# Very Interesting Fishing Talks from Sydney Boat Show (Long)



## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

Hi all,

I went to the Sydney boat show and managed to sit through all of the fishing speakers that were there giving talks. While there were about eight different people speaking, three stood out for me and interestingly they were all on the same topic completely independantly.

The three guys were Steve Starling, John Bethune and Peter Pakula. Everything that they said was very interesting and I'll try and relay some of the things they mentioned. Most of this stuff I already have as a mindset and has proved very productive for me in my fishing so far, but I wonder how many of you guys think along similar lines. Would love to hear all your comments on this one  .

The basis of the talks was to use a fined down but well balanced outfit. Peter Pakula of Marlin lure fame actually had the evidence to back up his words too. The story goes something like this:

"He was trolling about 3km out of Brisbane over a well known reef (name escapes me) for yellow fin tuna one day and had an underwater camera out the back of the boat watching the lures. He was amazed at the numer of fish that came a had a look at the lures, but veered off at the last second because something didn't feel right. They decided to start cubing for these tuna and it became evident from the camera pictures that alot of these fish also were inspecting, but veering away from the pilchard bait, with only the odd one hooking up. They decided to switch leader and hook sizes to something smaller suspecting that the fish could see what they were using. Anyway, they ended up using 2 kilo leader and a size 1 hook buried in the pilchard and found that these same fish were no longer veering away and were taking the bait straight down. Obviously the fish could see the heavier line and hooks and it's all caught on the footage.

At the end of the session they dropped the camera over the side of the boat to rinse off all of the blood from the tuna from the cables. As they were dragging up the camera red flashes were streaking across the camera lense. Wondering what they were they lowered the camera back to the bottom and waited. What they saw amazed them, the red streaks were huge snapper. As it was too good an opportunity to pass up, the baits went over the side again with the heavy gear and the snapper totally ignored the baits. Again they decided to fine down the tackle and again these fish were only interested once they got done to 2kg leader with the hook buried in the bait. Apparently he enquired about snapper off this reef and was told that no snapper are caught there, except the odd one every now and again, but definately not in any great numbers. Many huge fish were definately there (and he mentioned 10 to 15 kg fish on 2kg line :shock: ) but no-one ever caught them because the fish were too clued up on the heavy gear. Apparently things have now changed with large snapper now being caught regularly on the reef, but with much lighter tackle."

As an aside I think that Peter Pakula will be staying around Sydney for a few days fishing. Apparently a commercial diver has been working just a couple of kms off Sydney head and has seen alot of 100kg+ yellow fin tuna free swimming on their own and no-one is out fishing for them.......yet :!:

Steve Starling also had something interesting to say about the AFC Bream and Bass tournaments that have been run recently. All of the top guys are using ultra modern fine diameter flourocarbons or the "double strength" mono's as leaders to the braided mainlines. Whilst I'm not denying that they have the dedication to absolutely perfect their retrieves etc, etc, leader line selection must be a huge influencing factor.

Next time you go out and get ready to tie on that 10kg leader, just stop and think for a second, "do I really need that much stopping power?", or will 4 or 5 kg leader (or lighter) do the same job? Also make sure that your drag is set up correctly (about a quarter to a third of breaking strain) otherwise many fish will be lost. Hopefully this approach will get us all a few more fish (me included :wink: ).

Cheers.......Nick


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

There is a trend amongst tournament breamers to using light (2lb) fluorocarbon straight through in areas where bustoffs of less likely, eg flats. The argument for using it straight through is that at such light weights the leader knot is too much of a risk.

I know of a few guys trialling the crystal fireline in the lighter weights but haven't seen any feedback.

Interesting feedback re the offshore fishing though. 2kg leader chasing big reds and yft looks like a real challenge.


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Very interesting. I guess the only fish I catch are the rule breakers. I am still astonished that I have been catching fish on my manns Quite big lure, with a nasty bit of wire leader on it, and badly crimped, and the ends sticking out quite a way. Maybe fish have different rules for lure fishing :?

Cheers all Andybear
:lol:


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

yes I agree with the 'smaller is better' theory, especially with regards to smart fish like bream.. bloody too smart for me those sneaky little buggers...oops was I thinking out loud again? :shock:

On a trout (flyfishing) trip to NZ a few years ago I caught several solid trout (up to 8lb) on tiny nymph and dry fly hooks (size 10 or 12 hooks) using tippet material that was only around 3 or 4lb. This was in a fast flowing river where the fish would take a huge run down rapids etc. Certainly taught me the art of 'playing' the fish until it was completely tired. Trying to 'skulldrag' the fish simply resulted in a bust off, so finesse and using the reels drag to its full capacity were learnt quick smart.

Also, take a look at Fishbrains recent catch of a 10kg Trevally on 4lb gear. It's simply awesome what can be caught on light tackle with a skilled angler in control of the rod.

However on most of my rods I still use leaders that match my braid - may have to revise that thinking if I want to catch more fish!


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## Russ (Feb 24, 2006)

Thanks Nick :lol:

Info most worthy of consideration, and I agree with Red, no doubt that certain pressure on particular places would lend some credibility to this arguement.

Will certainly take more care when choosing leader material.

BTW Was there any representation from the Kayak fraternity at the show ?

 fishing Russ


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## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

I forgot to mention (and this will agree with Red and Russ's comments) the area in Brisbane where he was fishing had about 30 to 40 boats anchored up all fishing heavy gear and similar tactics. Basically it sounds like the fish had wised up and were very careful about what they put in their mouths.


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