Portland for the little guy

There's something special about fishing and succeeding on your own in a place usually reserved for massive boats, huge swells, huge game reels, expensive charters & loads of experience, especially when you are as inexperienced in game fishing as we are. 

When I mentioned to the blokes at work that we were thinking about heading down to Portland  I was laughed at, "hey alby, this ringpoker reckons he's gonna fish Portland in a 5.2 hahahaha". There are so many misconceptions about Portland & what is laughable is some of the dollars spent on boats and gear all to catch the same tuna we were catching. It was a sight to see when we had a triple hook up on our gummy outfits in 3-4 metre seas 500m from Lawrence rock, while 2 x 7m+ Haines hunters with outrigers trolled 4 rods @ 24kg gear around for an hour and watched us land 3 12kg tuna and go from 1 fish to bagging out in one hookup. Not only do they have the $150,000 Haines hunter which costs $500 to fill up but it's the $150,000 F-250 used to pull it. So it can be very nerve racking backing your little girl in with the glaring eyes from all the big players. 

I couldn't believe how nervous I was as stinga backed her down the ramp & I drove her off. I felt like a virgin again nervously about to have sex for the first time.. Which was around last week some time. It was 3.00pm on our first day & all the big boys were back looking like they'd just come of the deadliest catch with smears of tuna blood under there eyes in full wet weather gear and boy did we feel intimidated. The Adrenalin was pumping due to the current forecast of 3-4 metre swells & 1-2 metre seas. It was pretty rough straight out of the harbour and the mood was very somber as the seawater sprayed our faces like the ending Debbie does Dallas. Not a word was spoken as I think we were both thinking, "were not gonna get out here". As we rounded Lawrence rock and at a 6 knot trolling speed it wasn't too bad. Sure stinga battled to set the spread but we were soaking lures and it was waiting time.. 10 mins in "SNAP Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz" the elastic band snapped and off went both ratchets... Much the same as my first sexual encounter I got way too excited and finished too quick, i panicked and pulled back on the throttle instantly which inturn lost pressure on the line and didn't complete the hook up.. 

Stinga wasn't happy, the tension was high, the sought of tension that could only be released over a few fine reds by the open fire back at camp..... I mean by seeing a blue fin hit the deck. 

Day one was done & dusted & we were thankful pulling up at the ramp that no one was there to see our scorecard.. Confident in tomorow as the weather was better and we had learnt from my mistake.

1.00pm
6 hits/0 fish. 6.5 hrs on the water. Doubt had set in. We were now not only doubting our ability as fisherman, but  stinga was starting to question his sexuality. Further more by the reports coming in on the VHF that everyone had already bagged out.. Finally just as the topic of discussion had moved from fishing to would you eat a nugget from your dog weekly for an extra centimeter where it counts?... On divulging the hard issues of today's society "SNAP zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" off went the Penn international and I dove on it.. The big 24kg had no trouble bringing it and 5 mins later our first ever southern blue fin tuna had hit the deck of our little boat. Adjulation, high 5's were being thrown a missed in the rolling swell. What a stunning fish and what a huge amount of blood all over us and the boat. The monkey was off the back and we then spotted a school just off Lawrence rock & ive never seem so much action. There must have been 1000 birds 100 dolphins and seals, and it was then when we triple hooked up with only two of us in the boat as the big boys watched on...We have never had so much fun, we reeled them in as they unsuccessfully tried to get away from the seals. 

Day 3 & my old boy joined us today. We were plotting every hook up on the hds and after a while a pattern starts to emerge and we found that they were all in 50-80m of water 5km east of the lighthouse. Thats the benefit  you get when  you set aside a few days to a trip. What a sight it was to see my old man land his first tuna, smile from ear to ear and he was stoked. Today was unlike the first two days and after our first fish we had dropped down to our gummy gear & were having a ball.. 7/7 today and we were on our way back in by 10.30. The drop down in gear was a great decision and what you can really notice is the way each fish fights. Our biggest at 13kg came straight in as a 10kg one took stinga 20 mins to get in.. We ditched the spread and just ran two rods. 

