Says, Gabi Sabongi, vice president, New Business Ventures, 3M Consumer and Office Business, “The addition of Ross Reels builds on 3M’s core fly fishing portfolio and further expands the business,”

From a fly fishing viewpoint this seems an ideal marriage. As most fly anglers would know, 3M is an innovation-focused company – just look at the various patented technologies employed in their range of Scientific Anglers fly lines. So too is Ross Reels. In fact their latest top-of-the-line model F1 reel is so-named because it employs technologies actually used in Formula 1 racing cars.

On their acquisition by 3M, Ross announced, “We are excited to be joining an organisation that embodies the same spirit of innovation that has driven product development since our start in 1973. Please know the 3M acquired us for who and what we are. There are no plans or intentions to change us other than to bring in 3M technology and innovation to enhance our products as we move forward. We are excited about the future and we look forward to sharing a number of new product announcements with you in the coming months!”

Good news for fly fishers!

Ross Reels will be distributed in Australia by Mayfly Tackle, 3M’s Scientific Anglers agent for Australia.

Check out the preview here.

John DiFrancesco with a 27kg Spanish mackerel caught on fly off the coast of Maningrida, Arnhemland.

The Abel #4 screamed in protest as near on 300mtrs of braid followed the Tropic Express fly line and headed off into the distance as John tried to keep his fingers clear of the knuckle busting direct drive fly reel. The #10 Loomis Cross Current was well and truly loaded and the scene was set for one hell of a battle.

I watched on closely as the backing on the reel got dangerously low.

Preferring to fight fish from a stationary boat, I urged John to wait it out. John on the other hand was suggesting that I start the outboard and chase the fish so he could pick up some line. Luckily for me, the fish stopped the blistering run just in time and John finally managed to gain some line.

We had been fishing a section of water off the coast of Maningrida in my 4.1 PolyCraft in search of queenfish and longtail tuna. John had opted to fish his #10 while I was using my preferred #7 outfit. Both of us were using the Tropic Express lines from Scientific Angler, and both of us were using Clouser flies tied on the Gamakatsu SL12s 4/0 hooks. All my fly’s are tied on either the 4/0 or 6/0 models.

We left the ramp before the sun had risen and steamed straight out to a patch of water that is known to produce some good fish. The fact that we were on our first drift when the abovementioned scene burst into action proved that we were on a good thing. The tide was on the rise and birds were starting to show in the sky. I was manoeuvring the boat around with the electric motor and positioning the boat to give us the best chance of hooking the fish that would be moving through the water around us.

The early stages of the fight as fly line and backing disappears into the rising sun under a mackerel sky. Note the net on the deck – that is all I had with me to try and land the fish.

John came up tight to a solid fish that I first thought was a large queenfish. I was soon questioning my call though as the fish was staying low in the water and was certainly moving a lot faster than queenfish normally do. Was it a giant trevally? Maybe a cobia? It was then that the fish hit the after burners and the fly line screamed through the water. The backing then zinged through the guides and John laid the rod down in a sideways motion to maintain more pressure on the unknown fish.

While all this was happening, I was busy trying to position the boat with the electric motor to try and give John the upper hand. When things settled in, I reached for the camera to capture some of the action.

By now, the sun had broken through the horizon and provided a nice backdrop for some of the photos.

Once John had gained some line back on the Abel reel, it was then a case of playing the fish out and keeping alert for any further screaming runs. At this stage, I was calling it for a cobia.

A few minutes later and we had colour. Bright silver which was further emphasised by the glare of the sun on the fish’s side as it came to the surface.

