Christmas Luck - Mackerel, Squid and Sea Sickness on telescopic rods
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 3:20 pm
Hey all,
Though I am best known here for asking for advice, and then failing to catch anything, going back home to SA usually delivers for me.
As it did again this Christmas break! I had less time to go fishing than I planned, but most of it was pretty spot on for me.
First trip was out on the boat with my parents and wife, just out of North Haven fishing around the suburban beaches. My parents usually just go for crabs - and we did pretty well with 15 or 20 nice blue swimmers.
I wanted to fish though, and it was a great move. I was flicking tiny soft plastics (AliBaba special - honestly very impressive for the money!) and it seemed like every cast I was getting hit with a mackerel. Soon, my success inspired everyone else with my mum and wife baitfishing off the boat and picking up plenty of mackerel on cockles or squid.
It was absolute madness - they are pretty good fighting fish on light gear honestly, and with so many coming into the boat things got chaotic. Most times the bait fishoes were getting double headers with fish flapping all over a pretty small boat. Mine were dropping off the hook getting into the boat but I didn't mind - no need to be greedy.
My mum gets into fishing frenzies and would dehook the fish, then put her rod straight back in, getting more bites while I was left to deal with the fish. So crabs, nets, fish and lines started to get tangled up. We lost one fish under the boat's floorboards and that could not be recovered - I guess that just adds to the boat's character, right?
In the end we headed back in with almost 40 fish or so, one of my best days out like that and loads of fun. Spent the evening filleting everything, then smoked some of the fish, pickled some japanese style (Shime Saba) and grilled some on the Weber later. Mackerel is a great eating fish if you treat it right, especially fresh.
As mentioned, I was better equipped for this trip. I asked on here for rod advice before Christmas, specifically if there were any good telescopic rods as I am chronically short of storage space in my Melbourne apartment so it all lives in the car. People advised against it, but I scoured the weird parts of the internet for reviews and advice and ended up going in a couple of directions. I had two cheap jarvis walker telescopic rods to replace, real pieces of junk.
I got one Kastking Blackhawk II tele rod from Alibaba. These have so many fake reviews online it was really hard to tell if they would be any good at all - but they were also immensely popular and some people seemed to genuinely like them. I saw a few reviews of people catching decent fish on them and for forty bucks or so, I couldn't help but try one out. I got the 6'6 ML rod and honestly, it performed really well. It's a whole new world compared to the rods I had, which probably cost about the same. Eight or nine guides including some floating guides, light construction, pretty solidly built, I would say a reasonably soft action but good enough for what I need. I caught all the mackerel on this and the squid that shows up later and it's loads of fun.
Also, as my christmas present from the wife, I asked her to order in a 'good' telescopic rod from Japan, a longer one that could double as surf lure launcher. The range of options was eye opening, with all the big brands like Daiwa, Abu, Shimano producing a pretty wide and cool range of tele rods. The prices on Amazon Japan were pretty good but they stopped delivering to Australia, so I searched far and wide and found a decent vendor and put in an order. I settled on an Alpha Tackle 'TrGr' Tip Top 906MH rod. I went for the Tip Top because it was the most reasonably priced semi premium option and fit my specs pretty well. It came in about $120 or so, all Fuji guides, carbon fibre construction, lure weight 5 - 45 grams, etc etc. This thing feels a lot more premium than the Blackhawk, for sure - probably the nicest rod I've ever had to be honest!
It also performed well, but I'm not used to such a long rod so it took a while to get used to. I have started rigging up my rods in a new way too, which has really upped my enjoyment and how quickly I can get fishing. Braid to fluoro leader with a double Uni knot. At the end of a leader, a simple 00 or 000 round snap. I can pull out some line, open up the rod, clip on a lure or jig and I am fishing within 30 seconds. Likewise, I can unclip my lure at the end of a session, collapse the rod and reel in the snap and I am ready to head back on the road in about 20 seconds!
This set up served me well on the trip, although I lost a couple due to bad Uni knots which I've only recently learned to tie.If anyone wants a review of the rods, or maybe some of my research on tele options, just say and I will happily post something up.
Back to fishing.
I had a morning fish down Port Elliott way, from the jetty at the Bluff. It was a beautiful day and this was a great spot. When I arrived it was empty, the water is completely clear with beautiful rock structure and lots of sea life below. It did pick up with a lot of fishoes and loads of divers and snorkellers passing through before long. I caught a nice little squid, again on the BlackHawk rod on a 2.5 jig. I lost a nice 3.5 due to one of my bad Unis as mentioned.
https://i.imgur.com/1p9tDP4.jpg picture was too big to attach sorry.
I was chased in by a few other squid but they were skittish and with the divers around, I couldn't always cast out to chase them again until it was too late. I had to rush off to a family event so my trip was cut short. A kid was snorkelling around picking up lost lures, he reckoned he had thirty of them within half an hour. Apparently he does it every day during the Christmas break and has more then enough lures and jigs for the year - I don't doubt it.
