zmk1962

Nope. But great bait. cheers Zoran

Awesome write up Derek. Thanks for putting this together...it's my go to reference now for egi... Cheers Zoran

@jeffb5.8, back to your question of is the motor quieter .... I took the opportunity to cut out of the videos from the last fishing trip, some clips of the motor at different revs. This was filmed with a GoPro 5 mounted under the alloy hardtop ... it has a more natural sound reproduction than the iPhones I used previously. The net is at idle and trolling it's hard to hear the motor running over the noise of the ocean, at 3500-4500 (50kmh) noticeably quieter than the 200HP and easy to hold a conversation, when you get to the 5000rpm (60kmh) its loud and at WOT 70kmh it howls.... Cheers Zoran

Thanks Jerry, yup I pretty much discovered that googling. I came across this document which states: "The Ermington Wharf road boat Ramp is located on the Council boundary between the cities of Ryde and Parramatta. Funds for the upgrade came from a joint Council submission to NSW Maritime under their Better Boating Program." https://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/files/assets/public/media-releases/archive/2010/120210_new-wharf-street-boat-ramp-boost-for-riverlife-and-boaties.pdf?BestBetMatch=ermington boat ramp|3c8f701e-192c-41d1-b9df-c92ac23bbc06|53be59ec-f85b-495f-8ca6-37b1fb6d9dec| So I plan to write to NSW Maritime first and ask whom do I need to approach - after all they funded it. Re driving with coupling locks ... I delved into this just over a year ago with Service NSW/RMS/Police as a result of a Fish Raider discussion... and like you I used to tow with it attached for the past 20+yrs ... turns out its not legal and you may get fined. The police require the trailer to be able to be removed without any tools. Hence why I now only fit them at ramp and at home when parked. The full discussion is here - please read to the end. Cheers Z

Hey @letsgocrabbing, 1) crazy - I know it's a cardio workout, but I'm not sure which would get the heart pumping more: the cold water or knowing the bull sharks are circling. Either way, I'll do my cardio elsewhere - and keep an eye out for Mr Atlas Asia when launching early. 2) hmmm.... with the council amalgamations its now clear - Paramatta owns the problem. I'll start a dialog with them, but pretty sure I'll be back on here to collect signatures from other affected Raiders. 3) Unbelievable. You'd have to wonder what goes through their tiny minds. @wrxhoon1 said there are cameras in the car park area - I think you have a legitimate reason to request council to review the footage of the dates corresponding to your incidents - it's clearly a safety issue that some idiot is creating - intentionally putting people and property at risk. Once the boat is off and the trailer is parked, I always put on a tongue coupling lock, a padlock through the tow hitch and a lock on the tow chain. It's a pain and seems to take forever when all I want to do is push off but.....so far I've been ok. Thanks for the heads up. Cheers Zoran

Just catching up on this ... I have found that if my sounder (older Eagle now LEI) is on AutoDepth setting and loses bottom at Browns then it has a lot of difficulty finding bottom again. Switching it to Manual depth and setting a depth greater than the last reading helps it find bottom pretty quick. May be worth a shot until you replace the unit. Cheers Zoran

Nice fish. Great job. cheers Zoran

Hey Jerry, Yeah 6.1hrs on motor, so next trip is definitely out wide which would see me fully run in by the time we are back....and as for Mr Asia good luck - I wont be joining him any time soon. +1 for all your comments about the pontoon. I usually have a 2nd boat pilot so we can do exactly as you describe, however Maria has not developed her boating skills to the point where she can bring the boat to the trailer (we are making progress tho) and she is not strong enough to manage the winch... hence why Roseville and Brooklyn have been our favourite ramps. But we make it work whereever. +1 for comments regarding the tree and kerb.... clearly no boatie in that council department. I will take a drive to check out the other ramps as fall back thanks - it's been many years since I last visited them. From memory most of then needed a 2nd pilot to work hence why we never used them. And -1 for the proposed developments ...I know we need more housing in sydney but without additional public transport the extra traffic will be horrendous....the parking non-existant. Cheers Z

Hey Paddy, yup I was a long time NP pass holder -- back when we were regulars at Apple Tree bay ... but I found I wasn't getting the value out of it so I let it lapse .... maybe it's time to reconsider. Cheers Z

