Sport fishing outfit Ashram on winning with TIMEZERO

Two years ago, we presented the sports fishing team Ashram, lead by Rhyss Whittred. A member of the Perth Game Fishing Club (PGFC), Rhyss is an outstanding fisherman and a long standing user of TIMEZERO technology. The beginning of 2018 saw Team Ashram visit Costa Rica to take part in the prestigious Offshore World Billfish Championship.

But before talking about this event, Rhyss wants to first talk about another competition: the Shimano Open WA. This annual championship takes place of the west coast of Australia and the 2017 edition provided a stage for the team to show their talent.

In this article, Rhyss gives a detailed account of the Australian fishing competition. Discover how this expert used TIMEZERO and the tools inside TZ Professional to study fishing zones.

“I am penning this story flying from Australia to Costa Rica to represent Australia with my fishing team competing in the Offshore World Billfish Championships. Let’s reflect, take a step back and work how and why the “Ashram Fishing Team” gained the honour to represent their country.

It was this time last year that we took Ashram a 27ft Wellcraft 400kms north of our home port to compete in the Shimano WA Open held in the fishing town named Jurien Bay. Ashram is fitted out with quality Furuno electronics which is all linked with TZ Professional software. This tournament is all about game fishing and in particular targeting pelagic fish like marlin, tuna, mahi-mahi and mackerel for tag and release.

Having the TIMEZERO professional software linked to my Furuno equipment gives cutting edge technology enabling me to make more of an informed decision of where to fish for the appropriate species. Using the weather download function for sea surface temperature, altimetry ocean currents and plankton, I was able to accurately pinpoint the area to work for marlin. There was a particular canyon 37 nautical miles away that looked perfect with 4 of the 4 options all looking conducive for targeting marlin.

mahi-mahi a.k.a dorado a.k.a dolphin fish

Once at the canyon we got our lures in the water and set a trolling pattern, zigzagging our way up and down the appropriate area that I had marked out on my TIMEZERO and linked to the Furuno auto pilot. About 3 hours into our fishing up came a nice black marlin that swatted at our lures but was not aggressive. We switched a bait back and a half-hearted attempt to eat then saw it drift away.

Oceanographic weather forecasts used by Rhyss Whrittred with TZ Professional

Half an hour later and we had a nice blue marlin about 160kg crash through our lure spread and hook up nicely on the port out rigger. Mark fought the fish expertly whilst I manoeuvred the boat around to finish a 2 and a half battle ending with healthy tag and released fish for our account.

Over the next 2 days we targeted other species using the weather function and resulted in Ashram winning champion boat and angler. The marlin was without a doubt the highlight and ensured the win. Having TIMEZERO and Furuno on the boat gave us that edge against the rest of the fleet.

We are now here in Quepos Costa Rica getting ready for the tournament in a couple of days’ time and you bet we will be downloading the local weather and checking out the likely fishing hotspots with my TIMEZERO program on my laptop.”

Rhyss Whittred – Captain of Ashram Fishing Team.