They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but I learned something new deep drop fishing for Flame Tail snapper and other monsters of the deep off Brisbane.
Deep drop fishing is fast becoming popular with offshore anglers.
And not just Australia but around the world.
It’s a little more outside the box than general bottom fishing, as waters are deeper.
Deep drop fishing is defined as bottom fishing in very deep water, ranging from 100-500 metres in most areas.
Amazing species can be pulled up from the depths if you have the right equipment.
Typically electric winches are used to lighten the load.
Now, this may seem like cheating, or boring, to traditional fishers.
I myself was a bit skeptical until I tried it.
But it was actually surprisingly fun learning a new technique and the results were “spectacular”.
Our host for the trip was Dick Mayfield from Quality Marine Electronics in Brisbane.
Dick is a marine electronics specialist and not surprisingly, his boat Dick Tracey was decked out with all the latest gear.
Dick’s motto is performance without boundaries and he specialises in the development of high-speed transducer fairings and installation to get the very best out of your equipment.
While not 100% necessary, the 3 KW elliptical AIRMAR transducer and GARMIN 8412 series made finding the fish in 400 m a whole lot easier.
In fact, the weather Gods smiled on us for the day and with very little wind or current, we could see the sinker drop in 400 metres. WOW!
We were accompanied by local fishing guru Pete Flor from Florless Rods. Pete provided the rods for the day and has been scouting and fishing deep drop country for many years.
Watch the video of our day with Dick including tips for deep dropping and some of the fishing action.
Deep drop equipment.
All of this equipment can be sourced and shipped from Dick at Quality Marine Electronics – Brisbane.
A Garmin 8412 XSV is our unit of choice for this work coupled with the AIRMAR GSD26 – CM599LHW (3 KW) transducer.
As you saw, we could see the sinker in 400 metres and Dick has marked individual fish on previous trips. Amazing stuff.
A Miya Epoch CZ-9 electric winch will drain the bank balance but is well worth it.
Otherwise, you’ll spend most of the day watching the reel grind away.
You can’t go past the Florless Raptor for Deep dropping – custom built by Florless Rods. It was a good compromise between give and grunt. Some of these fish have quite soft mouths and hooks can rip out during the long journey to the surface without adequate give.
A 1000 metre self-activating light and Leader Systems Australia deep drop rig at the terminal end completed the package.
And for those suggesting we are a bit soft using a winch. Check out this monster from the deep caught by Pete Flor fishing nearby.
While deep dropping is not for everyone, I must say I was pleasantly surprised during my introduction to this technique. We have ordered a winch and rod and will be doing more as we head south in Mood Swings.
Even larger fish are really good to eat, unlike inshore varieties that sometimes lose quality with size.
That said, they are big fish and as always, we must fish sustainably and not take more than we need. In the case of Pete’s bass grouper, we shut up shop after that one and headed home.
Wanna know more??
During the day we filmed a deep dropping segment for our sounder skills 2 course.
Once added the segment will cover fish finder unit settings for finding fish deep dropping, plus a demo on actually positioning on the fish using your equipment.
To try out our courses we have Sounder Skills 1 reduced to $20 the moment. What have you got to lose?
Click here >> for Sounder Skills 1
Or for 30 years of practical sounder advice that you won’t find on YouTube (Coz not many people know this stuff) that will actually help you catch more fish in less time (practical not technical advice), you can’t go past Sounder Skills 2.
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