bombora

Guys you are not alone; I've had my worst summer in several years at the goon! Then again I can't pull, a fish from pretty well anywhere else either so maybe it aint the goon just me. cheers Bombie

Blues were legend reels; like others they were the first "real" reels I ever got, a 240, 2410 and the 2430 lasted from late 70s into the late 80s. They were ahead of their time (metal body! line roller which rolled, and sweet sweet drag, better than some highly spruiked reels now). Okuma currently has the closest thing to a Shakespeare Blue series oil soaked felt (?) drag if that might help. Cheers Bombie

Lance that is a damn charming photo. Good to see the delight on the kids faces and hope they keep with it! Hey Tim those exotics mentioned in the mag came from a power station hot water outlet and I think fishing round the outlet may now be restricted. Might have been a different lake too, but can't remember. Cheers Bombie

Beautiful rig digger! Yanks still make better glass fishin boats than 95 per cent of Oz product!! Cheers Bombie

Hey Tyrone; you were doing the "softly softly" thing on that king, whether you realised it or not!! Have scored some kings to 70-75cm on bream gear too from DY ledges and they have mostly fought very similar. Don't get em aggro (hard to do on 2kay fireline!) and you can trick em into coming up fairly easily. The key is handling that last run when they see you, as they have heaps in reserve from the soft fight!!!! Have been sceptical of softly softly in the past but it's been working for me sometimes. Think the fairly wimpy light 8ft spin rod been using from the rocks helps; the kings stop their run almost before they start as they take up the curve of the rod. This seems to work better than stiff rod, lighter drag. Course many kings blow you away no matter what tactic! Good luck in the quest.

Hiya, there are bargains in your price range, if you have the patience to look for a while, get up early etc basically do The Castle thing (tell him he's dremin' ). I scored a 5.8m (19ft) mako centre comsole on a top tandem trailer with twin Chryslers for the grand total of $3000. Basically made the offer, the vendor got the tom tits, but rang me back four weeks later and accepted! Traded the white anchors and put a reconditioned 6 year old 115hp Yammie on the bum (never missed beat) Replaced the transom after discovering wood rot. But still, after a few months cleaning and adding a few things like stainless steering wheel, carpet, sounder, covers etc came out with an awesome awesome yankee style sportsfisher for all up $8000!!!! Cried when I sold her!!!!! Mate, on a trailer a 5.8-6m boat even a console is bloody huge. Older Two stroke outboards of the size you'll need can be thirsty beasts. I would average about $100 a trip of four-five hours with mixed trolling drifting and anchored fishing. One thing about bigger boats; it means you generally have to find crew!! 5.8m can also restrict you in shallow water flat water fishing, but still I managed to often troll up whiting up past roseville!! cheers Bombie

Thanks heaps jethro and Jo!!!!!!!!!! Gonna check em both out!! cheers Bombie

Hi Bash; little tale of a whaler. ABout two years ago a mid-north coast boatshop had an ad in trailer boat for a privately imported 14 foot boston whaler console (a sweet little boat which has been discontinued from their line). Anyway, within a week of the ads going to press, the whaler had been stolen!!!!!! cheers Bombie

Hiya again guys: Hey Jo definately not the 17 footer. Great thing about the 445 is that its capable of so much in a 15 ft hull. They came in 3 versions: runabout and half cabin, plus the console. The runabouts are still fairly common the the 2nd hand market. Haines also made a sweet little 4 metre hull too but it doesn't have the versatility of the 445f. And yup the moulds for the 445 hull have been doing the rounds. A guy on the northern beaches, might well have been Felty of Salty fly fishing fame, got a little operation up and running a few years ago. They were sold through Enterprise marine at Narrabenn and were beautiful. Being a fly fisho his cokpit and console moulds were clean and pure, and his version had a few accents of teak (darlings ) as well which made for a beautiful little machine. Don't know what happened but now Vico outfit Formula makes a version too, which has had rave reviews. Not as clean interior mouldings IMHO but beggars can't be choosers. Problem (for me) is the two "new" versions are around $28,000 with a 50hp. I'd want a 70 at least, as these things can handle the power!!!! The other boats mentioned and pictures are gorgeous, but a lot bigger. The Haines is just such a neat SMALL package for a bloke living in crowded Sydney with parking problems etc. Hiya Bash, thanks heaps digger for asking at the marina. Suppose it shows how could they are that a marina would bother repairing it!!!! Hey Byron, I like your taste in boats!! Good to hear of a fellow 445F lover! Also, is the pic of the bigger Haines console of old, the 18footer? rathr than the 445F? Looks just a tad long and lean in the pic for a 4445F, but maybe just the pic morphing a tad? Hiya Jethro, thanks for the link but as has been said I was hoping for that rare bargain!!! I can ALMOST swallow 17k for one with new 70 yammie and trailer but 14k with older marina and I guess older trailer is a big ask. Then again........ Still hunting, Bombie (PS I still reckon a lot of people are gonna switch to glass from tin soo. Too many advantages. Even Starlo has ditched the alloy for classy glass!!!!! )

