zmk1962

So sorry to read of your loss Neil. Our thoughts are with you. Zoran and Maria

Donna... WOW. You have set the gold standard for reports. !! ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Awesome fishing effort as well. Cheers Zoran

.....and a day on the water breathing the fresh salt air. Can’t beat that. cheers Zoran

Sad news when we lose such a big contributor to our sport ... competition drives innovation and pricing and we all benefit .... with a key player out of the game we'll have to see what the future holds. Hey Jason, I'm posting this to share that innovation keeps happening - I have no particular axe to grind. I am running a 2st and I have been researching and keeping up to date regarding repower options. Below is a BRP produced chart showing torque comparison between the 150 eTec (probably a G1) and a 150 Merc 4st. As you know hole shot happens between idle - usually around 700rpm and up to 2500rpm and in that RPM range it is all about torque at the prop shaft that gives you hole shot (torque also gives you control on the back of a wave). Above that RPM range you are at hull planing speed and into your midrange 3-4000 RPM performance. And above midrange is where motors typically produce their max HP ... but how many fishos sit at those RPM ranges and associated speeds? BRP acknowledged that the Merc 150hp 4st produced more torque (hence better hole shot) in that low RPM range ... so we can conclude the 4strokes have come a long way. The big fat flat torque curve of the 150 merc is very interesting as it means it can drive a large displacement prop pretty much consistently from 1800-5000rpm... it looks more like a high revving diesel. Here's the video from which I screen grabbed the chart. Cheers Zoran

I have external washer/wipers which remove exterior fog/condensation/rain. Internally I keep a microfiber cloth on the dash and find after several wipes the fog stops forming. The initial fog/dew is a right PITA coming down middle harbour with all the early morning rowers but comes with the territory of a hardtop with full screens and the overall benefits that provides. I have purchased RainX but yet to use as I get by with the above procedures. cheers Zoran

Awesome.... been swamped with chores... but now you've got me thinking !!! ... Cheers Zoran

Great report and glad to hear your feeling well enough to go fishing. The trip to browns and back had accounted for many a seat ! cheers Zoran

Just to close this out. I'm now not only cooking with gas ... but also showering with gas. Thanks so much to @61 crusher who did a fantastic job installing the Rinnai ... although I'm sure our constant digression to things fishing and boating extended the install time for him. Top bloke and top job mate - thanks again Dieter !! As a side note, I picked up on what @JonD said above and decided to buy a "jump starter with inverter" ... this will be the backup power supply for the gas hot water should there be a power outage at night when I don't have solar power, and as a bonus I can now use this in the 4wd, or on boat trips. All sorted because of Fishraider !!!! Cheers and Thanks to all. Zoran

Zoom in and you will clearly see the blue spots on one of them. Yes In my experience the tiger and spiky are more red in colour and similar (but tigers grow bigger) They both are thicker in the shoulder area than the flatter shaped bluespot of equal size. Cheers Z

Awesome KC. Thanks so much. Will give this a go with the three I caught recently. cheers Zoran

I don’t have a side by side photo but this is a blue spot (Photo from dpi app) and this is a spiky (Photo from Fish market site) cheers Zoran

Great report Baz. You gave it a go and had a day fishing - how bad can that be. As per my reports I’ve brought back occies on the last two trips. @joshGTV suggests freezing to tenderize so I’m giving that a go this time. cheers Zoran

Nothing like a live report ! Best of luck ! Cheers Z

Awesome, I look forward to the report ! The weather for the rest of the week does not look accomodating so you have certainly picked the night... best of luck. Cheers Z

Best of luck Donna and Stewy !!! Cheers Zoran

Great stuff @Scratchie you definitely know your water ways. cheers Zoran ps - red wine all the way !

