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Perth Game Fishing Club Inc www.pgfc.com.au

Postal Address: PO Box 57 North Beach 6920 contact@pgfc.com.au President: Tim Carson 0429 676 237 © Perth Game Fishing Club 2015

9th December 2015 Opening Weekend. Record broadbill swordfish. Braid. A wandering FAD is replaced – see

where it has been so far. Exmouth story from a new member. Marlin Cup and HIBT

coming up The continuing saga of the Geelong Star.

Opening Weekend

The weather gods frowned on us on the morning of 21st November wreaking havoc with

the plans for the day as a cold easterly wind exceeding 25kts blew into Thomson Bay

for the sail-past. The best place to be was at home in bed with a cup of Milo, and that’s

where most skippers stayed.

All was not lost however and instead of the boats sailing past the President, the newly

elected President, Tim Carson, visited each of the boats hanging on moorings to thank

them for coming along and wishing them a good weekend. From there many boats

retired to sheltered bays pending calming of the seas and some immediately headed

west to search for pelagics.

First port of call for many was “The Barges” close by the Club Marine FAD where

Samson fish were abundant as expected for this time of the year. The sambos had

companions however, and few if any hokked on mono made it to the surface before

being taken by sharks.

By 11am the day was warming nicely and Dave Thomson’s “Azura” left the sanity and

sanctity of Salmon Bay to head west. The score for their day was one big pink snapper

which was returned as the seasonal demersal ban still applied.

During the Saturday afternoon glass off, recently joined members Philip Chalko and

Matt Schofield aboard “All Banged Up” picked up feisty sambos around the barges

beating the sharks to them before release.

Ashram and Time Out await the start – Image Tim Carson

9th December 2015 Page 2

Few boats stayed the

night as they needed

to return to the

mainland. A small

group congregated

on the fuel jetty and

enjoyed the

camaraderie that we

have come to expect

on these occasions.

Rhyss Whittred and

his crew aboard

“Ashram” raised a

marlin in the middle

of Sunday out at the

trench. It stayed in

the lure pattern for

maybe 10 minutes, it

was not lit up and

drifted away

uninterested. Good

signs though.

Hopefully better weather will prevail at next year’s Opening Weekend, although all that

attended had a lot of fun and it can only get better from here.

Braid versus Monofilament – PGFC Perspective

The use of braid fishing line remains subject to the vagaries of the quoted strength versus

actual breaking strength of line. It has been the subject of discussion at many times over the

past ten or so years since it has become popular.

In an attempt to clarify the issue, we must first start with the GFAA Rules and Equipment

Regulations published in the GFAA Game Fishing Journal (2015 current).

To paraphrase these:

Line

1. Monofilament, multifilament and lead core multifilament lines may be used. For line classes,

see Australian Record Requirements.

2. Wire lines are prohibited.

Line Class Categories

Line Class records are maintained according to wet testing strength of line used by the angler (See Appendix A – GFAA Journal - for testing standards). Records are kept in the following line class categories: 1kg, 2kg, 3kg, 4kg, 6kg, 8kg, 10kg, 15kg, 24 kg, 37kg and 60kg.

Perth Game Fishing Club’s Position Club Championship Points – non-tournament captures:

Because of the unreliability of breaking strength of braided line, the club will not accept any tag, measure and release or weighing of a fish caught on braid for club championship points unless a sample of line, consistent with the GFAA records claim requirements is submitted

with the tag card, measure and release card, or capture form accompanied by the appropriate

fee for line testing.

Tournament captures

It is the general policy of the club that only monofilament line be allowed in tournaments, this is because line testing of braid requires the use of the GFAA line tester which is not portable, and hence verification of line strength would affect scores. Further, it is specified in tournament rules that IGFA pre-test line must be used.