Hiya Swoff; tell ya what reckon a 445F would suit you to a T. Bream one day, bills the next. Easily trailered to Port or SWR or south for bream. A 4 stroke or E Tec and you could troll all day for bills for a lobster! Haines just seemed to get everything right with it; beam x length is spot on and a damn sexy hull which has a deep V to slice swell and chop but with seriously downturned chines to give good stability at rest. Nice bum to support relatively heavy larger outboards too. They can handle power if you want it. Plenty of guys used to put 100 plus horses on the back of the runabout version so they can ski! Hiya Byron if you can find a photo for Swoff that would be great. cheers Bombie

Finally found a Haines 445F in the local paper (Manly Daily), but almost fell off my lounge at the price wanted!!!! $17,000 PLUS. Now can anyone tell me when Haines (stupidly) stopped making this model. Guessing mid-lat 80s? So the hull is at a minimum near 20 years old. Yes its got a new (2 stroke) 70hp Yammie and a new trailer, but $17,000 . Just goes to show that buying a classic from a top brand makes financial sense in the long term! Might have to give this one a miss, though still keen on a 445F. Why? What other 15 footer could you fish the flats/bays one day and the shelf (Yep!!!!) the next (was a post on another site of two guys who took advantage of calm weather a few weeks ago to head to Browns in their little 445F). Still hunting, Bombie

Hiya Bash; do you have full covers for the cockpit? If not watch out for flat batteries if you are away from the boat and we get a classic couple of days of Sydney tropical style heavy rain _ can tax the float-switched bilge pump!!!! Happened to me a few years back and almost lost my boat _ a side fastener on the cover came off and directed hundreds of litres of rain into the cockpit!!!! cheers Bombie

Could be right Ken. Though can't see belly spots on Mitch's pic either. Just thought body shape (chunkier) looked more a Mac T. either way they are both great little torpedoes. cheers Bombie

Great stuff digger. And I think they are Mac Ts. Heaps at DY this morning again. Bombie

Good stuff digger!!! Definition of frustration; was stuck in traffic this morning literally on the Spit Bridge. Looked right, and there's gulls and several pelicans going ape 50 metres away upstream!!!!! Must have been a heap of fish for the pellies to be there. Was stuck for 10 minutes and the feding subsided after a bit but looked like it was ready to explode again. All this on an ultra-glassy Midle Harbour!!!!! Frustrating!!! SO get out there anyone who can!!!! Bombie

Hiya Jo, Thought a bit before posting this, but Fishraider is about sharing, so here's a little tip, for what it's worth. My Sydney Cobia came from casting the little bucktail beside a lobster pot float and rope and letting it sink near the bottom before retrieving. This one lobster pot/float/rope, which was only about 10 metres from the rocks beside a Sydney northern beach, held a pod/gang of half a dozen cobia to about 20 kilos, plus rat to solid kings and some other things we couldn't identify. Since then, well, until I sold my boat, me and the crew of ye goode Shippe Bombora never went past a lobster pot/float close inshore in the warmer months without a cast or three. Inshore fish traps have been just as productive. Makes sense when you think about it _ we all head to wider floats etc for dollies, but far fewer people treat inshore traps the same way. Imagine how attractive to big predators is a trap full of lobsters clicking and moving around in their confines. Same with a fish trap. Natural attractant I reckon. Have also taken heaps of kings, plus tailor and snapper and many wizz-bang bust offs from inshore floats/traps. Give it a go, but don't tell anyone!!! cheers Bombie

Hey Iain, I scored a 13.5kg Sydney cobe 10 years ago on a tiny homemade bucktil jig and the fight was a classic. Apparently Cobia are notorious for having a fairly predictable fight and mine followed the rules: crunching strike, long straight and fast-ish first run in mid water, then deep bullocking. Mine then did what a lot of cobes do; came up to the surface for a looksee with fins out of the water. This is when many people cut em off cause they deadset look like a whaler shark. Mine then dived again as they are said to do. From there you have to lift em to the boat . Forgive me for reliving a past glory. It's still one of most favourite memories. Great capture Mick C!!!!!! Cheers Bombie

