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The wild East coast of Tasmania provides a healthy big black bream time after time.
The Ecogear MW62F in 393 works an absolute treat over here !
This fish was wrestled out of oyster racks on 4lb leader and on 6lb braid !
The smile on my face doesn't say enough !

The Norries Spoon tail strikes again on this Urban monster yellow belly!! Such an awesome place to catch one!! Sight casted along the bank in the shallows :) 65cm of gold.

The search for trout all begins on a foggy morning before the crack of dawn. They aren't always big but after exploring new systems over the past months and cracking the code for all the different rivers, we finally found what we had hoped for. We had been fishing for a few hours now and only seen a few flighty browns dart across the sandy bottomed pools that the stream offered. Sight casting many fish in the system we couldn't convert anything to even a follow. I heard what sounded like a waterfall nearby in the direction of the river and had that nervous feeling you have when you know something is going to go right. As we crept up to the rocky pool I sent a cast with my SX40 in the middle of the pool and the moment had come. A big, wild, hungry brown circled my lure like a shark and launched itself at the SX40. The first visual on the fish was its hook jaw, a clear sign of a dominant male, and when it performed his acrobatics you could have heard a pin drop we went that quiet. Once my brother passed the net under the fish we took a few snaps and released the fish back to its stretch of stream where it belongs . It was a fascinating thing watching a 3lb trout come out of a stream, no more than 3 metres wide, so healthy a strong. That's what fishing is all about.

A tiny but none the less powerful mountain stream Brown Trout. This little tacker went 16cm and weighting just 113grams. Every fish caught, weigher, measured, photographed, videos, reported on location in the river and description of the fish, and the final release footage gives the angler a greater understanding and respect for the fish once then swim away in the fast moving, but near freezing stream. This trout fell to an Ecogear grass minnow 117 in size small. The lack of size in these mountain fish is made up for by their aggressive nature to strike a lure and their beautiful colours.

Early to bed the night before a big day, 'Fishsombia' sinks in.
Up at 4am, big drive ahead, hit the water at 7, Ahh Toolondo love this place.
Cast after cast, hour after hour, mate hooks up Rainbow jumps, twang duck as his lure flies at our heads.
Again it starts, cast after cast, hour after hour, quick break for lunch then at it again.
5.15pm, we look at each other. 5 more casts, the usual line.
I go to the tackle box, what to choose, the MX, ZX, VX or Grass Minnow. No I go the faithful MW.
First cast, no cigar.
Second cast Wack, Bang, the scream of the drag, the explosion of the water, We're On.
After five minutes, three jumps, countless rolls and two strong runs its in the net.
Beautiful Brown buck, time for a photo, before it swims away.

Here's my PB bass! The Norries Spoon tail is one of my favourite lures but I did not expect it to land this huge bass well over 6lb. The fight was huge and it towed me round for ages before I could even think of turning it!!!

Ecogear Grass Minnows are my go to plastics, I couldn't be more confident when one is tied to the end of my line.

Inspirational fishing story

Well this is a true yet amazing story of my good mate 'uey' losing one of his 9 lives on a reef trip up here in tropical far North Queensland.

