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Sorry for the late reply. Caught from boat but most within 5 to 10 metres from land so within reach of shore fishers. Will get a couple of feeds with heads wings and smaller ones ending up as jjew baits. Ron

Went out front of the Hacking for a squid competition yesterday and did ok. Got 8 woth biggest 2 going 33cm and 29cm hood length. I usually land them by grabbing them behind eyes so I can control them but comp required a vidio of them on measuring mat which ended up with both myself and boat getting the best inking I have ever seen. Went out again today but only got 4 smallish ones. Tried to attach photo but image tt big. Sqid must have been bigger than I thought. LOL. Ron

I bought a 5.6 quinnie with a canopy similar to yours with clears between canopy and top of screen and had a local firm (Kirrawee) make side clears. This fully enclosed boat from front to back of bimini. I have camped overnight a few times by tying a canopy from bimini to back of boat. Copped some heavy rain on one occasion and kept dry ok. Will try to post photo but currently having probs with my pc. If you pm your phone no I could text you photo. Regards Ron.

If you look around you can find quick change swivel/clips designed specifically for squidding. They are light so as not to affect sink rate too much and the jig just twists onto them without need to open a clip. Regards Ron

Any light spin rod will do the job but I prefer 7+ft long to improve distance. I fish Hacking for them often and find the further upstream you go the more river (arrow) sqid and closer to ocean the more callamari you get. Some of the rocks near ocean and fronting ocean can be good but you can lose jigs to reef and of cause only when sea conditions are safe to fish. They are possible from most wharves such as yowie bay, lilli pilli and wallies wharf etc. Any erea close to deep water with grass weed, kelp or reef is worth a try. Jigs from 1.8 to 2.5 usually best with 3.5 ok in deeper areas.

I would guess as a Bass, as E Perch has a more concave front of head. Ron

I usually use Appletree bay when fishing hairtail and have had no issues. They used to lock half of car park up which meant you couldn't get out till morning but this gave added security for overnighters. Also fact there was only one road each way deterred theives. Main problem is National Park fees are payable which isn't a worry for me as I have a free pensioner pass.

General reef fish and flatties however the main target at this time of year are snapper as they come in for the cuttlefish breeding run.

If I were you i would check out Sydney boat show as you sometime s get good deals on trailers and it's only a month or so away. Maybe a bit difficult for you due to you living at ps. I bought a new trailer about 3 years ago and got a locally made one as they were cheepest. Pretty happy with it so far but don't know if I can mention brand due to site rules. Ron

Hi Sickwolf. I wouldn't collect and use sea urchins from anywhere before checking that's its OK as a lot of our rocks (inside estuaries especially) are intertidal protection areas and you can be fined. I don't know about that area, but it wouldn't surprise me. Ron

This brought back memories of when I was a keen rock fisher many years ago (using the top gear for the time consisting of 6-to-1 Seascape Major and Silaflex FT70 rod) and I used to catch a lot of Kings and Striped Tuna. The Stripies were filleted, trimmed of excess meat, covered in salt and individual fillets wrapped in heaps of newspaper and stored in a cool spot. Every couple of days the wet paper was removed and fish re-salted and wrapped. When fillets no longer weeped water the cured fillets looked like leather but surprisingly still soft and moist in middle. These could be stored in newspaper in my backpack (under my bed) for months and were unbelievably good emergency cut bait for bream, snapper, salmon etc. A current mate (who is an exceptional rock fisho) buys prawns and shells and beheads them before heavily salting them and wrapping in newspaper in fridge for a day. He then packs enough for a days fishing into small plastic bags. If kept out of sun and kept cool he reconds they will re-freeze again and be ok for a second day. Good luck Ron

If you have home content insurance check to see if they have non disclosed personal affects cover away from residence. This is extra cost but cheeper than a separate policy. Ron

Will pm as not supposed to advise on non sponsors. Ron

It may be time to rethink your fishing and consider the seasons. You should find out what winter species are common in the areas you fish and change your tactics to suit. Winter species include Luderick (black fish), John Dory, trevally, salmon, squid and snapper. Some of these may be difficult from shore. Good luck. Ron