G'day Lizard great stuff mate. That's a damn fine goon exotic. Good to see effort rewarded!!! You've inspired me to renew efforts at the goon. Recently it's been giving me the total tom tits with few results and no exotics (then again maybe that's why I like it. It rewards effort and is so unpredictable) cheers and great stuff again, Bombie

Jeez Phil, wlecome, and what a drama. Feel for you! You are dead right (so to speak) about safety procedures on small boats. I'll add two things: 1. ALWAYS make sure someone else on the boat knows how to bloody operate it. Once long ago I was fiddling with something or other and asked one of the three people I had aboard to start the motor and take the helm to potter away from rocks we were drifting towards. Very soon realised all three had no idea how to start an outboard and put it in gear! Would have been a problem if I'd fallen overboard. Now it's part of my drill that when newcomers to a boat come on board for the first time they all get a quick drill on starting and handling the boat, as well as the 27meg. Takes two minutes and might save the SKIPPERS life. 2. ALWAYS have your lifejackets placed within sight in the boat. We've all been guilty of tucking em away somewhere so they don't get in the way. As Phil's experience shows there's precious litle time to get em in an amergency. Hope your drama ends well digger. Bombie

Hiya, not sure if you are talking about the baitrunner or the straight spinning reel. ANyway, I've had the 20 sized straight spinning reel for some time with no probs at all. However about a year ago it also got "stuck" and refused to wind. In the end it was simply the gear grease which had sort of glugged up. A quick clean, some new grease and wooshka, back working a treat. Some dislike Okuma, but I think they are very good value for the money. Cheers Bombie

Thanks digger, will give em a call, cheers Bombie

Bash that would be great next time you are there . Hiya Jo yup may have been the runabout version. Plenty of people wacked anything up to a 115hp on the runabout version to use as a mini ski boat. They went rather fast but not sure what the transom would be like coping with that strain/weight. cheers Bombie

Hiya Target, sorry for late reply. Mate I've been keeping a lookout for well priced 2nd hand Haines 445C for a couple of years! Rare as Hens teeth and the ones that have been for sale have been very expensive (jeez these things have kept their value). Have also lusted after the "new 445C's" from both the Sydney and Victorian outfits who have acquired the 445C hulls moulds at the past couple of boat shows, but new they are out of my price range at the mo! A couple of Sydney blokes some years ago used to regularly take a 445C to the shelf in search of fin on fly. Very versatile little boat. The search goes on. Cheers Bombie

OK Jo, Here's my dream machine, it would probably fall under the Type 2 boat in your question, but would be capable of most of what the Type 1 category could do: It would be 4.5m, no more cause of Sydney parking etc but a length perfectly capable of offshore use in good weather, glass OF COURSE because nothing is better for fishing, they are quiet, none of that wave slap which people are realising is a serious issue in hard fished waters, and far more sophisticated hull shapes can be made. It would be one of the newer tough as nails composites actually. Hull would be a deepish V with seriously downturned chines with some nice Carolina-style bow flare; best of both worlds as far as wave slicing and at rest stability and spray deflection. Almost a cathedral hull but not quite. Centre Console, a wide one too, again for spray and wind protection. Console about centre or just aft of centre. Trim vital in small boats so a console is by far the best option. Continuing on the trim theme; can house two portable fuel tanks in a below deck covered hatch just ahead of the console, so there's no weight at the back for the dreaded bum drag, and they are removable so you don't have to trailer the entire boat to the servo to refuel. battery(s) under the console so again no weight in the bum and the weight is again down the centre line. Two upright stainless rod holders attached to grabrail over console windscreen into which the bases of a removable bimini top could fit for stinkin summer days. A series of rod holders along the bow gunnels which again could house the vertical pipes of a two piece removable bow rail (put in for offshore, take out for calm water). A removale two piece bow casting platform, again so you have safe cockpit depth for offshore. Livewell underfloor between console and bow. As much underfloor storage as possible. Vertical transom (I hate those angled Euro-style transoms). Seating would be either sit on padded icebox, but it would again be removeable. Thru-hull transducer for sounder; fully foam filled like a boston whaler, coloured hull with white deck and topsides (love those pastel yellow, blue or green hulls the yanks make, might have to name the boat Metrosexual). Any metal is stainless, no alloy. Stainless steering wheel (hate plastic car style steering). 70HP E-Tec. Electric-motor base on bow. Canvas cuddy-cabin style cover which could stretch from bow to console for really rotten weather and which can be unbuttoned and stored away. Not too much to ask for really! Cheers Bombie

Hiya Bash, just posted some more happenings at DY FYI, cheers Bombie (you not wrong about the holes and gutters at the mo, there are some nice ones)