Shit! Spanish mackerel. And a bloody big one too. I started going through the scenario in my mind. John was fishing a 4/0 hook straight to 60lb mono. How did he still have this fish on after what had just happened? I then started to wonder how the hell I was going to land this monster. I had a net suitable for barra up to about 80cm and a set of lip grippers but that was all. I don’t carry a gaff any more. A quick search of the boat for anything suitable revealed nothing. I was acutely aware of the time as the longer this fish spent in the water the more our chances of landing it were fading. I had no option but to try and use the landing net. It sure would have been a funny sight. John led the fish to the waiting net and as it neared the net, I quickly realised that this would be a fruitless exercise. With no other option, I ‘netted’ the head of the Spanish mackerel. I was very aware of the damage the teeth on these fish can do. I have seen deep lacerations on anglers’ legs and arms from these fish, even after they are dead. It wasn’t much fun knowing that this fish was still well and truly alive and it had everything in its favour too. My only option was to try and ‘tail’ the fish. After many failed attempts (and a few choice words about how I was totally unprepared for such a fish) I got a firm grip on the tail and tried to lift the fish into the boat.

It had been years since I had seen a mackerel this big. I used to chase them off Palm Island and saw a few go over the magic 60lb mark and knew that this fish was going to go close to that.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the fish finally hit the deck and congratulated John with a slimy handshake before helping John set the fish up for a few photos. At least I had remembered to bring the camera out with me. I had only just recently purchased a new wide-angle lens and this certainly helped out.

“Thank god for that” (or close enough to it) was all John could say after I told him I had enough photos. Trying to hold a heavy fish and follow my suggestions was not an easy feat. Smaller fish are always easier to photograph, both for the angler and the photographer.

To add to the chaos, I hadn’t brought my large esky out either. Rather, I opted to use one of the 90lt front sections built into the boat. I had a block of ice in there but this was meant for the longtail tuna. Needless to say, the mackerel wouldn’t fit and we had to cut it in half to squeeze it in. Saltwater was poured in to create a brine and that was it.

It wasn’t long after that, what had unfolded started to sink in, both for John and I.

Here we were, offshore in a little 4.1 mtr boat fishing only fly and we managed to land a fish such as this. Shit, I used to chase these things off Palm Island using TLD 25’s spooled with 60lb braid and 105lb single strand wire towing gars rigged on wogheads with 8/0 hooks and even then we would lose a few.

Here we were with a #10 fly rod, 60lb mono and a Clouser tied on a 4/0 hook!

John gains some line on the fish. Note the angle of the rod. Laying the rod over in a sideways motion allows the angler to apply a lot more pressure on the fish. A handy technique particularly in this situation.

I was in half a mind to just pack up and head home straight away, but John was keen for some more action. I motored over to another patch of reef and rock to tangle with some of the resident giant trevally. To say we got humbled would be an understatement. We must have hooked well over 15 fish and we couldn’t get one to the boat. Between getting busted off, throwing hooks and breaking gudebrod loops, the resident population of giant trevally left me questioning why I was only using a #7. Not really, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Out of interest, the mackerel went 27kg and provided many mackerel steaks. I actually cooked some up using a recipe from ‘Flavours of Sea and Sun’ – a cookbook produced by fellow Fish and Boat scribe, Anthony Davies.

Now, with new fly line loops, heavier leaders and more Clouser fly’s, it’s time to get back out on the water and try to teach those trevally a lesson…..

You see, it has been over two months since I have had my boat anywhere near the water. I blame the three W’s. Work. Weather. Websites.

Since early January this year, my work, the weather and the websites I run have pretty well kept me on dry land. Don’t get me wrong. I have still been fishing. Things aren’t that bad, but on the occasions I have fished they have either been in other people’s boats or they have been land-based, due to time constraints.

I finally had a ‘break in the weather’ in early March. The weekend started off with an absolute corker of a Saturday when the water glassed-out and it was one of those rare days in Maningrida when the boat ramp actually had more than two cars parked up with empty boat trailers. In fact, I think nearly every boat in the area was out on the water. Mine wasn’t! I had set the day aside for work on the websites and had my plans for Sunday. As it turned out, everybody on the water had a great Saturday and many fish were landed. To make matters worse, the whole day stayed calm and the usual ‘afternoon blow’ never happened.

