Blue Eye Trevella.

[Noelm]

not too sure it qualifies as true Sport, but I can assure you, using any standard type of Rod and Reel to Fish for them is bloody hard work and also not sporting. also do not agree with the guys that reckon Blue Eye are not so good eating, you guys must have had one cooked in the Sun for a couple of hours before you got home, they are delicious Eating as are most of the other deep water species, I might also add that it is really "deep sea" fishing, not inshore deep sea, or QLD deep sea, it if DEEP and hard work, I have now moved to cord line and just use gloves and two people taking turns to hand line them, sounds like hard work, but better than a rod and reel, also have a big Alvey, but a few KG of Lead to buggery down is hard to pull up, if I wasn't so tight ar$ed, I would probably give an Electric a go.

[TimiBoy]

I'm with Nauti. I've always felt that if you're using a winch or similar to crank up a fish from depth, it's probably just as thrilling to go to the fish market (without the on water fun though).

But that is IMO only! Each to their own...

[FNQCairns]

Well i couldn't care less about the sporting value I just want to do it, catch something from the deep and eat it!

Noelm if you have time could you fill me in on handlineing?? Like cord weight diamater brand and weights needed, babe in the woods but would happily drift for a few hours (up here we can go from 42m to 1200m within 7km so what the hell you only live once....

cheers fnq

[Noelm]

OK, what I have is a million metres (almost, actualy 1,000 metres) of 5mm cord, kind of like Venetian Blind cord, but much more stiff, on the end I have a small shackle that I attach the "droppers" to, all it consists of is some 200LB Mono, with a series of either crimped or twisted dropper knots,I like to use 200LB droppers, but anything would do,big Circle hooks, or just elcheapo 9/0 will do the job, sometimes use a glo bead at the hook, sometimes a bit of glo tube, usually about 3 to 6 hooks, then for a sinker I use those old Window sash weights, or make my own with a beer can full of concrete with a loop of wire set in it, with the cord, if you get a snag, you can just tie off to the Bollard and break the 200lb dropper with the Boat, if you use (say) braid, it gets a bit scarey with a couple of hundred of Dollars worth that could snap at the Boat, been there, done that, just lower it to the bottom, drift about over the right locations, wait for a "bite" or just wind up and hope, I always use Squid for Bait, because it does not fall off half way down, have tried a couple of methods for sinkers with bricks and tie them on with light line, the theory being that they break off and do not need to be hauled up, but you need a Boat full of bricks to start off with, it can be pretty exciting when you have a couple of hundred Metres of cord, 6KG of sinkers, and you get a "run" I can tell you, it is also a pain when you pull up all that line and find those crappy little Green Eye Sharks about 1 foot long, so there you go, if you live within reach of true deep water, then give it a whirl, not too sure of the Blue Eye range North, but who knows what the hell lives at depth in the Tropics huh!

[banshee]

In all honesty how can it be called "sportfishing" Banshee? A machine is literally skull dragging these fish up from 500mtrs. I can't see how that is sport. I don't know of another way of getting them up, and I can't understand why anyone would want to, but that aside it is hardly "sport".

Dave

It's not sporting at all,but my point was that there is very few options to win fish in this depth without a deck winch or electric.Why?For me it's the eating quality of the catch (present topic excluded).
At what point does any gear become unsporting? Is there an unfair advantage afforded those that handline for fish with breaking strain greater than the expected size of the target fish? and I'll bet that in some stage of time some old bloke sat on the beach drying his gut line throwing a discerning look at some one going fishing with a reel equiped with a drag system.I believe the era of the truly skillfull offshore angler died with the availability of GPS,like how sporting is being able to find productive pieces of reef time after time at the mere push of a button?

[dww13]

Not to sure which one of the guys on the boat claimed the droplining to be sportfishing??? I can definantly recall the guys saying it was done rarely and only to fill the freezer? The size and type of reels on the show have 2 uses and two uses only. 1. they are used commercially to catch fish for sale by pro fisherman. 2. For use by recreational anglers wanting to put some fish in the freezer.

For sportfishing/gamefishing the big gold girls that were in the shot are used.

[TimiBoy]

The way Noelm describes it, it sounds like a good workout. 600m of line out, and it takes a run? Do it three times a week for your heart, guys!

OK, I s'pose it qualifies as a sport then!

