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Thread: 2018 swains trip gear

  1. #16

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Hi Daryl, you won't be disappointed and try to get a cabin with two bunks not four (less snorers). The cook/chef onboard ( Dillon) makes up some fantastic meals and the food is just about top class restaurant fare including afternoon tea everyday. Breakfast is at six am, Dories leave after breaky, Dories back at midday for lunch, Dories out again after lunch and back again at five, dinner at six. You don't have to go out in the dories you can stay on the big boat if you want but the Dories give you a bit of independence and you can cast Poppers and Lures and fish right in close to the reef. As I said before we had most success fishing in deeper water from the Dories and remember use as little lead as possible and no lead at all in close to the reef. One thing they are very, very strict about on the Eastern Explorer is legal size, make sure you measure every fish you catch VERY carefully especially when you are out in the Dories and make sure you know the legal size of a particular fish. We had a one occasion when we caught Coral Trout ( legal size 38cm ) and Red Emperor (55cm) and although they were legal size, by the time we got back to the big boat they had shrunk a millimetre and the deckies were not impressed at all and they will not keep undersize fish. The dowel is a good idea because it is hard to break off 80lb braid or 60lb leader especially out in the dories. I never used a lot of the small ball sinkers I took as I found they tended to get you down into the reef faster and get snagged. Make sure you have a spare rod/reel as one of our group busted his Rod on the first day but don't take too many as you will not use them, you will find you tend to use one Rod/Reel nearly 90% of the time. Do not take lengthy one piece rods either as they are a pain storing and using particularly on the big boat. As this boat can take twenty anglers room is at a premium and there are a lot of rods and reels lying about so make sure you identify your rod /reel easily, maybe wrap some colourful electrical insulation tape around the butt of your rod so it stands out in the crowd.You will have a good time and you will catch plenty of fish although most of them will be undersize or just undersize so make sure you measure them carefully. Good fishing.

  2. #17

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Thanks mate. I am going with my nine year old son so hopefully that will mean a cabin just for the two of us.

    I went out four times in the 90s on the Carlo, which at the time was one of the few that seemed to offer dory fishing. I prefer dory fishing to fishing in the mothership. I love using unweighted baits up in the shallows, it can be so much fun - I have been lucky enough to catch some Spaniards doing this, as well as plenty of sharky mackerel.

    After from advice from my friend Moonlighter, I decided to go with a couple of Saragosa 20000 and have overhead rod and reel combos as well. For the two of us I will probably take five rod and reels including a lighter outfit (for the Swains!) as I have had success out their on slugs on tuna and shark mackerel. You can take too much gear out there and find that you only really use one rod most of the time.

    I am fine knowing the legal sizes (I better be since I am on the Government's Sustainable Fisheries Expert Panel). When I use to go out we use to only keep fish in the dories if they were 2 cm over legal (therefore 40cm for coral trout). There will indeed be plenty of fish, but not always the right colour or size!

    I use to use a handline glove to break the line off (mono in the day) when snagged, but I like the sounds of the dowel option better.

    It was always hit and miss, but did you fish off the big boat at night at all? I have caught good spangled emperor doing this.

  3. #18

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Yes Daryl we fished at night for squid and caught some nice fish as well but there was always three big and I mean big sharks just out the back of the boat that would take your fish. The Eastern Explorer has a big duckboard out the back that you can fish of and this puts you only about a metre from those big toothy critters as they circle about.

  4. #19

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    I've got the squid jigs packed! One of my research areas is the mitigation of shark bite on people. I will be trying a few things to reduce the number of fish taken by sharks. If I get a feel that they are likely to be effective (and practical to use), I will do some specific research trips to the Swains to test them rigorously.