Sunday morning saw me up early to mow the lawn. The tide I wanted to fish wasn’t until early afternoon so I wanted to get a few more ‘brownie’ points before I headed out on the water. Just imagine how happy I was to be mowing the lawn with no breeze in the humid conditions that are often associated with this time of year. To add to this, just imagine how happy I was when the wind finally started to pick up an hour before I was due to hit the water! Hey, I didn’t care, as this had been a long time coming.

Given it had been some time since the ‘green machine’ had hit the water, I got her all set up and even made sure the motor ran prior to hooking the trailer up to the cruiser. Wouldn’t you know it but the faithful Mariner kicked over on the first pull. Seven years old and still going as strong as the first day – surely this had to be a good sign.

With the fly gear packed into the boat and a quick check of all the safety gear, I was ready to hit the water. I pulled up to a mates (Troy) place on the way and picked him up. The plan was for Troy and I to go and hit the longtail tuna on fly. You see, Troy was one of the lucky anglers out on the water on Saturday and he had been amongst the longtail with his wife and kids. The longtail tuna are only here for a short time and I was keen to get a fly in front of them and wait for the blistering runs. I had rigged up my TFO #7 in anticipation and had the Tropic Express line loaded and ready the night before.

For me, part of the enjoyment is actually getting everything ready and thinking how the day will unfold prior to even hitting the water. There I was, sitting in the ‘fishing room’ on Saturday night, with a cold beer, rigging up and imagining myself firing a modest cast into a school of boiling longtails. I opted for the Tropic Express line as it has a fast sinking tip section, backed up by an intermediate running line. This would allow me to get the fly out quickly and then get the fly down fast enough to allow me to strip the fly quickly while still keeping it in the water column. In my opinion, a floating line is not the best for this situation as the fly tends to be pulled up as you strip the line. I wanted to make sure the fly stayed well in the water and be put in front of as many longtails as possible.

This black tip reef shark is the largest one the author has landed to date on the #7 weight outfit. Note the lip grippers – they certainly came in handy for this shot.

I also packed a ‘backup’ rod and reel as I didn’t want to have my day on the water ruined by an accident. I also think this is some sort of superstition (All anglers have them – just look at the ‘bananas’) as I have never broken a rod on the water and I think that is due to the fact that I always have a back up with me.

Anyway, we got to the ramp and the water didn’t look too kind. After owning the boat for over seven years, I know its limitations and rough water in a little 4.1 is not what I call fun. Rather than take a ‘careful’ option and change plans to fish the estuary, I threw caution to the wind (pardon the pun) and belted out against the wind and swell. This was not the way I had planned things out last night while sitting in the ‘fishing room’.

About half an hour into the bashing I sighted two birds diving into the water and changed course to zone in on the action. To this day, I don’t know how the birds just disappeared but they did. Obviously the longtails had their fun on Saturday.

A change of plan was needed and I motored over to a nearby island to fish for the resident giant trevally. On the way in, we spotted a barely submerged bommie and decided to deploy the electric motor and go in under stealth mode. We spent the next four hours under power only from the electric. The water was no deeper than 3 metres and the fast sinking lines were not ideal but we made do. Hiding inside the lee of the island, we were out of the wind and had some moderately calm water to fish in. It wasn’t hard to locate the fish as there was surface activity in every direction as the queenfish and trevally continued to smash bait on the incoming tide.

Approaching a rocky outcrop, I placed a cast up against the edge and slowly stripped the Clouser fly back to the boat. It was one of those times when the mind goes into neutral (seems to happen a lot more as I get older) when all of a sudden I felt a weight on the line. I struck the fish and had a moderate weight on the line as I came up tight to what I called an average fish. This all changed as I applied some pressure! All of a sudden, the ‘average’ fish hit the afterburners and headed straight back to the rocks. I increased pressure on the lever drag anti-reverse reel and then had to palm the underside of the reel to try and turn this thing. In no time, the pressure went slack and I wound the line back in to find the 60lb leader had been severely roughed up on the rocks. Yep, I had just been ‘humbled’ by a giant trevally – again! Troy had a chuckle on my behalf as I tied on a new leader and picked another Clouser fly to get back into the action.