Next trip was New Years day, up to Yorkes Peninsula with the parents. My wife had to head back to work and I did my best not to rub in my extra time off and fishing trips. They have a little shack near one of the boat ramps, and a couple of cray pots. The fishing down there is usually awesome, and the weather was supposed to be good.
We had a go from the Marion Bay jetty, about twenty people after squid, with some really bad wind. No signs of squid at all, which is rare. Lovely weed bed with crystal clear water though. I ended up throwing my mackerel destroying plastic off the end of the jetty and hooked a big snook first cast, which copped some **** from the other impatient fishoes! I had a few more chase me in but no more action. By the time I left there were a few people on the end of the jetty trying the same thing.
Next morning we went out at first light, the weather was awful the boat was bobbing around like a cork. I don't get seasick easily but this set me off in record time. Once we stopped the boat to check the cray pots, I was turning green in minutes. Nothing in the pots either! We went back in instead of trying for any fish.
I went and had a lie down. Tragedy struck. I came out a little later and realised the boat had been put away. As I was woozy, I hadn't cleaned my gear off the boat. Well, the boat was backed in with the rod still in the rocket launcher. Snapped clean at the handle. It's a real bummer, and the store I got it from didn't have any other stock, so I am outta luck on an exact replacement.
I spent the afternoon wading around, plenty of sea life around me, saw about 10 rays and some big schools of mullet which had no interest in my plastics. The wind was rough and tides strong so I couldn't stay out for long. Had a go the next day in the kayak and ended up just getting blown around so packed it in. Parents went out early to check the pots and came back with a cray, so they were happy. The neighbours had been catching tuna out there too.
Back to Adelaide. I spent my last day attempting to fix up my rod. Razored off the broken edges, got a dowel that fit the gap, used a load of araldite to secure it. Then wrapped that in blind cord and araldited that to hell, and then shrink wrapped over it. Feels fairly solid and luckily it's not a structural part of the rod. Obviously I lost some length and I wouldn't be keen to test the join, but I am not expecting any huge fish. The downside is the dowel blocks the rod from fully retracting.
Then I drove back to Melbourne in a day. I was planning on spending a few days camping and fishing along the coast (asked for tips on where to stay here too - thanks and sorry I didn't take advantage of it!) but time was ticking until I had to go back to work and I would have been rushed.
So that's it! Adelaide delivers, bit of good luck and a bit of bad. I am better equipped than ever before and have a neat new fishing style for whenever I can grab a quick moment to fish!
Though I am best known here for asking for advice, and then failing to catch anything, going back home to SA usually delivers for me.
As it did again this Christmas break! I had less time to go fishing than I planned, but most of it was pretty spot on for me.
First trip was out on the boat with my parents and wife, just out of North Haven fishing around the suburban beaches. My parents usually just go for crabs - and we did pretty well with 15 or 20 nice blue swimmers.
I wanted to fish though, and it was a great move. I was flicking tiny soft plastics (AliBaba special - honestly very impressive for the money!) and it seemed like every cast I was getting hit with a mackerel. Soon, my success inspired everyone else with my mum and wife baitfishing off the boat and picking up plenty of mackerel on cockles or squid.
It was absolute madness - they are pretty good fighting fish on light gear honestly, and with so many coming into the boat things got chaotic. Most times the bait fishoes were getting double headers with fish flapping all over a pretty small boat. Mine were dropping off the hook getting into the boat but I didn't mind - no need to be greedy.
My mum gets into fishing frenzies and would dehook the fish, then put her rod straight back in, getting more bites while I was left to deal with the fish. So crabs, nets, fish and lines started to get tangled up. We lost one fish under the boat's floorboards and that could not be recovered - I guess that just adds to the boat's character, right?
In the end we headed back in with almost 40 fish or so, one of my best days out like that and loads of fun. Spent the evening filleting everything, then smoked some of the fish, pickled some japanese style (Shime Saba) and grilled some on the Weber later. Mackerel is a great eating fish if you treat it right, especially fresh.
As mentioned, I was better equipped for this trip. I asked on here for rod advice before Christmas, specifically if there were any good telescopic rods as I am chronically short of storage space in my Melbourne apartment so it all lives in the car. People advised against it, but I scoured the weird parts of the internet for reviews and advice and ended up going in a couple of directions. I had two cheap jarvis walker telescopic rods to replace, real pieces of junk.
I got one Kastking Blackhawk II tele rod from Alibaba. These have so many fake reviews online it was really hard to tell if they would be any good at all - but they were also immensely popular and some people seemed to genuinely like them. I saw a few reviews of people catching decent fish on them and for forty bucks or so, I couldn't help but try one out. I got the 6'6 ML rod and honestly, it performed really well. It's a whole new world compared to the rods I had, which probably cost about the same. Eight or nine guides including some floating guides, light construction, pretty solidly built, I would say a reasonably soft action but good enough for what I need. I caught all the mackerel on this and the squid that shows up later and it's loads of fun.