Yes he was fully clothed.... in his budgies! Still a brave man to paddle around in that water. We each have our own preference for fish preparation, with flatties I have standardised on a technique where you fillet and skin without scaling and gutting first (I posted a video in the kitchen previously with lots of commentary from FRs on their fav techniques), but with that technique I find you do need to quick rinse the fillets to remove the slime and body juices - fresh brine from out wide 👌 .... But regardless if you prefer to scale/gut rinse in fresh ... it's impossible to do with one hand pushing down on the tap valve. It's clear in this case the council wants to deter this activity while stating they have provided what is necessary (fresh water and a table). Cheers Z

Oh sorry to hear Paddy... I'm now glad I didn't push out to 12mile. Fortunately there was just enough run to keep us going around the reefs. Roseville was my go to ramp to head offshore as it was closer to the heads and hence less fuel used with the old 2 stroke even though its a bugger of a drive from my place and has the $8 parking fee. But with the 4stroke being so efficient, and Ermo being only 20-25min drive with free parking, its probably going to become my launch point going forward. Ermo ramp is ok to launch (watch the river cat !) - bit weird how they designed it so that you can't walk the boat to the trailer like you can at Roseville. IMO both Roseville and Ermo have crap fish cleaning facility compared to Parsley Bay Brooklyn. Cheers Z

Thanks Sam. We fished one rod each with the hybrid and another rod each with a 2hook paternoster, SP jerk shad on top hook, pillie or squid bait second hook and a sinker jig on the bottom. Maria's big marbled flattie and a few of the others were caught on the sinker jig. The hybrid accounted for the big bluespot and the mowie. The rest were on the paternoster and mainly on the SP jerk shads ... very few keepers were on the bait but most of the juvenile throw backs were on the bait. Regarding the swimmer... agree they had to be steel ... brass ones would have definitely frozen off ...hahaha Cheers Z

Couldn't be happier mate .... its a beast ! Cheers Z

Yowie you are 100% correct.... they are marbled not dusky.... been a while since I caught one but given the reef/sand structure and offshore they'd be marbled for sure. Cheers Zoran

Just magical! Memories for a lifetime there. cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders, Thursday afternoon Maria surprised me with a request to overnight chasing Hairtail - but a quick check of the weather showed a forecast of only 4C which ended that plan pronto. So we settled for the next option which was to spend Friday adding a few more hours running in the new Merc - interspersed with exploring the reefs off Sydney harbour. The plan was to launch from Ermington Warf and punch out past the heads heading north towards Long Reef - but on this occasion stop to fish the reefs that we would normally cruise over. So with sunrise just on 7am, we departed Castle Hill at 6am (can confirm it was 4C, infact there was icy frost on the storm covers) and 20min later at Ermington came across this .... a fit asian gentlemen taking his morning swim .... now there's a cardio workout ! Everyone launching boats at the ramp was well rugged up, 5 layers thick as Maria said. Humbled (as we had bailed on chasing hairtail) we launched, and headed toward Sydney in the pre-dawn light... Full sunrise saw us just past the bridge ..... what a magnificent city we live in ..... Rounding the heads, the water temp was 17.6C, flat and calm and we sprinted to just past Dee Why. Salted pillies, SPs and frozen squid on board. First few drifts produced 4 bluespot flatties around 40cm and two lost rigs on snags. With our past few trips being Brown's adventures it was clear we were out of practice fishing light over reef grounds. But a good start to the day. We moved around to different reef marks that were highlighted on Navionics and ones that Sam ( @GoingFishing ) had shared previously, landing a bunch of undersized pannies, and reef fish... but by 1pm had 12 solid flatties on board - a mixture of dusky and bluespot, and a keeper mowong. Maria with her 60cm dusky - caught on a sinker jig at the end of a paternoster. Z's 60cm bluespot - caught on a strip of trevally fresh caught and repurposed for bait on Sam's hybrid rig. A top day on the water, the conditions were absolute bliss, glassy at the end, but with enough run to keep the fun going. We ended the day with 2.9kg of skinned flattie fillets and a mowie which will be crispy fried Sunday lunch Thai style! The only downside to the day was the fish cleaning facility at Ermington ramp. I mean seriously - that council needs to take a lesson from Brooklyn on how to spend our license fees. The tables were the filthiest I'd ever seen - and it wasn't the fishos fault - the council had fitted push down taps that you normally see in public toilets. There was no way to keep any water flow going to wash the table. I'll be writing to them to express my views. Personally I only use the fresh water to wash the area and clean my cutting boards, knives. So I was fortunate I brought back 20L of salt water and the water in the live bait tank to rinse the fillets and cleaned fish - they never touch fresh water. I understand why we can't fully process our catch offshore and have to bring back whole fish, but the quid pro quo then should be that we have decent facilities at the ramp that can be kept somewhat hygienic. Using the facilities as they are is a sure way to spoil any fisho's catch. Anyway, enough of a rant.... I'm just wondering what do the other Raiders that regularly use Ermo do? Cheers Zoran PS: The Merc just purred, pushing the Haines through the harbour chop with ease at all revs. We rounded Sydney Heads at 42kmh 4500rpm, hit 61kmh at 5350rpm off Dee Why... 6.1hrs on the clock, nearly there.

