Alastair

Hi Scratchie I'll be in Fingal for a week from this w/e. Likely bringing the 4m tinny as well. Any info on conditions, areas would be valuable. regards Alastair

If you head from the Currarong beach to the right, out towards the old wreck, it is fairly sheltered on a southerly or westerly. My youngsters used to head out there, with a float rig, and bread, and have a ball catching mullet. Long ago enough not to be able to give a more specific location, however. regards

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Hi All, Just a quick question: (well 3 ) I was given an Adrenaline voucher a while back, for an offshore fishing trip from Sydney. So far I haven't had the time or weather to take it up, but am starting to run out of time. Are these trips any good? Where are they likely to go? What (if anything) is likely to be showing up for them at this time of year? many thanks

Jew Bay??

Notice in todays SMH that the Nelson Bay pro's are punting for a buy-out. Maybe there is hope for Hawkesbury, (or will we have to wait even longer) Regards

From personal experience with rusty springs, it's well worth checking or having them checked. 2 days before leaving for Narooma a couple of years ago, I did a check, and found one spring rusted through and cracked at the shackle end. Disaster waiting to happen. A

Once you get going at highway speeds, stop after a while, and check temperatures. If the tyres aren't more than just warm to the hand, you are all right. If they are too hot to hold your hand on, you would be well advised to bump up the pressures. You don't want to start with them low, " to let the pressure increase", as that will only happen with increased temp, and the temp and flexing is what will kill a tyre. regards

Good on you Roberta, I can't play a note, (and am the only non-musician in our musical family), so after far too long being fascinated, I'm now living vicariously by building them! Soprano I built up working from a loose copy of a Martin Soprano, And the beginnings of a Classical guitar, which I'm busy with at the moment, (hoping to finish at Xmas.) Don't know how successful I am/will be, but my daughter has annexed the uke for herself, so can't be too terrible regards Alastair

There is also access and a beach launch at Fingal itself, but with the drawbacks/needs. I have also launched from Anna Bay, (Little Bay??) down south, when I had a roaring NE wind, and wanted to be in the lee. Also a beach launch, but easy enough to do with Falcon and lowered tyre pressures. Land based, you can make the pilgrimage out to Fingal Point, but watch the tides, as you can get marooned, and wading back can be treacherous. I have had success some years ago rock fishing from the headland to the south, as well. regards

Thanks PHD, I didn't get that far up, as the easterly was cooking when I went out. I tried both bare and baited bait jigs w/o success. One possibility was that I was surface burleying, and there was a fair current, so possibly not getting the burley down enough. Do you punch holes in the can and dunk it? thanks Alastair

I reckon that I'm just a Jonah when it comes to this. Tried the Eleanor Point to Shark point area on Friday arvo/evening, all points, with bread and cat food, with not a sight of the little b*ggers. Just have to keep trying till I get the trick. regards Alastair

Many thanks for the help guys. Weather permitting I'll be heading out again Fri arvo, so will try these out. Is this the point on the right, as you turn out of the Hawkesbury channel, or the point on the left, near JB? I guess this is near where the direction sign is on the point opposite Cottage Point? Again thanks, Alastair

Just a quick question for the Cowan regulars: I usually fish Cowan in the evenings, launching about 5, and running out maybe as far as Cowan Point, coming back around 10. Given the small size of my tinnie, I don't really have the time to make the run the whole way to the West Head bait grounds, particularly if there is a chop running. What are the best options to pick up either squid or yakkas in the area from JB out to Eleanor Beach. Also, some suggestions on where to soak them in the same area regards Alastair

Sounds like the story of my life. I've been having my SP's bitten to shreds with no hookups in Cowan Creek for some time now, and had started suspecting the LJ's. Had it confirmed last week when I jagged one in the eye

That's the same wheel I have on my trailer. Not a car wheel, so that won't help. I think they are made specially for trailers. I saw one for sale at a trailer place in Auburn a while ago, when I was getting U-bolts to fix mine. Try one of the manufacturers. Alastair

Just to weigh in with my 2c worth, on the subject of freak waves. What Fez is talking about, is an open ocean phenomenon, and caused by a combination of sea-bottom profile, wind and current. Certainly well documented, and common in certain areas eg East coast continental shelf of South Africa. I have seen a 40 000 ton bulk carrier towed into Durban harbour, after an encounter with one, on a day where the prevailing seas were about 5m. The front 15m of the bow had been smashed down by about 10 feet by the force of the impact. For the local connection, this is largely believed to have been the fate of the Aussie ship "Waratah" 100 years ago. However, coastal "rogue" waves are also well documented. Again offshore reefs, islands and bottom contour conditions can act in certain swell period and direction to act as a "lens", and refract the approaching swells, resulting in an interference pattern, where occasionally and unpredictably, a wave can be thrown up, which can be up to twice as big as the prevailing sets. Again certain areas in SA are notorious for this. With the far more rugged NSW coastline, I have no doubt this happens here as well, as others have described above regards Alastair