Philip Chalko – Barges sambo

9th December 2015 Page 3

FADs

Most members are probably aware by now, that the FSC FAD broke away within 24

hours of deployment. It is a mystery at this time as to why it broke loose as every

component was triple checked and there were no incidents on deployment that could

have contributed to failure of the mooring gear. Further, it was positioned away from the

immediate area of previous deployments to avoid any debris on the seabed which could

contribute to cutting the mooring rope. It may even have been as a result of a ship

strike. Recovery will help in determiining the cause.

The six FADs were

deployed from

“Maritime Image” on

the morning of 9th

November. The trackers

were set up to report at

8am and 8pm (00:00

and 12:00 UTC). All

reported their correct

positions at 8pm that

night. The next

morning, the FSC FAD

had moved

approximately 8nm

south-west. Setting the

report frequency to 4

hours it was observed

to move a total straight

line distance of 35nm

by 4pm on 12th, an

elapsed time of 68

hours drifting south-

west against

predominately south

westerly winds. By that

time it was 65nm from

Fremantle. Weather

conditions in the

intervening period were

severe and despite

vessel availability, there

was little chance of

recovery and the economics favoured letting it go, hoping it might return towards the

coast. It turned north, did a couple of loops in an eddy offshore Lancelin and then

headed north again. The image shows its track to 0800 Sunday Dec 6th where it is in a

water depth exceeding 3500m.

Its path suggests it had a lot of the mooring gear underneath it to be affected so much

by current against the wind.

PGFC moved quickly to replace the “errant” FAD, having a spare available albeit of a

different design. This was deployed on Wednesday 2nd December and has similar

mooring gear to the original FSC FAD. To date neither the replacement nor any of the

other FADs have moved beyond their normal swinging range.

9th December 2015 Page 4

The plan is to monitor the FAD’s movements (it

has sufficient battery power for another 4 months)

and recover it if it comes within an economical

distance of shore, which will in turn depend on the

availability and cost of a suitable recovery vessel.

Ocean current predictions suggest it has every

chance of coming back towards the land and then

drifting south on the Leeuwin Current.

At right is an image of the newly deployed FSC

FAD immediately following its launching.

The positions of the FADs as deployed are

approximately:

Members are welcome to email the club for the latest

satellite tracker positions at contact@pgfc.com.au .

Sponsors and major contributors to the FAD

program are:

Hillarys Yacht Club 31°54’ 115°11’ 186m

Furuno 31°57’ 115°15’ 143m

Perth Game Fishing Club 31°59’ 115°13’ 193m

Club Marine 32°02’ 115°19’ 106m

Fremantle Sailing Club 32°05’ 115°11’ 232m

All Marine Services 32°08’ 115°10’ 193m

9th December 2015 Page 5

Record Broadbill Swordfish

Club legend and well known Kalbarri charter skipper Craig White has finally realised an

ambition that has been burning inside him for many, many years. Those of you who know

Whitey will understand that he has an incredible understanding of the sea and fish

behaviour and and encyclopaedic knowledge of the environment in which he works and is

essential to his success.

Needing to go to Geraldton to pull “Valkoista” out of

the water for seasonal maintenance he planned the

trip to include exploration out from the Abrolhos

Islands with one objective in mind – broadbill

swordfish. Crew Jay Reker, a PGFC member, and

Danny Vanderbosh were along for the three night

trip, split with the first night mostly travelling and the

second and third nights targetting their quarry.

Daytime was spent sleeping or fishing for wahoo etc,

deep dropping and looking for new ground.

The second night they motored and drifted across

the Houtman Trench, 4nm wide, 1000m deep at the

sides and dropping to 1500m in the middle. Arrow

squid and flying fish everywhere. They had some

touches, hooked up briefly on what they now know

was a swordfish. One brief hook-up the result.

Again fishing the surface and much further south,

the following night was much more active with an

enquiry at around 10:30 that turned into a 50-60kg

broadbill that was tail hooked and suprisingly took

little effort to bring to the surface. The fish had only

half a bill.

Persevering after they had run out of arrow squid

that were previously stiched up as baits, they used

a Richter plastic teaser squid filled with lumps of

squid and a wahoo belly-flap as a last resort bait.