Love it Waza! What a great read. Now I want a husky jerk in my lure kit....where is that barber again???? cheers Zoran

Great job Yowie! Nice feed. cheers Zoran

Nice fish and Good job Braving the cold. You’re a trooper. Maria actually suggested we overnight in Jerusalem but I saw it was going to be 4C so we swapped it for a run out of Sydney heads. Just about to leave. cheers Zoran

What a first report !! Brendo you’ve set the bar very high for subsequent ones. Just awesome outcome and report. Woollamia ramp?? cheers Zoran

Thanks so much Fab. Hope you’re doing well and staying out of mischief! cheers Z

Hey @Scienceman, glad you got the performance you were after. Now to fine tune the last 20% satisfaction level. 1) Seems to me if the dealer knew about prop chatter - he should have been very proactive in advising you what you need to avoid it upfront. Stick to your guns on this one. Also, FIW I had my motor fitted with a Mercury Enertia (S/S) prop ... other sites have reported this style of prop helps eliminate chatter in a 4cyl 4str - Honda example: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/prop-chatter-in-4-stroke-outboards_topic114807.html 2) The throttle linkage issue sounds like an adjustment issue - Mercury also has several types of control boxes - have the dealer confirm he installed the one recommended for your motor? All my motors have had relatively smooth progression on throttle - there should be nothing unusual about this 60HP Merc? BTW, I've sent you a PM as well. Cheers Zoran

I wonder if my neighbor still has his cat 🤔. ???? 🤔 🤔 hahaha. Just joshing with the cat lovers. cheers Zoran

Great... you know what your after and you have sea miles under your belt. I'm fortunate as I have known my hull since 1996. I have installed a pump out loo and I have invested in a hardtop as well. This video gives you a view of the cockpit space - 3 crew orange shirt is 6'4"... you'll get a glimpse of the cabin space as well: I have only seen Revivals at the boatshow and have never ridden in one - when you mentioned WA it occurred to me the guy in that video is a WA dealer so I thought I'd share it. From a comparison perspective, my Haines 635L is a 1992 build and is considered a heavy deep v hull (onwater weight is 1972kg with two on board) compared to the revival 1800kg test weight that you saw in that video. I went from a 200HP 2st to a 150HP 4st and still maintained a 4second hole shot with equal midrange performance to the 200HP but much better fuel economy - the 150HP Merc has plenty of torque to push it...so don't be too concerned about considering what you need vs what is the max rating on a hull. My Haines is rated to a 225HP, but it is a rocket with the 150HP 4st ...I don't know how or when I would use an additional 75hp as a fisherman! I have a full write up of the repower in a recent post with comparison performance videos -- it is a long read but here is the link: Another FR @JonD runs a more recent build Haines Signature and may be able to offer more insights on his hull and experience. Best of Luck ... and really look forward to more of your posts once you are re-hulled ! Cheers Zoran

Hi @Justfishin, I have owned and run a Haines Hunter 635L since 1996 - and I couldn't be happier with it. I mainly use it offshore from a few km to the shelf...but we do overnight and fish estuaries as well. Its a half cabin so has lots of protection but that design cuts back on fishability compared to a center console. I predominantly fish 2 but the hull dynamics comfortably fish 4 onboard. Also, I have just repowered with a Merc 150HP 4st - and again couldn't be happier with that decision - so the Haines is going to be with me for many yours to come. You can search the forums here for my posts and videos. Perhaps some more insight into the type of fishing you pursue and your intended use (how many onboard etc) would help with others advice. Also, not sure if you are looking for new or second hand. The closest new hull I have found to my Haines (identical weight, length, beam deadrise etc) is the Revival 640. You also need to consider your vehicle towing capability ... getting into the FG 6m class boats you can easily tilt into the braked trailer and other GVM/GCM considerations. Hope this helps. Cheers Zoran