Spanish mackerel fishing rig – custom gang hooks
It’s winter time and one of the premium times to catch mackerel in north Queensland. A popular Spanish mackerel fishing rig is gang hooks. Big Spanish mackerel pull like freight trains and are one of the true speedsters of the ocean. They can also straighten hooks and this happened to me once upon a…
Setting up your tackle box
In this video blog we’re looking at setting up your tackle box for fishing in small boats to make sure you have all the essentials covered. Having run a successful barra fishing charter business for 30 years, I’ve made my share of mistakes, left things I need at home, and carted around stuff for years…
Underwater footage – What Wonky Holes look like
Quite often I get asked what Wonky Holes look like. Thirty years ago when I lived and worked on the marlin boats, I dived, snorkelled and went spear fishing every other day. Unfortunately it was without an underwater camera! So to get some great footage (without me having to squeeze the verandah into a wetsuit…
Boat handling tips for a smoother ride in rough weather
When I’m out and about on the water, I see so many people put unnecessary wear and tear on themselves and their vessel, simply by travelling on the wrong angle in rough weather. So in this video blog, I’m going to cover a few boat handling tips to get a smoother ride in rough weather…
Exploring Dundee Beach NT
Early in 2018 we purchased a pre-loved Bonito 5.6m vessel from a lad in Darwin. It was the perfect excuse to travel to the NT, pick up the boat, and have a short holiday exploring Dundee Beach NT. As luck would have it, the exact travel dates co-incided with a vacancy at the “Sholly…
Techniques to Catch King Threadfin
King Threadfin Salmon is the larger of the 2 Threadfin Salmon varieties found in tropical and Sub tropical Australian waters. They are a much sought after sportfish by anglers especially those who have mastered the art of catching barra and want to move on to the next challenge. Because King Threadfin can do some strange…
Garmin UHD transducer best in the creeks
Garmin introduced their new Garmin UHD transducer (ultra high definition) and black box this year… and I was lucky enough to be one of the test pilots. As you may know if you’ve done our Sounder Skills 1 course, higher definition frequencies like 800 kHz provide good clarity of the underwater landscape. Now with the Garmin…
Catching fingermark offshore at night
Fingermark have a predatory and foraging habit and their movements can be predicted. Catching Fingermark offshore at night, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is not as hard as it seems. I love fingermark! (also known as Golden Snapper) They are a top grade food fish and impressive sports fish. In the barramundi closed season…
Catch and rig live squid for Fingermark Golden Snapper
Live squid are an amazing bait for fingermark (Golden Snapper) but can be a little tricky to rig up. In this post we use a squid jig to catch some squid for our fingermark session. A cast net or scoop net can also be used when they are plentiful. Smaller squid are rigged a…
Trolling for fingermark on headlands
Way back when we were creating our Wonky Holes course we travelled to Cooktown for some filming. On this particular day it was rather windy (typical Cooktown weather) so we ran along the coast looking for likely Fingermark country. Fingermark can be readily caught deep trolling along headlands such as this when conditions are right.…
