Heath

Top fish & GREAT story! Love kings that size, they make great Pearl Perch bait

I reckon a 4500 might be a bit small for the rocks & beach? A 6500 would have been a better choice IMO. You'll need something that'll be able to cast a fair way. An 8ft rod would be perfect. Maybe have a look at a Wilson Livefibre RLF20. 8ft 8-10kg.

Here she lies, with 500m exclusion zone included.

A 40hp on a 4m tinny should be ample and perform fine. What problems are you having? as some issues just can't be rectified with a hydrofoil

All my pumps are Rule pumps. I did have Johnson pumps but the packed it in twice in 3 months so got rid of them. The SS Inlets I got from the boats manufacturer ( Cruise Craft ) but they have moved away from this setup now and have the inlets come in through the bottom of the hull. Any SS fabricator would be able to knock these up though.

While I love the Gold Coast, is has nothing on the Hawkesbury and Sydney Harbour. Especially the Hawkesbury , you get the feeling you are miles from no where and nothing beats Sydney harbour of a night. What a magical place!

Sure can Chris, as long as they are below the water line.

Excellent tank Johnno!!! Groperman, It is a pretty confusing thing to decide on how to plumb up your bait tank. Luckly I have 2 ( one in each corner ) which I have plumbed depending on requirements. Both have a bung skin fitting that drains into the motor well and a large overflows which empty out the sides. The pumps are below the water line inside the boat and both have their own inlets through the transom with ball valves on each. What is different is where the inlets enter the tank. I have one up the top and the other tank has the inlet in the bottom. The tank with the inlet up the top is used for hardy live baits. ( yakkas and tailor ) The tank with the inlet at the bottom is used for liveys which require moving and oxygenated water. ( slimys, pike, tailor, squid etc ) The dissadvantage of having your outlet in the bottom is that you will need to run your pump 100% of the time, other wise the tank will siphon out through the pump. If you put a 1 way valve in place this will stop the siphoning action but drastically reduces the pressure of flow from the pump. The tank with the inlet up the top stays full, however you don't get the water movement in the tank like you do with the inlet at the bottom, nor do you get a full tank of oxygenated water as a vast majority simply comes in and then straight out the over flow. One thing we used to do in our old boat which had the inlet up the top of our single live well was to have a tap on the drain. We would slightly open it when we got livies that required oxygenated water. This would allow the tank to continually have fresh oxygenated water the whole way through it.

Pics for Evil of the rod I made. Still can't decide between the Shimano BTR4500 or the Penn 560L Blank is a Samarai NV8, I used Fuji Concept guides, reel seat & gimble.

A few pics, Am lucky enough to get up and personal with the V8's. Will be at the Darwin, Oran Pk, Willow bank and Indy rounds this year. Some from Darwin last year

In the last pic you can see where the housing has been cracked and snapped, which will prevent it being simply put on a new strainer.

Nah mate it will be easy. That split tubing will come off easy & you won't miss the join from the baitpump

The new pump will come with a length of wiring. The pumps are a sealed unit which are non serviceable. Follow the wiring and about a foot or so from the pump you will see where it has a joint, this is where you will have to cut the old wiring out and where you will need to connect the new wiring to. The joint will be inside the boat somewhere near the transom you don't want to have joints where they get submersed.

Unfortunately the last picture tells the story, as it shows that the cartridge that holds the pump itself has been cracked & broken. It this didn't happen then you would have got away with just the strainer, which is a 5 min job. What you need to do is buy a whole new pump and simply replace new for old. Easy job, wouldn't take you more than 1 hour if you buy the same type of pump.

Thanks for the comments. I have 4 baitrunners and they are fantastic reels, but I was thinking along the same lines as you John with the extra BB and slightly lighter reel. John, does the baitrunner feature automatically dissengage on the Penn when you turn the handle?

All, Am tossing up between the Penn Live Liner 560 and the Shimano 4500 baitrunner for a new rod I have made. ( Samarai NV8 ). Wondering if anyone out there has a Penn Live Liner 560 and is able to comment on it.

Perfect spot for it mate is right through the duckboard. What you will have to measure is how much room you have between the duck board and the bottom of the bucket when on the plane. You don't want to have the bucket dragging through the water when on the plane. An easy way to get around this is to use a piece of cutting board to raise the bucket if need be. Pic of mine from my old boat below....

I think I paid 65 per side for mine. From a trailer spares place in Beenleigh Qld.

By far, these are the best IMO apart from the overpriced Hella ones. These ones are fully sealed where as the others are not. Silly, I know, but true. I've had them on my boat for almost 12months now & they are fantastic AND they come with a 5 year warranty.

Thanks for the comments fellas, I'll be mounting his jaws & will post a pic when complete. IF they come up anything like the snapper ones I have done, they should come up trumps.

If you have a look at the pic of the balloon bait getting hit, on the right side you can see a charter boat. Too often the charters simply hang around the Seaway entrance or just go wide for bottom ooglies, when some of the best fishing is right in close. Rarely do you see the charters hang around in close, obviously this fella had been given the good oil on the fishing over the last week.

Any suggestions on what it is if not a jack? Nah, it sure is a jack boys. Only other fish that looks the sort of same is called a "Red Bass", these however have a very distinct deep groove between the eye and nostril and are not found this far south. They also have a bad habit of carrying Ciguaratera. Some info on the ol' Mangrove Jack.... includes info about habitat etc... CLICK HERE

About 10km from the ramp, depth is around 25meters.

About 25meters. Wouldn't be more than 1500m off shore either.

Headed out with the idea of loading up on big cowanyoung for winter. We were not disappointed with some big mothers coming on board. Before too long our other rods started to go off, as the mackerel turned up ( Both doggies and spots). While winding my line in, it got slammed and 25mins later after doing two circuits of the boat a 30lb cobia was landed. While fighting the fish we got a hit and landed a nice fat spot. As the morning wore on, we lost a few fish and had plenty of runs. Ended up with 2 Spots, 2 Doggies, 1 Cobia & 1 YFT. My mate Jim came idling up beside us and on queue his bait he was towing got hit and he landed a nice Wahoo. Best morning out for a while!