Shark Bait

Way to go. I've only ever hooked 1 king on a plastic. It was a 5 inch squidgy flick bait with a 3/8 jig head. I got gready with the drag & snapped the leader. I haven't been able to hook up since. How much weight did you have on?

I got 3 on Friday night. Got to jerusalem about 8pm. About 10pm they came on. Caught 3 by 11.30, all on ganged pilchards, 5/0 hooks & a light rod. Packed up & left them biting. Wanted to get some sleep to fish the high tide Saturday morning for Jewfish. Should have stayed & fished for hairtail cause we didn't catch any Jews. Flathead in patonga saved the day before we packed up & tried for hairtail again saturday night. Back to Jerusalem bay at about 4pm. Held a rod in my hand till 9pm for nothing. Packed up & went home happy as a pig in poo for the fish we did catch.

I've put 45 hours on my new E-Tec 75 since april & it's been great. Hasn't been back to the dealer. All in all the experience has been pleasurable. I haven't even put any oil in it yet. People talk about the 100 oil being expensive, but at about $50 - $60, I reckon it's cheap when you concider I'm estimating about 90 hours out of a bottle. Huey would have a better idea about oil consumption. Mine's been a good thing.

Bloody brilliant. I nearly bought the yamaha 60 4 stroke, but mechanics scare the crap out of me. I settled on the 75 E-tec, 40kg heavier & 2 grand dearer then the yamaha, but no dealer maintenance till it's out of warranty. Suits me.

Hi all. Just curious. I've got a 75hp E-tec on my haines hunter 4.5 metre haines half cab. I filled my tank up at the Brooklyn mariner headed down the river to windsor. Sat on 3500rpm at 42kph (read by GPS) and 108km later, I was at Windsor. I pulled the boat out of the water & filled it up at the service station. It took 29.75 litres to overflow the tank. The boat had me, food & supplies for a couple of days & my fishing gear on board. The water was dead flat all the way. 108km travelled at 3500rpm at 42km/h on 29.75 litres. How does this compare to your fuel costs? Rick.

My brother has had a set of "sea bears" for over 10 years. On 1 occasion a fitting came loose & he noticed the oil was full of water. He fixed it when he got home. Other than that he hasn't changed the oil or even looked at the bearings. He has dragged that boat & trailer all over the place for 10 years, no problems. I've had them on my trailer for the past 3 years with no problems. I change my oil every 12 months.

You're a good guy Huey.

I use circle hooks on squid strips to catch jews. I've only been catching them since christmas & caught between 1 & 6 school jew every time I've targeted them since. I used to use j hooks but I found I was gut hooking to many fish. I release most of my fish so I went over to circle hooks & haven't looked back. I've not gut hooked a jewfish since. Sharks, pyke eels, & other toothy critters that bite through your leader aren't a problem cause the hook is in the corner of their mouth & the leader is well clear of their teeth. I hooked a 95cm jew (biggest one I've caught) on 12 lb mono with 2/0 circle hooks. Nearly spooled me & took forever to get back to the boat. The circle hook had a bloody good hold, me & the fish were shagged by the time I landed him. Go the circles!

Thanks Inhlanzi.

Thanks guys. Inhlanzi, for now I'm happy to be catching jews up to 10kg. I've spent 3 years chasing them & I caught my first 1 in January. Took a while to get going, but I've chased them 5 or 6 times since & haven't missed out yet. I've struggled since May, but I still haven't come home empty handed. Beginers luck I guess. When the schoolies get boaring, I'll chase bigger ones, but for now I'm having a ball. I do have an aerated bait tank. It doesn't circulate water but it keeps yellowtail alive over night if I change the water often enough. From what I've heard, it won't keep squid cause they need circulating water, so I put them on ice & cut them into squid strips. Not the best way to go about it, but it catches me fish. The yellowtail rig I've used in the past was a sliding snell rig with the top hook through the top lip & the bottom hook through the skin behind the dorsal. I used 5/0 to 8/0 hooks & 40 lb leader with a running snapper lead on a dropper. I tried for years to catch a jew with this set up & missed out. It wasn't till I fished with squid strips & 2/0 circles on 20 lb leader that I started catching them. Biggest fish I've caught yet was 8 kg, 950 long. I suppose I'll try the yellowtail rig again on the 40lb leader. How do I bridle them with an elastic band? Would this be a better set up? Thanks, Rick.

