The KOWANYAMA rag, March 2012 - The Barrumundi Special. By Shane Fixter.

As the manager of the ABFT I am proud to congratulate the recent engagements of fellow ABFT Skyringville ‘2001’ founding farther/originals, Ryan ‘JEMO’ Jamieson and Terry ‘WINGNUT’ Castelli. Best of luck for the future to both couples. A congratulation also goes out the big unit, Brendan ‘B’ Gray, who has recently had a beautiful baby boy. The looks obviously have come from the old girl as our B has a head like a rot wheeler chewing a wasp, and nipples, that if not taped, could slice Enrique Iglesias’s smooth, sensual and sexual tongue right from his mouth. “Let me be your hero”

I would also like to show appreciation to JEMO, KIRKY and JIMBO for their unparalleled standards in fishing blog excellence. Their incomparable local knowledge of Australia’s most sought after fishing hotspots never seizes to amaze me. Just reading our ABFT blog makes you a better fishermen and gives those other ABFT blue collar members a taste of what real fishing is like.

Over the last year and a bit I have had the opportunity to fish perhaps Australia’s most lucrative Barra and Salmon River, the mighty Mitchell River. The river begins on the Atherton Tableland about 50 kilometres northwest of Cairns, and flows about 750 kilometres northwest across Cape York Peninsula from Mareeba to the Gulf of Carpentaria emptying out 5km north of the aboriginal community of Kowanyama. The river's watershed covers an area of 71,757 km² , the largest in QLD!

Kowanyama boasts a kaleidoscope of fishing options. Head just 30-40mins south west to flick a line in the abundant Topsy Creek, travel 30-40mins NW to the mighty Mitchell River, walk 50 metres to fish the plentiful freshwaters of the Magnificent River or take a local out and fish any one of the hundreds of local freshwater homeland waters which are only a stone’s throw away from my front doorstep.

Before coming to Kowanyama I had never caught a Barra. Well haven’t times changed! Last year I reckon that between myself and the many different deckies I’ve had aboard my boat “BUST YA UP” I’ve probably pulled in over 100 Barra. Not to mention the many barra that have been caught fishing the banks of freshwater billabongs!

It has been one of my greatest experiences and accomplishments teaching in an aboriginal community and look forward to the day when the ABFT ventures this way whether it is soon or later I think it is a must! 7 hours drive from cairns!

I have added a couple of photos below to talk you through some of my wonderful fishing adventures that Kowanyama has provided me with. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the stories

This is my second 1+ Barra. This one weighed in at 20.5kg and 1.10 meters. My first meter + Barra was caught in Bundaberg on my birthday 9/04/2012. So how did I catch this fuckin monster? Well I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have probably over $1000 dollars worth of the latest and greatest lures under sun. But this bohemath was caught on a piece of shit $3 lure from China. It was nailed in about 12 foot of water on a very rocky bottom. The bottom has sections of depth ranging from 9-15 foot. Very jagged. This bad boy got airborne twice and took about 30mins to get in the boat. I was using 35lb power line and a 50lbs black magic monofilament leader. I was using the Albright and uni knots to tie my leader and lure off. I’m currently running a 200E7 Shimano Chronarch complemented by a Ian Miller 2 Barra Mauler. The second picture is of a 92 cm Barra caught in the same session. We caught about 60 odd that session (8 hours). This day was easily the best Barra fishing I have ever had.

I caught a 65cm Barra that got swallowed by another barra that day which I believe to be bigger than the one in the photo. I saw the monster twice as it came to the boat. It had a head on it as big as a basketball! I battled the moster for about 45 mins before it spat the original 65cm Barra out. When I landed the 65er’ in the boat it had zero scales left on its entire body..... Crazy day of angling! We also had a barra shop at my outboard.... They were thick.... Oh and by the way we were fishing in the wet part of the water! heheheh.

The A.B.F.T. So Far...