[Noelm]

pretty sporting when you get a snag and have a bit of current I can tell you! you have to be quick to tie it off, but indeed, if you get a good fish, with cord, you will get a run.

[FNQCairns]

OK, what I have is a million metres (almost, actualy 1,000 metres) of 5mm cord, kind of like Venetian Blind cord, but much more stiff, on the end I have a small shackle that I attach the "droppers" to, all it consists of is some 200LB Mono, with a series of either crimped or twisted dropper knots,I like to use 200LB droppers, but anything would do,big Circle hooks, or just elcheapo 9/0 will do the job, sometimes use a glo bead at the hook, sometimes a bit of glo tube, usually about 3 to 6 hooks, then for a sinker I use those old Window sash weights, or make my own with a beer can full of concrete with a loop of wire set in it, with the cord, if you get a snag, you can just tie off to the Bollard and break the 200lb dropper with the Boat, if you use (say) braid, it gets a bit scarey with a couple of hundred of Dollars worth that could snap at the Boat, been there, done that, just lower it to the bottom, drift about over the right locations, wait for a "bite" or just wind up and hope, I always use Squid for Bait, because it does not fall off half way down, have tried a couple of methods for sinkers with bricks and tie them on with light line, the theory being that they break off and do not need to be hauled up, but you need a Boat full of bricks to start off with, it can be pretty exciting when you have a couple of hundred Metres of cord, 6KG of sinkers, and you get a "run" I can tell you, it is also a pain when you pull up all that line and find those crappy little Green Eye Sharks about 1 foot long, so there you go, if you live within reach of true deep water, then give it a whirl, not too sure of the Blue Eye range North, but who knows what the hell lives at depth in the Tropics huh!

Nice thanks Noelm!! Will save your advice and plan toward keeping a rigged spool onboard, from trout to monsters of the deep (i hope) all within a couple of km of each other I too wonder what species are on the shelf around here.

cheers fnq

[Outsider1]

Those Trumpeter they get with Blue Eye off the Tassie coast are pretty fair eating too.

http://www.doongarafishingcharters.c...ing/index.html

Cheers

Dave

[Outsider1]

I assume it is a one way trip for anything pulled up from that depth?

Are Sharks taking your catch on the way up a problem as well?

Cheers

Dave

[SeaHunt]

They start to float at about 80 metres down and by time they hit the surface they are blown up like balloons with their eyes popped out.
Apart from that they are alright.

[Noelm]

Seahunt is correct, they do float near the surface, and even if they get off, they will still float and can be gaffed/netted, I can't remember how many big Blue Eye and Gemfish that I have just picked up from other Boats nearby, as I guess they may have done to me, the Sharks for some reason do not suffer from "eye popping" and are returned easily, never really had a problem with Sharks taking Fish on the way up, but every thing is food or Bait as it would certainly never live (I reckon anyway) so for all the catch and release brigade, this type of sport/meat fishing/slaughter whatever you want to call it, is not for you.

[bondy99]

I use to work on a dropliner working Taupo and Barco Sea Mounts, thats about halfway between Lord Howe Island and Port Stephens (My home base at the time). We specifically targeted Blue Eye Trevalla and Hapouka, Dogfish (green eyed shark) was a bycatch and sold too.

Much of the Blue eye trevalla in the 5kg range was labotomised and placed in fresh ice slurry then in the hold, all exported to Japanese markets, larger Blue eye for the domestic market, and yep bloody beautiful when done right, leaves pearl perch for dead. Peter

[disorderly]

Well i couldn't care less about the sporting value I just want to do it, catch something from the deep and eat it!

Noelm if you have time could you fill me in on handlineing?? Like cord weight diamater brand and weights needed, babe in the woods but would happily drift for a few hours (up here we can go from 42m to 1200m within 7km so what the hell you only live once....

cheers fnq

I have to agree with Scott.
When I go offshore and reef fishing although I enjoy the whole process I am there to catch top quality food for myself and family using whatever means necessary.
If I want sport I prefer to lay on the couch with a beer and watch it on the TV.

Although it's funny to see Snelly get his hackles up whenever electric reels or droplines are mentioned,it would be interesting to have at go at fishing for these deepwater fish just as a matter of interest.

Scott, do you know of anyone up here who has done any of this deep water fishing.
I had a bit of a sound on the dropoff east of Sharon shoals a while back but could see no signs of life show up....thought of dropping a line but then thought better of it when I realized I would have to wind it back up.

Scott