Also, as my christmas present from the wife, I asked her to order in a 'good' telescopic rod from Japan, a longer one that could double as surf lure launcher. The range of options was eye opening, with all the big brands like Daiwa, Abu, Shimano producing a pretty wide and cool range of tele rods. The prices on Amazon Japan were pretty good but they stopped delivering to Australia, so I searched far and wide and found a decent vendor and put in an order. I settled on an Alpha Tackle 'TrGr' Tip Top 906MH rod. I went for the Tip Top because it was the most reasonably priced semi premium option and fit my specs pretty well. It came in about $120 or so, all Fuji guides, carbon fibre construction, lure weight 5 - 45 grams, etc etc. This thing feels a lot more premium than the Blackhawk, for sure - probably the nicest rod I've ever had to be honest!
It also performed well, but I'm not used to such a long rod so it took a while to get used to. I have started rigging up my rods in a new way too, which has really upped my enjoyment and how quickly I can get fishing. Braid to fluoro leader with a double Uni knot. At the end of a leader, a simple 00 or 000 round snap. I can pull out some line, open up the rod, clip on a lure or jig and I am fishing within 30 seconds. Likewise, I can unclip my lure at the end of a session, collapse the rod and reel in the snap and I am ready to head back on the road in about 20 seconds!
This set up served me well on the trip, although I lost a couple due to bad Uni knots which I've only recently learned to tie.If anyone wants a review of the rods, or maybe some of my research on tele options, just say and I will happily post something up.
Back to fishing.
I had a morning fish down Port Elliott way, from the jetty at the Bluff. It was a beautiful day and this was a great spot. When I arrived it was empty, the water is completely clear with beautiful rock structure and lots of sea life below. It did pick up with a lot of fishoes and loads of divers and snorkellers passing through before long. I caught a nice little squid, again on the BlackHawk rod on a 2.5 jig. I lost a nice 3.5 due to one of my bad Unis as mentioned.
https://i.imgur.com/1p9tDP4.jpg picture was too big to attach sorry.
I was chased in by a few other squid but they were skittish and with the divers around, I couldn't always cast out to chase them again until it was too late. I had to rush off to a family event so my trip was cut short. A kid was snorkelling around picking up lost lures, he reckoned he had thirty of them within half an hour. Apparently he does it every day during the Christmas break and has more then enough lures and jigs for the year - I don't doubt it.
Next trip was New Years day, up to Yorkes Peninsula with the parents. My wife had to head back to work and I did my best not to rub in my extra time off and fishing trips. They have a little shack near one of the boat ramps, and a couple of cray pots. The fishing down there is usually awesome, and the weather was supposed to be good.
We had a go from the Marion Bay jetty, about twenty people after squid, with some really bad wind. No signs of squid at all, which is rare. Lovely weed bed with crystal clear water though. I ended up throwing my mackerel destroying plastic off the end of the jetty and hooked a big snook first cast, which copped some **** from the other impatient fishoes! I had a few more chase me in but no more action. By the time I left there were a few people on the end of the jetty trying the same thing.
Next morning we went out at first light, the weather was awful the boat was bobbing around like a cork. I don't get seasick easily but this set me off in record time. Once we stopped the boat to check the cray pots, I was turning green in minutes. Nothing in the pots either! We went back in instead of trying for any fish.
I went and had a lie down. Tragedy struck. I came out a little later and realised the boat had been put away. As I was woozy, I hadn't cleaned my gear off the boat. Well, the boat was backed in with the rod still in the rocket launcher. Snapped clean at the handle. It's a real bummer, and the store I got it from didn't have any other stock, so I am outta luck on an exact replacement.
I spent the afternoon wading around, plenty of sea life around me, saw about 10 rays and some big schools of mullet which had no interest in my plastics. The wind was rough and tides strong so I couldn't stay out for long. Had a go the next day in the kayak and ended up just getting blown around so packed it in. Parents went out early to check the pots and came back with a cray, so they were happy. The neighbours had been catching tuna out there too.
Back to Adelaide. I spent my last day attempting to fix up my rod. Razored off the broken edges, got a dowel that fit the gap, used a load of araldite to secure it. Then wrapped that in blind cord and araldited that to hell, and then shrink wrapped over it. Feels fairly solid and luckily it's not a structural part of the rod. Obviously I lost some length and I wouldn't be keen to test the join, but I am not expecting any huge fish. The downside is the dowel blocks the rod from fully retracting.
Then I drove back to Melbourne in a day. I was planning on spending a few days camping and fishing along the coast (asked for tips on where to stay here too - thanks and sorry I didn't take advantage of it!) but time was ticking until I had to go back to work and I would have been rushed.
So that's it! Adelaide delivers, bit of good luck and a bit of bad. I am better equipped than ever before and have a neat new fishing style for whenever I can grab a quick moment to fish!