International_FIELD REPORT World

Darko Pesic: Hardbaits Fis[h] culture part 1: Realis Shad 59MR/SR

2013-05-16T00:43:50Z

Shad shaped hardbait is a mix of crankbait and twitchbait. It's form and attributes make it irreplaceable in certain situations. These hardbaits have a thin body in proportion with their length, combined with a relatively long lip. In most cases when we do a steady retrieve, shads emit a constant narrow vibration (high frequency action) as a direct consequence of their size and lip position. When twitched, they make sharp direction changes. Being that shad hardbaits represent a synthesis of two basic hardbait types, they can be used for cranking, bottom tapping and twitching techniques. In most cases shad hardbait is a suspender, although we find a variety of floating and sinking models as well. My personal preference is a suspender as the Realis Shad 59MR and the new Realis Shad 50SR because I can twitch it more casually and make longer pauses, without worrying if my bait will rise to the surface or sink towards the bottom.

Popular technique with these baits is a medium fast and constant retrieve, combined with a couple of twitches once in five or six turns of the knob. This retrieve imitates an injured disoriented shad on a panic run, which works great with perch and zander/walleye.

This presentation is ideally combined with bottom tapping in spots with sand, marble or rock bottom, and we can incorporate a short pause here and there and/or eliminate twitching.

Different and a more subtle presentation of shad hardbaits consists of one sharp twitch followed by a longer pause between the next. This method plays well with inactive fish and during night fishing. However, this technique is possible only using a suspending type of bait, because otherwise it's impossible to maintain a desired depth during pauses. Once we place our bait in the strike zone we make a pause of approximately 10 seconds (known as spin stop), followd by a sharp twitch and a next pause. This presentation is fairly slow but it often is the only way to trigger inactive fish to strike our bait, which usually happens right after we make our twitch and, secondarily, during the pause. Same principals apply to night fishing.

Now the only right thing to do is to hit the waters and discover the potential of DUO Realis Shad!

Catch of the Week 2012.05.12

2013-05-13T00:23:54Z

It was an easy decision this week. "DUO`s Catch of the Week" is claimed by this magnificent bass caught by David Swendseid on nothing else than Realis Spinbait 80, our new take on the old propbait concept adding the leathal rolling action which can not be resisted by a wide range of species.

Great fish, Spinbait...I mean, David.

You can see Spinbait 80 in action at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-06NbcoSY

Markos Vidalis: Because size DOES matter

2013-05-12T20:04:31Z

This article is more like a tribute to all TMS 175 & 200. Those lures besides their BIG appearance they also have a BIG soul, and I believe that they are true “aces in the sleeve” when it comes to large (or not) SW predatory fish!

How many times you encounter a strike and when you land the fish you saw that it was the same size or a bit bigger than the lure itself? Going even deeper to the box of our memories, I’m sure that we all got in situations where fish refused to attack our usual “small baitfish” lures, and when we changed to something bigger, fish started to strike like crazy! Well I’m pretty sure that most of you already know that a strike can occur from many different reasons like: hunger, domination, competition, and “attacking the injured”. And here it comes the size to play a major role to the domination & competition factors! You see a fish that has a full stomach or lacks appetite at the moment, would never attack a smaller fish that happened to pass by, but if this was a bigger one that could pose a threat by any mean,(territory etc) you bet it would strike it! There are many complicated reasons and factors that in the end occur to a strike, and I’m afraid that no matter how much we fish, we will always have new things to learn and this is the magic in spinning fishing.

Going back to our stuff, recently I had a small argue with a friend that when do bigger fish feeding frenzy on very small ones, large lures are of no use! I used to believe this too, but the truth is much more different than this. You see yes an average lure might be of no use, but a big one like TMS 175, or 200, would be attacked at once. Most of bigger predators when they are dealing with small and fast fish, they use strategies in order to circulate them or hold them on a specific area. Their moves are very delicate and sharp, so the intruder (our lure) with its big size, really makes an appearance, and disturbs the smooth hunting operation! This intruder MUST be removed! I believe it is very easy to imagine what comes next!

But except competition and domination, size always have to play a big role to the major attacking factor that is nothing more than good old fashioned hunger! Yet when you use a big lure, you can expect to get many fish by all the other factors, but from hunger you will get the monsters! Fish that are capable to devour and overpower with ease fish of this size (175, 200mm) usually are really big, with an equally big mouth! So be prepared!

Going on a small “tour” on the mentioned lures, and their usage, I will expose some hidden characteristics so to know better their action.

TMS 175: Damn I love this lure! It is a floating model and this makes it very “dancing”! While it moves, it exposes very much its sides to the lower waters, and this really does attract the attention whenever the predator is! What also is a great advantage is the swimming range, since this lure can cover even one meter in depth, when retrieving with the tip of the rod close to the surface! Average swimming action is around 70cm from surface and the cast ability of it is really great due to the perfect balanced internal weights!

TMS 175 flyer: If the 175 model casts like a plane, imagine where the “flyer” can go to! Same body like the 175, different lip, and therefore a different lure, TMS 175 Flyer has a more “serpent” movement! Its sinking character allows us to search deeper spots if we let it sink and start retrieve it from lower water levels. Being only 2 gr heavier than its “cousin”, TMS 175 Flyer, will be a great tool when “reaching the spot” is essential!

TMS 200: It sure is big, but its fragile slim appearance makes it an easy target for many fish! I don’t know for other waters, but here in the Mediterranean, other fish really confuse it with a needlefish, which is a very common food item for larger species! It is a floating model with a very good casting ability and a combination of serpent and side exposing swimming action that by far is really unique and unable to copy! Having a little less diving depth than the TMS 175, TMS 200 is without a doubt, the master of the upper levels!

Landangler: DUO`s finesse lures - Land-based fishing in Australia's estuaries

2013-05-11T05:04:21Z

I first came across the DUO range of small lures in March 2011. So I have now been using them to fish the Australian east coast estuaries for about 2 years. I have always enjoyed catching fish on hard bodied lures but I have to confess that I had not had that much success with them, prior to my introduction to DUO. Up until that point my fishing had been mostly focused on using soft plastic lures.

The range of small hard bodied lures available in Australia is typically marketed to Bass and Bream anglers and has been limited to a fairly predictable selection of big brands. Australia is a small market in global terms, so we have to hope that improvements in lure design (principally for bass anglers in the US) are also attractive to our bread and butter estuary species. Typical catches in the east coast estuaries include bream, flathead, mulloway, whiting, dart and tailor. Fortunately, there is a good crossover between the tastes of US bass and Australian bream.

