JACQUI BRAUMAN:
Hi, everyone. Jacqui Brauman here. I’ve been given control of the podcast this time because I’m interviewing Daniel.It’s our first episode back for season 3 and we’ve had a quiet couple of years. So, what’s been going on, how are we going?
DANIEL:
We went quiet for a couple of years. COVID really hit us pretty hard down here in Victoria. So we haven’t really had much of a chance to get out and do a lot of fishing, but it did allow us a lot of time to get the boat right up to speed. We were really heavy on the maintenance with the boat.
Also, looking at our plans, working out what our future holds and where we’re going to go.
We’ve done a lot of fishing this year, so far. We’ve made up for a fair bit of the last couple of years, I suppose. We just got back from seven weeks away.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
It was in 2015 when we originally made the goal of getting a big boat so that we could do heaps more fishing; further out, travel more, and we were aiming for 2020 to travel around Australia.
We sold our house in September 2019, bought the boat at the end of 2019, bringing it down the coast and bam, March 2020 hit with COVID. So we haven’t really done the traveling that we’ve wanted to. What are the plans now for our travels?
DANIEL:
Well, at the moment, we’re just sort of in a bit of a holding pattern, I guess we’re going to wait and see what happens at the end of this year. And then… and then we’ll go from there. I mean, we’ve got a lot of things in place, so this year’s shaping up to be a really awesome year. The seven weeks away fishing, if that’s anything to go by, then this year’s going to be awesome.
We’ve got a lot of people that we’ve lined up for season 3 of the Hooked Podcast. So we’ve already started doing some interviews with those guys and getting things lined up. So it’s going to be a pretty exciting lineup for the podcast.
We’ve got a heap of video to edit from our last trip away. Plus you are still chasing that Australian record. So, there’s still a lot going on and we’re going to be pretty active this year. Hopefully our social media presence bumps right up. And then… and then we can keep focusing on the trip. The trip’s still the end goal, but now it’s just putting things in place to make sure that it’s sustainable and we can do it, and get out there and get a heap more video content.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
Like you said, we’ve been able to do heaps of maintenance on the boat. And in some ways it was lucky that we didn’t buy the boat and go traveling straight away, given all the things that we’ve had to do. So, why don’t you go through and give us a list of the things we’ve had to do on it in the last couple of years?
DANIEL:
Well, I mean, a lot of it’s just maintenance really. Bigger boat, bigger problems, more expense. A lot of people don’t talk about the expense with these sorts of boats. Like you said, we sold the house and bought this boat. So, we’re not millionaires, we’re living on a shoestring budget to be able to maintain this thing. The price of diesel going up hasn’t helped. So look, the maintenance side of the house, we’ve done all the engines. So the engines have been totally serviced, tuned, everything’s being done there. Like a podcast I did with Tim Dean a couple of years ago, Tim alluded to the fact that the engine’s your heartbeat. If you can get that right, then everything else is pretty much smooth sailing, per se.
But you’ve got to be on top of your maintenance, that’s a big one. We’ve had the opportunity to get a lot of maintenance done with the engines. So we’ve tuned those up. Everything’s dolled in there. We replaced the generator. So, did that. Not by choice. So that was an expensive little activity. And then from there we’ve… we’ve gone and put the tower on it. We’ve put more electronics on it. Simrad have helped us out a hell of a lot there. So we’ve… we’ve got things getting dolled up, plus the opportunity to go away and do longer trips really has highlighted certain spares and things that you need to be carrying on the boat. Things that we probably… or I probably wasn’t aware of. Just little things, a hose clamp can bring your whole trip undone. So, making sure that you’ve got all that sort of stuff and being on top of where everything is.
And that’s probably the second biggest one, is if you are able to work on your boat, when you’re out at sea, if something goes wrong, you can fault find it pretty quick. If you don’t know where things are, that makes things really difficult. So, when it comes to the boat, we’ve had a fair bit of time to get things done and we’ve done a lot of maintenance. We’ve spent a fair bit of money on it, and now we’re just waiting, waiting to go again.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
We’ve replaced just about every pump on the boat. We’ve done the water heater. We’ve done so much.
DANIEL:
We have.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
And we’re also learning more about the best way to store things, just for general living on the boat. And also making some other changes, which we’ve realized… like cold storage and things like that. Which it didn’t have enough of, if we were really going to live on it for a long time. So bringing that up to speed as well.
DANIEL:
Yeah. That’s still something that we’ve got to get sorted is the cold storage. While we were up on the Gold Coast with the boat, this last trip, getting things done really noticed you need freezer space. So, that’s something we’ll have to look at within the next eight to sort of 12 months, I suppose. But yeah, we’ve got to get more freezer space.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
And we’ve touched briefly on the goal that I still have for the bluefin tuna on four kilo line. What are some of the goals that you have?
DANIEL:
To be honest, I haven’t… It’s been weird owning a bigger boat. I still haven’t caught a marlin on it. This year I was pretty lucky. I got a PB dolphin fish, with the boys, when we were bringing the boat back down the coast. And that’s been the only real fish that I’ve caught on the boat.