It worked! A first hit, then twenty minutes of touch and retreat before a longish run with

no drag. Hook-up, the fish knew there was something wrong, even in the darkness the

crew were able to see it jump, twice, the glow stick also visible. It came within gaffing

distance then took off on a scorching run for another half hour.

Finally, 30nm west of Wreck Point the fish was boated by an elated crew, it was chilled

down and the long trip to Geraldton completed.

The dream had been realised and when the scales tipped 121.5kg it became a new 60kg line class record for Western Australian waters.

Scores PGFC ANNUAL CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES 2016

EDDY MOSS TROPHY – CHAMPION ANGLER PRESIDENT’S TROPHY – CHAMPION BOAT

Dylan Picken 492 Whiskers 350 Deon van der Westhuizen 229 Striker 229

Club championship points are updated to 6th December 2015. Members are reminded that whilst

all care is taken, members are responsible for ensuring their points are correct. No adjustments up

or down, will be made after the final club year points have been awarded.

Houtman Trench profile

North to left 4nm wide

A new State record is

claimed when Craig’s

fish pulled the scales

down to 121.5kg

9th December 2015 Page 6

New Members’ Success

We first met Philip Chalko and Matthew Schofield when they turned up at a FAD working

bee to check and count all the materials in the container held on 19th October. We were

pleasantly surprised that morning to have so many members show up. The two extras

said they had seen mention of the working bee on the PGFC website and decided to

come along. It was terrific to meet them and by the end of the morning they were both

members too. Maybe we need to use working bees for member recruitment in future!

When they came along to the next social night they shared their plan to take off for

Exmouth and get Matt his first billfish.

Starting in the Exmouth Gulf with lures they soon learned that live bait was the go and

that technique was critical. An inspiring story for other new members and a great

example of tenacity for those keen to catch billfish. Philip’s story:

Philip and Matthew, both new members of PGFC, recently returned from an expedition to

Exmouth where they competed for the first time in the EGFC Billfish Bonanza. The tool of

choice was Philip’s trusty 21ft Seaswirl Striper “All Banged Up”.

The forecast was looking pretty dubious with most

days expected to reach 20+ knots. The day before the

competition looked to be nice and still, so the boys

headed out from Tantabiddi to try their luck raising a

marlin. It didn’t take more than half an hour after

setting the spread to raise a solid black. It was ‘the

first billfish Matt had ever hooked and unfortunately,

after a few good jumps and peeling a lot of line, the

line went slack. There was nothing left but the leader,

with hooks and lure gone. A quick examination

concluded gear failure, and it just happened to be the

only rig that was “professionally made” where the

crimp slipped the line.

As the weather was calm and it was the day before the

comp, a quick deep drop seemed to be a good idea,

with a mandatory floating bait to be set just in case. It

didn’t take long before it was hit; the deep drop rig

had just hit the 400m mark, so it was time to reel that

in while fighting what seemed to be a promising fish.

The fight was strong, but it didn’t take long to realise

that they hooked a rather large bronze whaler shark.

With shark not being on the target list, it was quickly

leadered and cut free. The plan was to go back to deep

dropping when another four sharks were spotted

circling the boat. With that, they headed back to the

ramp.

The original strategy for the competition was to target marlin, however, during the

competition briefing the boys were convinced by a few crew that the sailfish bite was on and

that would be the way to go. Never having caught sailfish, the boys thought it was worth a

try. The first day of the comp started off well, with a solid 30+kg sailfish being caught on the

troll by Philip while searching for the grounds. The fish was tagged and the mandatory fish

catch photos were taken. The sprits were high as they were one of the first boats to call in a

catch. Shortly afterwards, half a dozen boats were heading full speed towards “All Banged

Up”. The boys knew they were in the right area.