Hi all. In the past, I've rigged yellow tail & squid for jew on 5/0 to 8/0 sliding snell rigs 40 to 60 pound leader. I'd hook the yellow tail through the top of the mouth & out the nose with the sliding hook, & shallow in & out the side with the end hook. With the squid I'd hook them through the top of the tube with 1 hook, through the head with the other. Yellow tail were live, squid were dead. For years I didn't catch any Jewfish. Since cristmas, I've been using squid strips (fresh, frozen or huge calamari tubes from the squid shop) on 2/0 circle hook sliding snell rigs on 20 pound leader, & I've caught between 1 & 7 school jew between 350 & 950mm long every outing in 5 outings. Although I haven't had any success with live baits, I'd like to give them a try again. How do you people rig your live baits for Jew & how do plastics go on paternoster set ups. How do dead fresh squid go whole. I don't have a bait tank, so I put them on ice in a bag. I fish out of a half cab & I don't have an electric, so I fish for Jew at anchor. Rick.

I chased spuid in broken bay & pittwater for about12 hours over 3 days through the week. I scored 1 at Patonga on a 1.8 gram pink yozuri with a green glow stick 100mm up the leader. I spoke to another guy who was fishing for Jews at Juno. He told me that he always catches squid at west head with a huge sqquid jig. He said it was about 150mm long. He said he would try for an hour or 2 for nothing, then all of a sudden he'd catch 5 in the next half an hour. He had the squid to proove it. I'll just have to keep trying cause I'm obviously doing somthing wrong.

Hi all. Is it worth chasing squid when the weather is cold & wet. I struggle to catch them in good weather (a 6 hour session for 2 squid at night). I don't know how bad weather will effect catching squid. The only way I have been able to catch them is at Jettys with lots of light at night. If I put in hard, I might get 1 or 2 for the night. Does anyone know how the cold & wet will effect them? Thanks Rick.

Then don't buy an E-tec. (No smell).

That's $1300 less than I paid when I did my deal back in november. They're a great motor, you'll love it. On friday morning I filled up at the mariner at brooklyn & cruised down to windsor. 3500rpm, 42kph & 108 km later, I filled it up at windsor. It took 29.5 litres of fuel. That's on the back of a 4.45 metre haines half cab. They're a good thing.

Blakes put a 75 e-tec on my haines 445 C a couple of weeks ago. I'm very fussy. They did a very tidy job & it was done when they said it would be. They had the boat for 3 days. They were cheaper than any one else. I bought the motor off them $10,800 fitted. This included gauges & water filter. They were a pleasure to deal with.

They've got a test button on them to tell you when they need charging. I charge mine when it gets down in charge, every 4 months or so. I use it for power to run all sorts of things. It will still start the boat when the power scale is down to the yellow (goes green, yellow, red)

Hi all. As a matter of interest, I bought a small jump starter (600 amp, a red 1) from super cheap a while ago. I had an old battery in my boat, so before I replaced it, I ran it flat & hooked up the jump starter. Hit the key & it wouldn't turn my 85hp suzi over. I went back to super cheap, had a winge & tried to buy a bigger 1. The guy serving me told me not to bother because I don't need the bigger 1. I was using it wrong. He told me that they work through current exchange. He told me to connect the jump starter to my flat battery for 10 or 15 minutes so the jump starter can put some charge into the flat battery, then hit the starter. Buggar me, it worked. I did the same with my VT commodore. Ran the old battery flat (the radio didn't even work), hooked up the jump starter & hit the key. Nothing. Left it hooked up for 15 minutes, hit the starter (with the injection relay out so it wouldn't start) & got 12 seconds cranking out of it. The cheap $60 red 1. A good thing I reckon. We just use them wrong.

