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TUGGER knows nothing about fishing!

kreel

By kreel
in Saltwater

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kreel Newbie

kreel

Posted
Posted

As Tugg will freely admit:

I have a big old noisy tinnie that rattles and bangs like a dunny door on a public toilet.

I have an old 2 stroke motor thats loud enough that your ears are ringing at the end of the day and it belches oil and smoke in the water that you can see the slick from space.

I don't use electronics at all only wet the finger and hold up in the air to get my position and drift right.

My fishing gear is the cheapest you find in the fishing section at kmart. One of my old rods was handed down to me from my father and he got it from his father before him.

I use stinky old bait and try to catch it myself, to avoid any cost what-so-ever and the mono-filment line i use i have to find in antique stores as everybody has been sucked into the biggest con in the fishing world that its braid or nothing.

So its down to the fish whispering that i do that you have forgotten since you have fished with me last Baden and you're not using enough four letter words on them dam fish.

He makes old school fishermen look new-wave. There is only one conclusion to be made …

TUGGER knows nothing about fishing, but he sure knows everything about CATCHING!

It has been a while since we teamed up to take on Tugger Rock, and it was about time I was reacquainted with the important skills and rituals of fishing.

Tugg had enquired of the "Angler's Almanac" and found that Tuesday the 21 August 2012 was a black day for fishing and by that I mean goooooooooood. He conferred with other fishing purists (the names of which are privy to only a select few (I believe it involves a transfusion of shark blood to be a member of the fraternity) and 7:19am and 1:22pm were the prime fishing times of the day.

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Crew for the day's adventures included the Skipper - Tugger; Decky 1 - Brendan (from Tugg's work) and your fishing correspondent and Decky 2 - Kreel. I jumped on board at Tugg's place and we picked up Brendan at the ramp for a 5am departure.

We knew that it was going to be an horrendous day at the office when we had to negotiate the 4 to 5 inch waves crossing the bar (I almost spilled my Latté).

We had little luck bringing in only 2 small yakkas at the bait grounds before speeding on to the Rock. As you can see it was a fierce day with ripple after ripple almost disturbing the dormant behemoth.

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We settled down to business when Brendan pulled out a high tech device with something called braid on it. I was ready for an explosion; Tugg calmly informed the poor demented fellow that that's not how we do it round these parts and passed him a K-Mart special brimming with 30lb Platypus mono (Platypus - if its good enough for one of Australia's great icons its good enough for the likes of us).

Tugg gave a short introduction to the art of fishin' Tugg style, I sat in for the refresher course. He finished the lesson bringing in the first of the day's catch a respectable Squire straight to the slurry.

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I followed up with a Mack Tuna which went to our bait stores for the day. Soon after that in came a lovely Spangled Emperor much to Tugg's distaste. After all, when you eat the best fish in the Ocean you can pick and choose.

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Brendan obviously wasn't concentrating on the no Spangly message from Tugg and lobbed this one into the ice slurry followed by 3 more of similar size.

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Tugg was quietly filling the box with good pan sized Squire throughout the day, while Tugg was on the Squire and Brendan had the Spangly market sewn up I was being molested by my perennial pest fish the mongrel Scorpion Cod.

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My string of pest fish deepened with this beautiful yet highly poisonous Chinaman fish.

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We had to bring Brendan's run of Spanglies to a halt, lest the esky would be filled to over-flowing with the cursed Spangly. A move was required and Tugg decided that a spot within spitting distance of the Rock looked fishy.

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It didn't take the man long to exchange a nice slab of Mack tuna hanging off a 6-0 circle hook on a length on mono with this slightly better 73 cm Squire.

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Not done yet, Tugg had a protracted tussle with this pelagic missile.

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We had enough bait so I set my mind to all that I had learned. Plunging my hand into the now muddy water of the bait bucket I selected a plump pilly that had EAT-ME written all over it. A 4-0 circle hook through the centre of the fish then neatly pushed through its skull, the second hook laced through the belly and a half hitch to hold it straight and secure on the 30lb Platypus mono (a man's bait). All this weighed down with the smallest sinker for the current. As I was floating the bait to the depths, Tugg was onto a biggun and it was all hands on deck, so I put my rod in the holder. Tugg's fight suddenly became less of a struggle and up came half a huge Spangly - sharked. I was getting my camera out when my bait (only way way down) sang pretty song. I grabbed up the rod with a little help from Tugg and after a satisfyingly heavy and protracted struggle hauled in my PB Squire running at a healthy 81 cm.

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My first Squire with a bump! I followed this epic battle with another fight with a Mack tuna. Tired, spent and ready to collapse we were out of bait and decide to head home. Conditions continued to plague us and we faced this type of tempest all the way back to the ramp.

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Here's the haul:

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5 Spangled Emperors

1 Bonito

1 Tusky

7 Squire

Next time Tugg and I are going to target Snapper! and get into some really big fish.

It was a great day out with the man, and I was reminded that the most important piece of kit you can take with you fishing is experience.

Bait, you gotta love it

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kreel Newbie

kreel

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Awesome haul there fellas and another very entertaining report Kreel. You should do some writing for a fishing mag. No, I'm serious!!! What fight harder - the snapper or the spanglies at a similar size?

I know that the 81 cm Squire nearly did me in, so I'm going to have to say Squire.

PS I'm feeling a bit guilty that we didn't take Tacklebox with us. Imagine the report that would have been - she woulda murdered 'em.