About half an hour later the tables turned when pretty much the same thing happened to Troy as he hooked up to another good fish that humbled him against the rocks as well. Now it was my turn to laugh!

Spotting a school of queenfish working the surface further ahead, we quietly moved towards them with the electric. Troy shot a cast towards the queenfish and came up tight as soon as the fly hit the water. Seeing this, I fired my cast off in the same direction and was hit hard by something of significant size. At first I thought it was another big trevally and I made sure I was a little more prepared for this one. I applied some pressure and the surface of the water was broken by something dark in colour. At first I thought it looked like a cobia as it tore off on a blistering run. A few minutes later and I had started to gain a little line and it wasn’t long before we found out that what I hooked was a black tip reef shark. I have sight-cast to these things for many years and caught many smaller sharks but not one like this. It was a good fish on my #7weight and I was surprised to see that it hadn’t bitten through the new 60lb leader that I had to replace from the previous giant trevally. Against Troy’s opinion, I decided to bring the shark aboard for a quick photo prior to releasing it again.

The author takes a good look at the Clouser fly hooked in the corner of the jaw of this saltwater barra. Note the anti-reverse fly reel used. This is one of the author’s personal favourites and this particular reel is well over ten years old - to think of the stories it could tell.

We were fishing an area with the headland facing towards the west. Given the location, I made a comment to Troy that this would be an ideal place for barra as the afternoon sun would warm the rocks and therefore heat the water nearby. We passed this off, as I hadn’t heard of barra being caught around the island we were fishing. Not long after, a school of queenfish sprayed water near us and I shot the flyline out and then quickly ripped it off the water and laid it down again. Repeating this three or four times before finally presenting the fly is a great tactic for turning the queenfish on and putting them in a frenzy. I wasn’t surprised to come up tight to a fish. What did surprise me though was when the fish jumped. Yeah it was silver but it wasn’t a queenfish. It took a moment to register as the saltwater barra leapt again. The fish wasn’t overly large, but given the environment I had caught it in I wanted to make sure this fish would end up in the landing net. I played it out and manoeuvred the boat with the electric to make sure I stayed well enough away from the rocks and after a short tussle, Troy had the barra in the net and the ‘high fives’ were given.

Not long after, we were heading back to the ramp as the sun started to set. Who would have thought that my afternoon out on the water chasing longtail tuna would have ended up like this? I guess you just have to be prepared for whatever happens.

Additional key findings of the 2010 Fly Fishing Market Survey: flies were the most purchased type of fly fishing gear accounting for 60.9 percent of fly tackle transactions, Temple Fork Outfitters was the most purchased fly rod (15.4 percent of purchases), Orvis was the most purchased reel (23.5 percent) and trout remains king, sought by 66.3 percent of dedicated fly fisherman.

“The data we are able to collect specific to fly fishing each year continues to grow as part of our overall efforts to measure angler habits and purchases,” says Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, which designs and conducts the surveys at HunterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com. “Given the increased interest in fly fishing and the types of information we have collected, it was time to release a more comprehensive report dedicated to the sport.”

The report presents detailed information that will prove beneficial to game agencies, fly fishing tackle manufacturers and the outdoor media that covers fly fishing through television, radio, magazines and the web. The summary is available to members of the media for use in their outdoor coverage and, for only $975, the report is annually available. For more information on purchasing a subscription to Southwick’s survey results, email Rob@Southwickassociates.com.

Those who hunt, fish and target shoot are invited to participate in the surveys conducted on HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com. Each month, participants who complete the survey are entered into a drawing for one of five $100 gift certificates to the sporting goods retailer of their choice.