For the thousands of A.B.F.T. fans worldwide, here is a video containing the best, worst, drunkest and downright stupidest photos of all time, all the way from the humble beginnings of the A.B.F.T. And also how can we forget the favourite, most requested songs of all time of A.B.F.T. trips!

If this doesn't make you shed a tear or two then your just a heartless, hard bastard who has no soul!

Check it out!!!

Jemo’s Hinchinbrook Report November 2012

 

Hi again folks, it’s your Vice President and Location Coordinator here - Ryan “Jemo” Jamieson. With a combination of an increase in the water temperature, the opening of the sugar loading wharf, great tides and perfect weather, the Hinchinbrook Channel has really fired over the last couple of months. While the lure fishermen have been enjoying some red hot sessions on barramundi, mangrove jack and other line burners such as threadfin salmon and queenfish, the bait fishermen have been reaping the rewards for their hard work with some great catches of grunter showing up throughout the channel.

A few weeks ago I had some super keen fishermen Matt Manley, Leon Mittelhuser and James “Wallaby’’ Hanson join me for a few days of fishing on the channel. With a southerly change coming through and some not so perfect building tides, I knew we were going to be up for a tough time but I assured the boys I would deliver the goods. After a early start and a quick drive up the Bruce highway we set off from Fishers Creek boat ramp which is situated about 20km south of Cardwell. After a 20 minute boat ride we arrived at our first destination, as it was low tide I thought there might be a few barra lurking on the fringes of the exposed bait drains running off the mud flats. After an hour or so and a few nice size flathead later, we decided to head to our next destination as the humble lizard was not what we were here for. I decided to try a little creek I hadn’t fished for a while that holds good numbers of large mangrove jack and barramundi .The Jack weren’t playing the game as we only boated three small specimens but the barra were definitely on the chew. Matty and Leon boated consecutive quality Barra straight up, followed by a few other smaller barra. Jamie and I put some quality fish in the boat including a nice barra, just under 800mm and hooking an even bigger one that was dropped right next to the boat. After tangling with a few smaller barra and jacks we decided to head back to the ramp and head back home to plan the tactics for our next assault.

Unfortunately Jamie had to head home for work but his seat in the boat was quickly filled by my brother-in-law Aaron Moore. It was decided due to an overnight drop in the wind that we would head out to the famous sugar loading facility, off Lucinda. The jetty to the sugar loader is around six kilometres long and heads straight out to sea and this provides structure for many predatory species such as massive giant travelly, queenfish even the odd sea going barra .Our technique for the day was dropping seven inch Berkley Jerk shads to the bottom and jigging them around the base of the pylons. On arriving, Matty and Leon were straight into them, boating a solid coral trout followed by a quality blue salmon. At first things were quite for Azzy and I but action wasn’t far away with Azz hooking up to a solid fish but getting busted off on the barnacle encrusted pylons. I then hooked onto something solid off the bottom and while I was fighting this fish a crowd of jetty workers had gathered and were yelling there guess as to what this fish was, while I was fighting it, but nobody expected a beautiful silver plated barramundi to break the water .

After a few more bust offs the decision was made to head to another mark about eight kilometres off the eastern side of Hinchinbrook Island. On arrival the structure was found and the jerk shads were dropped down. It didn’t take long for Matty to hook onto a sizeable fish. After a hard struggle, a good size spangled emperor hit the deck of the boat. After a few good smokings, I hooked up to a fair size barracuda which was amazingly eaten by a big tiger shark right next to the boat. I then hooked up to a golden travelly witch put up a great fight and at 90 cm was released and managed to beat the shark and swim out of sight alive and well .

As we headed home, we stopped to throw some poppers over a bommey off the face of Hinchinbrook Island and on his second cast Leon was smoked by a GT that I estimate at around a meter long (sorry big fella - can’t win ‘em all).

