Fishing on a Budget

Hey guys Jason Medcalf here to give you a run down on what I've been up to of late, I get to speak to allot of people at the various shows I attend and when I speak about soft plastic fishing I usually field allot of questions about entry level tackle to get started into plastic fishing on a budget, now I have to come clean here I fish allot and use the best gear I can get my hands on so when I was recommending the cheaper gear from Berkley I really was only relying on what I had herd rather than actual experience.

So I rang JB at Berkley and asked if he could send me some of the outfits that weren't to much of a strain on a budget, he sent me two outfits the first is a Berkley Attack 7 foot 2-4 kg spin rod with a ABU Cardinal 102 reel I loaded this reel with Spiderwire EZ braid this outfit ready to go retails for around $150.00. The second was a Berkley Dropshot IM6 6'8 3-5Kg spin rod with a ABU Cardinal C702LX loaded with 2.7Kg Spiderwire Stealth Code Red Braid this outfit retails for around $250.00. On my first trip fishing with these outfits I headed to one of favourite systems with the aim of fishing my new gear as hard as I could, unfortunately the weather was shocking with rain and strong wind but we soldiered on.

I fished a Berkley Frenzy Sinking Rattler Lure in the AYU colour and the first thing I noticed was how far the Code Red was casting and how neat it lay on the spool and when we started to catch a few fish how strong it was for its breaking train. At first I had to wrestle a few little estuary cod out from their lairs which takes some doing when you cast the lures across the oyster covered rocky bottom. I then rigged a Gulp 4 inch Shrimp in new penny on a 1/4 heavy wire Nitro jig head and fished it slowly down a rock ledge then after a gentle take all hell broke lose and the 6lb code red screamed from the reel, I had to put as much hurt on this fish as possible stretching the rod,reel and line to the limit and the gear handled it easily and after a few more anxious moments I landed a sensational 55cm Fingermark. I then started fishing the Attack rod and was impressed firstly by the distance it was casting then the the fact I was fishing in windy conditions and didn't have any trouble with wind knots and when we found some trevally it to really got a work out and performed well with the rod absorbing the many lunges trevors have around the boat. I will say that both outfits have been great to use but there are reasons why they are the price they are I wouldn't expect they could handle allot of this style of fishing and the rods do cast well but as you would expect the dearer models are more responsive and you can cat more accurately with them but for entry level outfits they cast well enough and can handle most of the fish your going to encounter in our southern estuary's.

THE BERKLEY "LIP GRIP", A MUST HAVE TOOL

These days I get to look at plenty of nice fish through the lens of my Nikon, this usually involves putting the angling talent in front of the camera through a series of well orchestrated fish positioning maneuvers to get a few different shots with varying angles and perspectives. The whole procedure can be a fast, fuss free experience for seasoned fish handler's, but it can be a tedious exercise for the uninitiated or those that are not so confident when it comes to handling fish. While some species of fish such as bream and whiting are relatively easy to handle others that are armed with less hand friendly areas to hang on to like the dusky Flathead can be intimidating if not dam right painful to handle even for the pro's. 

Enter the "BERKLEY LIP GRIP" These gadgets are available in a variety of different sizes and styles that you can check out on this website. I usually carry two pairs in the boat or in my tackle bag where ever I go. The first pair is the bullet proof BGLG 30cm lip grip ( pictured above and below). These things are rock solid and will subdue any beasty up to 30 kilo's by the bottom lip.

I use them on a wide variety of species such as flathead, kingfish, snapper and barra. I find its the easiest way to cause the least amount of stress on the fish and myself. They're highly corrosion resistant and very easy to use. Simply slip your hand through the lanyard, especially on larger fish, pull back on the triggers with two fingers and gently slip the rounded jaws over the fishes bottom lip and then release the trigger, its that easy.   

The second set I carry are part of the BERKLEY TEC TOOLS range (pictured above and  below), the small but effective TPTG pistol grip style lip grip. This pocket size set is perfect for species such as bass, trout and yellowbelly as well as handling all your usual estuary species.  Handling fish confidently and humanely is an important part of any anglers day on the water, remember to support the fishes body weight by placing a wet hand under its belly. 

 

Just another way Berkley make your time on the water a more pleasant experience, I can guarantee you won't leave home without them.