  5. #20

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Being under gunned on that sought of trip is gut wrenching.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #21

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Just out of interest how much fish can you take home and is it all divided up or is it you keep what YOU catch? Thanks

  7. #22
    Ausfish Platinum Member Funchy's Avatar
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    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Quote Originally Posted by SandStorm View Post
    Just out of interest how much fish can you take home and is it all divided up or is it you keep what YOU catch? Thanks
    I rang the lady from the eastern explorer it was told it works like this.

    if you organise the trip you divvy up the catch. If you go with the trip organised by the charter operator they divvy it up equally. Note that they will take into account who fishes full time and those who only fish now and then.

    as far as how much, you can only take your possession limit

  8. #23

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Actually, on a week long charter, the normal bag limits per person are doubled.

    So, 40 CRFF
    Plus 2 x the normal bag limits on non-CRFF species.

    The vessel’s name is Eastern Voyager.
    Note to self: Don't argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience....

  9. #24

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    I think it has to technically be an 8 day charter for the bag limits to double

  10. #25

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Gday guys, I am interested in the information about doubling bag limits on extended charters? I thought this was all abolished a few years ago and the normal bag limits apply? Where are you getting this info? Just curious as I am on a swains charter next June and was under the impression that we wouldn’t be able to fish too hard because of the limits.

    Cheers
    Lee


    Sent from my iPhone using Ausfish forums
    The wait is finally over.........was worth every minute..........let the RIPTIDE rip..........hell yehhhh

  11. #26

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Any weather the general bag limits have changed in the last couple of years. I still think your limit increases once you go from a 7 day to an 8 day charter. Max 40 fish per person applies for 8 day trip I’m pretty sure. Don’t worry if you come home with 40 fish that’s a good feed

  12. #27

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    I am pretty sure there is no different rules.

    Fish as hard as you can. You might be surprised at how hard it is to get your 20 fish for the 10 or 15 blokes you have on board.

    Remember mackrel are are not part of your reef fin fish bag, you could spend a few sessions on them too.

    Also, what we we often do on bigger trips is to have our own bigger size limits for things like tuskies and RTE, so that your bag is taken up with smaller fish.

  13. #28

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Hi RTP, yeh that was my thoughts also hence the question. I haven’t been able to find any information to suggest an increase.
    When we do our annual 10 day trip we also work on a larger size to end up with better quality in the freezer.

    Cheers
    Lee


    Sent from my iPhone using Ausfish forums
    The wait is finally over.........was worth every minute..........let the RIPTIDE rip..........hell yehhhh

  14. #29

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    I have just done the Swains charter and I can assue you that the limits on the trip being discussed are as I described in my last post. Double checked it with Fisheries before we left.

    We had terrible weather on our charter which really affected our catch, but we still ended up taking home 20 trays of fillets each = a normal 20 CRFF possession limit.

    To save further speculation, I looked up the legislation, being the Fisheries Regulation 2008 as currently in force.

    Section 150 is as follows:

    Division 2Regulated coral reef fin fish

    150Extended number for regulated coral reef fin fish
    (1)Subsections (3) to (5) prescribe the number (the extended number) of regulated coral reef fin fish that may be—

    (a)taken, during an extended licensed charter fishing trip, by a recreational fisher who is on a boat and taking part in the trip; and
    (b)possessed by the fisher.
    (2)However, subsections (3) to (5) apply only if the trip is conducted for a continuous period of at least 72 hours.

    (3)Subject to subsections (4) and (5), the extended number of regulated coral reef fin fish of a particular species or a group of species is twice the regulated number of the fish for the species or group.

    (4)If the trip is conducted for a continuous period of more than 72 hours and less than 168 hours, the extended number of regulated coral reef fin fish of all species or groups of species is a total of 40 fish.

    (5)If the trip is conducted for a continuous period of more than 168 hours, the extended number of regulated coral reef fin fish of all species or groups of species is a total of 60 fish.
    Note to self: Don't argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience....

  15. #30

    Re: 2018 swains trip gear

    Thanks Moonlighter, there looks to be a bit of light reading there, 700 odd pages. Thanks for the info, sounds like we may bring home a ice feed if the weather is cooperating

    Cheers
    Lee


    Sent from my iPhone using Ausfish forums
    The wait is finally over.........was worth every minute..........let the RIPTIDE rip..........hell yehhhh

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