Just looking for some input on this from the knowledgeable on the forum: I have a $100 voucher from BCF. Looking at upgrading my very basic Eagle CUDA. Prepared to throw in another 100 bucks, which leaves me a choice between: Hummingbird PiranhaMax 160x Lowrance X4 Pro To my eyes, Lowrance seems better from product blurb. Hesitant whether I can justify trade up to Lowrance 5X? Fish mainly Hawkesbury/ Broken Bay/ Pittwater/ Nelson Bay, and inshore from a 4.1m runabout. Any advice welcome. regards

I've also got the 35 Evinrude, (later model) Sounds like the o/h sensor to me. Designed to protect if your impeller starts to die, or (in my case) you pick up a plastic bag or weed which blocks the water intake. Buzzer sounds, and power is cut right back. Usually shows as steaming from the tell tale, as well. In my case, once the bag removed, and the motor cooled down, needed to switch off and wait for a bit until the system reset. Then fine. If you are not showing any cause, maybe the sensor is faulty, and causing a false shut down?

Hi Roberta, Don't play, (I'm the only musical ignoramus in a family of musicians,) but in my other interest, (woodworking) I finished this recently. Been annexed by my daughter!

Provided you have solved the holding problem, there is a simple way to reduce the swinging a lot. Once the anchor is set, attach a "bridle" rope to the anchor line, say 4m from the bow. Lead this back to a cleat near the back of the boat, and tie off so that it forms a long narrow triangle with the boat and anchor line. The boat will now "tack" off slightly in the opposite direction, and the swinging will be much reduced. I have a painter on the bollard, about 3m long. I have spliced loops into the anchor line every 3m. When I anchor, I lower anchor until it bottoms, then let it out until it bites. At that point I clip in the painter, and let the slack out, while keeping the rest of the anchor rope to hand in the boat. If I wish to "bridle", I just take up a bit of that slack, and tie off to one of the stern cleats. Works for me regards

My apologies to all, It seems I have muddled my weekends, and in order to clear my calendar for this w/e, I have arranged an extended family GTG, for my wife's, daughter's and son's b'days for the 9th. I might try and come up on the Sunday for a couple of hours, if possible. Alastair

Some urban myths here. E10 will not separate. The mix is as stable as regular. Is used up to 80% ethanol in parts of the world without problems. What can happen, is that the ethanol component can absorb and hold far more moisture than regular fuel. It is likely that this would not be a good idea for marine use, when you are in close proximity to water, and fuel problems can be high risk. E10 will not "gum up " or sediment any worse than regular, in fact the opposite. BUT, where you have been using tanks and lines for many years, these develop a "varnish" of fuel residue from regular fuel. When you then run E10, one of the effects of ethanol, is to dislodge this varnish, which can then block filters, injectors, jets etc. Not a good idea. In fact when E10 first hit the market, every second servo had pumps which were taking 10 min to fill your tank, due to blocked filters. Now that it has been around for a couple of years, the crap has cleared out, and you don't see this any more. Huey would be able to comment on newer motors, but a VERY serious problem with E10, however, (as with older cars) is that some of the seals and pipes in older systems may not be fully specced for ethanol fuels, and can swell/degrade, which can be expensive. Again, where hi ethanol is the standard for motor cars, these problems have been fixed in the engine design. A thought for discussion....... In Brazil, there is NO fuel with less than 25% ethanol. (Wikipedia) What do they do for outboards there? regards

I spent years following this each year, either angling or spearfishing, between 1960 and 1999. It has to be one of the most amazing spectacles. In one of the great years, about 1977, I spent a day diving with the shoals for about 7 hours. All that time, there was a wall of fish stretching as far as the eye could see. Diving under the shoals, they were so dense that it became quite dark, and there was a constant snowstorm of dying sardines fluttering down from above, as they starved and suffocated. They left a layer of dead fish on the botom, a couple of feet thick in places. For weeks they were using bulldozers to bury rotting fish washed up on the beaches. With the pelagics feeding on them, the go was to swim over the shoal, and then sink into it, and wait for the fish to come through. What was disconcerting was that plenty of sharks also were feeding, so you could break out of the shoal, and find yourself nose to with a Whaler, Mako etc. Stimulating stuff! At the same time, there were swarms of gannets dive bombing, and they were not averse to swimming up to you, and having a go at your head as well. One of the great spectacles. regards

True enough, but certainly on the South African East coast, cobia were also a frequent co-traveller as said above. In my diving days I regularly saw this, to the extent that if we saw one of the bigguns, we would always dive under them to see if there was a Cobia. (except there they were known as Prodigal Son) regards