After looking back over the last few days with the boys, they seemed quite content with the fishing that the Hinchinbrook channel has to offer, little do they know they have only experienced a small portion of what this region has to offer. Unfortunately there is just not enough time in the day and I can’t wait to show you boys a little of my own paradise.

Cheers ...tight lines....bent rods and screaming drags...

TEAM LONG ROD…WE ARE THE REEL DEAL!!!!

Jemo finally puts his ring around Lydia's finger!

Way back in June, A.B.F.T. Vice President Ryan Noel Jamieson got married to his long time partner Lydia.

Bali was the destination for the big day and most guests decided to turn it into a week long celebration. As you can see by the video attached, heaps of fun was had by all and plenty of Bintangs were drunk!

The A.B.F.T. Members and millions of fans worldwide would like to say congratulations to Ryan and Lydia and hope for many more happy years to come!

Catch-up Time!

Since it has been a looonnngggggg time since our last update there is alot of useful news to catch up on. 

Jemo has gotten married, Tezza is about to get married, Fixter according to his Facebook statuses may aswell be married, and Kirky is inching closer and closer to having the worlds first ever Red head, Asian babies.

Stay tuned for updates from the boys, including fishing reports from Far North QLD, wedding photos, and just some other general rubbish!

The Hinchinbrook report by Ryan Jamieson

 

G’day Fellas,

Jemo here, your Vice President and Location Coordinator providing you with a monthly fishing update from the mighty Hinchinbrook Channel. Over the past few months I’ve been dominating the local lure fishing scene with great catches of Mangrove Jack, Barramundi and G.Ts showing up throughout the channel and adjacent creeks. I attribute my success to my sheer determination, in conjunction with my superior knowledge of locating specific fish species. Other A.B.F.T teams may struggle in this kind of fishing environment, as they are what you might call ‘hackers’ or ‘weekend worriers’ content with catching lesser quality species such as Iodine Bream or undersized Sweetlip.

The Hinchinbrook Channel stretches from Lucinda all the way to the sleepy fishing town of Cardwell. There are endless mangrove lined creeks, bays and rocky headlands to fish and explore. The fishing opportunities are endless in this pristine environment, from indulging in anything from popping for GT’s in the channel, working bait drains for the mighty Barramundi or my personal favourite, working the endless snags, rocks and mangrove lined banks for Mangrove Jack.

Hinchinbrook is my idea of paradise. This was evident on my last outing with fellow lure fishing enthusiast and friend of the A.B.F.T. franchise, Benny Pascoe. Benny and I set off in the early hours of Sunday morning before sunrise. We arrived at the boat ramp to find there was only a foot of water running through the tiny creek , which was our intended launch point. Not being deterred, we launched the boat and cautiously walked it a kilometre through crocodile infested water - in the dark. When the water was a sufficient depth to run the boat in we set off on our fishing adventure. As we crossed the channel I noticed a few feeding schools of what appeared to be GTs or Queenfish, I reluctantly continued on as I’d promised Benny we would catch Jacks. After a short run up a small creek (with several circles to purposely disorient my passenger) we arrived at our destination. A knowledgeable local like myself is not willing to disclose the coordinates of such an abundant location.

As the boat come to a stop and the electric motor slid down into the plentiful waters, my first cast hit the water. After a couple of twitches of my prawn star, I was greeted with a quick jolt and was left with nothing but a boil on the surface of the water and a stunned look on my face. On my second cast I twitched the prawn star twice and it was engulfed by a sizeable Jack, after a short struggle it was brought to the boat and netted. It measured 43cm which not bad for my second cast. No sooner had the Jack been released and Benny’s rod buckled over. After a few tense moments his 42cm Jack was landed.

A decision was made to move upstream to fish a snag I had previously done really well on in the past. Benny stuck with the prawn star and I changed over to a Tilsen barra. In what seemed like seconds, Benny hooked up and was onto a serious fish. I decided to quickly bring my lure in and out of Ben’s way, but it was not to be, on the second crank of my reel the Tilsen was also crunched by a solid Jack. “DOUBLE HOOKUP”. Both fish were boated and Benny’s Jack was measured at 44cm and mine 40cm.