Alot of people have asked what lures are working but it can be different on any day.. The 2nd day was purple, the next yellow and blue and they didn't touch the purple but to be honest when they're that thick I really think they would take a carrot with a hook in it..

We didn't jump into Portland blind.. An absolute non negotiable is safety gear. We spent over $1000 on making sure our boat was up to standard because if it goes pearshaped out there, your in trouble.. I wasted around a week checking the weather every hour to make sure it was alright and I still thought it was sus heading out. Our boat is a 520c Haines signature with a 115 yamaha 2 stroke. 3-4m swell with 1-2 metre seas is fishable in our vessel but that would be the limit.. The Haines sig has really high sides for a small boat which was a godsend when trolling across the swell.. We barely ran our bildge so if your sides are smaller I wouldn't risk it in those conditions.
On fuel our yam drinks more than a thirsty Russian but our 100 ltr tank lasted till 3.30pm from 6.30am then we put a 20 ltr Jerry in. Be extra careful putting jerrys in, because in rough conditions the seawater can so easily contaminate the fuel...
Don't be scared to fish lighter, if u get busted of by a big one then so be it, It will be back. Mitch chapman & Adam Ring from Tackleworld were nailing them on 6kg gear aboard Bigtime this week so 24 is such an overkill.

But most of all we asked question after question. We berated facebook for answers on how to do things, as well as the not so intimidating charter operators who are all fantastic blokes. We had a guy from sharkmen fishing charters fillet half our fish for us because he couldn't stand us hacking them up any more. And most people are more than happy to help. As amateur fisherman like ourselves we need To understand that charter operators, tackle shops and fishing professionals exist because of us, So ask the questions, and they are more than glad to help out on any queries.. We hope to repay Shaun Furtire for his words of wisdom with a big whiting charter shortly..

So when u hear that the tuna are in close, don't let people put u off and get down there. Be safe, ask questions and go collect your bounty because at the end of the day they tast AMAZING.

Tdogg and stinga

Our Portland album is on our facebook page

History of planking

The art of planking, as described in the planking bible, is the act of placing ones body in such a way in which arms are by the plankers side & all limbs are at full extension often performed on a unanimous object. The object in which the planker chooses to plank on is entirely the plankers choice, although the more unique the object often the better the plank.

The word planking is a dirivetive of the word plankopace, which is Latin for "artistically displaying stiffness" & originated in the 1590's when the Dutch were ferrying exotic spices around the world via sail boat. On these year long journeys they would also ferry people trying to escape their homeland. Those not fortunate enough to afford their own living quarters would travel the year long journey in the lowest poorest part of the deck sometimes not seeing light for months at a time. As it was extremely close living arrangements, a married couple wanting to engage in a sexual encounter, in fear of being caught, would lie on each other in the plank position & let the motion of the ocean rock each other forwards and backwards therefore inventing planking. When more than one couple was planking at the same time it was called plankorgy, also inventing the orgy, which was later shortened to orgy.
Planking, or plankopace^ was later outlawed in 1633 due to rogue waves causes serious injuries & the ship doctor couldn't keep up with all the plakories as described in his tell all book, "Planking, are you in?"

Planking then somewhat disappeared for generations until it was rediscovered recently with the help of facebook & national media & slightly altered to adhere to current day values.
We believe planking is not about who can plank in the most dangerous place but who can be the most creative. It engages peoples minds and can be performed by people of any age. We've even heard the people down at the local cemetery have been planking like mad recently.

So plankers, plank away, engage your mind and invinitiveness, plank safely and always remember your planking ancestors.

Stay stiff


T-Dogg & Stinga

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Arrogance in fishing

Why would there ever be arrogance in fishing? It’s a sport which all people can enjoy, it shouldn’t be competitive, and is enjoyed by people who are alike and share the same interests. So why is there arrogance in fishing? We are unsure, but we can promise you there is. We are far from decent fisherman but in our short time in the game we have seen some pretty terrible examples and it really gives us the shits.