From The Outside Part 2 Tales from the back of the Boat

Dear Diary!

Dear Diary. It is one month since my last fishing trip. I think I am going insane. In fact, I think we both are! (Geddit???)

I’ve been through one of the periods we all go through at some point. Work, weather and a series of random events have prevented me from getting out and throwing a line. I could add weak excuses in there but it’s never my fault, honest.

So the last for the last few weeks my fishing has been of the ‘virtual’ kind. Reading the various forums, drooling over new shiny things often with obscure Japanese names that can’t be pronounced but generally reflecting on what constructive effort I could make in these downtimes to keep my enthusiasm up and contribute to my goals for the coming tournament season (there is a plan you know!!)

It was when a mate rang me one morning to tell me how well his snapper fishing was going that I realised there was something I had never done that perhaps I should be doing. Not only did said mate tell me about his previous days success, he also told me how well he did on the 18^th of August, the 6^th of June and so on. On one of the days he also noted the ‘slight spike in the barometer that may have brought about the bite’!

Knowing said mate has a memory like a sieve I questioned him further and discovered every fishing trip was documented, going back years. Yep…a diary. And the detail was amazing. Locations, tides, moons, pressure, temperatures, fish, baits, rods and reels…it was all in there. Not just for him either. Any fishing partners particulars were taken down also.

All this information provided such a great picture that a common thread could be drawn out pretty quickly and planning for future trips starts to become much easier. The Diary would show that Spot X never fished well until the bottom of the tide and really fished well if that tide coincided rain the day before and so on. It seemed such an obvious thing to do but I guess like many people a misguided confidence in my own memory and well, lets call it laziness has intervened.

So here’s this month’s homework. And you can do it regardless of the type of fishing you do, it’s all of value. Get a Diary started. If you think that sounds too girly call it a Fishing Log if you want!

It can be as simple a small notebook from the $2 shop or as swish as an Excel spreadsheet. If you want to get really flashy there are several programs on the net that incorporate all your info and tie it in to real time data from the web. I’ve started off mine a simple Word document that an angler on one of the forums knocked up and generously let others work with. It records all the location and condition basics and has provision for the real detail such a lure, leader for each fish etc.

Put details of every trip in there, no matter how brief or bad it was. If you’ve followed Nigel Webster’s recent advice here and taken then kids out for a fish, put that info in your log. It all helps. Here’s a little tip too. Record the time of your catches, particularly if you get a hot bite happening. Then by going on to a website like www.weatherzone.com.au you can find the graphs that will show you the exact temperature and barometer reading for that time, as well the pattern of those conditions. It is updated every ten minutes and really gives you some finely tuned conditions data to tie into the time of your catches. There are several web sites that will also give you tide and moon info at a point in time too.

Once you’ve established the format its done and if like me you have never been able to keep a dairy try to make it part of a routine. I reckon just when you sit down to have that first beer after a fishing trip is an ideal time. Sit, sip, reflect and write. How hard is that!

And as a postscript to my recent “From the Outside” posting in which I outlined my discovery about being more organised for my bream tournaments, last weekend in a ‘bored’ moment I decided to re-organise my hard-bodied lure box. I re-jigged the compartments so my small collection of lures was sitting in depth order, and marked the compartments as such. Now when I need something that runs at about a metre say, all my options are there, I just have to pick a colour or pattern I fancy.

This did create a problem however. There was an empty compartment and everyone knows that an empty section of a tackle box is just plain bad luck. No matter what I did the space remained. And then, as if an angel had heard me, I got a text message from a friend. “Berkley Bigeye Blades are out”. Problem solved!

Take a look at one of my new friends. Matty Fraser has done it again. Look at that big eye. Listen to that rattle. Lime Tiger/Mango Ripple type paintjob. 1/6 of an ounce. Whats not to love! Its all good and I can’t wait to give them whirl. I’d show you the other colours but why ruin the surprise. Get to a tackle shop and grab a handful. Remember, an empty space in a tackle box is a baaaddd space!

Until next time, good fishing.

Gatesy

Ps. Just so’s ya know’s…I have no agreement or affiliation with Berkley or Pure Fishing other than a love of their products. The good folks at Berkley let me post here and it gives me someone to share my thoughts with other than the dog. He means well but sometimes his feedback just isn’t that constructive!