Coastal Catches 2013-02-01

From the Archives ...

"Angling is an art - Hannah Ledger

and an art worth your learning.."

Presented from Issue 112, October 2014
So said Izaak Walton in the 1600s. It seems that Burnie’s Hannah Ledger has combined angling with art rather well. Hannah is a fish fanatic, outdoor enthusiast and budding, self-taught artist. From as young as she can remember, she has always had crayon in hand, colouring book under arm and as she’s grown as a painter, jars full of paintbrushes and cupboards full of ready-to-go blank canvas’.

A country girl at heart, Hannah was schooled at Yolla District High School, a small ‘farm’ school in the states North West, then went on to Hellyer College where she was given the opportunity to really grow her art skills; And by grow, that meant skipping the classes that would probably have more an impact of getting her somewhere in life, like English and Math to spend every spare minute with the art teacher, painting or drawing.

As typical teenagers do, they make poor decisions- and after being accepted in to one of the countries top art schools, turned down the offer and decided to move to the big island, where she lived for 5 years working in what seemed ‘dead end’ retail.

Coastal Catches 1/2/2013

I had a trip down to St. Helens on the long weekend and the wind that has been blowing from the west followed me down there and blew from the east. We did get a good days fishing out on the shelf on Monday and managed to find a few Gemfish.

We went fishing in the bay on Saturday and caught heaps of Australian Salmon until we were sick of catching them. We then used sabiki rigs to catch some Jack Mackerel for bait. I had heard that they were a good fish to smoke so I decided to have a crack and was pleasantly surprised how good they were to eat. If you want a great snack to have with a cold beer I can highly recommend it. Australian Salmon are another good fish to smoke.
There are plenty of Mackerel around the Burnie boat ramp area and Emu bay. Use some burley to bring them into where you are fishing.
There are some good reports of Snapper being caught out off Wynyard. You won’t catch them every time you go but they are there. Try a Black Magic Snapper rig with some squid on each of the hooks.
There are good numbers of arrow squid about at the moment and the heads at Strahan are a hotspot. There are also plenty being caught along the coast. Arrow squid are not very fussy about what they attack and can be quite aggressive. A good tip for preparation is to mix the rings with some Kiwi Fruit pulp and let it marinate for about an hour before cooking. It certainly makes them a lot tenderer.
Australian salmon are also around in good numbers. There was a big school out off Sulphur Creek on the weekend and early this week. They were feeding on baitfish so they were eager to take most lures that were thrown at them. If they are feeding on the surface try a floating popper. Cast it out and wind it back fast along the top of the water. The takes can be quite spectacular. Western Inlet at Stanley and the Arthur River mouth are other locations where Australian Salmon are plentiful.
The wind is still driving everyone mad up in the highlands however there are a few days like Monday where the conditions are spot on and the fishing is good. A couple of customers were fishing in the Nineteen Lagoons area and had a great day fly fishing. There were duns and spinners on the water in near perfect conditions. It goes to show that you need to be in the right place at the right time.

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