Shark Bait

Nope, you can run the rest of the tank out or just top it up with fuel as you need it.

Thanks guys, keep it coming. Any info will help. For starters, I'll look for Splits Fiberglass & have a word to them. I'll also show the guys fitting my new motor & see what they say. I'd be really interested to hear from some body who has had a major repair done & kept the boat long term after the repair. I'm wondering if I'd be likely to have on going problems. I'm happy to spend money fixing it, I just don't want to throw good money after bad.

You'll probably find they run a 25:1 mix to run the motor in & 50:1 after that. Running 25:1 for the ramainder of a tank of fuel is OK & won't hurt it.

I've got a haines 445C. I've just bought a new motor. When I took the old one off I figured I'd take the aluminium skirt off that runs along the top of my transom. Left of the motor on the highest section of the transom, some treasure has ground the corner of the transom off down to the wood to fit the aluminium skirt on. Water has got in & about a square foot of my transom goes "Thud" instead of "Tap" when I strike it with my fist. Where do I go from here? Has anyone had any experiance with a good long term repair done on a glass transom? I don't want to leave it cause the rest of the boat is spotless & I don't want another boat, I want this one.

I wanted a yanaha 4 stroke bubut bought an E-Tec cause it made more sense to me. A 4 stroke must cost you $7.50 an hour for the first 100 hours just in servicing. That's before you put fuel in it. Even trolling. Each to their own.

When 2 strokes are starved of fuel their revs increase before they stop. Ever heard your 2 stroke mower run out of fuel. Ever disconnected the fuel tank from your 2 stroke outboard to run the carby dry for storage. They speed up just before they stop. Next time it happens, it may be worth looking at your fuel supply. First up, while the motor is still running prime the motor with the primer bulb. If this helps, or the primer bulb feels flat when you squeeze it, your motor is starving for fuel. If this happens, try the following. Loosen your fuel cap to make sure there isn't a vaccum in your fuel tank. If there is a vaccum, your fuel tank breather is blocked & your motor can't get fuel. I've left my breather screwed shut before. My fuel cap had a good seal so my motor eventually stopped. Next up, check your fuel line isn't kinked. This has also caught me out. Good Luck, Rick.

I bought a boat off a computer geek once. He'd named it "Giggabyte". It was shameful to be seen in that boat. I was on the lane cove on the weekend when I saw a moored boat called "Loose Nuts". I like it, top name i recon.

A rattle gun would snap them off on the spot. I'd figure they weren't tight enough. Perhaps your mechanic was concerned about the condition of the studs & didn't want to over tighten them.

My Suzuki 85 has a 13 diameter x 18 pitch on my 445 haines half cab. Works a treat. I suppose 17 is somewhere in the ball park.

Thanks Simon. I had another dealer say the same thing today. I still want a white one!

Bait jigs come with different size hooks. When I first bought 1 I didn't know what size hook to go for. Over time i've had best success with size 8 or smaller. I've found the smaller the piece of bait i put on the hook the better the hook up rate. Pieces of peeled prawn hang on to the hook better than pilchard. If they go off the bite with pieces of prawn or pilchard i try pieces of yellowtail. A very light rod tip helps so they don't pull the hook when they thrash around. Don't get stuck on 1 bait cause their preference can change from minute to minute. If they keep stealing the bait, sharpen your hooks, try giving them more slack line. Use mimimum weight. I find 6 hooks hard to handle so I cut them in half & fish with 3.

Thanks. Perhaps the 75 comes in white or blue also. I wanted a white 75 but bought blue cause the dealer told me they didn't come in white. I'll follow it up cause I want a white one.

The 75 & 90 are excellent engines. The 75 is a detuned 90 & carries the same engine capacity & weight as the 90. The 90 is white, the 75 dark blue. Over the last 12 months I've done a lot of research about E-Tecs & I haven't dug up any mud on the 75 or 90. I ordered a new 75 yesterday. I was going to order a 60 but the 2 cylinder engines don't get as good a rap as the 3 cylinder 75 & 90. If you google "E-Tec 75" or "E-Tec 90" & read the forums & reviews, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Now I have to sell my old engine, a very tidy oil injected 81 Suzuki DT 85. Serviced every 12 months (including water pump). Runs nice & crisp, it's a happy thing. Starts instantly & will idle or troll all day. Pushes my haines hunter 445 half cab along at 60kmh plus according to my GPS. I'll sell it off the boat so people can hear & see it run. I can compression test it in front of them as well. I don't know how or where I'll advertise it. Maybe the trading post. Any ideas?

