Fishing Tackle Blog

Eric Wagnon of Fishing Forever Games Has just developed a new fishing board game due for release in early October 2008. This is an exciting new educational Fishing board game which will keep your family and friends hooked.

Eric has been working with Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling who endorses the game and will be its face. This new and exciting fishing game will be called Starlo Fishing Forever Australia.

Below is some information provided to me by Eric on the New Fishing Game.

Starlo Fishing Forever Australia is a family fishing board game which will hook you from the first time you play it. The game uses a combination of strategy and luck allowing everyone in the family a chance of winning; even the youngest. This is a true family board game which will keep the WHOLE family captivated. Too often board games only target one generation or the other, so one always misses out. Here is the chance for everyone to have fun together. It can be played by 2 to 7 players, aged 7 to 107.

The aim of the game is to travel around Australia, trying to catch at least one of each of the country’s 14 most popular fish. During the trip you will meet with all the trials and tribulations, as well as the excitement, you would encounter during the ‘real’ thing.
You will learn about some of Australia’s most sought after fish, their habitats, and the methods of catching them, while gaining good fishing habits and the right attitude towards maintaining this magical resource, so we can go on …………FISHING FOREVER.

The goal of this game is to teach children (and hopefully parents, too) the ‘fair and responsible’ way to fish. It promotes good fishing habits and the right attitude towards our fishing resources, all this while having a lot of fun.

This is an educational game that will give children and adults alike the opportunity to learn about some of Australia’s most sought after fish. There are many fishing books on the market, but they don’t have the advantage of being fun, a definite plus when learning, especially for the younger generation. They are our future and they will determine how our natural fishing resources will be protected. We have to make sure that, together, we will endeavour to reduce threatening fishing pressures and protect our resources, so we can go on FISHING FOREVER.

This fishing board game can be taken along whenever and wherever the family goes, whether it is to a friend’s place, on a weekend away or on holidays. You will, at the same time, be bringing along all of Starlo’s tips and extra fishing information about these popular Australian fish. So, depending where you are, you can even test Starlo’s tips and go fishing ‘for real’! This is another great way to spend time with your family. You will have that extra knowledge which will increase your chances of catching dinner and, if you don’t already know, you’ll soon discover that a fish is always sweeter when you catch it yourself.

Where Can I buy the NEW Starlo Fishing Forever Australia Fishing Board Game?

The Starlo Fishing forever Australia Board game can be purchased from the ocean storm fishing tackle shop website here: http://www.fishingtackleshop.com.au/prod315.htm

Fishing for Flathead with soft plastic fishing lures has become ever so popular in recent years. Flathead are always a hungry fish that will pretty much eat anything that appears to be food. It is not uncommon for large Flathead to be cannibalistic and eat other smaller Flathead.

My favourite spot for fishing for Flathead would have to be Mallacoota, Which is located just inside the Victorian boarder if travelling south from NSW. Mallacoota is a small township and is quite peaceful particularly in the upper reaches of Gypsy Point. Flathead and Bream are plentiful in Mallacoota and what more is it appears from my experience that most of the fish are of decent size.

Though Mallacoota is my personal favourite spot for Flathead fishing you can pretty much find a variety of Flathead in most parts of Australia.

Fishing for Flathead on soft plastic fishing lures is quite easy when you have the right tackle. What I would recommend is:

Fishing Rod: Depending on how light you wish to fish I recommend a light weight graphite/composite fishing rod rated somewhere along the 2-4kg to 3-5kg mark. Good rod choices would include the Shimano Fireblood fishing rod, Shimano Rack Raider Fishing Rod, Shimano Starlo Stix Fishing Rods, Berkley Dropshot Rods and Penn Pin Point tournament rods just to name a few. These rods have been specifically designed to suit soft plastic and hardbody lure fishing. Prices for a fishing rod suitable for soft plastic fishing can vary anywhere from around $59.00 to $600.00+

Fishing Reel- There are many fishing reels on the market and ultimately it depends on your budget but for something fairly half decent I would not recommend any reel that had a price tag of less than $60-70. The size of the reel can vary depending on the rod you choose but more commonly the choice would be some where between a 2000-2500-3000 size reel for this type of fishing. Again it really depends on your personal budget but for the average angler that is after a fishing reel with a bit of quality that doesn’t want to spend a lot, brand ranges I would highly recommend as a starting point the Penn Applause fishing reel, Penn Affinity Fishing reel, Shimano Sedona Fishing Reel, Okuma Avenger fishing reels.  For the angler that is willing to spend a bit more for top quality gear you could consider the Shimano Stella, Shimano Twin Power or Shimano Stradic.

Fishing Line: Obviously the choice is yours. Fish anywhere from 2kg to 5kg depending on how light you prefer. There are many brands on the market and you can use either Braided / Super Lines or just a regular mono-filament fishing line.  My personal choice is I like to fish fairly light for more fun and use 4lb fireline crystal fishing line with an 8lb Berkley vanish fluorocarbon trace. I use heavier trace compared to my main line mostly to handle any abrasion.

Soft Plastic Fishing Lures: There are many many soft plastic lures on the market and the Flathead will be more than happy to eat pretty much any of the soft plastic fishing lures if it fits in their mouth! the other alternative to soft plastic fishing lures is Berkley Gulp. Berkley Gulp is designed to completely look and feel like soft plastic however the ingredients used are all natural.

My favourite picks on soft plastic lures for Flathead would be Squidgies: in 65mm fish and 100mm wriggler. Favourite colours are silver fox, bloodworm gary glitter and black gold. For the Berkley Gulp fishing lure range my picks are the 2″ Camo sand worms, 2″ nuclear chicken shrimps and 3″ Minnows in malibu blue. Truth is though you can use any colour and they will most likely get eaten by a Flathead if hungry.

How to fish soft plastic fishing lures for Flathead:

There a few methods but by far the easiest and effective way if fishing for Flathead in a lake, river etc.  is to cast the soft plastic fishing lure out along the sand flats or edges of weed beds and let the lure sink till it hits the bottom, leave it for a moment, retrieve any slack line, give your rod an upward twitch, wind a small amount of line back let the lure sink again and keep repeating this process of twitch, wind and sink and be continuous at a fairly slow pace.

Squid are a tasty treat and are fun to catch. You can catch squid in many places, especially habitats that are very rocky and full of seaweed. Squid can be caught on Squid Jigs fishing lures or Squid Pole fishing lures. For Squid Jig fishing lures simply cast into the area you think the squid are and give your rod a few jigs and then retrieve at a very slow speed occasionally jigging the rod to excite or attract any squid that may be hanging around and feeling hungry. You can also use a squid pole in which you can put bait such as yellowtail on the pole and use the pole in the same method as a squid jig. you can buy Squid Jigs here.