Rick T

G'day Harry I have been lucky enough to spend a fair bit of time on the water in a few of the triton's and I have to say that nothing compares at the moment in australia. Can't comment on other american bass boats as I haven't been in them. I own a hornet and have had the opportunity to ride in some of the best boats NSW/QLD manufacturers have to offer and they didn't even come close to quality of finish, design and ride. Mick has done close to 100 hours in Australian conditions including entering the ABT events and recreational fishing with myself and although he is a salesman he wouldn't make the claims if he didn't have experience to do so. ABA actually sell both american and australian so his opinion is honest. We have fished aussie dams (which can actually be very rough) and aussie waterways such as sydney harbour and hawkesbury which usually involves some very bumpy water (especially around harbour bridge and broken bay/west head) and it handled the conditions much better than my hornet and mates full plate cairns custom craft high side bream boat. This doesn't mean a bream/bass boat is suitable for outside use though. Easy way to form your own opinion is to go for a ride, we can debate all the points we like about america vs australia but when u go for a ride the only debate is how I can get the $$ together to buy one (If bream/bass boats are your thing). I haven't seen the Allison but would like to, I had an Allison cuddy cabin and it was an absolutely sensational boat It is a fact that many of the american boats are being brought in and quickly sold, and are much higher quality than aussie, just means the locals need to pick up the pace a bit. Would love to hear from quinnie how hornet sales are going, i can bet they are way down then two years ago when I purchased mine.

well done Joe on your first solo legal More pressure u apply the more they fight but that just makes it more fun. I always have at least 2 king baits in the water and when I hook one and get it near the top and away from danger I quickly wind the second rod in the holder up so I can just see the bait. It will usually get slammed by another fish in the school before I get the first in the boat. Great fun on your own

shallow divers cast to the bank should pick up a bass or 2. sp's or baits near the mouth and outside bends will pick up flatties. They will be your best options

my first graphite rod was a procaster x 1-3kg and I reckon it would bend 180 degrees when I caught anything over 35cm. It did catch my largest river bass to date though, don't ask me how?? Sold many moons ago, I only own ball tearer rods now, can't be stuffed with "finesse" just yank em into the boat asap.

If Mick can get out early from work I'll probably hit pittwater for kings. spend the morning collecting live squid then pick him up from the wharf and spend the avo with them on the rigger Swoff make sure u fellas get the squid primed for my jigs with your minnows

Jaso, try to get on the water with someone who knows their sounder to help u with readings. my 37 shows bait schools very clearly although I very rarely see arches for fish. Only larger active fish seem to bring up arches, mine only shows arches when over schools of kings etc so I mainly use it for locating balled bait and bottom structure. ribbon weed usually shows as a smudge sitting just above the bottom or in the case of nepean at penrith a haze from about a metre to the bottom. I learnt a fair bit about using the 37 for sounding schooling bass with Jay M which didn't look like arches but thick black lines on the screen. Play with the manual settings and see how it effects the demo screen and spend some time playing with the settings on the water. But don't expect to see tonnes of arches as on the demo screen, unless I am doing something wrong they only seem to appear for me with larger very active fish. I honestly had barely ever seen an arch on screen until finding a few wrecks lately then I knew the sounder was working properly .

If price is an issue and u want brand new then u probably can't go past a polycraft for a value for money bream boat. both sponsors ABA and yabbie marine sell them so check them out at your nearest place. I purchased a hornet which looks very nice but I can't say I am happy with the ride. It is great for breamin and I also have no probs trolling pittwater/harbour etc for pelagics but it cost me about $20k brand new which these days u would pay another $5k and get something spiffy like the triton tinnies. Try to get a ride in a few boats and see what u like.

I own a curado 100b and 200b low profile baitcasters and I reckon they are the best value for money reels I own aswell as being very easy to cast light lures compared to barrel models of the same price range. They have 5 bbearings compared to 1 that the kmart version will have and will set u back mid $200 including a good quality braid (I run 150yd of 15lb tuffline) leaving $150 for a good quality baitcast rod. To be honest if u r chasing flatties and bream u will probably find using a similar quality threadline much easier and more versatile especially with lures lighter than 1/8oz. Get your young fella a shimano combo threadline from k-mart, they take a beating and peform quite well for how cheap they r.

