Page 60 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine

Ivan Mapp with a double hook-up of redthroat emperor and Dave Bremen landed this nice redthroat emperor from the deck
coral trout.
on one of the windy days.
No complaints about Swains
The author with a coral trout from the reef.
My favourite fishing
A strong but light- tipped spin stick in the Venom range is ideal because you have sen-
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Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, September 2020
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having good colour sounders, and only one black and white unit re- mained.
on Swains was on the shallows and in any- thing from 5-18m of water.
sitivity from the braid and the rod tip to feel the presence of fish, and the grunt to get them before they rub you out on the reef.
Though it didn’t mat- ter which unit you had because you could make good fishing choices all day long based on what was on the screen.
The preference was a spin outfit loaded with colour-coded 50lb braid and fluorocarbon leader with a tiny running sink- er or no sinker at all.
George still likes his trusty handline in the shallows because of the feel it offers him, and it was enjoyable to watch the determination on his face as he strug- gled to bring in several of the cracking fish he hooked.
This year, we reckon we caught more coral trout than on previous trips, and there was an abundance of large redthroat emperor.
The trick then was to feed the bait out until it’s smashed by a trout or lipper!
Spanish mackerel were a little light on, but plenty of shark mackerel were caught while trolling from the mothership and the do- ries.
My personal choice of hook all week was a single Mustad Octopus in an 8/0 size, as you don’t get so many pick- ers, and unlike ganged hooks, there aren’t as many bottom snags.
Out a bit deeper on adjacent shoals, I pre- ferred to use a 7’ Ven- om PE 2-5 overhead rod loaded with 50lb braid and the lightest snapper lead I can keep near the bottom on a two-hook fluorocarbon rig.