Escape Fishing With ET

Series 23 of Escape Fishing With ET kicks off with a RAM road trip to the Brisbane Waters. The Target.. mega-size blackfish, including large luderick. There’s plenty of action and skill enticing them from their snag-filled home. ET’s also after his PB drummer fish, out of his Hobie and the Surtees 540 Pro-fisher. He wants an extreme drummer, hopefully, the largest he’s ever caught!

ET battles the high swells of the Pacific Ocean in the Surtees 540 Pro-fisher chasing one of his favorite fighting fish, the kingfish! There’s plenty of exciting battles with these hard-fighting fish! Then out in the Hobie on Sydney’s beautiful Harbor ETs mate Colin hits the jackpot with a duo of dynamic Kingfish.

ET battles the high swells of the Pacific Ocean in the Surtees 540 Pro-fisher chasing one of his favorite fighting fish, the kingfish! There’s plenty of exciting battles with these hard-fighting fish! Then out in the Hobie on Sydney’s beautiful Harbor ETs mate Colin hits the jackpot with a duo of dynamic Kingfish.

Its off to Port Welshpool in Victoria and ET joins Stevo from the South Gippsland Game Fishing club. They start a Gummy Shark and Snapper catching Competition. At dusk they are reeling in the Snapper followed by the sharks.

ET is fishing his home waters, the Port Hacking River, the target species is a whopper whiting on ultra light tackle. Then it’s north to Nambucca where the Hobie is a perfect angling platform to stealthily stalk whiting using surface lures. It’s an exciting visual feast as schools of whiting chase what they believe are tasty prawns fleeing on the surface.

ET heads north to Queensland’s Capricorn Coast where his Surtees 650 Gamefisher is put to good use out on the Coral Sea seeking a Granny of a Nanny – a largemouth nannygai that is. ET is on this journey with good mate Dean and his son Kai and using bait plus bouncing a jig or two as they battle several tough fighting scarlet largemouth nannygai. Then in his Hobie out on the Coral Sea at the stunningly beautiful Percy Island Group it is a tough tussle with trevally and quicksilver queenfish. Offshore outings in locations that are beautiful one day and gorgeous the next.

ET is in Queensland chasing dam barramundi at Lakes Monduran and Callide with good mate Blakey who is a knowledgeable local dam barra expert. Hobie pedaled kayaks are their first watercraft weapon of choice at Monduran dam where they hook up some beauties. A bit further South, in ET’s Surtees 650 Gamefisher, not far from the Callide Dam wall, they have a great dam barra busting session with Et battling two metery monsters. And the barra fight well above their mighty weight!

ET is in Queensland chasing that quintessential Aussie icon: the Australian Bass. Cania Dam is the destination and bass abound in the system. ET is with local expert and good mate, bass master blaster Blakey. They whip up a bass bonanza and also a cracker of a golden perch, commonly called yellowbelly.

ET heads south to be the host presenter in competition at East Gippslandand and awards the prizes for the 3 heaviest southern black bream. At end of each day's fishing event, back at weigh-in headquarters, the whopper live black bream are weighed and returned to their watery domain. Then it’s a return to NSW for a Hobie outing on the magnificent Tuross River with Hobie World Fishing Champion Andrew Death. The black bream cooperate as Andrew gives a top rating black bream master class.

This week on Escape Fishing With ET, we are at The Go Fish Nagambie Fishing Tournament in Victoria chasing Murray Cod. There's plenty to be caught!

This week ET is competing in the Nagambie GoFish Tournament in Victoria with mate Jack chasing that great Aussie icon: yellowbelly. In the Surtees 540 on Lake Nagambie, the pair use the Garmin sounder’s live scope to view the underwater environment and locate yellowbelly lurking among some sunken tree branches. With the Garmin’s screen as a guide, they position their live shrimp to entice them to attack. ET then travels to Lake Mulwala and heads out in his Hobie to do battle with the great Murray cod. An exciting final session with Murray cod expert Jack Hocking produces several more Murray cod including a Lake Mulwala monster. It’s Live view action all the way.

ET is on the hunt for large flathead using live baits and big soft plastic lures in his home river, The Port Hacking. The first task is to cast bread to catch some mullet, the perfect live bait to entice several large flathead. Then switching it up using soft plastics you won’t believe the monster lizard he entices!!

Because of flooding on Australia’s east coast, Et is chasing yellowfin bream close to home at Port Hacking. The Port Hacking estuary has also suffered from the deluge, but as the waters clear and become saline, huge, hungry bream have moved into the system. Then it’s a bream fishing with lures masterclass from Hobie World Fishing Champion Andrew Death as he and ET hit the Georges River bridge pylons. It’s big bream time!

I had a great few days out on the water with mates on Port Phillip Bay Victoria chasing King George Whiting and Snapper. We caught some beauties! We then took the Hobie out and caught a feed of squid which we cooked up into a delicious squid pasta dish. Check it all out in this weeks episode.

ET is in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria with charter skipper Tony Spiteri and young daughter Emma for a gummy shark and big snapper bonanza. Then ET teams up with MY Marine’s fishing experts Theo and Dean. They’ head over to Western Port where a Gill Shark puts it’s razor sharp teeth to good use and spoils the day. After catching an unusually large cuttlefish and a hard to identify Port Phillip Rock Cod they head East to Port Welshpool where they have an exciting session pulling in Gummy shark after gummy shark! A final outing in his Hobie near Wilson’s Promontory catching King George whiting rounds out this Victorian episode.