He and Dave were out past Russell island in their centre console run-about on the outer reef having the time of their lives using Eco gear lures and almost bagging out on trout. But Then the weather took a turn for the worse.
Being the keen fisho's they were, they fished until the winds had come right up and the tropical thunderstorm was almost overhead.
With their tails between their legs they decided it was time to err on the side of caution and head home, albeit a touch late.
The ride home was rough to say the least, with the boys clinging to the centre console squinting into the driving rain and bracing as each wave hit sending barrages of water into the boat. The bilge pump was running flat out and may have been instrumental in saving their lives later on.
About 45 mins into the savageness of Mother Nature things suddenly went wrong.
The boat had quickly surfed down the backside of a particularly large wave and buried the nose in the face of the next on a very acute angle. This sent the boat viciously hard right throwing uey left into Dave who had momentarily lost his grip. Dave said it felt like he had been tackled by the entire qld state of origin squad.
Both the boys went overboard, somehow missed being annihilated by the prop by millimetres and sheer luck, came up coughing and spluttering.
The boat continued pounding into the fray, the kill switch was not being used, they had nothing but board shorts on.
Treading water, The situation was dire to say the least.
In a moment of utter disbelief dave heard uey chuckle the words ' well, we are proper f%#*d now!' The sound of the outboard became fainter, only the rain,wind, thunder and lost hope begain to become reality.
He reckons those words will be etched into his memory forever.
This was it. No way are we being rescued they thought. They were halfway between the reef and Russell island, impossible to swim to.
They could see the boat had turned slightly and was struggling into the storm.
As they watched, in hopeless curiosity the boat began doing a huge circle, getting tighter and tighter as the steering wheel went into the full lock position.
Uey decided to go for it. The swim was about 500meters. The swim was excruciating.
Finally he got close, by now the boat was churning tight circles and had taken a full load of water through the transom cable penetrations.
He had a sobering choice, try to grab the outside of the boat and risk having his legs dragged under the prop, or get the timing right, swim into the centre of the circle and try to grab the short bit of worn out rope hanging off the nose, he chose the latter.
As the boat tore past he swam furiously into the circle, now what? He had one chance.
Swimming into the path of a huge tinny with 100 horse power of death behind it is not everyone's cup of tea. But what choice did he have?
The rope was slippery but he held with superhuman strength, he tried to swing his body round to the low side but the boat threatened to capsize.
Lifting himself carefully up on the high side with the last of his strength he made his way to the console. Exhausted and in knee deep sloshing rolling water he knew that he had to reduce the engine power and straighten the boat. But it was harder than he thought and threatened to bog down further, sinking it.
With full power he straightened it up watching water pour over the stern.
The bilge pump was still amazingly working.
He had no idea what direction he had gone, for how long and was disoriented with all the circle work.
Where was Dave? Was he still alive?
Using the islands and compass he went back for Dave.
Trying to bury dark thoughts he searched. Dave was due to get married soon. How could he possibly live with that?
Suddenly, at first he thought it was debris, maybe a floating coconut, but then it waved!
Dave was alive! He pulled him In, Dave couldn't move, he was about to give up when he heard the outboard.
They limped back to the mainland swearing not to tell the bride, until the speeches on the wedding day!
What a day that will be.

Always connect your kill switch to your person, it may save your life.

The wild and untouched landscape of west Gippsland is where I go for wild stream trout in Victoria. Hiking, wading and bush bashing through dense forest to find that one spot that no one has ever found is what keeps me fishing, as well as of course, that trophy buck.
The challenges this type of fishing exposes you to, is both physical and mental. To be able to go the extra distance, whilst tricking that fish into smashing your lure is what keeps me going back for more.
Whether it be deep winding into big eddies, casting under logs, high sticking over shallow pools or sight casting feeding trout; the MX48 is able to do it all.
This little minnow has caught me some outstanding fish and will always be a stand out in my trout arsenal.

On a day where i struggled to find a few bream, i could see Blackfish through the crystal clear waters of my local inlet in approximately 3 metres of water. I wondered how i could target these active fish and after trying a few different lures, i opted for the ZX30
I had caught blackfish as bycatch in the past on blades so i decided to tie on the Ecogear ZX30 in colour 412 which completely turned my day around. The photo is one of about 15 Blackfish caught over a 3 hour period up to 40cm in length using a slow lift and drop technique, they found the ZX30 irresistable and the small trailing stinger hooks provided excellent hookups in the small blackfish mouths

Skinny water bream smashing the sx40 in my personal favorite colour 36 fork and a porker at that

When I'm out chasing trout ecogear is what I have hanging off the end of my line. I remember many years ago when I went out chasing trout with my first ecogear lure I ever brought from my local tackle shop which was a sx40. 4th cast I hooked up to my pb rainbow at the time and the biggest trout I have caught in that waterway in all the years I fished it. I remember ringing my dad straight after I landed the fish with excitement .From that day on the ecogear range of lures are my number one choice when it comes to landing quality trout. You have to have confidence in the product you use for chasing those trophy fish and that for me is ecogear.

My mate Nick had asked me to put him onto his first few big bream. Both super keen we hit the road and headed to a local haunt armed with a good supply of MW62's, a faithful producer of hefty fish. I quickly showed Nick the ropes and soon he had the hang of it by quickly sliding up a quality fish on the bank. Little did I know would we both be in for the session of a life time. By days end we had caught and released 27 fish which only one was under 40cm. What made this even better was seeing Nick land his proud PB of 43cm caught on the MW62 313. You can't compromise for good tackle and the same goes for lures fitted with quality components such as Ecogear. This is something that obviously stood out this day and Nick's smile says it all! Fair to say this session has converted the man into a busting bream addict.

