Yowie

A mate bought himself a second hand boat, similar to a Bertram 25, and wanted to try it out. I suggested he head outside for some flatties, he was happy with that idea. A big change fishing out there, different to a small tinnie and with a cabin to keep out of the wind while cruising along. We headed south of Jibbon Bombie to the cliffs, out a little bit. A bit of swell, wind not too strong for a change. Took a little while, and we found a patch of flounder, mostly small ones but no flatties about, so we kept them for a feed. Just could not find any flatties, so kept drifting along. The flounder stopped biting and eventually found the flatties. One every now and then, but enough to keep us happy. Plenty of little spikies as well. A few good feeds to be had. The biggest flattie was 47cm, and the biggest flounder was 36cm. While we were drifting along, a big splash behind the boat, turned around and 2 whales were tail slapping and fin slapping the water, less than 100metres from the boat. After watching for a short while, we both grabbed our phones to take a photo, and the whales sounded and were not seen again. Headed back up river to my mate's place, cleaned the fish and the bream were swimming about in the clear water munching on the flattie carcases, most were under sized, but it shows they are coming back into the river.

A good feed there, some nice fish. I have seen bream and whiting in shallow and fairly calm water before, hunting along the edge of a bank looking for food. Some people try to cast to New Zealand when the fish are close in to shore.

The fish is a Barracouta, found in the colder waters. Barracuda usually found in the warmer waters. At least you had a fun time, with a couple of blue swimmers thrown in.

Good work there finin, a great feed of flatties, a couple of reddies and 2 yowie fish . Hope you chucked them back. Will have a go out of southern Sydney later this week for a feed of flatties myself.

Ash, I was a bit out from Osbourne Shoal, no other lunatic out there, so it was probably me. I did see a boat in the distance near the Shoal. I spoke to another fisho when I moved back up river. He was out earlier drifting for flatties, but only found barracouta, so he moved up river as well, and had very little to show for it. Dave.

Some great photos. When they have surfaced off Cronulla beside my 14 foot tinnie, you realize how big they are. The best part is that this is all for free (apart from fuel). People pay good money to see the whales - and seals, dolphins, sharks, penguins, bird life - and these critters just cruise past your little boats.

Some nice fish to be caught there. I was up that way during winter, travelling the Qld coast from south to north in the caravan, and the wind was blowing most days on the coast. The locals said it is normally windy during winter, but this year it was windier than normal.

Yes, a tasty feed of fillets last night.

Headed out this morning to Bate Bay, somewhere south of the Lighthouse. The swell had dropped, but, as usual, the wind was blowing from the west, Not real strong, but the further out, the stronger the gusts and the bigger the wind chop. Needed a fair bit of line out even with a 6 ounce sinker. Only 5 legal blue spots, and not much over the size at that. Released the same number of undersize ones. No birds working. Was not too pleasant, so bounced my way back inside the Hacking. As the tide was low, I pumped a few nippers and drifted various sand banks for 1 toad. Saw 1 little flattie swimming over the bank, 2 mullet jumping, and that was it, so headed home.

Probably weld it, then drink alcohol (Penfolds Grange would be good, nobody ever was in trouble with that wine before )

Penguins don't normally swim too close to a boat, but a few years ago, 2 popped up about 10 metres from my boat, so I cut off a fillet from a spikey flattie, chopped up small pieces and threw it close to them. They stayed for around 5 minutes feeding on the pieces then swam off. The one and only time that happed as penguins are usually out of throwing distance.

Are you still heading out and pulling out a fish or 2?

It certainly does. When you manually lock a lower gear with an auto, the engine revs are higher and you are in the power band. The engine is still working hard up the hill, and the water radiator (auto tranny radiator, is fitted) are pumping away, but by keeping your speed down a bit until over the hill is not too hard on the vehicle components. If you leave the selector in Drive, the auto will change between gears, trying to find the appropriate gear to drive the vehicle, the tranny fluid will heat up faster and get to the point where the heat build up will cook the fluid. When the fluid is cooked, it loses it's ability to cool the tranny and the gears will start slipping, and this causes more internal heat and then The End of the transmission. A lot of money to repair the tranny. Flat roads can still cause a problem by towing a large trailer/caravan continuously. Driving into strong headwinds also increase the towing effort. When I towed my van across the Nullarbor, I waited until I had a tailwind both ways for several days. Those heading against the wind told me it was quite an effort on the tow vehicle, speed was below their normal towing speed, and fuel economy jumped markedly.

