On 15 January, 2019, I received some very exciting news from NSW DPI Fisheries. It seems that a large dusky flathead I tagged and fin-clipped for DNA analysis on 16th October, 2018 had recently been recaptured and re-released. The fish measured 84.5 cm when I caught it in mid-October, in the lower reaches of Tuross Lake. On 4th January, 2019, when recaptured by Ian “Hoots” Cowie, it had grown to 86.5 cm (that’s 2 cm of growth in just 80 days!) and had moved at least two nautical miles (close to 4km) up the Tuross River. It was also in excellent condition at the time of recapture and had clearly put on weight. The fish swum away very strongly when released the second time. (As an interesting side note, Ian reports that there was quite a bit of weed growth on the tag that had to be scraped off to reveal the serial number.) Interestingly, this fish was hooked quite deeply when I caught it on a big, un-weighted soft plastic, requiring the use of long-nosed pliers to remove the hooks, and it did bleed slightly. It was then held in the circulating live-well aboard my boat for approximately 20 minutes and transported several hundred metres to the boat ramp so that I could meet my wife Jo and John Suthern from the Tuross Heads Fishing Club, who had the fin-clip sampling kit. None of those original handling parameters were optimal or ideal, yet the fish not only survived, but clearly thrived. For me, this is EXCELLENT news and bodes very well for the survival of large flathead that can be quickly unhooked and released with minimal handling at or near the capture sight, as recommended. (For details on how to best handle flathead...
Flying Flathead!
posted by Starlo
With the growing interest these days in fly fishing — especially in saltwater — I thought I’d have a close look at one of the more readily available estuarine and inshore species, and one that represents an ideal starting point for a bit of “swoffing”. That fish is the humble flathead. But first, a few thoughts on fly-fishing in general: WHAT IS FLY FISHING? Fly-fishing has a reputation for being a mysterious and difficult art, mostly practiced by crusty, pipe-smoking old toffs in tweed jackets resplendent with leather elbow patches… But the times have indeed changed! These days, fly-fishing has largely been de-mystified, and it’s also no longer solely about catching trout… nor even fishing only in freshwater. The biggest trick to breaking down any remaining misconceptions surrounding fly fishing is to accept that it’s really no more than a specialised form of lure fishing, in which the “lure” is too light or too wind resistant to be cast any serious distance using conventional spinning or baitcaster tackle… Simple as that! Flies are just artificial baits, exactly like any other lure. However, being made from fur, fibres, tinsel and feathers lashed to a hook with thread, they’re virtually weightless. This presents a challenge from the casting perspective. Through the centuries, that challenge has been overcome by incorporating the necessary casting weight into the line instead of the lure. So, a fly line is effectively no more or less than a long, skinny sinker or float! Its weight or mass is used to deliver that lightweight lure to a fish. The best way to throw such a long, skinny casting weight is to swish it back and forth through the air in order to form a travelling loop that can be extended and then unfurled...
THE SNUBBY BOAT FILES: PART 4...
posted by Starlo
In this fourth part of my ongoing blog series about our new Beastmaster Boats Snubby 500 rig, I reveal the “vital statistics” of the boat and share a few recent images of it in action. If you’d like to read Part 1, click here. For Part 2, click here. And for Part 3, click here. Also, don’t forget that you can watch a short video of the boat’s maiden voyage right here. Okay, down to business! VITAL STATISTICS: BEASTMASTER SNUBBY 500* LENGTH: 5.0 metres (16′ 6″) BEAM: 1.98 metres (6′ 6″) HULL DEPTH: 0.76 metres (2′ 6″) HULL SIDES: 0.57 metres (1′ 11″) DRAFT: 0.26 metres (10″) DRY HULL WEIGHT: approx. 375 kilos (827 lb) * Explanatory Notes: Measurements quoted are generally to within a few millimetres and all conversions to imperial have been rounded up or down to nearest inch or pound. Hull Depth refers to the maximum depth from gunwale tops/coamings to the deepest part of hull. Hull Sides are flat sides from coamings to chines. Draft (vertical distance between the waterline and deepest part of keel) is an approximate figure (+/- 10%) for the unladen hull and will depend on weight added, load distribution, salinity of water, etc. For this reason, the draft shown should be regarded as a minimum under ideal conditions. Dry Hull Weight is an approximate figure (+/- 10%) and obviously does not include motor, batteries, fuel, electronics, safety gear and other equipment. Next time we’ll have a look at the Yamaha F70A four-stroke outboard fitted to the Snubby, along with the MotorGuide Xi5 bow-mounted electric trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and various other fittings. Until then, tight lines… and meanwhile, here are a few more images of the rig in action: For more, follow me on...