Driving the boat has bought its own excitement and its own challenges. So I want to get better at doing that. You watch the big time captains when they’re up north, and the videos that they’ve got, and just seeing how they operate and stuff like that, how they drive their boat, how they run the fish down, help the angler, keep your angler safe and dry and all those sorts of things. So I don’t really have, I suppose, too many goals. Just to get better at driving it and be able to put the boat where it needs to be, so whoever’s on the fish, can get the job done as quick and as easy as possible and release the fish in the best condition, I guess. It would be nice to get down on the deck and get a Marlon. I definitely… I will tick that box. But at this stage, I’m just enjoying driving and finding the fish, and then watching everyone catch them.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
So, it’s interesting that your personal goals are sort of more like boat goals now than anything else because you… if someone on the boat catches a certain fish, it’s enough for you rather than a personal catch.
DANIEL:
We had an awesome trip this year. We’ve seen a lot of fish (marlin). We caught a lot of fish. We bettered our last couple of seasons. People started to work together and I think that’s the exciting part. It’s not an individual effort, it’s a team effort. Granted, everyone on the deck always thinks that sitting upstairs is the easy job, but there’s a fair bit going on up there. And, you can get in your own head. You can second guess yourself, should I have gone north? Should I have gone south? You start hearing things on the radio. So I think it is a big team effort, no matter what. And the captain’s a big part, but a small part, I guess. The guys down on the deck are the ones that are doing all the work, being alert, all that sort of stuff. So when that all gels and everything all happens, it’s pretty cool.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
And other than that seven weeks away, fishing that you had, because I was only there for two weeks of that seven weeks-
DANIEL:
Someone had to pay the fuel bill.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
I had to work, but I was with you for the two weeks when we took it up the coast in the first place. But that was different, because we weren’t fishing hard. It was you, me and the dogs, which was a good test to see how it’s going to be living on the boat with us. So what did you think?
DANIEL:
Look, you’re right. It wasn’t a fishing trip. It was a holiday and there’s a very distinct difference between the two. So the holiday was awesome. It was good. We fished along the way. We didn’t see many fish. We got a feed of fish every night. We were always able to get a couple of dolphin fish or some king fish or something to eat along the way. So it was good. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more of it.
I think once we get further up north on the islands and things like that, it’s going to be pretty cool. But that’s a process, we’ve still got to work towards it and we’re getting there and it’s not going to happen overnight, which this whole process has been in the making now for nearly 10 years. From the time when we first sat down and spoke about it to the time where we are now with what we’ve got. And there’s still things that I think we still need to get sorted. But, I think if I’m honest with myself, there’s never going to be a perfect time. So get it done and make the most of it.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
So what else do you want to tell our audience for the next season coming up and for the next 12 months?
DANIEL:
Look, the Hooked Podcast is a great listen for the most of it.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
If you don’t say so yourself.
DANIEL:
Yeah, I know. We’ve got, like I said, we’ve got some awesome people coming on the show. We’ve got a big list of people that have already signed up for the… for season three. We’ve already started some of the interviews, so they’re going to drop pretty quick. So that’s going to be exciting. We’ve got some new sponsorship stuff lined up. So, stand by and keep a lookout for that. We’ve been doing a lot of work with Colorado Lures. Jase has been absolutely awesome up there. We did a lot of work with him this year on the marlin, and we raised a hell of a lot of fish on his lures, much to his disgust, because I wasn’t running a hook in him. But we were trying out techniques on the boat and doing different things. But having said that his lures really saved our season with our their hookups and things like that. So those lures, Colorado lures have come a long way, and Jase has been an integral part of us being able to raise more fish, get more fish and create more content.
Also, Mick from Hook’em, he’s been outstanding. One of our very first sponsors. He supported us the whole way. I was lucky enough to have him as one of the guys on the boat when I bought the boat back down the coast, and we managed to get him his PB dolphin fish. I got to spend three or four days on the boat with just me and Mick, which was awesome. Sitting there chatting about the future of Hook’em and where he’s come from. And hearing his story on a personal level, not just a work level, has been outstanding. Everyone across the board, the people that support us, I truly think they’re friends. They’re not work colleagues or anything like that, they’re true friends. So that’s been really awesome.
DANIEL:
Obviously, hopefully, fingers crossed, we get the weather window and everything lines up for you, for the PB tuna. So we’ve got that to look forward to. I’ve still got a heap of content to edit and put together for our seven week trip away. So, I’m not real sure on how I’m going to do all that at the moment, but just sort of working through that. So there’s a hell of a lot of stuff to come. Trying to get out with some new people, take them out fishing. So there’s a lot of stuff lined up. It’s just all got to fall into place now.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
Thank you. All right. Well, it’s good to have a bit of an update and a bit of an opener for the season. So, anyone who wants to reach out to us, please do that.
We’ve got that same website and the blog on there as well. And that’s a great place to leave comments for the podcast, too. But otherwise, hopefully we get across to Port Ferry and Portland in June, July, August for those good months of the bluefin tuna season and post a lot of that. And there’s more video to come of all the Marlon, as well. So keep a watch out.
DANIEL:
Yep. And like Jacqui’s saying, there’s a fair bit lined up, so do reach out to us. That was probably one of the things that really surprised me when I was up on the Gold Coast. Just the amount of people that come up and say G’day and that’s awesome. So if you do see us kicking around the traps, make sure you come up and say hi. We’ve always got time for a chat for our followers and things like that. So do come up and say, hi, we appreciate it. We appreciate all you guys following us and watching our content. So, stay tuned. And hopefully we’ve got some really big things coming for us.
JACQUI BRAUMAN:
Catch you next episode.