We were as green as the day clear, there we were, two young teenagers with barely a pube on our bodies taking Stingas Dad’s 4.1m alleycraft out for the first time. And as you know boat ramps on Saturday mornings in the height of snapper season is not a place for beginners, but we had to start somewhere. So after realizing backing a trailor is not the same as a car we asked for help. We got lucky, some nice dude backed her down for us and we were in the water. On return we came up to clean our 2 pinkies and had to tippy toe to peak over the fish cleaning table (well not really, we were fully grown by then but its good for the story) and we saw 2 guys who had a 10kg gummy and where cleaning it. We were bloody impressed, how we would love to catch such a magnificent specimen of a fish,. And to this day this comment gets pulled out every single fishing trip we go on. So we asked him with great excitement, “were’d you get that mate?” And he replied, “We saw ya”…..

Oh Did ya mate, how about we stick that 10kg gummy straight up your f&%$en ass with a bit of deep heat as lube!

Arrogance…  Now lets decipher why he may of needed to say that to us. Is he’s general area that god dam top secret is it that he cant give a little help to young fisherman that in the future will only support he’s hobbie?

Does he need to make himself feel so good that he knows a general area that holds gummies and these little 18 year olds don’t.

Now what Celebrity grade would you give a fisherman??? Paul Werstoling might make a C Grade?? (Sorry Wersto if you think you’re higher) Maybe Rex in his day might have hit B grade for a bit, and both these two have answered our msgs. Wersto was more than happy to help us out with a few tips when we ran into him at the store… and rexy, he answered one of our tweets and also when my brother contacted him 15 years  ago he posted back a signed picture, lachy was also lucky enough to go fishing with a fly fishing GOD Phil Weegal himself. And Lachy tells me theres no place in fishing with more arrogance than fly fishing and there he is fishing with the master himself. It may not be much for them but these little moments you remember for the rest of your life.

Just recently we emailed a fisherman who we gave an official T-Dogg and Stinga Celebrity rating of H to. He has a few DVD’s out and is someone we have learnt a lot from PAYING good money to watch him do his thing. We decided to drop him an email to let him know that we loved the dvds and they helped us catch more fish.

No, Mr H celebrity must have been too busy with all his other H grade celebrity fans and he’s H grade celebrity lifestyle to even reply a “Thanks mate” Rexy, Wersto & Weegal are /where at the top of there game and they still felt obliged to give a little advice to two keen young fisherman, and middle rangers Mr H and Mr “We saw ya” wouldn’t give us the time of day.  As much as you remember the fantastic helpful moments in your life you remember the arrogant pigs just as much.

We understand that a lot of people rely on the fishing industry for an income, charter operators aren’t gonna tell you where the fish are or otherwise you don’t need them and they don’t make a living… and don’t go into the yarra valley fly fishing club and ask where the fish are biting before you buy your flies sort of thing. Were not asking people to hand out pamphlets with there favourite GPS marks, we wont give our favourites. We payed $200 once for a 45 min charter so we could learn how to catch our own bait which could have been explained to us in a 10 word text msg. So we feel reluctant to give out that exact information because we had to pay for it.. But If someone seems super keen and excited in what we have caught then we would be more than happy to help them out. The other day these old codgers were super impressed with our gummy so we gave them our fresh salmon and squid as bait that we’d caught that day and ¼ a gummy. They were absolutely stoked. Now that makes you fell good about yourself not telling them to stick there dentures up there ass…

There is no place for arrogance in fishing.. We all share the same passion and love for the sport and the water and now more than ever we need to band together and help each other out. Who knows how much power the greens will get in the next few years

If you are lucky enough to bring home a beautiful fish and people ask you questions and seem eager to learn then help them out. Don’t be a Mr H Grade celeb or a “We saw ya”  

T-DOGG & STINGA

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