Abu 7000 overhead & an uglystick gold, under $300. I got 300 metres of 30lb fireline on mine & it will pull 15lb drag when it's locked up with a full reel. I normally set it up for 10lb of drag before I go out, used it lots & still as good as the day I bought it. It's bigger than it looks.

If your motor has an internal heamorrhage, a broken rod or detached piston could crack your block/water jacket & damage your head. In your first post you mention a strange noise, flywheel running unevenly & bubbles coming out of your water jacket. With nothing else to go on, i figured lots of bad noise means terminal damage, bent crank & cracked water jacket. Not much noise means farting head gasket, combustion gasses passing out your water intake, & your flywheel turning unevenly because 1 of your cylenders has a blown head gasket making your motor run rough. A blown head gasket could bend your crank. While parked, water could seep past your head gasket into your combustion chamber. If your piston is on its way up & has already closed the ports the water will be trapped by your piston. When you try to start your engine, the water in your combustion chamber won't compress. Occasionally, with the right conditions, something gives. In your case, perhaps your crank twisted. 2 stroke cranks are a series of crank pins & discs pressed together. You only have to put a ratchet on the crank nut & hit the handle with a hammer hard enough to twist the discs on the pins (which bends the crank). This happens often on motorbikes when people try to remove the magneto from the end of the crank without special service tools.

Codzilla, Right on the end of your crankshaft there will be a centre drill hole. Before you take the flywheel off (which you will need a puller for), have someone turn the motor over with spark plugs out while you watch the centre drill hole. If you see the centre drill hole is running out, you definitely have a bent crank. If the centre drill mark is running concentric, your flywheel may have moved on the crank as kingpig suggested. However if the flywheel moved on the crank, your ignition timing would be out & the motor wouldn't run. I don't want you to pull your motor apart for nothing, i'm only speculating. If you think the crank is bent, get a professional 2nd opinion. It will put your mind at rest. If you get a proffessional opinion, PM me before you commit yourself to any repairs.

If your flywheel is still turning straight (not wobling) you could have a blown head gasket. This would cause a leak between your combustion chamber & water jacket which would cause a strange noise, 1 cylinder to stop running (making the flywheel turn unevenly & cause the motor to shake) & your compression from that cylender will go into your water jacket through the blown head gasket & out through your water intake & tell tail. You could do a compression test to confirm this. If your head gasket is OK, all 3 cylinders should have roughly the same compression (about 155 PSI). If you have a blown head gasket, you have water in your combustion chambers & you need to get it out before it destroys your motor. To stop the water damaging your engine, take out your spark plugs, put a teaspoon of oil in each combustion chamber through the spark plug holes & crank the motor over with the starter. Leave the spark plugs out while you crank the motor because with the spark plugs in, the extra oil in the combustion chamber won't compress & could bend your crank shaft & conrods cause it has no where to go (so leave the spark plugs out). Crank it over every couple of days for 5 or 10 seconds to prevent the water from rusting & pitting your cylinder walls, crank bearings & conrod berarings. If you're unable to do this yourself, get it to a mechanic quick cause the water will destroy your engine very quickly. The longer you leave it, the more it will cost. If your flywheel actually wobbles while it turns (looks bent) you probably have a bent crankshaft & the bubbles coming out your water intake are caused by a broken water jacket caused by part of your motor internals hitting a hole throughyour water jacket. This is terminal. Get a second opinion from a mechanic. Hope it's simple, Rick.

No, you can take your motor fishing with you.

Thanks, that'd be good. It's Blakes that I bought my new motor off. My boat is booked in for January 12 to have it fitted but I can't see that happening. It'll be good to see how your boat goes before I commit to any repairer. The photo looks like my boat, same colour & all. Interesting to see it without the skin.

Yep, should be fine. I live in the Hawkesbury district & we're forced to drink it. If it don't kill us, it shouldn't kill your motor.