Blue Acres Pro Team Steve McDonald

Steve's Story

Too many days spent on the water is never enough. I don't mind if it's rough and uncomfortable if I am catching. I love the challenge of first finding the target species then trying to pull the most and biggest out of the water.

I worked with a commercial fisherman for a few years, fishing more days than I did not I learnt heaps. The knowledge I gained on reading a sounder and understanding what is happening below has been invaluable. Putting this knowledge to lure and tournament fishing is another challenge. Having only recently taken up plastic fishing I have a lot to learn and I am enjoying the steep learning curve.

My most treasured fishing memory was catching my first marlin. We had spent three days camping and fishing on and around Broughton Island off the coast of Port Stephens with marlin free jumping all over the place. Not being set up to target them we ignored them until the last day. Talking to guy's on the island and hearing stories of hook ups on half pillies and being spooled on threadline outfits I had to give it a go.

With the boat loaded up full of camping gear we set out to catch some livies. Three hours later we had three live slimy mackerel. With the marlin so thick the bait weren't coming out of hiding, however, one was all we needed.

We drove past a few rat marlin around the 10-15 kilo mark swimming in the fingers of current lines before setting our baits a little wider offshore. They were as thick as mullet on a spawning run so I was confident of finding a bigger model. With baits set it was only about 15 minutes before the TLD 20 let out a growl and I was on. The fish put on a great show and it was a battle in a boat full of camping gear, however, I prevailed.

I remember feeling a tad guilty for a few fleeting seconds looking at this magnificent fish amongst all the gear scattered through my boat. That was until the reality sunk in that a boyhood dream had been realised and on my first attempt.

Steve McDonald

Bass / Bream Pro

Other species: Anything that swims and pulls line.

Lives: Annerley, Qld

Nickname: Duck

DOB: One day 1969

Best Result: 2nd 2006 Pro Bass Grand Final Lake Glenbawn

Results

2006

2nd Pro Bass Grand Final Lake Glenbawn

9th Pro Bass AOY fishing 5 of 8 events

10th Round1 Pro Bass Hunter River

2nd Round 3 Pro Bass Lake Glenbawn

9th Round 5 Pro Bass Hunter River

2005

Pro Bass Grand Finalist

6th Round 1 ABT Bass Pro Lake St Clair Non Boater.

Bass

Rods/Use

EXS 702BA XMG 50 / soft plastics

XC 703BA Certified Pro / lipless crankbaits

XC 704BA Certified Pro / spinnerbaits

XCF 705 Certified Pro Fiberglass/ lipless crankbaits.

EXS 661 XMG 50 / deepwater plastics

EXS 701 XMG 50 / ice jigs, soft plastics

EXC 704 XMG / soft lipless crankbaits

Favorites

Technique: Deep water slow rolling plastics through schooled bass. I love being able to watch the sounder and see the bass follow and take my plastic.

Plastic unweighted: 3" stickbaits

Plastic weighted: Smoke Yellowcore Sliders

Jighead lite: any with a sharp hook

Jighead heavy: Olive green 1/2oz Nitro

Top Water: Kokoda Chuga bug

Lipless Crankbait: Browndog T/N 60

Crankbait: Rarely use them.

Spinnerbait: Bassman.

Jig: Blue Acres prototype that we are developing.