Posted by Mark Berg in Feature Story
Tags: Boeing Trailers, Humminbird, Minn Kota, plate boats, Tabs boats, tinnies, Yamaha F70

A year on and my Tabs 5.1 Territory pro has been everything we had hoped it would be. This is definitely the most versatile boat I have owned with the ability to fish the estuaries in comfort and hit some offshore grounds as well and stay dry. Tabs have offered to upgrade our boat to a larger version but I just love my 5.1 and don’t want to see it go. The Yamaha F70 has been extremely reliable with amazing fuel economy and pushes my heavy Tabs through the water with ease. Check out all the specs below –

5100 TERRITORY PRO –

Tabs stands for ‘Tough Aussie Boats’ and that’s just what they are. Tabs have the heaviest construction available in Australia. Extra hull weight not only means a stronger construction but the extra weight can significantly assist in a vessels performance. Because of this Tabs have the flexibility to run the deepest V for its class throughout the hull with no compromise to stability. These boats don’t just come off the production line and that’s it – they actually build purpose built boats so you get what you want. These plate boats are built to stand the harshest conditions and best of all they are Aussie made and Aussie backed. With a Tabs boat you get more metal for your money! www.tabsboats.com.au

F70 OUTBOARD MOTOR –

The brand new F70 outboard was a very easy choice again for me. I have travelled all over this amazing country and fished with dozens of Professional Fishing Guides that are on the water virtually seven days a week. Almost all of them run Yamaha’s on their charter boats – why? Because they last, are reliable and therefore get their clients home safe. It’s hard to ignore this when picking an outboard. The F70 itself is the lightest 70HP four stroke in the industry. This gives the F70 a far better power to weight ratio than other brands.
The F70 features multi point fuel injection with ‘Knock Sensor’ which is found in most modern cars today. The Knock Sensor will sense detonation in an engine and adjust the timing to compensate. Detonation is caused by pre-ignition in the cylinder usually from low quality fuel. It’s a bit like ‘pinging’ if you remember back to the old car days. As boats may sit for some time between trips the ‘Knock Sensor’ helps compensate for poor fuel quality. The F70 gets my Tabs on the plane in seconds and looks pretty cool too.

Check out – www.yamaha-motor.com.au

i – Pilot

I just had to have the new Minn Kota i-Pilot, a trolling motor control system which utilises GPS technology to automatically navigate and position the boat for anglers. This is a true breakthrough in trolling motor technology, as what better way is there to keep you on the fish than to have the trolling motor to position the boat for you.
This thing is awesome. I particularly like the Spot-lock feature which will hold you in one position via a GPS mark taken from one touch on the remote. It automatically corrects for wind, waves, current and drift. The “recall” feature for Spot-Lock provides the ability to return to that specific location at a later time. Up to three Spot-Lock locations can be stored at a time.
The Record a Track feature allows an entire track, up to a remarkable two miles in length, to be stored to memory for immediate retracing or a later return trip. As many as three different tracks can be recorded and stored at a time.
This amazing technology is helping many anglers win tournaments and has already proved a very valuable tool in catching more fish for me. Check out www.bla.com.au

798cxi SI Combo GPS Fishing System

I definitely wanted an all in one system and the new side imaging technology was a real attractant for me as well. That’s why I have gone for the 798 from Humminbird.
Featuring three programmable ‘soft touch’ buttons designed to switch effortlessly between your favourite views and settings. The sunlight viewable, 127mm diagonal Ultra high resolution screen features 640V x 640H pixel clarity, providing unbelievable colour and contrast.
This thing has so many cool features I just had to note them down in point form.
Features:
• Three programmable ‘soft touch’ favourites buttons
• 127mm (5”) diagonal, 640V x 640H, 256 colour TFT sunlight viewable display
• Dual Beam PLUS™ sonar 20º/200kHz and 60º/83kHz to reach depths of up to 457m
• Outstanding 455kHz side imaging sonar looks through any water to reveal structure and bottom with picture like detail, 73 metres each side of the boat to a depth of 45m
• 4000 watts peak to peak (500 watts RMS) power output
• Combination GPS chart plotter and side image sonar capability in one compact unit
• Built-in UniMap™ provides detail to 4NM around the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand
• 50 channel GPS, trackplotting, chartplotting and GPS speed
• PC compatible – download new features as they become available via optional PC Cable or SD Card
• Upgradeable to Navionics® seamless cartography
• Automatic or manual operation with upper and lower range control
• Selectable 2x, 4x, 6x and 8x zoom level
• Depth alarm, fish alarm and battery voltage monitor with alarm
• SmartCast®, WeatherSense®, CannonLink™ and InterLink™ ready
• Selectable bottom view – choose between Whiteline® or traditional Structure ID®
• One button screen snapshot or record and play back sonar readings transferable to optional SD/MMC card and other adjustments to the recording (requires optional SD card)
• Real Time Sonar™ display
• Split screen zoom plus selective FishID+™
• Water temperature included
• Freeze frame
• Fully waterproof construction
• Instant image update immediately shows the results of setting changes for accurate fine tuning
• Newly configured front access dual card slot for optional Navionics® or SD cards
The side imaging is very cool. Basically I can motor past a snag (not over it) and see if there are any fish sitting on it without spooking them. I can set a GPS mark on that exact snag and then go back and cast at it. The images are very clear too. Check out www.bla.com.au

