MO

NTH

LYVOLUME 6.

14 JANUARY, 2015

Happy New Year and welcome to the �rst addition of JTSM for 2015. I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas with friends and family. �e crew at Jones’s Tackle wish to extend a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015 to all our readers. Our regular contributors Pete, Paul and Jack are all enjoying a well-earned break and �ngers crossed getting stuck into a few �sh.

I’m very sad to report that a true legend of the Australian �shing community Mr John Dunphy lost his �ght to liver cancer earlier this week. Many of you may not be familiar with the name but John Dunphy founded a distribution company called Dunphy Sports in the early nineteen eighties. Until 2008 Dunphy Sports were the sole distributors of Shimano Fishing Gear throughout Australia and New Zealand. John was a good friend and supporter of Jones’s Fishing Tackle and will be sorely missed throughout the Australian and New Zealand �shing scenes. Our thoughts go out to the Dunphy family and their friends. We would like to stray from our usual JTSM layout and include over the page a piece from Shimano Australia.

�is month’s movie honours go out to the crew at On the Fly Productions for their multi award winning Once in a Blue Moon. I believe this �ne example of cinematography put Australian and New Zealand Sport�shing productions on the world map. Exquisite camera work and a fantastic insight to a world class brown trout �shery.

CLICK TO WATCH

cont’d

It is with great sadness we advise the passing today of

John Dunphy.

John had been �ghting a long battle with liver cancer

throughout 2014. John passed away in Osaka, Japan

where he had been undergoing treatment for the past

month, accompanied by his family.

John founded Dunphy Sports/Fishing Imports in

1981 and a short time later secured the distribution

rights for Shimano in Australia & New Zealand.

Over 30 years John & his team including several

family members built Shimano from a relatively

obscure name to be market leader in �shing in

Australia & the Oceania region.

John was highly respected not only within the �shing

industry at large for his extensive knowledge &

foresight but also within the global Shimano

community & in an advisory capacity with

government �sheries departments. He was a strong

advocate for ensuring the Australian passion of �shing

is sustainable for future generations & was heavily

involved in such measures as �sh restocking programs.

In that regard he was often mentioned as a visionary

& creator.

In 2008 Shimano Japan acquired 100% ownership of

Dunphy Sports/Fishing Imports. John remained with

the company in an advisory capacity until 2011.

After a lifetime of giving & supporting the �shing

industry, Shimano was always in his heart & mind to

the end and the Shimano family and company have

been supporting John and the Dunphy family in

Osaka.

John has left a legacy of enriching the recreational

�shing and general community for all Australians &

not only for our generation but future generations. It

is a legacy John and his family can be very proud of &

one which we are sure you will be able to re�ect upon.

To John’s family including several employed within

Team Shimano we extend our sincere condolences at

this very sad time. We are not aware of arrangements

for a service for John at this time however we will

update further in due course.

Yours Sincerely,

Colin Tannahill & Lindsay SecombeCLICK TO WATCH

INSHORE FISHING REPORTMuch needed rain throughout the southeast over the past few weeks has not only done wonders for our lawns but also our inshore �shery. �e precipitation has aided in not only encouraging the bait towards the surface, it has forced the jelly �sh and slimy (snot) weed out of the estuaries. Exceptional whiting have been targeted on the �ats

throughout the Bribie Passage and on the expanse of skinny water at the mouth of both the Pine River and Hayes Inlet systems. Regular captures well over 40 centimetres make for a good �ghting and great eating quarry. Any surface popper or walk the dog lure between 40-60mm in length and preferably in a translucent colour should produce results. �e new Storm Gomoku Popper and Lucky Craft Sammy 55 (pictured overeaf ) are perfect for your next assault on �ats whiting.

cont’d

Good mate and JTSM reader Jamie bacon with a stunningly marked brown trout whilst on holidays in Tassie. An absolute trophy �sh, fantastic capture mate!

Excellent reports of �athead have come through over the Christmas break with larger specimens being caught in the deeper channels. Both the Southport Seaway and Jumpinpin Bar have been popular locations to chase oversized female lizards on larger pro�led sinking vibes. Popular lures are the River 2 Sea Fish Candy or FLT Transams. Focus your interests on the last hour of the making tide and the second and third hours of the run out tide. �is is also one of the preferred techniques for chasing both thread�n salmon and jew�sh. Whilst the thread�n have been quiet over the holiday break there have been good consistent captures of jew�sh throughout southern Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River mouth. Along with soft vibes, jew�sh are a sucker for a well presented Micro Jig, de�nitely a must have in your tackle box.

Mangrove jack should be in full �ight throughout our local rivers this month. It’s not uncommon for these brutes to go a little quiet in late December however the full moon in January typically sees them �re up again. Some entertaining encounters

have been told amongst tackle shop walls this season; I believe a whopping 71cm is the mark to beat this year.

A quality 49cm Noosa River mangrove jack subdued on very light tackle at the hands of Jones’s Tackle

regular Nathan Weil

MORETON BAY FISHING REPORT January is traditionally an excellent calendar month to be �shing in the greater Moreton Bay area. Surface water temperatures have increased, coupled with our recent rainfall has bait�sh a plenty throughout the bay. History shows the �rst month of the year to mark the arrival of our spotted and spanish mackerel season. While surface feeding schools have been inconsistent over the past fortnight, promising reports from both Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast have these toothy critters making their way towards us. Moreton Bay is currently experiencing a nice run of bonito and juvenile mack tuna providing light tackle anglers a good taste for what’s to come.

