JEM Watercraft

G'day Garret,

Thanks mate.

From what I have seen and read, Maine is a beautiful part of the world. Famous for it stripper canoes and stunning rivers. Enjoy you cooler climate mate. You can allways put another coat on.

I haven't experienced weather temps below freezing since I was a very young child and living much further south than I do now.

Our temps are just starting to cool off. The days are now a very comfortable 80 odd degrees and the nights are just cool enough to justify a blanket in the early hours of the morning. I wish it would stay like this all year.

Oh yeah,

Raumati (Andrew) is from New Zealand. Some of the best fresh and salt water fishing in the world is to be had in his back yard.

Mick,
My next door neighbors are Kiwi's. Well, mostly. They were both born elsewhere, but they spent most of their working lives in New Zealand. It is another place on my list of places to visit.
Oh, and I will take the heat if it would melt this aweful white mess. I am not opposed to the idea of heat at all. --Garrett

Sorry it took me so long to reply, as Mick says I'm in NZ.Last week I was in oz and went out on a fishing charter and pretty much everyone I talked to over the three days was raving about the fishing here.Most aussies would rather chew razor blades than compliment NZ on anything[and vice versa as you'd expect] and it made me realise how much I take for granted.

Red cod are nothing special- no one eats them but they do put up a bit of a fight.Kahawai on the other hand are great to catch and fight like hell, I release most of the ones I catch as I don't like the taste.Gurnard as very tasty, I havn't caught a shark big enough to keep yet.

Maine features a lot in wooden boat magazine, it looks amazing.Do you get halibut there?

Heya Raumati,

I bet the Brisbane charter was a disappointment.
Shame You couldn't have got up this way mate. The barra have been going off in the past few weeks.
Here is my mate, Kris with a small one he got the other day.




They'll probably shut down now the weather is cooling off

I went down to the Gold Coast, we got a few spanish and spotted mackeral.I got only one decent one and a few other reef fish that were new to me.The fishing side of things wasn't too flash but I still enjoyed it.

I'll be back next year and I'm interested in knowing why you thought a Brisbane charter would be a disappointment, I was gutted to learn that they do actually catch GTs off Stradbroke, I was led to believe they didn't come that far south.

Next time I'll make it up your way, catching a decent barra is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.That and catching some GTs.

Mate, we used to get a few GTs an a lot of big golden Travally in Moreton Bay when I was a teenager. If you want to catch big GT's you need to come to Hervey Bay. The place is the home of them. I can put you in touch with a very good guide who is heavily into chasing them on fly and big poppers. Paul is also a very good bloke who is passionate about the fishery here and a wealth of knowledge. Starlo, Bushy and Rex Hunt use him all the time.

Here is his website. Believe the hype, He is as good as he claims.
http://www.frasercoastsportfishing.com/

Failing that, come on up anyway, I have a spare yak or two. We could work the flats in the bay. I haven't worried about chsing them. They are too much like hard work in a kayak and where do ya put a 20 kilo animal once ya got him onboard anyway.

Re Brisbane Charters, I have just heard a few negative things about them.

Cheers Mick I'll definitly take you up on that offer of the guide and the offer of a chance to get out the water too.

Raumati,
Sorry myself for being so slow. Anyway, yes Maine is VERY big into wooden boat building and such. Its kind of the only way of life down east. We have a lot of coast, and inland waters to choose from when they arent frozen. We just got another 12" of snow last night. Its April for crying out loud. I am about ready to head down under if it doesnt warm up soon. Sorry, just a little rant there. Back to the good stuff. Yes we get halibut, but not big ones like in Alaska. Most of the ocean sport fish that we get are Cod, Haddock, Pollock, Stripers, Blue fish, some yellow fin, blue sharks. I dont know, a few more I guess. Wolf fish are fun and ugly. Inland we have landlocked salmon, bass and a variety of trout. I just heard that the stripers are on their way back up the coast now, so it wont be long before the tinker mackerel are back in the harbors. If only this snow would melt. Ah well, what can I do but wait? --Garrett

By the way, both of my brothers are deep sea fisherman. They run a party fishing boat out of a small port in southern Maine called Perkins Cove. The boat is called the Bunny Clark and it is world renowned for the fish shes brought up. The website is www.Bunnyclark.com If you guys are interested in seeing what we catch up here. The website is updated daily. Youi guys can see what the fishing is like just about all the time here. Check out the list of state and world records the owner Tim Tower has under his belt. Its pretty neat stuff to see. --Garrett