Over the last couple of years, the big discovery for me has been catching flathead on these smaller hard bodies. It has been great fun putting lures in the Duo Tetraworks series, through their paces in shallow sandy water and catching plenty of these fish. These lures were not designed for fishing in Australian waters, but they may as well have been and it seems what works for sea bass and flounder in Japan will also work for flathead here. My favourites in this series are the BIVI and YURAMEKI.
The BIVI is a sinking hollow body micro-vibe lure with a tight action. It weighs 3.8 grams, and is 40 mm long and sinks very quickly. It has an excellent rattle and moves effectively, even at very low speeds. I have had great success catching flathead with this lure, in both shallow and deep water. It comes in a great range of colours and will also catch just about all the other estuary species.

1 - Stripy Snapper on a Bivi

2 Flathead on a Bivi

3 Flathead on a Bivi

4 Yellowfin Pike on a Bivi

5 - Sand Whiting on a Bivi

The Yurameki is a sinking bibless lure (or pencil), 6.3 grams and 48mm long. It also casts a very long way and has great tail wobbling action. It comes in a range of sharp colours but I particularly like the Pink Clown (pink and yellow coloured) model. This lure is ideal for slowly hopping along the sandy bottom, beside a weed bed or bank. It seems to catch more fish for me when I work it very slowly, with lots of pauses. I have caught plenty of flathead, bream, dart and pike on this lure. If conditions allow, it will also catch fish in the surf and the dart love it.

6 Swallowtail Dart on a Yurameki

7 Flathead on a Yurameki

8 Flathead on a Yurameki

These lighter lures fish well on a typical soft plastic lure fishing outfit – a 6’6’ light spin rod, a 2500 size reel, spooled with 4lb to 6lb braid and 8 to 12lb fluorocarbon leader. This means you can quickly swap between the two fishing methods, if one is not producing any action.
The other great set of small lures from Duo, are the Realis range. The smaller ones were designed with freshwater bass in mind but have also performed very well in the Australian estuaries. My favourite smaller lures in this range are the Duo Realis Vibration 62 and the Duo Realis Shad 59MR.
The Duo Realis Vibration 62 is a larger profile sinking vibe lure with a brilliant, tight action. It weighs 11 grams and is 62mm long. Despite the larger size, it finds its action as soon as it hits the water and it has a really loud, low pitched rattle system. It is so carefully weighted that it is almost impossible to mess up the way you retrieve it. You can wind it in fast, in bursts or at a constant slow retrieve. All these methods have caught fish for me. There is also a heavier, larger Realis Vibration 68 which would be effective in deeper water or areas of stronger current.

9 Flathead on Realis VIbration 62

10 Flathead on Realis Vibration 62

The Duo Realis Shad 59 MR is my newest favourite. It is a 59mm suspending minnow. It is very light - 4.7 grams but still casts well. In fact, it has an ingenious system of magnetic bearings which ensures it casts very aerodynamically. It has an irresistible action at both fast and slow retrieve speeds. I like it because it quickly gets down to about 1m, but then is capable of bumping along, rather than digging in to, the muddy or sandy bottom.
This lure is a bream magnet but will also catch plenty of flathead. It works well when retrieved in short bursts with long pauses. The fish often hit it when it is suspended in the water column, during the pause. This has been the most successful bream lure for me through the autumn period, when the water temperature is cooling down.

11 Bream on a Realis Shad 59MR

12 Flathead on a Realis Shad 59MR

13 Flathead on Realis Shad 59MR

14 Flathead on Realis Shad 59MR

15 Flathead on a Realis Shad 59MR

I am very pleased that DUO has entered the Australian market. They have brought us a range of lure designs that we have not seen before and they are quickly proving that their versatile range has something which will catch almost all our estuary species.

www.landangler.net

Down in Oz: Coral Bay Frenzy

2013-05-11T04:22:07Z

Well it all started a week before I flew home from work, rang the wife and told her I want to go to Coral Bay - it was “a yes” around.

If people don't know, Coral Bay is north of Perth, Western Australia, is around 1200kms away…and what a place it is. If you have never been here before it`s a place off beautiful sunsets, white beaches and clear blue water; relaxing town to sit back and do nothing or grab a rod and reel and get stuck into some off Western Australia`s best fishing destination.

Start our journey late Thursday night to get up there Friday morning with the car loaded and the tackle box stacked with Press Bait Fusion jigs and Realis Pencil 110 and also Tide Vib Slim - this was going to be a great weekend.

Got to Coral bay early Friday morning tired but with no wind and a bit off breakfast. I had my second wind and gear was ready to go. Rigging up, I had 2 rods set with Press Bait Fusion 90 and the other with the Tide Vib Slim 140. Having loaded the boat with the gear, and away we went to the boat ramp.

Heading out birds were working the bait schools and the tunas were jumping out off the water. I have told the skipper to take me there to throw my Tide Vib and see how many tuna I could get on a first couple casts. And boy, do these tide vibes cast like a rocket. After a few casts with hook ups, the next cast went straight into a little tuna`s mouth. A quick catch and release and the tuna was away to grow bigger. Another cast into the school brought another hook up; this time of a bigger fish which gave me a great fight, but as sometimes happens, the hooks pulled. Ah well, that happens sometimes.

We reached our destination with fish showing on the sounder. Since my wife was on board, I had to set her up first quickly to get her fishing, so I could sink that Fusion to the bottom. First few drifts had only small hit with no hook up but I was amazed how easy to move these jigs are. Jig up and down and they move through the water smoothly as no jig I have ever seen.

Second drift after setting the misses up - again put my jig down to the bottom playing around with it a bit. Then it came - solid rod bent over and reel screaming. Yep, we are on.

We were having a great fight on light gear using a saltwater 14-20lb rod on a Certate H yper 4000, 30lb braid, 60lb leader, just showing that you don't need big gear for solid fish.

Still fighting the fish and seeing a shark under the boat I was thinking of the worst, but everything turned out fine. The fish started doing circles under the boat taking other people's line to make it even harder for me. Few quick moves with the rod and we were free from one line but still had one line wrapped around. I started to gain a lot more line back on this fish as we were both starting to get tired. It finally breached the surface after a great fight and we got to see a solid amberjack weighing in around 10 to 12 kilo. After a few snaps of this lovely fish we put it back to the water. What a great way to open my Press Bait Fusion 90 account. The color was “Leaking Gold(A226)”, by the way.

I had to swap rods and reels for next drift because of the line tangle. Same again - light gear Saros 4000 30lb braid on a raider Mexican fire 20lb rod.

I dropped Fusion down and after a couple jigs with no results, all off a sudden we got a solid hook-up. The fish was putting up a great fight as the last fish – the same head shakes and same big runs got us thinking it might be another amberjack, but not as big. After gaining a lot of line on the fish, it started to fight again doing big long circles under the boat. Luckily nobody had a line in the water. .

I had a great fight with the fish and seen it through the water column to notice the same features as the last fish. And indeed, a nice amberjack weighing around 6-8 kilobreached the surface a few moments later. We could not even see Fusion as the fish has swallowed it whole. After a few photos, we set it off to swim back to the water.

