Shimano’s 2026 Game Chaser rod range has officially launched. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to take it offshore from the Gold Coast to Cape Moreton, and fished it as hard as we could for a few days — marlin, kingfish, snapper, and sharks after dark. This is what we found.
The trip: GoLD COAST TO Cape Moreton
We ran Shore Thing 58 offshore from the Gold Coast to Cape Moreton, Queensland, with one goal: fish hard, and put the new gear through as many different styles of fishing as we could fit in.
That meant trolling offshore for pelagics, jigging deep for kingfish, bottom fishing for snapper, and staying up for sharks after dark. It was about as fair a test as gear gets.
Watch the full trip on B.G Fish On: Shore Thing 58 took Shimano’s newly released game fishing gear — and it was impressive
B.G is our favourite junior angler. He’s out there putting in the hours, and it shows. If you haven’t seen his channel yet, go check it out: B.G Fish On on YouTube.
The Shimano Game Chaser: built for exactly this
The Game Chaser is Shimano’s new premium offshore rod series, built for Australian game anglers chasing tuna, marlin, and other hard-fighting pelagics.
The blank is Shimano’s Armour 40-5 technology. It’s a progressive action — it loads deeper into the blank the harder a fish pulls. In practice, that means more control through a long fight, and less fatigue on the angler holding the rod. On a multi-hour marlin fight, that difference is real.
The range runs six rods, line classes from 10kg through to 37kg in straight butt models, with 24kg and 37kg also available in bent butt. Guides are premium ALPS rollers, built to keep line flowing smoothly under heavy load. Butts are durable alloy slick butt or ALPS bent butt assemblies, depending on the model.
It’s built for anglers chasing Australia’s toughest game fish — and that’s exactly the fishing we do.
See the full range: Shimano Game Chaser
T-Curve Deep Jig: the other half of the test
Trolling gets the attention, but a lot of the trip was jigging and bottom fishing with Shimano’s new T-Curve Deep Jig rods. Kingfish came on the jig. Snapper came off the bottom. Both styles of fishing are a different kind of workout on a rod than a trolled marlin — shorter, sharper loading, constant work from the angler rather than the fish doing it for you.
What came over the side
Blue marlin. Kingfish on the jig. Snapper on the bottom. Big sharks alongside the boat after dark. Across trolling, jigging, and bottom fishing, the new gear performed flawlessly on everything we threw at it.
Why this matters if you’re chartering Shore Thing 58
We don’t test gear for the sake of it. Whatever earns its place on Shore Thing 58 is what charter guests fish with.
Shore Thing 58 is a custom-built 58 foot Assegai sportfisher, purpose-built for marlin fishing along Australia’s east coast. She runs a gyro stabiliser and a Furuno Omni Sonar System that scans 360 degrees around the boat to significant depth — real technology backing up real fishing, not just for show.
We’re proud to run Shimano’s gear on board, on both Shore Thing 58 and Shore Thing 115. Thank you to Shimano for the early access.
Fish the same gear
Shore Thing 58 charters run out of the Gold Coast, chasing marlin, kingfish, and everything in between along Australia’s east coast — with the gear to back it up.
