NT Fishing Report

Fishing
With Alex Julius

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought this week that I would make some suggestions for the fisho in the family.

For starters, you really can’t hit the water without a pair of polarised sunglasses.

A new brand on the market worth checking out is Tonic Eyewear which has developed a range of sunglasses that suit both the professional fisherman and the sporting amateur. The lenses are available in grey and copper polycarbonate, or grey glass and copper photochromic glass, which darken automatically according to changing light conditions.

I’ve been wearing a pair on recent fishing trips and the clarity is first class with outstanding polarisation, especially when fishing and moving across shallow reefs.

Fish identification is often a topic of discussion amongst anglers, and a great present for the inquisitive angler is the latest Fil-O-Fish waterproof fish I.D. pocket book which contains 400 of the most important angling species, both marine and freshwater, taken by recreational fishers around the country.

There’s a quality photograph of each species matched to its Australian standard name, as well as information on its scientific name, family name, habitat, main distinguishing diagnostic features, size range (maximum recorded length and weight), Australian distribution and eating quality.

If you are like me (or like I used to be) you would have a bunch of blunt fishing knives sitting in the shed, garage or back room.

For me, those days are all gone thanks to the automatic Nirey KE-3000 Knife Sharpener. No kidding, I now have more than a dozen razor-sharp knives that seem to hold their edge better than when they were new. With this bottler unit, sharpening is achieved by two closed-cell rubber-covered wheels, each carrying endless abrasive belts.

The left wheel sharpens the left side of the blade and the right wheel, the right side.  During sharpening, the knife is supported at the correct angle by the central guide.

If you get one of these, make sure you read the instructions first which I didn’t – hence I angled the blade wrongly and cut the belt which I then had to replace.

If you are into onboard cooking, look no further than Dometic’s Sovereign BBQs and Grills which are purpose-built for barbecuing on board your vessel.

This is a quality BBQ which has a removable plate and fat tray for easy cleaning, lockable lid for easy carriage, baffled air intake, adjustable steam vent in the lid and wind guards to contain unwanted fat splatter.

The plate is manufactured from 3CR12, a material that provides a superior cooking surface with excellent thermal conductivity and rust resistance. Available in two sizes, the marine 316 stainless steel models are, Bravo small and Alpha large.

Okay, let’s get onto some serious fishing items.

If you’re happy to spend a few bucks on your angling better half, then you really can’t go wrong with the ABU Garcia REVO MGX. This little pearler won the Best New Reel at the Australian Fishing Tackle Show in 2011.

It is a good-looking, low-profile baitcast reel that is so light you are left wondering if you actually picked it up – unbelievably, it tips the scales at a mere 151gm! It also features a free-running lightweight spool that fits 120m of 10kg braid or 100m of 15kg, both suited to barra fishing.

Straight out of the box, the drag is smooth yet powerful, capable of punching well above its weight. With 9 plus 1 bearings, a 7.1:1 gear ratio, and able to cast eye-popping long distances with silky precision, there’s no way this reel will disappoint.

In the fishing rod department, Shimano’s new Terez rods are built specifically to fish braid with.

Designed to be longer and to have a slower taper than traditional Australian blank designs, these bluewater rods maintain easy-to-fight power whilst retaining some shock cushion for braided line usage.

I had the opportunity to use a Terez Spin Medium 2.4m off Fraser Island recently and boy was it impressive. The TC4 technology featuring 4-ply graphite creates a light and powerful rod. Added to this are EVA grips and custom aluminum reel seats matched with the new Fuji K guide with alconite rings.

Spinning and overhead models range from 5kg to 45kg in Pearl white blanks with metallic silver binds, and are ideally suited up here for bluewater jigging, trolling and live-baiting.

Big goldies are on the chew – Steve Starling with a ripper golden snapper jigged up from South Gutter using a Squidgy Shad.

Dometic’s Sovereign Alpha barbecue is just the shot for cooking up a storm on your boat.

The ABU Garcia REVO MGX baitcaster that would put a smile on any angler’s face come Christmas Day.