It's earlier than the 83 model I had.

My car was broken into at windsor boat ramp through the school holidays a few years ago. I spent the next 6 months parking it on the grass & wired it up with a 12 volt electric fence unit. Only trouble was it used to bite me while I was turning it on & off. Worth the laugh & the peace of mind though. Still gives me a laugh.

Thanks Slim. How many hours you got up on it & what year model is it?

Hi Dudes. Anyone know anyone with an E-Tec 60. I've had my eye on E-Tecs for a year or so & like what I've heard & read. I've spoken to people with the 75 & 90 3 cylinder models but none with a 2 cylinder 40, 50 or 60. Thanks, Rick.

Ditto!

I think you'll find a bearing or 2 in the "Spool Assembly"in the parts list. My Abu 5600 WS has ball bearings in its spool assembly. Rick.

I spent a year messing around with soft plastics before I started catching fish. I'll never forget the early days fishing along side people using the same lure, jig head & leader as me. One of them would catch 30 fish in 2 hours. The other would catch 8 or so. I'd catch 1 or 2 & go back to using bait. I couldn't catch anything with either bait or lure. Out of frustration, 3 months ago I bought the Squidgys Secrets DVD's, watched them & went fishing. Then I'd watch them & go fishing again. First trip out I caught 2 flat head. Second trip 6, third trip 12 etc. Now I'm catching bigger fish (up to 680mm) & it's time I targeted somthing else. I fish brooklyn/broken bay & land between 20 & 30 flathead on a day out. On average, 1 in 4 are legal. Whiting, bream, taylor & pyke have been a bi-catch. Everyone says flathead are suckers for plastics. If you want to learn to use plastics, target an easy fish. On the Squidgeys Secrets DVD they say if you can't catch flathead on plastics, forget fishing & take up bowling. Flathead may be easy for most people to catch, but for me it was a milestone. Maybe It's luck, maybe I've learnt to catch flathead. Either way I'm having a heap of fun. Its time to searn to catch something else. Good luck, Rick.

Thanks heaps Flattieman. I'll try 600 & keep an eye on their bellies. Rick.

Thanks, I'll give it a go. I'll let you know how I get on, Rick.

Hi all. I've been catching some Hawkesbury flathead lately & I'm wondering how to tell the females from the males when I gut them. I used to let them go at 60cm or longer but a mate of mine who taught me how to fish said 70 cm is still OK. On saturday we were looking for a feed & I caught 2 66 cm long. When I gutted them one had 2 white glans like testicles near its anus, same as all the smaller ones I've caught. The other had similar glans in the same spot, but they were red and swollen. I've never seen them like this before & I'm wondering if this means this fish was female. If the right thing to do is to release the larger fish cause they are female, does this mean none of the smaller fish are female? Is it just the larger fish that are breeding females & the smaller fish are not? In summary, I guess the question is " What size flathead should I release & how can I tell the females from the males?" Thanks, Rick.

If you're mostly land based it's probably worth going for the 6500 baitrunner or similar mentioned above. They're a threadline reel & will be much easier to cast than an overhead. I'm a die hard overhead man, I love playing with them but when it comes to casting, overheads can be a challenge. Anyone can turf a bait out on the end of a threadline reel on just about any rod. I'd probably spend more time fighting fish, less time cursing & lose less lures to birdsnests if I'd listen to my own advice & buy a threadline. Those baitrunner reels don't look much but they've got big nuts. Easy to use as well.

It's a good thing that most people do the right thing which makes things more uncomfortable for the people that don't. I've lost count of the number of times I've agonised over fish I've caught within 1\4 of a centremetre of legal length. I figure most people are the same.