With two solid fish up I was happy and by then everyone was ready to head home. but I had a plan to head in. On the way in, I changed lures on one of the rods to Realis Pencil 110 to cast at the bait schools. Few cast with only a few follows off a smaller fish made us a move a little further. On the next cast, we got a hook up from a small tuna. The fish was nothing spectacular, but seeing the fish bite on a topwater lure like this is a sight to see.

Still on the look out for birds, we came across a big school with bigger fish. Finally had a solid hook up - the fish took off screaming and we were having a great fight. Unfortunately, we had it too close to the boat and it took of diving deep only to have hooks pulled. Nice end to the trip though and the fight itself left me satisfied and ready to head back.

Over this trip I had pulled the hooks on three fish but my main goal was to test out these lures and see how well I can put forward to other people on how they swim and move though the water and cast. I am impressed to say that these lures are awesome and I will surely continue using and promote them to others. It comes naturally actually – it`s easy to promote the baits you truly believe in. Just put them in the water and you will too.

Hayden O`Keefe

Down in OZ: Top End Barra

2013-04-23T08:20:06Z

Well if you haven’t been to Australia’s Northern Territory chasing barra, you should.
I live in the southern part of the country, so I do not have a chance to go after barras often neither, since they live mainly in the north, where it’s warmer and the Croc’s mozzies and humid weather are your biggest enemies.

We recently went up to show case some of the lures to the local shops and local fisherman and being already there, I thought why not actually put the lures to the test in the field. Result were three exciting days on the water with barra being the main target. We were invited to a local completion series called Top End Barra series, which was held at the Finniss River about 1.5hr from Darwin.
We arrived to camp on the beach on the Friday night and as a “southern”, I was a little worried about the croc situation, being that we settled down less than 50m from the river mouth. The mozzies were bad every night but the first night is always the worst.

We awoke before sunrise and were the first boat out fishing. We headed around the headland to another river, a lot smaller called the Little Finniss. Things looked real good as we entered the channel of the mouth. We stopped at a small creek draining into the river, however the first few cast produced nothing, so we continued up the river mouth. There was mangrove snags as we entered the mouth...first cast...bang! 65 cm barra caught on one of the DUO`s vintage Deep Feat 90F.

We then moved back to the small creek near the mouth, where plenty of action waited for us. Unfortunately, no fish was landed though we managed to get several strikes. Realis Jerkbait 100SP/120SP were the standouts, with each of the colors managed to attract the fish, but did not result in hook-up. If the strikes were converted, I`m sure my mate would have placed in the upper ranks. Given that there were 27 fish caught by 80 competitors over 2 days, you can see that it was a real tough bite!!

Nothing else happened for the rest of the day, just a lot of kilometres and lat of cast, but no hook-ups. So what else to do but to ‘raft up’ this where 2 or more boat tie up together, for a drink/chat and run amok. We had a 6 boat raft up, and after a few drinks someone decide that we should try and get the 6 boats up onto the plane whilst tied together. Seeing we had the smallest boat out of the 6, and smallest horsepower- I was a little nervous to say the least, but we went for it doing 13-14knots til a rope snapped.

On Day 2, we raced back to the same little creek only to find another boat had camped there, so we anchored up close by and started casting. Lot of bait there, but no barra and the lures from yesterday were not doing the trick neither. Wanting to try something new, we went to Realis Pencil110. Third cast resulted in the only barra coming out of the creek mouth, only a small one, but possibly the first on in NT on the lure. Seeing the reaction of the barras(and the other anglers) to the lure, I`m sure there will be many more to come.

The Barra fishing was supper slow so we decided to bail on the Barra fishing and try the reef fishing. With 30ft of water, Tide Vib Score was tied on and dropped down. Drifting and working the lure over the reef resulted in a few small cod straight away, but it took and 10 minutes to get a sizable golden snapper, a personnel best on this species.

On Day 3 we moved to another river system known as Shady Camp- Mary Rive, one of the most renowned rivers in NT, known for the "metery’s", big 1m + barras.

We had heard over the w/e that a few good fish had been caught, so we decided for another pre-dawn assault. We arrived at the mouth near low tide, to see about 40 other boats working the channel.

First troll run resulted in a big catfish - not what we had come for; however the next run ended up with a 104cm Barra; crome as they come, she danced and carried on for a little while before she ended up in the net and onboard. A real cracker of a Barra.

We dropped another two fish that day, and saw about 20 fish caught all above 90cm; a real good day by anyone`s standards. As usual the big barra in the NT remained elusive to me, but I saw my first "metery" in person. I’ll sure be back with trays full of DUO for the build-up and next years run-off.

Steve Lewis
SWL Distributions
www.swldistributions.com.au

Markos Vidalis: DUO & Cudas: A true love story!

2013-04-11T02:11:50Z

They are long, they are fearsome and for sure they are the true fear for many lures because of their ferocious teeth! The intro goes to barracudas, a great predatory fish that gives loads of adrenaline to many SW anglers around the world! It seems that when those fish are in feeding frenzy mode, any lure could provoke an attack, but I’m not here to talk about those days.

Here in Greece, and in the most Mediterranean region, «cudas» are one of our basic fish targets when spinning fishing comes in play! Since I had the chance to go after them with DUO lures for more than one and a half year now and observe their reactions on them, I managed to gather some critical info that I will reveal right under!

Conclusions:
First of all what impressed me more was the high resistance to “teeth scratching” ! The superb finish of DUO lures is known for its resistance to treble hook scratching while casting, but if someone is familiar with the dental structure of Cudas, probably know of what I’m talking about!

Second comes the different behavior of almost same lures! What I mean is that it is a fact that every DUO lure has a unique character that is designed especially for it and therefore is not just glue the same plastic lip to every model. Thus makes every lure unique and “one of its kind” so it was easy to observe one day more strikes on example TDMS 175 and the next day more with TMS 175 flyer. Those lures are identical in the shape BUT the slight difference in weight and allocation of it, where enough to trigger the fish depending on their mood. Going even further in lure testing on those species, I discover that I had a full weaponry for any mood the fish where, since their complicate character sometimes guide them to strike only small baitfish, medium sized or large ones, with the last one being the most common!