KNELLER LURES ARE BACK!...
posted by Starlo
My good mate Paul Kneller first began making lures professionally a quarter of a century ago, in the early 1990s, under the banner of Deception Lures. He quickly carved a loyal market niche for these beautiful, hand-crafted timber hard bodies. Deception Shrimps, in particular, became the “go-to” lure at places like Lake Windamere, in central western NSW, while his Nippers, Cherax, Yabbies, Palaemons and other models also developed a strong following amongst both fresh and saltwater anglers. The Deception brand was eventually sold to the Brisbane-based Tacspo company around 2004, when Paul and his wife Cheryl opened a tackle shop in Maclean, in far northern NSW. Following this change-over, Paul’s original Deceptions quickly became collector’s items, attracting high prices on the boutique secondhand market. I’m pleased to announce that after a long lay off from making and designing lures, Paul is back with renewed vigour and passion, keen to take his lures to the next level in terms of detail, action and quality. The models shown here are just an entree, with many more lures to be added to the line-up over the coming months and years. Best of all, every Kneller lure is crafted from wood, and Paul insists that this will never change! Here’s a very quick rundown of some of the gems in Kneller’s new range. You can find out more by visiting his page on Facebook here, going directly to his on-line shop here, or emailing Paul at: shake.bake@bigpond.com CHERNOBYL SHAD 55FD The Chernobyl Shad 55FD is a 55mm fat-bodied lure that could be best described as an all-rounder; suited to bass, bigger bream, flathead, estuary perch, trout, sooties and so on. The Chernobyl Shad will dive to around 3 metres on the troll or off a long cast, with...
The Snubby Boat Files: Part 2...
posted by Starlo
In this second installment of the Snubby Boat Files, we finally get our new Beastmaster Snubby 500 boat wet. You can watch our short video of the event here, or by simply clicking the play button below: Even a grey, overcast and cool day couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm for giving “Mad Keen” (yes, she’s been officially named!) her first on-water run. Launching was a breeze and everything worked exactly as it should. We puttered slowly up through the 8-knot zone, then gradually increased the power… With the brand-spanking new F70A Yamaha still very much in run-in mode, we needed to frequently vary the revs and only touch full noise very briefly, but we were extremely impressed by the rig’s initial performance. It seems the motor height and prop choice (a Yamaha SS [stainless steel] Talon SDS 14K 13 1/8) were spot on… which is always a huge relief! (Find out more about those amazing Talon SDS props here.) Please note that the preliminary performance figures shown below are with a motor that’s still very new and therefore a tad tight. Also, there was very little additional gear in the boat, apart from basic safety equipment, 10 litres of fuel and two people. Here are the initial speeds we observed (via the GPS) at various revs: INITIAL PERFORMANCE FIGURES 3500 RPM = 15 knots (28 km/h) 4000 RPM = 20 knots (37 km/h) 5000 RPM = 25 knots (46 km/h) 6000RPM = 29 knots (54 km/h) 6100 RPM = 30 knots (55.5 km/h)* * Wide open throttle I’m particularly impressed by being able to sit on 20 knots or a whisker over (around 40 km/h) at 4000 to 4200 RPM, as this is an extremely economical mode of operation. I’d expect to be covering close...
International Exposure for Aussie Fly Fishing...
posted by Starlo
North American-based “The New Fly Fisher” on-line magazine has given my latest feature on fly fishing for Aussie bread and butter species in our southern estuaries a wonderful and unprecedented 20-page run in their latest issue! It’s a real honour to be able to introduce fish such as bream, flathead and luderick to a huge international audience of dedicated fly fishers… This is definitely one of the best on-line fly mags I’ve ever seen. You can subscribe for free or have a preview look here with just a few clicks:...
Starlo Pro Lures Launched!...
posted by Starlo
It’s not every day that you get to launch a comprehensive range of hard-bodied lures and semi-soft topwaters onto the Australian market, knowing that each lure will retail for $10 or less, yet still be an excellent fish catcher, with a classy finish and better-than-average hardware. However, that’s what I’m happy to say I’ve been able to do with my new STARLO PRO Lures range, designed and selected by me exclusively for the BCF chain of stores here in Australia. Now, I realise from past comments here and elsewhere that not every Aussie angler is necessarily a huge fan of BCF. There’s no doubt that the big chains (including BCF) have led to the demise of some small independent tackle stores, just as the competition from Coles and Woolworths has resulted in a reduction in numbers of local grocery outlets, butcher shops and so on. Nonetheless, for better or worse, I suspect there’s a certain inevitability to this sort of evolution in the world of retail. It’s also true that the better independents (in all fields, including fishing tackle) will not only survive but thrive in the face of such competition. They achieve this by providing the sort of expert advice, individualised customer service and “value adding” that most chains simply can’t or won’t offer. Meanwhile, BCF and their ilk do provide an excellent service to a great many customers, employ a heap of Aussie workers in the process, and don’t, in my experience, indulge in the sort of “crazy, crazy, crazy!” unsustainable discounting that could damage the industry. So, I’m more than happy to be involved with sourcing and designing exclusive lines of tackle for them, just as I have on occasion for other companies. Anyway, if you’d like...
