TRAVEL TIPS FOR THOSE LONG RANGE TRIPS

Lubin Pfeiffer

Having fishing as my day job has its perks. One big plus is that I can go on long-range missions to opposite ends of the country. Packing for these trips and also how you plan to spend your time away are crucial to success. While you can throw everything including the kitchen sink into the car and boat, and plan to fish everywhere on the map, this is logistically just not possible. Here are some of my planning tips, and also some points on how to ensure you have good fishing while away on that big mission.

Preparation is high on the list to cut down on time spent fixing things while you are on the road. The last thing you need while you have limited time is to be either fixing gear or, even worse, having to call in assistance to get the trip going again. I always make a habit of going over everything in my vehicle and boat thoroughly before heading away. As I’m not mechanically minded, my car is always serviced by a reputable person in the weeks leading up to the trip. While you can organise a service while on the road, it often has to be booked weeks in advance, which can hinder your fishing opportunities. There is nothing worse than having to plan your trip around a car service, knowing that the weather leading up to the service in that location or the fishing have been terrible.

The other big one is to have the outboard serviced as well. After having issues after services before, I like to get my boat service done at least a couple of fishing trips before I head off on the big one. I’ve had broken spark plug leads, leads not put on properly or key items not replaced during a service, which has led to trouble out on the water shortly after a service. If I’m still able to sort these issues out locally, it is far easier than trying to do it while on the road or, even worse, a long way from shore. My last boat service was done by OceanLinc in Port Lincoln before my two months in Queensland, which was fantastic and trouble-free, but did mean I had to take it over to the west. I was for tunate to be able to mix some fishing in with this though!

I like to do the trailer bearings myself, and also a thorough checkover of the trailer before heading away. Look for any cracks in the metal, replace rollers and take a few spare key items with you. I recently purchased a remote launch spare tyre mount for my trailer, which is just awesome. Not only can you use it to remotely launch your boat, but you can pull it out of a bog with a tow rope far more successfully if the situation arises. Adding to that, the spare tyre is already on a greased hub ready to go, should you have bearing issues while driving. I take a fairly comprehensive tool kit with me to be able to replace trailer lights or fix any minor issues, but usually with the right preparation the maintenance should be minimal, which allows for greater fishing time.

Packing your fishing gear is always a hard one I reckon, especially if you are headed fishing in northern Australia. We’ve done several summers in Tasmania, and also travelling in Victoria, which has similar types of fishing to us wherever you venture, which is far more predictable for getting gear organised. Once you head north, there are so many different options, it can lead to having a whole car’s worth of gear, a lot of which, doesn’t even get used. This is where having a loose plan is key.

Using my recent two-month Quensland trip as an example, I made the loose plan that I would cod fish northern New South Wales on my way up there and then barra fish the dams and rivers in Queensland while heading north to hopefully get a shot at fishing the Great Barrier Reef if the weather permitted. This meant I could double all my cod gear as barra gear and then only had to pack a few extra rods and reels for the reef. I took a few large baitcast outfits, a few mid-sized ones and then a few popping rods and matching reels. I also packed a few snapper-sized spinning outfits that could be used for barra fishing in the lakes, but also for throwing plastics and soft vibes around the reef edges.

Usually, I will rig two similar rods for a style of fishing for the day, so having three (one left in the car) meant if something broke, the downtime would be minimal. As it turned out, the wind was hectic for pretty much the whole second half of the trip, which only allowed for a couple of days out on the reef throwing poppers for GT’s and fishing the reef edges. This is why overpacking for one style of fishing can affect how a trip turns out. Hedging bets on both the rivers, dams and the reef meant that I could be out on the water ever y day and not have any lay days due to the water not being fishable.

Make sure to freshly spool your reels before heading off too and take some braid with you to match. Leader is always a guess because many factors on the day decide what is the right one to use. I like to take 22.5kg, 27kg, 36kg, 45kg and 68kg for a Queensland trip in both copolymer and fluorocarbon.

Lure selection is one area where you can go completely overboard. My best advice is to put all the lures together you think you’ll need and then probably halve it and repack it. Then allow a budget to buy some lures while you’re away, as the local tackle shops will have exactly what you need, in the right sizes and colours for the area you are fishing. Take a selection of spare hooks and rings so that you can replace any thing that gets bent, which happens a lot while chasing barra particularly!

Choosing where to fish is incredibly hard if you are doing an unguided mission. If the budget allows, booking in for a few days guiding here and there will have you ten steps ahead, particularly at the start of your trip. If you don’t have the funds to be guided, recent social media posts, Wikicamps and Google Maps are your best friends. Don’t get me wrong though, piecing the whole puzzle together can be a daunting affair, especially in areas you’ve never been to. Factors such as weather, tides, accommodation and boat access always cause issues.

It’s easy to see all the amazing photos on the socials and think that you can just roll in there and start catching, which is often not the case. But with planning and a bit of luck, you can have some amazing self-guided fishing experiences. My rule of thumb is to fly by the seat of your pants a bit and not book anything too far out. Often it’s only a few days or less before I know exactly what’s coming up next. The trouble with booking way ahead is you will enviably get smashed by the weather. Once I know the forecast, I will then look for where to launch the boat and where to stay. Sometimes the accommodation will be a fantastic campsite right by the lake, and other times it will be a gravel pit on the side of the road 30 minutes away, but if you want to catch the cool stuff, this is just how it rolls. These trips are not easy by any means, but often will result in memories that will last a lifetime!