Give some color to your life (and lure box)
Well I believe we all know the importance of the color on the lure that sometimes is more that essential for the final result! On the “hard” days or nights, the whole fishing is depending on constant experimenting with colors and types of lures and DUO have managed to provide a wide variety of colors in all of its series! Coming back to our subject, Cudas seem to show interest in vivid colors on dark nights with little or full absence of moonlight, and pale or natural colors at day or lighted nights and fishing spots. So you know what to do, but for the dark or muddy conditions I will give you a hint! “P 08 ;)”

Hall of fame
Having a very experimental angling nature, most of the times I love to get the fish that I want, with the lure that I want, just to see it hanging from there! This allows me to understand even better the usage of the lure and uncover all of its abilities! To get as many more fish with the lure that does the job in the particular moment may become boring, something that most of the times happened with the TMS 175, TMS 175 flyer series! I was amazed to find out that there were times with difficult fish that “in a change of a lure”, the game where turned from my side! What it was more interesting was the fact that I didn’t hesitate to use some of the freshwater series, like JB 120SP that in our highly saltwater environment, tend to be floating due to salt levitation, and surprisingly it was enough to give a different point of view to those lures, since the strikes where more than I was expected to be! As for the MOAB 120F that only recently got and used, proved to be a real “killer” and I believe it will be one of my major tools for next year Cudas.

So under I presume to announce the “cast of characters” of this year’s Cuda fishing, and assure you that are all user friendly and “Mediterranean tested and approved”.

TMS 140 & 175
TMS 140 & 175 Flyer
TM SLDS & SLDF 125 & 145
MOAB 120F
Terrif DC12 Type 1
Bay ruff SV & V series
Realis Jerk Bait 120SP

Markos Vidalis for DUO Field Report World!

Fishing in Crotia: Tide Minnow 75 Sprint

2013-04-08T06:11:48Z

Duo Tide Minnow Sprint 75 is the smallest lure in Tide Minnow series. It has amazing rolling action, and responds brilliantly to twitching and jerking techniques. It is something like bigger version of Ryuki, and this is why I love it. TM Sprint 75 is brilliant in fast water, as well as in the sea.

Two types of fish that can behave similarly, although one is toothless and the other armed with sharp teeth, like it very much. Toothless sweet-water predator asp is frantic hunter who furiously chase prey under the surface and at the surface of the river. Some walk-dog top water lure is the best lure for asp at the surface, while bellow surface of the river you can hardly find better lure than Tide Minnow Sprint 75. You can jerk it, twitch it or roll it, anyway it is overwhelming. With same nervous underwater action you can provoke bite of "sometimes hard to catch" sea fish Bluefish. Same like asp, sometimes they are active on the sea surface, but sometimes they react well on sinking lures like this one.

At the end, don't forget this lure is popular among other seawater fish like sea bass or needle fish.

http://duo-inc.co.jp/en/saltwater/tide-minnow/tide-minnow-75-sprint/

Zdravko Savor

http://fishingincroatia.blogspot.jp/

Clark Reehm: Sabine River Tournament Recap

2013-03-29T01:08:57Z

The first Elite Series event of the year at the Sabine River in Orange, TX was definitely an interesting event. I only live about two hours from there and opted to scout it out for only one day right before it went off limits due to time and financial constraints. During that time I never picked up a rod and only drove around for about four hours just to see what it had to offer. Of all the events I have fished in the Elites, this event came down to pre tournament satellite imagery study more so than any other event checking out the possibilities for clean water. Water quality seemed to play the most pivotal role in this tournament and that is why it ultimately fished so small.

Practice sucked for me. I did not catch a keeper the entire time and two of the days I actually only had a handful of bites and several of those weren’t even bass. On Day 2 of practice I did find an area that I could get a lot of bites in but failed to catch a keeper there even after trying to weed through numbers. The one positive thing about the practice period is the dock talk all seemed to indicate that everyone was having the same issues. Knowing this, I was able to formulate a game plan that I knew would give me a chance to survive this event and hopefully walk away with a check and valuable points towards making the Classic.

My game plan for the event was to go to the area near the ramp that I could actually get bit in and weed through the small fish hoping to catch a keeper or two and then I would take a calculated risk the next day by running an hour and a half to a wildlife refuge that had been closed for almost six months but was scheduled to open on March 15th, Day 2 of our tournament. I had nothing to lose because practice was so bad. I was going to be happy with a single keeper on Day 1 and elated if I were to catch two of them. As far as Day 2, I would just accept whatever would happen with my gamble.

Day 1: Last Flight

Being in the last flight, I could see that there weren’t many anglers that turned left to go upriver from the take off. Of those that did, I think 75% of them chose to go to the same place I did and none of them were the studs that are typically on top of the leader board. There were seven anglers that started in this “hole” and by the end of the day only one of them, rookie Hank Cherry, came out with a limit. He straight up put on a clinic for the spectators and other pros in this area as he was culling by 10 o’clock. I ended up with 2 chip keepers for the day but botched opportunities to have a solid limit. One or two other anglers ended up with one dink in the box and the rest laid goose eggs.

The water in this area was fairly clear for the Sabine River as we had a foot of visibility. There was deep water fairly close to the shore and much of it was lined with cypress trees. This area had history of some quality fish catches and was absolutely loaded with ditch pickles and tight eyes. Giant mullet were getting airborne, but the dominant forage in the area was tiny little minnows and shad. For that reason, I downsized my baits and caught almost all of my fish on a tiny translucent 3” jerkbait made by a new Japanese company called DUO. I caught over 40 fish on the day on the jerkbait using a braid to flouro combo on a spinning rod. Because most of the other guys were flipping and throwing plastics slowly, I was able to move around efficiently covering water catching fish behind them. The most productive way I was able to catch them was by twitching the bait slowly around cypress knees or working it aggressively on the initial break line where fish were staging to move up to spawn around the cypress trees.

Even with that poor showing, everything was going as planned and I was tickled to have the two keepers I did have. I was sitting in 61st place with my two bass that went 3lbs 3oz.

Day 2: First Flight

Ask any local in South West Louisiana where the place to be on the Ides of March would be and odds are if they owned a fishing pole, they would have said “The Refuge”. Access to this area closes down every year in October and reopens on March 15th and the locals plan their vacations around it as an opportunity to fill the freezer with filets. This sounded good to me!

I made the hour and a half run early in the morning along with numerous other guys that had similar plans as my own. Here is when a little bit of luck got involved… Where to go blind in a maze of canals that were closed during the official practice days as well as during most of the time prior to the event going off limits. Having limited local info to guide me, I chose a canal that looked good on Google Earth. This canal was stained and had cypress trees and willow scrubs lining the edges. It was roughly 5’ deep in the middle, was a mile long and had a terminal end with a swamp drain in the back. I chose wisely along with the 25 or so locals that had fish already flopping in the ice chest when we got there.

I did all of my damage in this canal pitching a Junebug colored Evolve Kompak Craw to cypress trees with a 1/8oz tungsten weight and punching the thicker stuff with a 1 oz weight. After a few missed opportunities, I ended up catching a limit by 10:30 in the crowded canal.