BACK TO BASICS: Spooling Up Part 2...
posted by Starlo
In the first part of this blog series on spooling up your reel, I looked at attaching the end of your line to the spool of your reel before beginning to crank all that line on… Now it’s time to work up a sweat as we finish the job! Hopefully, you’ll remember that in that first part I instructed you to fit the reel to a rod, run the end of the new line down through at least one runner, wrap it several times around the spool core, then secure it firmly in place with a five or six turn Uni Knot. I also stressed that if you’re filling a spinning (threadline) reel, you’ll need to open the bail arm first, before attaching the line, while if it was a baitcaster, the line would need to pass through the level wind carrier first. After tying that important Uni Knot, tightening it firmly and trimming the knot to leave a one or two centimetre tag, you can actually begin spooling up… This is the physically active part of the process! (Note that if you’re spooling with braided or fused gel-spun polyethylene line, lots of people suggest laying down a base of 15 or 20 metres of mono first and tying your braid to this. To be honest, I don’t usually do this, but it’s not a bad idea.) TO READ THIS REST OF THIS BLOG SERIES, GO TO “STARLO’S INNER CIRCLE”, BY CLICKING...
Picking Plastics: The Selection Process...
posted by Starlo
Over the course of a year, I get to talk to a lot of soft plastics fishers from around the country. Some I meet at seminars and shows. Others I chat with via the various pages on Facebook that I run or help to administer (especially the StarloFishing, Fishingscool and Squidgy Soft Plastics pages), or through my blogs here at www.starlofishing.me Still others send their letters or emails to me via the magazines I write for. However, no matter what the source of the enquiry, one question (or variations of it) dominates the calls for advice that I receive. Typically, that query begins with the words: “What’s the best soft plastic for…?” The rest of that sentence almost always contains a species of fish and a precise location: What’s the best soft plastic for bream in the Patterson Lakes? What’s the best soft plastic for trout in the Murrumbidgee River? What’s the best soft plastic for flathead on the Gold Coast? What’s the best soft plastic for yellowbelly in the Murray? What’s the best soft plastic for redfin in Lake Eildon? What’s the best for barra in the Daly? And so on… I can’t help but smile at the geographic specificity of these well-meaning questions. Anglers clearly have their favourite fishing spots and they seem to expect that the fish they chase in these beloved haunts will behave just a little differently to those living down the road, around the bend or across the border. Generally speaking, this is not the case. I’ve caught redfin perch in the New England rivers of north western NSW, and also in the very “old England” rivers around the historical university city of Cambridge, in Great Britain (where they’re simply known as perch). Rather unsurprisingly, these fish looked...
Snag-Proof Your Soft Plastics!...
posted by Starlo
Rigging your Squidgies and other soft plastic lures “weedless” or “snag-proof” is much easier than many people seem to think! And once they’re rigged this way, it’s possible to cast these lures into places you could never otherwise reach or cover effectively without constantly snagging up your line and losing expensive tackle. Trust me, you’ll catch a lot more fish as a result of adding this little trick to your rigging repertoire. These days, at least 75 – 80% of the plastics I cast for barramundi and saratoga in northern Australian waters are rigged weedless/snag-proof. But these innovative rigging strategies go far beyond those species. The same approach works like a charm on any fish that favours hanging out in or around dense snag, rock or weed cover. Bream, bass, estuary perch, flathead, mangrove jack, fingermark, Murray cod, golden perch (yellowbelly) and even trout can all be targeted very effectively by “Texas-rigging” your softies on wide-gape worm hooks. The most important part of this rigging system is a wide-gaped worm hook, or a jig head or other delivery vehicle that incorporates a wide gape worm hook. These hooks may look a bit odd at first glance, but they work really well. Lots of companies now make this style of hook. Some good ones include Mustad, Owner, Gamakatsu, and VMC. One really interesting new addition to the wide gape worm hook field is the KVD Grip-Pin hook from Mustad. This clever hook incorporates a little pin that helps keep the head of the rigged plastic in place, preventing it from being too easily ripped free or scrunched down into the hook bend by a striking fish. Another very innovative presentation vehicle for this style of rigging is the TT Lures Snake Head. The best way to...