I have been successful getting squid in pittwater anytime of the day and usually when others are doing it tough finding them. My tip is have a squid jig on one rod and watermellon bass minnow on 1/32 on another and target wharves and pontoons with weed patches underneath them. when squid are around they will hit the bass minnow continually (although u cant hook them) and u can draw them out. when they are in sight leave the minnow in the water and drop the squid jig and the squid will move on to the jig immediately. This is not so effective around the joey/west head as the swell makes it a bit harder to see the squid. Also in for a good chance of a bream aswell and there are some stonkers in pittwater.

Far from being an expert Grant, I use 10kg and 25kg braid for bottom bashing for jews and trolling for kings and it has performed extremely well. I think the thinner line diametre makes it easier to fish deep but as I said I am not an expert. Greg J has his serious jew gear packed with HEAVY braid so he would be your best example to go from i guess. I would think it is a preference thing but like yourself would be interested to hear if mono does have an advantage for these purposes. One thing I guess is to have a reasonable/correct rod cause the braid gives nothing and with a heavy drag setting everything has to be tough. last time I was out my tekota got ripped out of the reel seat of a 6kg rod and I fought the fish trying to hold the reel in place.

No fishing again for me this weekend cause of mates bucks, hangin' to get out for a fish but looks like it will be a few more weeks if I am lucky.

I guess I should have been more specific but thanks for the replies. I am after the cowan/pittwater run sounds like it will start soon if not already. I have heard that the mullet schools react well to high speed spinning raiders

Goodluck to all the fisho's in the comp and safe travels around westy. I think all fishraiders should work on asking Mick as many business questions as possible on sunday morning. We have a bucks night at the Casino on saturday night so I doubt the ol' geezer will be getting any sleep

Used to be both days on the weekend , then the mrs reduced it to one day on the weekend now with bubs lucky to make it out more than once a month

G'day fishraiders Due to weddings/bucks parties/bdays etc I am not going to be able to do much fishing until June. I would like to get in one session trolling/downrigging live mullet when the run starts. It was around April last year I think but am not certain. Is there a set time when the mullet run starts if not what is the general month?

I reckon pure fishing (the importer) just say it to encourage sales. I bought 20 packs of pe's and ppe's a few years ago when they were going to stop making them and I am still working through the surplus and they r still available. Not silly enough to make that mistake again. nymphs sound good mick, hopefully good colours will make it out

best option shorebased is the wharf near the public ramp. Seen bream and soapies landed on squid strips. If u can get a tinnie head up the mcdonald river.

Depends on what style of lure fishing u prefer but here are a few options that I would prefer for yellas 3" powerhawg gold/black with 1/4 oz jighead 60-70mm lipless crankbait in silver or gold colours 1/4-1/2oz tandem spinnerbait in gold black. Goodluck

G'day fellas Joe has just about hit the whole jigging thing on the head. Just a couple of clarifications of Jays technique that I really concentrated on so I at least learnt a thing or 2. He used 1/2 oz jigs with the red/silver ecogear minnow rigged upside down. If the school was near the bottom he would drop his jig to the bottom, wind up 10 or so winds then drop it back. If it was near the thermocline he would count it for 10 or so seconds and wind up 10 or so then drop it back. If they were between the thermo and surface he would drop for 7 seconds and wind to the surface. If nothing was on the screen he would drop to the bottom and wind to the top and start moving the boat around to search for the schools. His wind was at a medium pace as Joe mentioned but he never used the anti reverse method, he just turned the bail arm over and dropped it back. I caught my fish with Jay doing the same thing except using the anti reverse to wind backwards and forwards and when the fish hit I got a good knuckle bashing by the reel handle. One thing I found interesting was when he told me his tactics with 3" curly tail gulp apparently if u get a hit just let the lure sit there like bait where as the ecogear was a continuous wind even when hit. Hope this helps those that have pm'd aswell Mick R got some nice fish (2.4kg bag) in the first session using gold/black jackals in the shallow timber and weed beds but realised in the second session that they weren't going to play ball and went to jigging for the rest. I got my first fish working deeper banks about 10-20ft but that was the only fish we saw for a whole day. All of the top contenders aswell as the just about the whole feild were jigging.