Once I caught my limit, the mind games started setting in. The mental side of this sport truly separates the field at this level. My biggest problem is I have always struggled financially and I NEED TO MAKE CHECKS. A lot of these guys are able to fish for the win or to maximize points towards making the Classic or making a run at the AOY. It sucks but it is what it is so at 11:00 I made a short run to fill up with gas and after another stop made the long run back to the ramp to secure my $10,000 check. THIS WAS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE THIS WEEK! I should have hammered on those fish for at least another hour and a half trying to increase my weight while they were biting and not totally molested yet.

My limit weighed 11lbs 1oz and shot me up to 24th place with a two day total of 14lbs 4oz. I solidified my check and I was fishing on Day 3. I just knew I was going to smash them going into Day 3 because of the success I had on Day 2 and I left them biting…

Day 3: First Flight

I made the long run back over to The Refuge and was shocked to only see five boats in the canal. That should have been the first clue that things weren’t going to be the same. I fished the first two hours with only three bites! NOT GOOD! I ran around and tried several other canals with the same results. A lot of them had gotten muddier with a strong south wind. I ran into quite a few of our guys that were also struggling to even get bit that day. We all surmised that the extreme fishing pressure the day before had raped the bass population in that area. We had never seen fish get educated that fast!

I opted not to fill up with gas on the water that morning choosing to spend that extra time trying to put a keeper in the box. I blew my chance at a solid three pounder later in the day that would have helped, but ended up leaving that area at 1:00 with nothing to show but a half empty tank of gas. I trailed another competitor back to the lock that had a solid limit and let her rip the rest of the way once we were safe in the straight away running down the Intercoastal canal. I knew I might get an hour to fish my Day 1 spot if I made it back quick enough, but I ran out of gas 2miles from the take off. If I had a fish to weigh, I would have done things differently and not had this problem.

Every competitor that passed me running back to the weigh in stopped to offer aid but I chose to just stay on the trolling motor and limp my way back since I didn’t have any fish. There has been a lot of talk recently about sportsmanship at the upper levels of bass fishing and it is moments like this that the fans do not get to see. It happens at every event. Most of the guys will not help you get ahead, but not a single one of them will leave you stranded at the end of the day. You will not be left behind because they know it could very easily be them the next day no matter what boat or motor they run.

I ended up with zero fish on Day 3 and fell to 42nd… but I still got paid! My girlfriend Stephanie and my son Ash came to the weigh in to cheer me on. Seeing my little boy in his little tournament jersey was the highlight of the week. Other spectators on the dock said it was a sad sight to see him crying on the dock when I was having to leave calling for his Daddy.

Jerkbait Gear:
Bait: DUO Realis Minnow 80SP: Top Smelt
Line: 10lb Seaguar Kanzen Braid w/ 8lb Seaguar Invizx leader
Rod: Dobyns Champion Extreme 702 Spinning
Reel: Daiwa Excellor 2500 Spinning reel

Pitching Gear:
Bait: Evolve RX Kompak Craw: June Bug - 1/8 oz Elite Tungsten - 3/0 Gamakatsu flipping hook
Line: 17lb Seaguar Abrazx
Rod: Dobyns Champion 705
Reel: Shimano Curado E7

Flipping Gear:
Bait: Evolve RX Kompak Craw: June Bug - 1 oz Elite Tungsten - 3/0 BMF
Line: 65lb Seaguar Kanzen Braid
Rod: Dobyns Champion 765
Reel: Shimano Curado E7

If you are interested in checking out more of my tournament insights as well as have a chance to win some cool stuff from some of my sponsors, hit me up with a "Like" on my Facebook Fan Page or follow me on Twitter.

https://www.facebook.com/BassmasterREEHM
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Hawk Talk: Fishing the Realis Vibration

2013-03-18T09:50:31Z

The Realis Vibration is my new favorite lipless crankbait. What really separates the Vibration from other lipless crankbaits is its aerodynamic shape and main rattle placement in the belly section of the bait, which gives it better casting ability than any other lipless crankbait I’ve ever thrown. The Vibration’s thin profile also comes through grass easily. This is an important feature in a lipless crankbait, so it doesn’t foul up on the retrieve. I also like the intense rattle sound it has, which is surprising due to its thin shape.

The Vibration has great fish catching colors in its lineup, but my personal favorites are the Red Tiger, Blue Back Chartreuse Tiger, and All Bait. These three colors cover all water clarity situations I’m fishing. I like the Blue Back Chartreuse Tiger in stained water, Red Tiger in off-colored water, and the All Bait in clearer water conditions.

I like throwing the Vibration throughout the winter and pre-spawn stages on any body of water with grass in it, because it’s an effective tool to cover water quickly and efficiently and helps me find concentrations of pre-spawn bass. One technique I use with the Vibration is to “pop” it free from grass after making contact with it. “Popping” the Vibration free from grass causes a reaction strike similar to when a crankbait deflects off a piece of hard cover. Any time I can change the cadence, sound, or direction of the Vibration during my retrieve helps increase my chances of getting bit. “Popping” the vibration free from grass is a great way to accomplish this.

I usually have three rod and reel combinations on my deck when I’m fishing a lipless crankbait with different line sizes and types. I have two reels spooled with 17lb and 20lb test Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon. I like fluorocarbon in sparse grass or in depths greater than five feet, because it allows my bait to sink better and I can fish it more effectively deeper in the water column. I also have a reel spooled with 40lb Seaguar Kanzen braid for when I’m fishing extremely shallow or thick grass. I can rip the bait out of thick grass much easier with braided line, which helps me keep it clean during my retrieve. I prefer an Abu Garcia Revo SX 6.4:1 ratio reel over a 7.1:1, because it’s easy to retrieve the bait too fast and lose contact with the grass. It’s easier for me to speed up my retrieve on a 6.4:1 reel than slow down on a 7.1:1. I pair my Revo with an Air IROD 703 medium heavy casting rod for baits up to ½ oz. Anything larger than a ½ oz I use a 704 heavy.

If you haven’t fished the Realis Vibration yet, I highly recommend trying it. I’m confident it will become your new favorite lipless crankbait, just like it has mine.

Mick`s Gone Fishing: Another Kinchant Session

2013-02-06T04:01:36Z

On Saturday I was itching to get out and test my new Daiwa Zillion Type-R on a decent fish, with all the rain we've had here in Queensland over the last week, I opted to head up to the freshwater to try my luck. It was an overcast day and I apologize in advance for the grainy pics, I tried to play with the settings on my camera but the fishing was too good to waste time with that...