Within minutes of the other boats getting close, they saw fish jumping suggesting the other

boats were hooked up. Moments later the radio lit up with multiple calls of tagged fish. This

all happened so quickly that Matt and Phil realised they needed to change their tactics to

compete. After closely watching the pro boats (the 2 main charter operators from Exmouth),

they realised the best method was to pitch in live baits. So frantically the search for some Sabiki rigs was on and soon after the bait tank was full. The next few hours were frustrating,

A tagged sail being swum before release

9th December 2015 Page 7

it was as if they were always either chasing the pros or having the pros pass them on the

way to a bait ball. Always seeing others catch fish around them. Another PGFC boat Luke

Ryan’s “Simrad” had a fantastic day tagging eight sailfish.

The second day had the team was all fired up. The fuel tank was full and a clear game plan

was made. They motored onto the fishing grounds just as the competition for the day

started. With live bait sorted, the chase was on for sailfish. This time, they were not going to

simply watch as others steamed past them. The water was rough and the ride was bumpy

but they were determined. After the first couple of hours of chasing bait balls, the boys were

literally all banged up. Luckily the mid-afternoon glass off kicked in and made life a little

more comfortable.

The competition was feverish, with most of the boats chasing sailfish. Philip spotted a few

birds working an area some distance away from where all the other boat action was and

sneakily motored towards it. From quite some distance, it was clear to see a few sailfish

working the bait with their fins and bills breaking the glassy surface. By this stage, Matt has

his casting technique perfected and landed the bait right on the head of one of them. The

wait for the fish to take the bait was on, the line started peeling off the free spool and in the

excitement of hooking the fish the bail arm was immediately closed. It all seemed like a good

hook up and it didn’t take long before the fish was within tagging distance. But as the tag

pole got close to the fish, it shook the hook loose and swam free. Lesson learnt. You need to

free spool longer to make sure the circle hook can do its job.

Day three was where the boys planned redemption and to use up their remaining tags. The

wind was up from early on and as they reached the fishing grounds, they realised it was only

them and the two charter boats. The bait wasn’t easy to find and the going was really tough.

“Simrad” called in a marlin tag from out west, so the boys decided to cut their losses and try

to find better conditions chasing marlin. With a solid 15-20kts blowing, the motor out to the

shelf wasn’t fun. On reaching 150m of water, the spread was set. No birds, no bait, it was

really quiet apart from the howling wind. It seemed as if the radio wasn’t working either as

there were no calls in of tags. After a few long hours, the pin was pulled and they motored

home with stats of 3-3-1 on sailfish and zeros for marlin for the entire competition.

Following the competition, the winds strengthened, with Philip even getting a windsurfing

session in a solid 25kts. The goal for each to tag a billfish had not been achieved, so another

unpleasant boating session in paradise was embarked on. This time it was outside of

competition and the pro boats were nowhere to be seen. It took only an hour after getting to

the grounds to catch, tag and release Matt’s first sailfish.

Mission completed, the trip was a success.

A healthy sailfish set for release

9th December 2015 Page 8

Bluewater Tackle Marlin Cup

Strong interest is developing around the Bluewater Tackle Marlin Cup, it is still 10 weeks

away yet a lot of competitors are expected.

The club has secured all the pens on the fuel jetty. Bookings need to made through

Shane Anderson on 0407 003453 or treasurer@pgfc.com.au . It is important for all

who want a pen on the fuel jetty to get in quick.

9th December 2015 Page 9

Hawaiian International Billfish Tournamennt

PGFC members have competed in this team event over many years, this notice is a

reminder for anyone who may like to compete in the 2016 event.

If you have an interest in getting a team together or joining a team, please contact Deon

van der Westhuizen on 0405 074482 or secretary@pgfc.com.au

9th December 2015 Page 10

Factory Fishing Vessel “Geelong Star”

The Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF) that the “Geelong Star” is licensed to fish in includes coastal

waters from Mooloolaba to Geraldton. It is attracting huge opposition in the eastern states and

they have indicated the Great Australian Bight is in their sights.

PGFC through its affiliation with WAGFA and GFAA is working towards resolution of this issue with

ARFF. This is an update on what is happening. More at www.recreationalfishing.com.au

9th December 2015 Page 11