Is it April 1st ??? cheers Z

That’s the thing. I usually don’t !! Often 20-40km out. But Sunday what a day. But I persevered and we brought home the goods. cheers Zoran

Looks awesome mate... fresh wholesome food. LUV IT ! Cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders, I'll keep this report short. My buddy Wayno has really been missing his flathead feed so with COVID restrictions easing we decided to hit the flattie grounds off Barrenjoey on Sunday. I had a close family dinner on Saturday (combined double birthday and wedding anniversary) - I knew that food and drink would be a plenty but still thought Sunday would be ok - after all the weather was supposed to be calm, 1m seas, >10kts winds etc -- all looked good. We hit Parsley bay at 6.15am, and joined the queue to launch - it was busy - I put Wayno at the helm, dropped the rig in the water and headed to park the car and trailer ---- wow, did I say it was busy - I got the LAST trailer parking spot ! Out we raced to the 40m mark, it was sloppy and choppy. I am sure the seas were 1m somewhere, but not at Barrenjoey wide. Anyway, first two drops I pulled up a 3ft and then 4ft shovelnose. Both hooked in the gob, hooked though a fin - I think I spent way too much looking down separating gear from sharks - Hmmm - and then for the first time since 2011 I felt that dreaded green feeling 🤢 . In the meantime, Wayno was pulling in juveniles. So out we go to the 50m mark. We drop down and I bring in a decent bluespot flattie over 40cm but now feeling 🤢🤢. Then another two over 50cm - now feeling even more 🤢🤢🤢 (no amount of heavy breathing was helping). Wayno was still tangling with juveniles - the day was not looking good. Long story short, I managed to clear some internal pressure, felt a tad better and we headed back to 40m to try a different drift . The top of the tide came around 10am, and bang we found the larger models on the bite. Wayno landed his only solid keeper (he obviously had the wrong side of the boat that day) but by 11am we had 9 bluespot in the bag all between 55-65cm and 3 octopi to boot. I am stumped where the octopus are coming from as the grounds we drift across are all gravel/sand - but we caught them in this area on the last trip as well. All in all, it ended up being a top day on the water, despite me feeling absolutely miserable for most of it. Anyway, I didn't take any pictures of the day (due to my delicate condition), however here's a snap of my share of the spoils: 1kg fillets and 450g of octopus. Cheers Zoran

Well done all around ... top job on the garden, top job pleasing the Mrs and TOP JOB on the fish - you have really worked out the Sydney schnapps ! Cheers Zoran

Great feed. Shame about the big one. We were due to go out today but deferred to tomorrow- here’s hoping they’re still out there ! cheers Zoran

Hey Sam, yes they are very good eating - with medium to firm white flesh - large flakes - delicate flavour. They look a bit daunting and 'cuda-ish ... so you'd think they would be oily and poor eating but surprisingly that's not the case. I've had some fisho mates report that they can be "mushy" - I've never had one like that - maybe they just didn't ice them down for the long day and trip back. FYI, they command a high price in fishshops - usually sold as fillets and often called hake. Maybe we have to go out one day and deep-drop with the electrics so you can have a chew ! Hey @Blackfish, @masterfisho7 and @Rebel .. thanks for the comments. Yup play around with the ingredients to get the taste and consistency that you like ... we grow many of our own herbs and chilis and have a Kaffir lime and a Lime tree in the back yard - using fresh ingredients really makes dressings come to life. The only comment I had from Maria was I should have made more drizzle - we left a bit to try in the fish and it was delish - would have been great to have a little pot on the side ! Cheers Zoran

Gday Raiders, Whipped this up the other night and got two thumbs up from my very own chef and food critic - my dear wife ! I had planned to cook our last Gemmie fillets (time for another Brown's sesh me-thinks) and was looking for a Thai-style flavour coz we were both missing venturing out to our favourite Thai haunts. Thai Style Salad Dressing/Drizzle (the quantities are the ratio I used, adjust for the volume you need) 2 tsp Palm sugar 2 tsp Soy sauce 2 tsp Sesame oil 1/2 Chili chopped 1/2 Garlic chopped 1/2 Lime juice 1/4 Kaffir lime leaf finely chopped Combine all drizzle ingredients and let sit for an hour or so - give it time for all the flavours to combine. The salad was tossed greens (baby spinach and rocket) and bamboo shoots. The side is cubed airfried potatoes with a dash of olive oil and rosemary. The gemmies were rolled in mixture of flour salt and white pepper and grilled on a hot plate with a touch of olive oil. Apologies the for the blurry photo - was taken in a rush . Cheers Zoran

W . O . W . .... that serious cooking ! Must be lots of stress mate ... Glad its you not me ... Cheers Z