to the outer gateways and covering serious distances when feeding on fleeing baitfish. When the KY surface feed it can be a treat to watch the Pilchards and Anchovies attempt to take cover under the boat. KY racing through scattering baitfish in every direction simultaneously turning them into a kaleidoscope of fish and flashing silver scales. Enter stage left Whales, Dolphins, (and other incidental mammals like humans), Gannets…and, and ….so on it must go. Most of the time Snapper are invited, but not always do they show in numbers.

The KY have been quite  prolific and aggressive in their feeding, hitting  bait, Flasher rigs, Soft Baits, Soft Plastics and Jigs readily. If Snapper below are the target, try up-sizing sinker weights and jig size to get to the bottom a.s.a.p. Mind you in saying that lately the enjoyment from KY has been a great change. Their strength of fight on light gear is incredible, due in part to the sheer size of the fish out there at the moment. Big, is good!

Last trip out into the Gulf (a beautifully calm day despitre a nasty forecast) I also kept a few KY, bled them immediately of course, iced ‘em down, filleted within 3 hours and into the zip-loc bags with marinade for another 48 hours in the fridge. The taste when coming out of my new smoker was sensational, and as friends (and other downwind neighbours) were tucking into the smoked Snapper, the KY was a welcome and surprisingly delicious change. And the fish pie, well the KY was the fish of choice for sure.

Imagine just how mouth watering the taste is after a 6 hour 'cold' smoke .....

Climate Change

Yes, it sure is cold outside. The winter wind bite is clenching us for sure. I’m now resorting to wearing boat boots so I can launch and retrieve without getting my feet wet – that water’s cold! Beanies are near safety equipment lately and only sporadic weather windows to fish have been available for small boats. Bite times have been again performing like a light switch on timer, on or off and at prescribed times only. Rather challenging fishing has been quite common when nature pauses, but when the green light flicks on, it’s all on like in a Rugby match of yester-year, a fair bit of biff involved.

Gurnard are around the 35-45m middle ground, more often than not they’re kind of small compared to the Westie version, but some, as well as the ever present John Dory can both be turned into one of my favourite culinary delights - freshly crumbed fish fillets on the BBQ with garden fresh-cut lemon.  Targeting Gurnard with SPs is a more sensitive affair, but well worth the mental adjustment – and since filming this  technique and a number of other things in the Gulf lately, the next DVD will provide yet more ways of putting that special smile on the dial from this type of successful fishing. A John Dory or two have also been falling victim to Anchovy SP.

The Snapper have been feeding on grubs and worms as well as Pillies and Anchovies, this past week the Catch Green Anchovy SP has been the winner by a country mile over all other colours and types of Soft Baits. used The difference between catches has been profound with colour apparently the main determining factor.

Most of the bigger fish have been caught with this tiny little unassuming SP – as originally sussed out by my 11 year old son. What a joy to be a part of the his and other kids fishing action over the holidays. There's nothing quite like sharing in their enjoyment, thrills and fishing spills . But best just to leave the competitive ego at home, they will out fish you!

And if the weather isn’t up to scratch fishing-wise this week, you can always head to the boat show for a stooge around for more ‘essential’ fishing stuff to stay one step ahead of the young ones!

Catch you out there.