A trailer is just a trailer! Right? Wrong! Don’t go cheap and nasty on the one thing that holds your prized possession off the ground. I have been using Boeing Trailers for over 15 years and have never had a problem with them. They are built very strong and have some features that really stood out for me.
I have had several boats over the years that I couldn’t quite fit in the garage because with the trailer they were just too long. With my new Boeing trailer I have a feature called a swinging arm. It basically folds away about a metre of the front arm of the trailer for storage. How cool is that? It takes about 2 seconds to fold it back and now my boat fits in my garage. I also like the bridge that has been built down the middle of the trailer. It allows me to walk down the trailer with ease when I need to hook the boat on. With quality fixtures and fittings through-out Boeing Trailers was again a very easy choice.

Well that’s my new boat. I hope to see you on the water this summer.
Cheers,
Mark Berg

Posted by Carl Vanderpal in Feature Story, Fishing Destinations
Tags: Cape York Australia, Fishing Adventure of a Lifetime, Fishing Videos, FREE Fishing Videos, Giant Trevally, Jardine River, Mark Berg, Queenfish

If you have ever wanted to go on a fishing adventure of a lifetime then this is a great place to consider. Cape York is situated at the very tip of northern Queensland and is home to a vast number of fish species. The near by Torres Straight Islands create a haven for millions of bait fish and in turn provide outstanding fishing for large pelagic fish.

Traveling down the Western side of the Cape the first main river system you find is the Jardine River. The mouth of the Jardine River is very shallow and just after the run off from the wet season the watercolour is a very dark from the Tannin stain. This dark shallow water is packed with baitfish and attracts huge predatory fish like Giant Trevally and massive schools of Queenfish. On our last visit we even had huge Permit to around 20 kg feeding around the boat (where was my fly gear when I needed it?). To be anchored on a dropping tide in a metre of water with no wind and glassed out conditions is a good day out in itself – but to be surrounded by nonstop action on these rampaging fish is something very special.

The sessions on Queenfish here can be extra ordinary. I have fished this spot on four occasions now and each time I have captured literally hundreds of massive Queenfish with the biggest going around 24lbs. Watching your popper scooting back to the boat and then getting totally smashed by these dynamic fish is great fun. If you have caught Queenies before you will know how exciting a fish they can be to capture. They will often leap five or six times in an attempt to throw the hooks and often they do. With screaming runs and incredible acrobatics in the shallow water it makes for sport fishing at its best.

The temptation to fish super light is always there but often very late in the afternoon the Giant Trevally make there way into the shallows to cause some havoc of their own and light gear just won’t stop them. I’ve learnt this lesson the hard way when I hooked a GT estimated at around the 80lb mark on 10lb braid. Soon after the incredible first run of around 300 metres it was fairly apparent that I was not going to stop this bad boy from making his way back into the deeper water and unfortunately into the mouth of a waiting Tiger Shark. The initial run from a big GT is unmistakable and provides for a serious adrenalin rush. A reel screaming for that amount of time at that pace is something I think as fisherman we all long for.

I did however, the following day go back to the Jardine after that disappointing result and make up for it on a Giant Trevally of around 50lbs which wasn’t a bad consolation prize.

On the surrounding beaches that flank the mouth of the river is a whole other world of fishing action. The species on offer here is one of my favourite in both its eating quality and it fight and that is the Blue Salmon. There are several more fish species to catch along these beaches but in my book nothing else compares to the strike and hard core run of a thumping Blue Salmon on super light gear. Salmon will take plastics, flies and minnow type lures but I have found the best results are with a metal slug retrieved at speed. The Salmon just can’t resist the fleeting action at speed.

The mouth of the Jardine River is just a very small part of the adventures to be had in this region of Australia. At particular times of the year massive schools of Mackerel pass through the straights and are so thick and crazed on bait fish its not uncommon to have a Spaniard leap into the air after a garfish and land in your boat. It really is that full on.

You can’t forget the Long Tail Tuna either during winter that pass through feeding in giant schools. There is no doubt that casting metals at these fish provide the best results but to see a Long Tail leap three feet in the air with your popper in its mouth is visual fishing beyond explanation. Couple that with super fast screaming runs and a very tough battle and you have a pocket rocket that will test your endurance. We have had daylong sessions that are simply incredible and are very rarely seen anywhere else.

The Cape also offers very good estuary fishing as well but that’s a whole other story. If you want to know more about a trip to Cape York give my mate Gary Wright a call on +61 7 40693400. Gary is always up for a good chat and will help you plan a fishing adventure I am sure you will never forget.

Mark Berg