give me a yankbait any day of the year

Its a matter of opinion Grant as they all catch fish. We have found the Jackals to be the best lipless crankbaits available on the aussie market. We used the ecogear vt 65's before Jackals and they were a great bass catcher and more cost effective at $17. After using the Jackals alot now I wont bother putting on the ecogears. Most people acknowledge the absolute quality and effectiveness of Jackals but don't like the price tag. For me they are worth the cash and I wouldn't have close to fifty of them if I didn't think so. I have been told by the experts the difference is in the way the lure falls, the way it sits on the bottom and the sonic's but basically from my experience they have caught more fish when I was using vt's and TD's and Mick started using jackals. I caught my first bass on the drop with a lipless on the weekend so there must be so truth in what they are telling me. Mick landed his first session bag of 2.4kg for 2 fish on gold black TN60's when most others working the banks didn't see a fish. As we found out on the weekend though they are not that effective for jigging, only weedbed and timber. I reckon try both grant and use what u r confident with.

G'day Mitch I think they r on special at ABA at the moment but best to ask Mick. The colour selection and lure size selection is usually limited to what has been brought in from jap. Harry gave us a box of 300 (also scored new hats n stickers ) yesterday so the selection should be good this week but they don't last long. If u only can afford a few colours the most popular are AYU, HL BLACK GOLD and GOST WAGASAKI. They are all definately producers that we have caught fish on consistantly.

G'day Fishraiders A fair number of members fished the ABT bass competition this weekend which consisted of 3 rounds over 2 days. Mick and I headed up on friday for the prefish and the weather was horrible. we fished for 2 hours before deciding being drenched and cold was not for us, instead some was a much better option. I entered as a passenger for the event and first day I was match with a fella who sounded like he had a good plan. We fished deeper banks where the thermocline met the shoreline and I scored the only fish of the session between us on the jackal TN70. Next round was a change of plans, he said the fish were on heat and schooling and the 50 or so boats all jigging the main basin for them indicated he was right. He showed me a few jigging techniques with sliders but they were unsuccessful and either of us didn't land a fish. I was so exausted by the full days fishing I just sat on the end of the boat with feet up jigging lazily for alot of the session. Next day I fished with the leading boater of the competition and he put us onto the fish immediately. He actually scored a fish on his first wind of his jig. His techniques were much more specific concentrating on the sounded fish depths rather than just jigging the thermocline and his lure advice was much better. I actually caught one of my first fish on an ecogear He scored 2 keepers by about 9.30am one going about 48cm the other about 40cm. Being new to jigging it took me a while to get the hang of it and I finally scored a nice 44cm bass from about 40' of water. Got a lesson in deflating the fish to keep them in good condition for the live weigh in. He picked up another rat then decided to call it a day at 10am. I was a little dissapointed because I was just getting the hang of it and there was an hour and a half fishing time left but I wasn't 2 fussed to complain, I had caught a few fish over the weekend and learned a heap. The friendly company at the bass comp far outshone my experiences in the bream scene and the polite behaviour made the experience much more enjoyable. In one bay alone there were close to 30 boats jigging with metres of each other and people were sharing with other competitors successful lure types, depths and techniques which I was impressed to see. Overall I finished about midfield of the non boaters which I am happy with aswell. Heres a few pics of some members and their boats that I had time to take when finishing early today, unfortunately the weigh process was to quick to get fish pics.

St Clair ABT bass fishing for me weekend away from housework and nagging weekend away from bubs

Use the marks to get your general area then sound out what u r after and mark them on your own gps. I have found marks given to me for the valient etc are not accurate using my gps but are accurate using theirs. Not sure of the reason why but I just sound out the wrecks, holes, reefs etc and mark them using my GPS. Its easier than trying to play with map datums etc