It was a great morning session and Benny left with a satisfied smile and an agenda to return as soon as possible. This is the kind of sport fishing prowess team Longrod bring to the leaders table each A.B.F.T. It’s no wonder other teams just can’t keep up.

Over and out,

Jemo (Vice president, Location coordinator)

Jemo’s Thought For The Day...

I recently witnessed a member of team square hooks who posted a video of himself catching a queenfish with what looked to be the fishing equivalent of the winch off the front of his boat trailer. In what way does this encompass skill in fishing? I’m pretty sure any amateur off the street can wind in a fish that’s a quarter of the weight of the breaking strain of the line being used .This just proves that the members of Team Square Hooks are unable to catch fish unless the odds are stacked in their favour.

Here at team Longrod we believe in the sport of fishing. We incorporate modern equipment and tactics along with experience and know how in order to catch fish. We catch fish in a fashion that gives us as the angler a true sense of achievement when boating that trophy fish. Other A.B.F.T. teams incorporate old fashion kill and grill techniques which are both out dated and ineffective. Team Longrod are on the cutting edge of fishing technology and proudly working alongside our sponsors, refining lures, electronic fish locating technology, even down to our outboards and electric motors. Perhaps others should embrace our enlightened and contemporary fishing philosophies?

Tezza gets on one knee!

Congratulations go out to Terry Castelli and his better half Jo, on their recent engagement! Just this week, the big marn decided to do what we all knew would happen one day and put a ring on Jo’s finger!

On behalf of all the boys in the A.B.F.T. and the millions…and millions of followers worldwide i’d like to say good luck with the future, and that we can’t wait for the party!

The happy couple seated in the local McDonalds restaurant where Tezza proposed after sharing a small cheese burger meal that he shouted Jo.

The ring which bought from the bubble gum machine at 7/11.

Birthdays from the past…

Here at A.B.F.T. headquarters we have been abit slack with updates the past few months due to bulk piss drinking sessions over xmas, new years and also just using any excuse possible to drink, which has pretty much turned things into a 6 month bender….Very unusual for anyone involved in the A.B.F.T.

A few boys missed out on getting their birthdays mentioned which im sure they’re majorly upset about so here goes.

So since the last shout in in July, a Happy birthday call goes out to Tezza (27) for the 24th January 2012, and in 2011 we had Ryan ‘Brian Noel’ Jamieson (27) for the 13th December, Jimmy (26) 21st August, Cronin (26) for the 15th August, Matty Manley (28) 28th September and little bitch Brendan Gray on during July turned 28.

Happy Birthday Boys!

Kirkys Cape York Fishing Report

Well gents, it has been a magical start to the year with bulk fish throats being slit and thrown into the Kirk esky. The ‘Fish Whisperer’ [My boat] is fully decked out now with state of the art technology which allows me to venture past the creeks and out to the reefs. Crocs, sharks and jellyfish are always a concern up here but my spear fishing career has started off well with prolific amounts of reef species targeted and slaughtered.

Team Square hooks will be having a catch up during the year at Cape York where Cronin will have the honourable duty of pulling up my anchor and winching up the ‘Fish Whisperer’ while being ankle deep in crocodile infested waters of the Jackey Jackey Creek. I anticipate he will need to adjust the gear ratio on the winch to allow for the weight of our esky being full of Spanish Mackeral, Coral Trout and Fingermark.

I am looking forward to reuniting with the ABFT fraternity sometime during the year in Far North QLD.

ABFT CEO, Health and Safety Co ordinator & Founding Father

Kirky

Pancake Creek ‘Come and Try weekend’ 2011 Photos

Ryan And Lydia get Engaged!