Like you I fish a lot by myself and although some glass boats ride better due to weight etc I wouldn't consider anything but alloy as it is easy to make errors when retrieving on trailer by yourself and alloy will shrug off a bump that could hole glass. I went from 4.5m Quin Lazeabout to a 5.6m Quinnie Classic with Millenium hull and love it. I used both to go to The Peak, 12 Mile and the Sydney Fads and planned to take this one to Browns Mountain but haven't done so yet. I fish 50/50 inside and out and love the space and stability but concede the Barcrusher would handle a realy nasty sea better but does so by being a lot narrower with resulting loss of space inside. Best advice I can give is try to find someone with the boat your considering and try to get a ride to help you decide. Someone on fishraider may be able to help here. Good luck. Ron

I find they are hard to keep alive without proper tank. I keep most alive on boat ok in a 60 litre bait tank but change water frequently and keep pump going to change water when they ink up the water. Strangely I have known the greedy little buggers to feed after settling down and will help themselves to other livies in tank. Ron

I find they are hard to keep alive without proper tank. I keep most alive on boat ok in a 60 litre bait tank but change water frequently and keep pump going to change water when they ink up the water. Strangely I have known the greedy little buggers to feed after settling down and will help themselves to other livies in tank. Ron

I believe restriction zones can vary i.e. no entry, no anchoring no fishing etc. You should phone the closest Maritime office and ask them what restrictions apply. Ron

I had same problem with trailer I bought with my current boat. Cost me $1000 to replace all cross members. Repairer said you couldn't weld galvanised steel and could only cold gal. What a rip-off and waste of money. Regardless of how hard I tried new members only lasted about 18 months before rusting out from inside. Was lucky enough to get $600 for it when 2 blokes desperate for a trailer to relocate moored boats interstate fight over it on ebay after I insisted on inspection before they bid. I bought a new trailer but went from double to single axles due to cost. The lesson is make sure new parts are well galled before welding even though welding will still have to be cold galled. Lesson for all is that cross members have to be well flushed out after use to get rid of salt. This is easier said than done and I have designed a flushing wand for the job. Having trouble downloading photos with new PC but will post details on this forum when sorted. Ron

Aeriels are tuned to match the radios range but distance covered can improve if you raise the mounting placement such as the top of roof, rocket launcher etc. It is better to buy matching aerial/radio and some brands have aeriels in 2 lengths but longer is better. I prefer base with removeable aerial rather than a fixed one as I remove when traveling and to get it out of the way when casting lures to tuna etc. I have a GME with front controls and have had no issues so far. Having controls on mike can be helpful if radio is mounted in an awkward position or you have a wet boat and want to mount in a protected area but they are pretty waterproof these days anyway. Ron

I can see photos OK.

Not so! I find they come in to the weed beds along shore and estuaries in winter to breed and lay their eggs. Winter also sees the bigger calamari about. With the downturn in fishing in winter due to colder water I do more squiding in winter than I do for fin fish. Now is usually a good time to try. Ron

I have had mates try self centering rollers and they weren't impressed with them and they tend to chew out fairly quickly as well. V skids are much more reliable and you have a wider area to hit if driving on. Once bow is caught and centered it is easy to stear and correct any angle the boat may be pushed by a side wind. I had those sprung V rollers at the back of my last rig and thought them great, but configuration at back of my current traiIer doesn't suit them. Ron

There are quite often good deals at the Boat show and it is only a couple of months away. While waiting you can look for 2nd hand as sales are slow and prices are usually less now it's winter. You can get lucky and find good deals. About 10 years ago I bought a 60hp Mariner from a town out west that had only been in fresh water and was owned by the local outboard mechanic and proved to be a very reliable up to when I sold it. If I were you I would stick to major brands. There are some cheaper Chinese brands around in your HP range that may be tempting when watching your dollars, however I would leave them alone until they are proven ok. Ron

I have had 3 sqid at different times come to boat while burleying for yakkas with bread. All were hot to trot and readily took a jig. I'm sure they were attracted by the bait fish rather than the bread. Ron