I left the house at around 1pm and headed out west without a solid plan, along the way I stopped in at a local spot on the Pioneer River but the water was way too high to fish with rapids around 2m high in some places. There was a couple of lads fishing in a back eddy who I briefly spoke to and they mentioned that they might head up to Kinchant dam for a look. A few seconds later I decided that this was where I should go so I jumped back in the car and made tracks. I was really keen to catch a fish with my new baitcaster setup so I picked this one up first, I had the DUO Realis Popper 64 tied on and thought it would be likely to tempt a nice sooty grunter. First cast I sent out over a shallow rockbar and as I slowly twitched it along the surface around halfway back it was annihilated! The telltale sound of a barra inhaling my little lure had my knees shaking as the little 6-14lb Black Label buckled over. The fish peeled line off the little reel showing no signs of slowing down, being landbased I didn't have the option to chase it as he headed straight out into the middle of the dam. I had to try and put some hurt on the fish otherwise I was going to get spooled so I lightly thumbed the spool and ran along the bank to try and turn his head which eventually worked. Once I had his head turned he took to the air revealing his size, it was relieving to see it was an average sized fish as it installed a bit of faith of landing him. Before he jumped I thought I had a monster on and I was feeling well and truly undergunned, I honestly thought I was going to be spooled with under 100m of 16lb braid! After a few more jumps and a solid fight a few other lads turned up just in time to catch the tail end of the action. One of the lads Toby kindly took a couple of pics for me before I released the fish which measured 82cm.

I quickly cut off the rasped up section of leader and inspected my hooks before having another cast at the same rockbar, this time it only took 2 twitches before it was sucked down by another hungry barra. This one took off and on the first jump he somehow managed to bust my braid and throw my lure all within seconds. Toby managed to catch the line on his next cast so I tied it back on and had another crack. I was ready to fish again a few minutes after and it only took a couple of casts before it was on again, this one took off and halfway through its first run my braid broke again. This time my little Realis popper was gone for good... I wound in what was left and tied yet another FG knot which took around 5 minutes or so and opted to try a different coloured Realis Popper 64, once again a couple of casts and it was game on. After a respectable battle I had another barra on the bank, this one going 87cm. After a few quick pics he was placed back in the water and shot off like a bullet.

A few casts later I saw a few little baitfish flicking around nervously in the shallows, I put in a well placed cast just past where I saw them and a few subtle twitches later I was boofed once again. I saw the fishes back come out of the water when he hit the lure and knew he was only a rat, I pretty much dragged him back to the bank for a quick pic before sending him home.

A couple more casts later I had hooked another fish which threw the lure on the jump, I continued my retrieve before hooking up for the second time in a few metres. This one took but broke my 40lb leader after a solid run and a single jump, with 2 poppers down I decided to change over to my 20lb gear which had a 50lb leader attached. I tied on a gold DUO Terrif DC-9 Bullet and sent it flying. A few casts later Toby hooked up to a decent fish and within seconds so did I, a few minutes later we both had a couple of solid mid 90s fish on the bank for a picture.

After another hour or so and a few more lost fish I had almost had enough, I decided to re-rig up my baitcaster and give it another crack before hitting the road. I tied on a DUO Realis Jerkbait 120 to see how it went casting a bigger lure and first cast saw me connected to a horse of a barra. Unfortunately I was only using 30lb fluoro leader which gave way a minute or so into the fight on the fishes raspy teeth. I quickly retied another Realis Jerkbait 100 this time in the same colour and sent it flying and a couple of casts in I was busted off again... Four lures down, two poppers and two Jerkbaits, I should have just given up but I'm a glutton for this kind of punishment and tied on yet another Realis Jerkbait 100 and sent it flying. I tried a slightly slower retrieve which resulted in a nice sooty grunter on the first cast, followed by another 5 or so in the next 15 minutes which were all 40cm+. By the time I got the last one in my Realis Jerkbait was all scratched up and had its front hooks ripped clean off by a good fish, so I decide it was time to pull the pin and leave the fish biting.

The next day I had a slow morning fishing with a mate in the boat where I only caught one small sooty grunter. I couldn't help but feel defeated, So I decided to go back and give it another crack landbased before heading home. I drove around the dam and walked to where we had fished earlier and rigged up with a DUO Realis Jerkbait 100. Second cast saw me hooked up to another barra and this time I had luck on my side, I had finally landed one and this fish ended up going 91cm, after a quick photo it was released.

A few casts later I was on again to another good sized fish which threw the hooks and won its freedom. Around 5 minutes later I was on again and this time I had him well hooked. After a solid little fight I had him beat and another 90cm fish was on the bank.

I stayed for another half hour or so before the heat got the better of me and I got sick of catching sootys, I really shouldn't complain as I got a new PB of 54cm on the Realis Jerkbait 100. The photo doesn't really do it justice, but I was the only one stupid enough to be out in the sun in the middle of the day so I couldn't get a photo holding it.

I got back to the car and cranked the aircon on the way home, it was around 35 degrees with 80% humidity, which well and truly cooked me! It was a good feeling getting out of the sun but the couple of fish I got at the end made it all worthwhile! At work on Monday all I could think about was fishing, by Tuesday I couldn't resist. I had to get back up there, so late Tuesday afternoon I snuck out to the dam again to try my luck. I got down to spot at around 5:30pm and on arrival I noticed a heap of sootys hanging around in the shallows. I had the same black and chrome DUO Jerkbait on my Zillion/Black Label combo from the day before so I put a cast infront of them but they didn't seem interested. At the end my retrieve however, right at our feet a nice sized barra took a swipe at my lure leaving a big boil. Instantly my rod loaded up and line started to peel off my little Zillion as I made my way along the bank following him, this fish seemed pretty lazy but at the same time it took line off my reel effortlessly. After a minute or two things seemed to liven up and it seemed as though he didn't realise he was hooked until then. The fish took a blistering run out into open water, taking to the air on three or four occasions, after that I thought he was done so I turned his head and started to regain some line. It wasn't easy though, I got him right up to the bank a couple of times before he would give a few big kicks to make his way back out to deep water. A few minutes later and he was well and truly done so I bought him ashore for a picture.

After releasing the fish I had a few more casts with the same lure in the shallows where it was engulfed once again. This fish started to take off and seconds after took to the air and shook the hooks out. I wound in my lure to find that the hooks had in fact been straightened so I busted out the pliers and fixed them up. A couple of casts later I was on again and this thing was a horse, I saw him roll on my lure as it sat paused just below the surface. I set the hooks quite well I thought but as soon as I did he took to the air and spat my lure back at me at a hundred miles an hour. I dodged the flying lure and wound in the slack and upon inspection I noticed that the hooks had been straightened again and my front ring was opened. That'll teach me for being too lazy to change them... I opened my tacklebox to change lures and pulled out a 120mm DUO Jerkbait to give it a swim. The sootys took an instant liking to this one and within a couple of casts I was onto a nice fish around 45cm. This one fell off as I lifted it ashore which made for an easy release. A dozen casts or so later I got hit again by another dirty little sooty, this one pulled pretty hard for such a small fish. Within a minute or so I had him on the bank for a quick picture.