ET’s in Southern Queensland for a Tuna fest starting at Hervey Bay with gun guide Pete Fry. The Mackerel Tuna are carving up balls of baitfish, ET and Pete successfully cast chrome lures as they chase the Mac Tuna. A quick journey south to Mooloolaba to team up with good mate Blakey and the hunt is on around teeming surface schools of white bait. A large Spotty Mackerel and a feisty Mac Tuna are their rich rewards. Then an offshore outing in the same location brings ET into productive close contact with the largest Longtail Tuna he has fought from his stable, maneuverable Hobie. Its an epic battle!

ET’ meets up with his long time fishing companion and cousin Scott Thorrington. Scotty is a game boat skipper and expert on the waters offshore from Terrigal on the Central Coast of NSW. Here, the family duo haul in several kingfish and a mighty mulloway. ET also takes out the Hobie fishing close into the Central Coast’s high cliffs, battling large drummer in the roiling waters. After great excitement, it’s a change of watercraft and a dash south to Gerringong where ET teams up with his two mates Stu and Simon targeting snapper in the shallows. Their soft plastics get hammered as the team haul in their catch!

It doesn’t get better than this! I’m in the beautiful Whitsundays, 90km offshore from Hamilton Island. I’ve invited all my Production crew along on the journey and we are having a ball pulling in reef fish after reef fish! We are targeting my favorite eating species, Coral Trout. We have the magnificent mother ship, Brilliant Company with us, so we are out here for 5 glorious days! I throw the Hobie in at low tide just as the reef is protruding out of the aqua water and chase the Coral Trout in the channels. What a spectacular part of Australia! As the saying goes... "Beautiful one day, Perfect the next!"

The Hamilton Island off shore fishing safari continues this week and our target species is the mighty Red Emperor! Aboard Topnotch Charter’s 32 ft game boat “The Pirate,” skipper Jamie and proprietor Captain Russ wrench some majestic Red Emperor from their coral lairs. While on the Surtees 650 Game fisher my production team are battling their own Red beauties! Dave has a serious fight on his hands and is finally successful netting the largest Red Emperor ever caught on the show!!!!! I throw the Hobie in and head for the fringing reefs to seek out another Emperor species: the superb, blue hued Spangled Emperor. It’s an exciting Reef adventure you don’t want to miss!

I’m on the hunt for colourful reef fish out on the Whitsundays and I’m not disappointed!! So many varieties, Red Spangled and Redthroat Emperor, Coral trout and Chinaman Fish are all hauled aboard. Then I hit the coral reef ledges in the Hobie Lynx and battle a whopper Redthroat Emperor in shallow water. Its a stunning episode full of majestic scenery and brilliant fish.

The Hamilton Island off shore expedition comes to an end with a grand slam event featuring Giant Trevally. “Escape Fishing With ET’s” production team of Brett and Dave have epic battles with two monster GTs, when the Surtees is moored beside the 62 foot game boat “Brilliant Company.” Then ET bravely ventures into an exciting angling experience. He chases giant Giant Trevally from his Hobie Lynx. Dave and Brett were fearful the powerful fish would tow ET to Hawaii, but after a massive struggle, an enormous GT get's heaved onto the low-profiled Hobie Lynx. It’s a battle you don’t want to miss!

ET travels to Lake Proserpine in Northern Queensland where large Barramundi lurk in Peter Faust Dam. With good mates Paul and Blakey plus his partner Sharon they set out in the Surtees to fish the snags and weed beds of Lake Proserpine. ET battles a large Sooty Grunter and then back at their lakeside campsite Blakey engages in a classic encounter of the Barra kind with a whopper meter plus monster! Then it’s north west to chase even more Barramundi in Northern Territory’s Mary River. ET and guru guide Pete Barnes of Territory Guided Fishing team up with Top End Barra expert Chris Errity and Century Batteries Andy and Sean. Its a red hot run of Barra after Barra!

ET continues along the Barramundi trail, chasing them in stocked Queensland dams and the wild beauty of the Mary River area in The Northern Territory. In Peter Faust Dam in the Surtees 650 Game Fisher, good mate Blakey battles a lively Barra. Then Blakey’s wife Sharon hits the meter Barramundi jackpot in her Hobie. At Lake Callide ET joins the meter Barramundi society with a high jumping giant. Then up at the Mary River NT, the Barra are attacking lures ferociously. There’s a Barra PB and plenty of surface splashing Barra chasing lures!

ET reconnects with The Fly Program’s CEO and Lake Jindabyne trout guide Matt Tripet at Lake Jindabyne in New South Wales, then in Tasmania at the spectacular Lake Currawong wildlife reserve and fly fishing retreat. At Lake Jindabyne local expert Gordon joins them to showpiece his tricks of the trout trade which include using a lead line to slowly troll shallow diving lures deep to ten meters. Brown Trout attack the lures as Matt and Gordon share their knowledge of the locale and impart information about trout fishing techniques. ET also links up with Matt at Lake Currawong at a stage of The Bayer Big Fish Challenge which raises funds for, and awareness of, male mental health issues. Rainbow Trout are surface feeding and hungrily attack the competing angler’s dry flies. In between the Trout tussles Et heads to Swan Lake in Southern New South Wales with Hobie angler Mick. They set up and launch two Hobie inflatables, the Mirage itech 9 & 11 to chase some bream.