Southern Moreton Bay islands have reasonable numbers of squire throughout the coral fringing reefs, with the odd 60cm snapper for the persistent soft plastic enthusiast. Both grassy and spangled emperors are now frequenting the southern bay reefs and weed beds in approximately 4-8meters of water. Emperor species have a distinct liking for curl tail soft plastics around the 4” mark along with Atomic Prongs and other prawn imitations. �e curl tail and creature style baits o�er a great swimming action when sinking and this is the time to pay close attention to your line between the rod tip and water’s surface. A sudden acceleration whilst your plastic is sinking signi�es a �sh eating on the drop. Snapper, grassy and spangled emperors in the larger size range love eating plastics on the �rst drop after making a cast. Long casts away from the boat (especially when on top of the reef �ats) and lightly weighted jig heads on strong hooks provide for great light tackle encounters.

Lyn Baxter with a better than average kingy caught on an Ima Gun jig from the northern bay.

�e northern bay is still o�ering opportunities to tangle with both cobia and yellowtail king�sh. Popular locations are around the shipping channel beacons and the exposed co�ee rock on the channel edges. Whilst live bait �sherman do have a slight advantage, both of these species have been responding well to light jigs and larger shad style soft plastics. �is season, local sport�sho’s have won encounters with cobia reaching well north of the 20kg mark. Mack tuna have been progressing down the coastline and are due to arrive with the spotted mackerel any day now. Whilst many turn their nose up at mack tuna, I can certainly recall many afternoon summertime sessions when they have saved the day. Mack tuna are a great sport�sh and a sensational target for youngsters to develop correct rod skills.

OFFSHORE SEQ FISHING REPORTMahi mahi (so nice they named him twice!). O�shore SEQ has had quite possibly the best run of quality mahi mahi I can remember over the past decade. �ese guys do it all, jump, pull hard, attack lures with vigour and when cooked correctly taste sensational. All the usual light tackle locations north of Cape Moreton, the 18 and 24 fathom lines on the Gold Coast and the grounds east of South Passage Bar have produced over the past few weeks. Mooloolaba and the Gold Coast currently have the measure with both locations o�ering up sensational blue water trolling.

Juvenile blacks are progressing nicely down the coastline and reports from both Mooloolaba and Wide Caloundra last week were almost as good as it gets. Two boats in these locations recorded over 50 bill�sh tagged and released in a single days �shing, sensational! Wahoo are also starting to frequent the inshore grounds with reports, from our charter friends, of good schooling sized �sh. January is a prime time for all three of these species. With the abundance of bait o�shore at the moment they should hang around, �ngers crossed. Whilst deep baiting techniques in speci�c locations can often provide the biggest captures of bill�sh, skirted lures are accounting for plenty themselves.

Local lads Johno and Glen got in on the action over the Christmas break. A �ne example of a SEQ light tackle black marlin.

cont’d

Anglers are favouring the smaller models of skirts this year, with both Black Bart and Fat Boys being the most popular on our store walls. If you’re new to bill�sh trolling and don’t know where to start, please drop in and say G’day as we are only too happy to try and connect you to your �rst marlin. �e �ick of a switch can see these speedsters disappear for another year. So when conditions and time permit, dust o� the trolling gear and head out for an oceanic meander (troll). Whilst our bottom �sh have taken a back seat to the frantic pelagic bite we are experiencing, the shallower grounds are �shing consistently, as predicted. Snapper, tusk�sh, grassy emperor and spangled emperor are all responding well to a light jig or a well drifted soft plastic. �e stand out locations this month have been around the Sevens reef o� South Passage Bar, the Southern 29’s reef and Shallow Tempest. Focus e�orts not only on the hard reef structure because locations like Shallow

Tempest have extensions of weed beds that run to the north. �e better quality spangled and grassy emperor, historically, come from these weed covered areas. All the shallow reef systems, out to the 60m line, can provide some of SEQ’s best light or slow jigging throughout January and February. In these months the quality amberjack and king�sh often move into the shallows enabling anglers to have an amazing variety of species without having to venture too far.

Pete Cherrett (Waspy) with a stunning Hervey Bay baby black marlin.Great in water shot!!

Glen and Dale with Bill�sh number two for the session, both �sh were taken on well presented baits. Great job fellas, keep them coming in 2015.

LURE OF THE MONTHIma Lures fabulous Gun range of jigs have been at the top our favourite micro jig list for over half a decade now, so they’re not exactly new, but they have just released some great limited edition colours to spice up

any jig roll. Available now in 12 – 20 – 30 and 40 gram sizes.

TIL NEXT TIMEWell readers we have reached one of those very rare moments in time where I have no more stories to tell. We encourage you to please send through some of your favourite captures from 2014; and sincerely appreciate the feedback you have given throughout the year. For any issues you would like to see covered or any questions you may have, be sure to drop us a line at jtsm@jonestackle.com.au or pop into the store and say G’day. From all the crew and fellow writers here at Jones’s Tackle we hope 2015 is a �shy kind of year. Until next month get out and enjoy the outdoors and be safe on the water. Hooroo.

Editor of JTSMSpeechless…Timing is everything.

SATURDAY 17TH JANUARY (9:00AM - 4PM) & SUNDAY 18TH JANUARY

TACKLEJONES’S

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