I fished for another half hour or so but the fish seemed to have shut down. A couple of other lads hooked up to a barra around 75cm on a little kids combo which was interesting to watch, surprisingly he landed the fish too. The sun had just disappeared behind the mountains and the sky turned orange so I grabbed my Canon 5D and got a few shots of the sunset, playing around with the settings I got a heap of cracking shots and to tell the truth this was the highlight of my afternoon.

Despite being a relatively slow session compared with the last few I'd had it was good to have a play with my new DSLR camera, I will leave you now with a few more shots of the sky as the sun went down that afternoon.

Thanks for reading! ;)

Mick`s Gone Fishing: First Fish for 2013

2013-01-12T06:55:19Z

On my journey back up to Mackay I spent the a night up in Brisbane before our flight left late that arvo. I took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours fishing with a mate from the Gold Coast, after a quiet night in on new year's eve I woke up at 3:00am and set off to meet up with Andrew before heading a couple of hours drive south west to a secret location.

The plan was to paddle up a secluded stretch of water in search of a few bass and maybe even a murray cod and be back home for lunch. By the time we hit the water it was just before 5am and the sun had not long before started to poke its head up.

We started off using surface lures and I'd opted to tie on the trusty old DUO Realis Popper just before we left. It wasn't even 10 casts into the session when the water erupted around my popper and my new Daiwa Generation Black rod folded over as I come up solidly connected to a good fish. Almost instantly I felt my braid rubbing along some timber and I could see through the water that the fish had almost made its way back into the sticks, after a bit of fancy rod work and some serious pulling, my attempts to stop him getting home were successful. This little fella had scoffed my lure right down and by the time I landed him my 30lb fluro leader was quite worn from his raspy teeth, I paddled over to some nearby rocks for a quick photoshoot before releasing the fish unharmed.

After that we thought the day was going to be a cracker of a session so we continued our way upstream in search of some more. We hit every pool, big and small, on our little adventure without another touch. It seemed as though we were hitting all the right places with no results until we made it to the last pool that we would visit for the day. In this particular spot Andrew had one hit along a big fallen tree and I raised another fish over a rockbar which looked like a decent bass, but other than that it was dead.

By this stage it was just after 8:00am and we thought we should start to make our way back downstream to the car. It had completely shut down and I literally flogged quite a few likely looking spots that hard that the water was foaming. No matter what we tried the fish had a serious case of lockjaw...

What started off looking as though it would be a hot session fizzled out to be dead slow. Despite the tough conditions it was a good little adventure, a new PB murray cod on the surface at around 65cm+ and the scenery was spectacular, it was a great way to kick off 2013!

Thanks for reading! :)

Mick`s Gone Fishing: Sneaky Tarpoon Session

2013-01-08T04:31:42Z

This afternoon I took the dogs for a run down on the beach, on the way past the golf course I noticed a decent boil on the surface and a few tarpon flicking around the place. This got the casting arm twitching and I had my Nordic Stage Jaeger with 2lb braid setup in the car, so on the way home I stopped in for a quick cast.

In the half hour that I fished I would have had well over 10 hits, with around 5 or 6 hookups which were all lost on the jump. Most of the fish were small except two decent ones which would have been around 50-60cm. I stayed a lot longer than I planned and was determined to fish until I finally managed to get a fish. I only had one lure with me and that was the DUO Tetra Works Toto in red and gold which didn't seem to matter at all, the fish were rather keen on this little fella. The Toto is a 4cm sinking lure and has a pretty cool action, unlike anything I've seen before. As it sinks it has a tight wiggle and a lot of the hits today come on the initial drop, straight after the lure hit the water. Once it sunk a foot or two I would start a dead slow retrieve with a high rod tip, this gets the lure swimming with a really wide wobble which imitates a wounded baitfish nicely. The little tarpon at the golf course couldn't resist and I honestly think that almost every fish in this small stretch of water had a crack at it atleast once.

So after all the effort I finally landed one, at around 25-30cm he put up a good fight on ultralight gear and a great airshow for such a small fish! By this stage I had satisfied my urge so it was time to go home for dinner.

What a good way to spend half an hour or so, even though the fish were mostly tiny it was convenient being just down the road and despite the frustration I had a heap of fun trying to tame these little maniacs...

Thanks for reading! ;)

Mick`s Gone Fishing: Sooty Grunter Assault

2012-12-06T04:04:21Z

Recently I took a couple of mates out for a little bit of a fishing adventure to chase one if my favorite species, the sooty grunter. These fish are found in freshwater streams throughout the northern parts of Australia and are one of the hardest hitting, dirty fighting brutes that any angler could wish to come across. They average in sizes between 30-40cm and for a fish of this size it is difficult to find anything to compare them to.

The location which we were to fish is one which doesn't see a lot of anglers, I only stumbled across it due to my sense of adventure and willingness to head off into the unknown. I had heard of some big sootys being caught in this particular system so I was keen to head up for an adventure to see what we could find. The area which I had heard about was pretty well known so I followed the river on google maps to get a bit of an idea of the layout before we headed up. We decided to go on a trek right upstream where i had only ever visited once before and hopefully far enough out of the way that the fish wouldn't have seen many lures. After a solid 3-4km trek through unforgiving terrain our efforts payed off and we were rewarded with some truly epic fishing. Throughout the day we all ended up with double figures and a heap of quality fish averaging between 40 and 50cm on the DUO Deep Feat 90D and Realis Popper 64.

We left in the morning at around 6:00am and by the time we finally made it down to the first hole it was almost 9:30. This hole was fairly deep and nothing seemed to be going on, the water levels were really low and the water was stained brown and almost going stagnant.

I was fishing with a couple of mates, Dave who only recently moved up to Mackay, and Henry from Obsession Fishing who had been itching to get into a few sootys since I took his mate Angus out when he was up here last. The plan was to fish with surface lures to see what we could pull in, which seemed unlikely in the first hole as the fish didn't seem to want to play, we opted to deviate from the plan and throw a couple of deep divers to put infront of their faces to see if that would tempt them.

As soon as we made the switch Henry hooked up before I could even tie my lure on, I swapped over to a DUO Deep Feat 90D to see if I could get one and first cast saw me connected. This fish knew exactly where to go and headed straight for the timber, once he got his head down I had no chance of stopping him and a few seconds later I felt the braid rubbing along a submerged tree. I flipped the bail and lightly held the line waiting for him to come back out and after a couple of minutes it finally worked. After that ordeal I think the fish was rattled because he came in pretty easily. It didn't take long before we had 11 between us and the fish in this pool seemed to have wised up to our antics and shut down, so we decided to continue on our trek.

We kept moving along, pulling fish from a few different spots along the way and as we got further downstream the pools got smaller. Noticing that we were spooking a fair few fish in the shallows I opted to swap back to the little DUO Realis Popper 64. We went into stealth mode, sneaking our way along behind the rocks and trees to launch a surprise attack on our unsuspecting victims, at the next pool I noticed around 10 or so fish just hanging on the surface as I peeked through the trees.