On behalf of everyone here at the A.B.F.T headquaters, a huge Congratulations has to go out to Ryan ‘Jemo’ Jamieson and his better half Lydia ‘Aunty’ Moore on their engagement!

After 9 long years the man better known as Jemo finally pulled his finger out and put a ring on Lydia’s finger.

Well done guys! We’ll all be looking forward to getting ‘Rugby League drunk’ when we have a chance to get together!

Birthday Boys Fixo, Kirky and Tezza!

 

Over the past 6 months there have been a few birthdays that we’ve missed out on mentioning! So happy Birthday to Kirky (29th June), Fixo (9th April) and Tezza (24th January).

Hope everyone celebrated with stlye!

Jimmy’s Profile…

Name- James Hanson
AKA- Jimmy
ABFT position- President, Organiser of all things important
ABFT team- Team Longrod
Birthday- 21.08.85
Marital status- Single
Live at- Brisbane
Favourite Quote- There’s no I in TEAM, But there is a U in C**T. (Kenny Powers)

Job- Lawnmower man, professional at anything i do really.

Favourite booze- XXXX Gold, Vodka Redbull

Favourite food- Steak, pasta
Hobbies- Fishing, Sport, Winning

Childhood hero- Andrew Johns
Most memorable ABFT trip- Turkeys in Turkey 2009 and Baffle Bonanza 2008….Both trips had all teams there and most teams had a real good dig on the booze. (In saying most, i mean everyone except Square Hooks)
Most memorable ABFT moment- 100 shots in 100mins at Poona Pisswrecks 2010. Funniest night ever!
Funniest ABFT member- Jemo, but Kirky is also pretty funny…mainly to look at though.

Most Respected ABFT opponents- Anyone except Team Square Hooks because they constantly change the rules, they cheat, they’re both really white and hairy, they cant drink at all, and they wear too much sunscreen because they’re scared of the sun.

Matty’s Profile…

Name- Matty Manley
AKA- Will answer to anything but don’t call me late for dinner
ABFT position- Slave/Shitkicker
ABFT team- Crab Catchers
Birthday- 28.09.83
Marital status- Living the dream as a Bachelor
Live at- Bundaberg
Favourite Quote- She’ll be right, You know...
Job- Motorman on an Oil Rig, Farmer

Favourite booze- Too many to list, as long as its alcohol
Favourite food- Spaghetti bog
Hobbies- Farming, Fishing, 4x4, Camping, DRINKING
Childhood hero- Any QLD state of origin player in the 90's, David Boon, Billy the Kid, the 12th man
Most memorable ABFT trip- Baffle Bash 2009
Most memorable ABFT moment- Taking out the DOG award at Baffle Bash 2009

Funniest ABFT member – Jimmy and Jemo
Most Respected ABFT opponents- Team Longrod

Tezzas Profile…

Name- Terry Castelli
AKA- Wingnut, Tezza
ABFT position- Treasurer, Dangler
ABFT team- Worm Danglers
Birthday- 24.01.1985
Marital status- In a relationship with Jo "exotic chocolate" Thomas
Live at- Brisbane
Favourite Quote- You're fucking out! (Kenny Powers), Ask for forgiveness not permission
Job- Full time physiotherapy student, acupuncturist and massage therapist
Favourite booze- XXXX (Gods nectar) & vodka
Favourite food- Something spicy
Hobbies- Watching Queensland beat NSW for the last 5 years, hockey, fishing, camping
Childhood hero- He-man
Most memorable ABFT trip- Baffle Bonanza 2008
Most memorable ABFT moment- There quite a few but two that stick out are: Cronin pissing all over Jemos feet at the Baffle Bonanza, Kirky geting fired up at little cronin while sipping/making love to his rumbos at poona pisswrecks
Funniest ABFT member - Have to be a close one between old mates Fixo and Raddish.
Most Respected ABFT opponents- Not difficult to decide this one, Jim and Jemo. I respect the last turd I dropped more then those pale pair of pedophiles called Square Hooks