Rocket: I'm working on an iPad book at the moment for the Museum about the Great Barrier Reef. I told my boss I had to take a day off to do some research. I think she's wise to my usual excuse - that my uterus is hurting and I may not make it to work. Try it yourself some time, its always worth a shot.

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tugger Enthusiast

tugger

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That was one of my best days on the water with calm conditions and great fishing combined it doesnt happen to much that way. The wind again didnt get above 5 knots all day and whales leaping all over the place it was just a pleasure to be on the water.

Baden forgot to mention the unstopables are back and we had a few that won thier freedom back down on the reef in fact i had one that took my bait on the drop and the speed of it was blistering literally with heavy drag setting that i use that you can hardly pull line off the reel myself and thumb on the spool that burnt it peeled line like it wanted to shame Usain Bolt.

Congratulations Baden on your PB snap it always put a smile on anyones face that does not disappear all day once they have a PB snap come aboard and a fish like that the smile will last all week

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Looking back towards the bar

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The 2 brutes together

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If we didn't catch those bloody big stinky mack tuna the day would have been a 10 out 10

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tugger Enthusiast

tugger

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The alamanac was spot on with the peak bight periods when we got a good run of fish both times and the big fellas as well

far out kreel you write the most ultimate reports. B)

great days fishing lads,hands down best report ive ever seen ;) ,that new eskie is copin a floggin,

you definatly got the almanac days sorted.Wed did not quite fish as good as good as Mon/Tues. ;)

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Shane69 Newbie

Shane69

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Well done guys

Some very nice fish.

Im starting to hate mac tuna now too. They are a pain when you are trying to floatline.

You guys were lucky you had current on Tuesday. No current what so ever yesterday morning.

The fishing was slow too but the end made up for it :whistle:

Cant wait to get back out there again. :whistle:

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linc87 Newbie

linc87

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Fantastic Report. Thanks for the enteraining reading.

Goes to show that 5% of fishermen do catch 95% of the fish.

Well done lads its great to see there are plenty of fish out there if you know what you are doing.

Where do you get your almanac from tugger?

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tugger Enthusiast

tugger

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The almanacs you can pick up in any bait and tackle store they are the same size as the tide guides and knowing what you are doing just comes from experience and i was lucky enough to have some great fisherman show me the ropes 30 yrs ago

Fantastic Report. Thanks for the enteraining reading.

Goes to show that 5% of fishermen do catch 95% of the fish.

Well done lads its great to see there are plenty of fish out there if you know what you are doing.

Where do you get your almanac from tugger?

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tugger Enthusiast

tugger

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Bourbon is the right bribe but honestly to just offer to help with costs is the best way as its not cheap doing offshore trips and being able to put aside the whole day as there is filleting and cleaning gear at the end of the day goes along way with anyone here offering deckie spots

I put up deckie spots on the forum regularly you just got to keep an eye out for them

I will be racing you toonie to get one of these deckie spots!!! Might need to appraoch with some form of bribe, otherwise known as Rum...

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toonie Newbie

toonie

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Whats your favourite burbon tugger? lol :cheer:

Bourbon is the right bribe but honestly to just offer to help with costs is the best way as its not cheap doing offshore trips and being able to put aside the whole day as there is filleting and cleaning gear at the end of the day goes along way with anyone here offering deckie spots

I put up deckie spots on the forum regularly you just got to keep an eye out for them

I will be racing you toonie to get one of these deckie spots!!! Might need to appraoch with some form of bribe, otherwise known as Rum...

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kreel Newbie

kreel

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great stuff guys, loving these reports kreel.

Thanks for the kind words guys and gals. I have a blast every-time I head out with Tugg and we always do well.

I haven't been reporting much lately due to a lack of fish and fishing time and an abundance of work. The weather seems to have kept us off the water far too much this year and the estuaries don't seem to have bounced back yet. Tugg has been generous in getting me on the Bay but work seems to interfere with the important things in life.

Someone suggested I write for a magazine, which sounds like turning a pleasure into a burden to me. After all magazines would probably insist 1. That I know what I'm talking about; 2. That I know what I'm doing; 3. That I don't lie about my fish/fishing and 4. That I don't Photoshop my images (well maybe not so much that one). I think I'll keep to the amateurs.

PS Toonie: I like a single malt Whiskey and I know Tugger so maybe, with the right persuasion, I could put in a good word. :whistle:

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ellicat Grand Master

ellicat

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Posted
[......

Someone suggested I write for a magazine, which sounds like turning a pleasure into a burden to me. After all magazines would probably insist 1. That I know what I'm talking about; 2. That I know what I'm doing; 3. That I don't lie about my fish/fishing and 4. That I don't Photoshop my images (well maybe not so much that one). I think I'll keep to the amateurs.

.......

You do know that Tomca does a bit of this ? :huh: :dry:

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kreel Newbie

kreel

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[......

Someone suggested I write for a magazine, which sounds like turning a pleasure into a burden to me. After all magazines would probably insist 1. That I know what I'm talking about; 2. That I know what I'm doing; 3. That I don't lie about my fish/fishing and 4. That I don't Photoshop my images (well maybe not so much that one). I think I'll keep to the amateurs.

.......

You do know that Tomca does a bit of this ? :huh: :dry:

That's right didn't I see some handsome young man on the front of Bush and Beach ... And then just a week later Pussca was on the cover. I have enough pressure at my work I don't need to add it to my relaxation time. Puss can have it.

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