Coastwatch

Dean Butler has had a colourful life as a fishing journalist, photographer, fishing guide, crewman, captain and explorer to name a few feathers in the cap. For those of us old enough to remember Dean was writing for Fishing World magazine in the 80s before going on to help produce early fishing DVDs and television shows with the likes of Ron Calcutt, Rod Harrison and John Haenke. Dean was a pioneer in fishing travel and was one of the first caucasians to fish the jungle rivers of Papua New Guinea. He fished extensively throughout the South Pacific including Vanuatu, and the Soloman Islands. He also is the guy you want onboard if chasing world records, and in particular billfish on fly or ultra light tackle. He has been apart of 42 world record captures including several that will likely never be broken. 

Dave Granville sits down with John Haenke to chat about his life behind the camera filming some of the best produced fishing media in the country. John was the man behind the camera of the SBS Wildfish Series, the first five years of Escape with ET, and then twelve years producing the Fishing DVD. John is now based in Bowen, North Queensland and is guiding and offering on water flyfishing tuition.

Dave Granville chats to Doug Phillips from Tonic Eyewear about his 30 plus year career in the eyewear industry. Doug who originally founded Spotters is now the man behind Tonic Eyewear who specialise in high quality glass polarised sunglasses particularly popular with anglers and boaters alike.  Tonic use cutting edge technology to produce the most technologically advanced polarised sunglasses on the market today. Tonic also produce prescription lenses in single and multi vision for all their frames. If you wish to learn more about the Tonic range check out Coastwatch partner rockstartackle.com.au

Steve Evans from Propeller Warehouse has forgotten more about outboard and sterndrive propellers than most of us hope to learn. Well recognised and respected in the marine industry with over 30 years with Solas, Steve is the brains behind Propeller Warehouse and now imports an extensive range of aluminium, high-strength aluminium and stainless steel propellers to suit just about every outboard and sterndrive on the market - from 2hp to 400hp - and everything in between. Propeller Warehouse stocks several propeller brands but Steve has been instrumental in launching the Polaris brand in Australia with Genesis stainless steel and Pandora high strength aluminium which is reportedly 5X more robust than standard aluminium propellers. In this video Dave Granville asks Steve many of the questions you want answered to help break down the science and myths around propellers.

Ross McCubbin has had a very long history with Coastwatch doing fishing segments since the early days. Ross is one of those all-round anglers and charterboat captains that manages to catch all types of fish for his clients. It could be a blue marlin on the continental shelf or a whiting in the estuary, Ross takes great pride in finding fish for his customers. And when he is not on charter he is out there fishing for his own pleasure. It was great to catch up with Ross and discuss the early days of Coastwatch as well as what he is up to these days. Of course marlin were the main subject but plenty more insights are revealed that you may not know about Rosco.

Barramundi are truly one of Australia's most iconic native species and there wouldn't be too many anglers who don't have a magic metre barra on their bucket list. Jason Wilhelm guided hundreds of clients to achieve that goal while running his Barra Madness charter business in central Queensland during the 2000s. Jase concentrated mainly on the impoundments such as Lake Awoonga and Lake Monduran. As water levels in these dams drop to those similar to that before the flood events of 2011, Jason predicts the barramundi fishing in these impoundments will be outstanding over coming years. As knowledge doesn't date Jason has created an online masterclass to teach anglers the intricacies of understanding this often frustrating target species and the techniques to confidently catch them with regularity. We were lucky enough to fish with Jase and successfully put his methods into practice and took the opportunity to ask him a bunch of questions i'm sure you guys want answered. Enjoy!

If you enjoy fishing for snapper, particularly in shallow water using soft plastics then this podcast is definitely worth a listen. Make sure you have an open mind as the tips and techniques outlined here may go against general beliefs. Are snapper demersal or are they pelagic? - we will let you decide.

If you would rather listen than read then sit back and take in this article i wrote for FishLife Magazine which outlines all my tips and techniques for fishing Bait n Switch for billfish. This info was learned from many years of trial and error as well as riding along with world-class crews around the world. Hope you enjoy.

Robbie Wells is the owner of Sun2Sea UV Protection Clothing. A brand of Australian made clothing specifically designed to protect you from the harsh Aussie sun. Perfect for in or out of the boat, wet or dry, even working in the yard or mowing the lawn. Robbie talks about his clothing, his connection to Coastwatch and tells us about his adventures in his awesome Sealegs amphibious boat.

In this episode we chat to Capt Luke Fallon about marlin fishing aboard the 56ft O'Obrien Kekoa and also his sportfishing charter business that specialises in barramundi charters on Lake Monduran and Lake Proserpine. We also delve into the fitout of his new 6m sportfishing charterboat and get some tips on electronics and battery setup. 

Robert Smith or Smithy as he is better known runs a fishing charter business out of Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast. He is a lovable character with a great reputation for going the extra mile to put his clients onto fish. He caters for small groups of four or five anglers and does half, three-quarter and full day trips. Smithy covers all styles of fishing including reef fishing, jigging or even trolling for mackerel and marlin. 

TV presenter and weatherman Ken Brown, better known as Brownie has recently retired and handed over the Coastwatch reigns to long time friend David Granville. Sit back and enjoy as Brownie and Dave discuss Brownie's colourful life of surfing, fishing, boating and television.