I let the boys know what I had seen and we snuck downstream behind a big rock and simultaneously cast at the unsuspecting fish. It turned out to be successful with a triple hookup almost instantly, all 3 fish were landed including the biggest fish for the day at 49cm on the little Realis popper.

We continued along the way and I sat a few holes out and filmed a bit of the surface action as we made our way further along the river, too many fish were caught to remember as we made our way to the last big pool. One of the highlights was when I was filming Henry sight casting to 2 good sized fish and while the smaller one had a few cracks at his lure, the big guy shouldered him out of the way to show how it was done. This turned out to be a 48cm fish which is Henry's new PB and I got the whole lot on film.

Down at this last spot the sootys were thick and almost every cast we had schools of around 8-10 of the little brutes chasing our poppers smashing them until one would get hooked. I got a cracking fish which bricked me in the sticks so I flipped the bail and with a bit of patience, I eventually won the battle. This fish rasped my leader up pretty badly so I had to retie and by the time I'd finished my FG knot the fish had shut down.

After that we decided to head back before it got too late, so we made our way back to the car stopping along the way for a much needed swim in one of the bigger pools. By the time we got back to the car we were all exhausted after a 7-8km round trip in scorching heat.

So as you can probably tell by now this was a very successful trip, all the fish were released to fight another day. It included both of my mates getting their first sooty grunter and some hard to beat personal bests, and my first sooty grunter on a surface lure at 49cm. It will be hard to top that one and all thanks to the DUO Realis Popper 64, a little lure with a lot of character.

Thanks for reading!

Mick Hassett

www.micksgonefishing.com

Mick`s Gone Fishing: A slow day takes a turn

2012-11-27T00:55:10Z

On the weekend I headed out for a morning fish in my kayak to see if anything was happening, the weather was average with a 10-15 knot winds forecast and thick grey clouds lining the sky, but that wasn't going to stop me... I planned to launch from Eimeo Ck and head out to the bommies out the front to see if I could rustle anything up jigging the edges with a few new DUO lures.

I hit the water around 7am which was a little later than I'd have liked but I enjoyed my little sleep in. The wind was already up so I decided to troll along the beach until I was in line with the closest bommie then head out from there. After trolling the beach for a couple of kilometres without any luck I changed direction and started heading out to my destination. As I went past the shark nets I noticed a lot of bait on the sounder with some bigger fish hanging around below them, it was a bit eerie but I had a few drops with a little DUO Fusion Pressbait and a 125mm PressbaitHD without any luck so I continued on my mission.

When I got out to the first set of rocks I noticed a few mackerel and tuna busting up to the north so I headed over for a look. Once in amongst the baitball I waited until the fish started to bust up before deploying my lure in their direction, I had a couple of good hits and after a few casts found that the split ring on my little Fusion Pressbait had straightened and I had no hooks on it... Luckily I always carry spares so I re-rigged it with a new set of hooks and rings but by this stage the fish had moved on, I could see them busting up on the horizon but I couldn't be bothered chasing them around.

I decided to find some bait in deeper water around the bommies and drop my jig down to see if I could get on the scoreboard. After a bit of searching I found what I was looking for and I was marking some good fish on the sounder but do you think I could tempt them... I tried plastics, vibes, sinking stickbaits and metals with fast, slow, erratic and every retrieve I could think of but nothing was getting a sniff except for 1 little cod which took a liking to my little DUO jig.

After around an hour of trying I decided to give up on these tight lipped critters and change tactics. I decided to have a bit of a troll around the rocks to see if there was anything decent willing to play the game. As I was doing this I threw my metal towards the rocks and brought it back with speed, after a couple of casts the water erupted and this got me excited until the fish launched into the air and revealed its head, a stinking longtom.

I continued to troll around the bommie without any luck hoping to pick up a golden trevally or something decent. After a couple of laps and lure changes I decided to pull the pin and head back defeated. I started to make my way back in continuing to troll, I headed back in along the same track as I came out and while approaching the shark nets I tied my DUO Pressbait HD onto my 4000 Stella SW/ Salina 3 combo and threw it ahead of my travel path.

I let the lure sink for 5 seconds before giving it 2 sharp jerks to a couple of fast handle turns then a pause. On my 3rd cast I felt a solid tap on the pause so I struck and missed, this seemed to trigger the fish and it came back with a vengeance, this time the hooks found their mark and my Salina 3 rod folded over and braid started to peel off my 4000SW. I still had a lure out the back trolling and there were a few hectic moments as I held onto one rod with the fish towing me around while attempting to bring my other line in with my left hand. As I was doing this I saw in the corner of my eye a big splash and what looked like a barracuda. This was a little disheartening but I was still happy to be solidly connected.

Once I had my other line in I could finally manage to steer the yak towards the fish and I actually got to put a bit of pressure on the fish, by this stage he was around 60-70m away and towing me along quite fast. I paddled along to try and keep as little distance between us as possible before I finally started to gain some line. Once he fish was around 30m out it became really stubborn, slowly swimming off as I paddled up on him, neither of us were gaining any line. This confirmed my suspicion of it being a big barracuda, that was until it regained some energy and started sizzling the Stella once again as it burned off on another fast run. After around 20-30m it took to the air and I was surprised to see a monster queenfish bigger than any I had seen before. This raised the stakes and the adrenalin kicked in once again as I tried not to let him throw my barbless hooks on the jump. Knowing that queenfish don't release we'll after extended fights I paddled as hard as I could to keep up with him, by this stage I was halfway between the shark nets and the beach. I got him close a few times but struggled to get close enough to tail grab him so I decided to try and take him to the beach to land it.

This fish was far from done though, as I tried to coax him into the shallows he resisted with all his might. After finally making it to the sand and beaching the yak I put some serious hurt on him and dragged him up into the shallows to be tail grabbed. I ended up with a group of onlookers which were very helpful taking pictures once I had the fish in the beach. I laid the rod down on the fish and marked it to measure when I got home before getting a few quick photos and taking the fish out to release. It took a bit but after 5 minutes or so of holding his head into the waves he started to revive and kicked off.

I watched to make sure he went off alright before thanking the guys on the beach and heading back out to continue my trek home. I threw my lure out as trolled my way back to the ramp without any more success but it didn't matter to me as my day had already been made. Once I got home I measured the mark on my rod and it went 134cm to the tip. This smashed my previous PB of 114cm so I was more than happy with my mornings efforts.

Anyway that is all, I will leave you all with a few more pics of the monster even though they don't do it justice. The lure is 125mm long so you can see that it's head is around 300mm deep... An estimated guess of its weight would be around 12kg or more.

Thanks for reading! :)

Mick`s Gone Fishing

http://micksgonefishing.com/