The flounder are very nice, though the blue spots are pretty good as well.

Sigma, I would be wary of towing up hills in auto. The auto box will hunt for the right gear, up and down a few times, and this is what raises the temp of the tranny fluid and causes it to overheat. 1700 kgs is not too much, so it may be O.K. If the Pajero hunts between gears a few times going up a fair sort of hill (eg. Mount Ousley) in full auto, it would be wise to select a lower gear, and lock it in until over the hill. My van has an ATM of 2900 kg, tow it with a Landcruiser auto, and I use the selector to lock it into 4th gear, at a 1:1 ratio (5th and 6th gears are overdrive - all those gears do is raise the tranny fluid temp) Smaller boats are not a problem, towing large boats around the weight of a caravan will eventually cause a problem as well. If you tow heavy weights a lot of time, a large van or heavy boat, it is a good idea to have the tranny fluid changed every so often. Toyota usually states the tranny fluid is set for life, no need to change it, but if you look at the colour after a lot of heavy towing, the fluid can be quite a bit darker and not functioning as efficiently as it should in keeping down the temp. (Auto Transmission experts state the fluid needs to be changed every few years when towing heavy weights) About 50,000 kms can be a good time to change the tranny fluid. Ask Mitsubishi to check the fluid colour around that time during a service.

14 foot, just big enough. Have seen them around the 12 foot mark at times.

Whenever towing, tow in a gear that is a 1:1 ratio. For some of the newer vehicles, that might be 5th or 6th gear of an 8 gear auto box. You might think you are saving fuel towing in the highest gear (less than a 1:1 ratio) but you are increasing the temperatures of the auto transmission fluid, or manual gearbox fluid, which will decrease the life of the fluid and the gearbox. With some of the newer vehicles, a high temp in the auto box will cause the vehicle to go into limp mode and you are not really going anyway very fast at all.

A nice feed there saltrix. Earlier in the year, I pulled up a Spikey Flattie that was 32cm long. I have eaten a couple of the larger ones and they are very tasty. I use the spikey fillets for the bigger flatties, and have seen them in roe around the 20cm mark.

Thanks guys. Looks like the wind will be blowing and the swell pumping all this coming week.

Thank you all. Scratchie, for a while there it looked like it would be an empty brag mat. The flattie fillets were rather enjoyable pan fried.

Headed out of Port Hacking this morning before sun rise. The forecast was for light winds less than 10 knots, seemed a bit stronger than that. Swell had dropped a fair bit since Monday, but still cracking over Jibbon Bombie. Tried the squid jig at 2 spots for nothing, drift a bit fast. Due to the wind, I headed south of the Bombie to try closer in to the cliffs to get out of the wind, but it was blowing S/W so a bit sloppy in a small boat. First drop was onto something, that turned out to be a double header of barracouta. Moved to another spot for a large pike and nothing else for some time. Another move and 1 spikey flattie, nothing else for a while again. The wind was whistling in my ears at one time, so stronger than 10 knots. It was looking like I was going home with nothing for the table, bugger that, so decided to move out a bit further. Wind was puffing away, a bit of swell, and white horses on some waves. Water not too deep, but 6 ounces of lead still needed a lot of line out to stay on the bottom. Pulled up a couple of spikies for bait, then found a patch of fish. All caught on the one drift, and when a couple of waves splashed spray over the side of the boat, it was time to head back in. Not big flounder, but they will taste good anyway. Only a couple of other mad fishos out there besides me.

Good work there Ash.

Thanks Scratchie. Usually the quietest time of year for fishing. Should be some flatties off the coast, but the swell is very lumpy at present.

Some mornings, the wind puffed in at sunrise and kept going all day. Was up there last year around the same time, the winds were not as strong then.

I spoke to a local up there, he was getting ready to have a fish during the late afternoon. Could not find any restrictions on fishing there. Not sure of the name of the creek, hopefully I did not break any rules.