It was the old faithful Ecogear sx40 that really sparked my passion for chasing bream on lures. These beautifully crafted little lures are a dream to cast and fish around structure for our wiley black bream. While this is not a large Bream in the photo it is still one of my most memorable. It was the first time we had put our boat into fish the Yarra in Melbourne, the weather was perfect and crusing along the many rockwalls casting sx40's couldnt get much better. This little fish smashed my lure just after I had caught a little pinky on the same lure. First bream into our new boat. Years later I still love this style of fishing with that same sx40 lure and it is now one of my "confidence" lures which always gets a run whether it be for bream, trout or other estuary species.

My very first bass and now the obsession has started

"Bream Munching VX Blades" - The Background Explains it all, I Love Fishing my Local Waterway and I Love Using Ecogear Products to Tempt Sydney Harbour's Predatory Fish! Whether its Fishing Blades Deep or Surface Lures on the Flats "Ecogear" is a Brand to Better the Rest! Fishing to me is not only a Passion its an Obsession! Put Simply I "Live and Breathe" Fishing.

Here's abit of Sydney Harbour Action on a Particularly Slow Day using VX Blades and Yamatoyo SW PE Braided Line!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii5Eq0nBJwk

Cheers :))

Close of season trip, up to Alex after so many recent reports.
Bags packed off in the dark, long drive but on the creek at daylight, long walk throught the fallen trees and everlasting blackberries.
Day ends with 4lb brown buck and rainbow hen on 4.5lb.
Early to bed after a few drinks with friends. Concentrated on the rubicon with a brooky taking a MX, another tick off the bucket list.
Walking along big shadow seen spotters point out a big salmon buck, go to my MW the ever reliable, cast into the run bump. Bump pause, 'BANG'. Huge splash, up and down the slippery wet rocks, 5mins later and its in the net. Great fifht, great fish unbeatable lure.

*Sample Only* Tony's first experience with Ecogear BM 125F and caught PB Barra!

After a 9 hour drive to port Lincoln here in South australia I found myself at the Todd river where I had heard of some big bream being caught. As a lure fishing entuniest I couldn't not try. After a long day with little results it was time to call time and head home. As we do we always have to throw that last cast and to my suprise this beautiful 48cm chunky bream took my pink grass minnow.

Stream Trout fishing is all about using the right lure in the right spot, variety is a key factor for success in different types of water. In saying that the Ecogear MX48 is one of those lures I always have in my tray when stream fishing for trout. When used in the right areas they are a deadly lure, that trout can't resist.

In 17 meter of water off Urunga NSW

One of my most memorable moments fishing was a trip to a remote estuary late last year. With one of our goals to hunt big black bream landbased. When we finally got to our location conditions were less then ideal with very little water movement. After a few hours of casting at every snag, drop off and rockwall we started doubting whether we were ever going to get a hook up. Then after some thought we decided to flick a Ecogear grass minnow on a unweighted gamakatsu worm hook for the most subtle of presentations in the all but stagnant water, with immediate sucsess. I was first to hook up with a obviously large fish but after a reel screaming run it was all over in 3 seconds. Obviously devastated i thought we had lost our chance to land a fish that day. I decided to re rig while my partner decided to flick a cast under a low lying bush up ahead. As I was catching up to him the most gentle of line ticks indicated something had hit the plastic and then the forever satisfying sound of the Daiwa Steeze screaming lit our beaten faces into nervous smiles. After a dogged minute and a half the 49cm fish was beaten and safely into the net greeted by wild cheers and hi-fives. Although I wasn't the one who caught the fish it was a team effort and to see my best mate score the most amazing fish was very rewarding.

Having faith in a 'go to lure' to entice a bite on shut down fish is what every angler looks for. For me it is the ZX40, this lure can be used in varying techniques sucsessfully to land your target species. This photo is from the recent Basstastic Singles competition at Borumba Dam where I landed this 51.5cm tip length bass fishing deep water with a Black & Gold ZX40 in a predominant edge bite situation. This fish also landed me with the biggest Bass prize for the competition.