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I'm late to this thread @sam bros .... thats an awesome video that captured the spirit... felt like I had been there. Loved the soundtrack ... who's the artist? Cheers Zoran

I purchase mine at the local B*C*F store .. so northern beaches should be same.... blue boxes either 454g or 2kg. Cheers Zoran.

Hey Raiders, Its been discussed before. We are blessed to have the most beautiful marine coastline abundant with aquatic life literally at our eastern seaside doorstep. We are the envy of the world in this regard... but then someone wants to do seismic testing and drill for oil on that very same doorstep .... 😳😱😪😖😠 I've signed the below petition to stop this ... sharing in case others want to. https://www.change.org/p/stop-blasting-for-oil-or-gas-off-newcastle-and-the-central-coast?signed=true Cheers Zoran

Hahaha - well said ! There’s always another trip to settle the tally...... cheers Z

Thanks Sam! Yes blessed in that department for sure. We’ve been together for a very long time- and used to beach fish all through the night in our youth dreaming of a day when we owned a boat and a 4wd ! We had high aspirations... hahaha ! Just had the 2nd gemmie meal - delish. Planning the next raids Cheers Z

You guys gave me a laugh. I can see the issues and really appreciate how abundantly lucky I am as my missus fishes. Our daughters don’t!!! I (we) own the bottom shelf and bottom drawer of our upright freezer in the garage. Reserved for bait and frozen water containers. Period. Must be ready to go whenever the conditions and commitments allow! Cheers Zoran

Thanks @sam bros ! ... well you never know when the opportunity may come up. Where are you based ? Cheers Z

BTW... given these examples of raiders sharing spots I guess that already makes you a clear winner of the bet Donna. Cheers Z

Yup @wazatherfisherman posted about a few places in sydney .... but I always thought Byron was a better place to score weed then sydney ever was ! 🙄 Cheers Zoran

Nice work Rick...you’re a true master. Cheers Zoran

Thanks Neil ! Hope the carp reduction went well ... you should post some reports of this activity... Cheers HAHAHA... 100% right there. And it's all in good fun... we give and take as the opportunity presents it self. Thanks Woodsy ... there's always a bit of humour in life if you are open to see it ! Thanks Adem ...I'm glad you enjoyed it ! if I recall one of your posts correctly, I think that my boat is way OLDER then you ! ... great to see you on FR. Cheers Thanks Rebel ... just called it as it happened ! Thanks Adrian. It was an awesome day couldn;t have wished for better to take a first timer out to the shelf. .. re fishing -. swings and roundabouts .... I out-fished her on Tuesday... But I can tell you my arms and pecs were a bit achey today - the Reef king gives you an upper body work out for sure. Hi Jason... "the finance department" ... yes well this particular finance department told me to get a bigger boat when we were caught out in a dangerous situation in our 16footer - she has some salt in her veins - so I'm already looking for another deep drop deal ! 😄 Re Freeboard - maybe it's because Maria and I are SHORT ! HAHAHA. Thanks for pointing that out so subtly. I'm 5'6" so yes the gunwales are nice and safe for offshore. The boat is a Haines Hunter 635L. Deep V mono hull built 1990-1992 and I purchased it in 1996. The original 635s came out in late 70s and were mostly inboards. Then later as outboard HP increased they made a version with an outboard well. Mine was the last run of the 635 and the first run with an ally pod (just before the Haines group split) and before they started moulding an FG pod as part of the hull. Cheers Zoran

You’re a true artist with that camera Jon. Just awesome. Thanks for posting. Cheers Zoran

Great photos 👍. I always find nature fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Zoran

Awesome... well done. Cheers Zoran

Howdy Raiders, Well after the "Tenacious Tuesday" ... which really became "Turn-around Tuesday" for Maria .... I'm happy to report today was "Far-out Friday !!!" . Yup Maria went to the shelf.... Browns Mountain 40km east of Sydney. About as far-out as she'd ever want to be. It was her first trip and she was armed with the electric set up - which apparently now is "hers" ... and I have approval to go buy my own... but on this trip I was relegated to the old trusty Alvey Reef King. We launched at Davidsons Park Forestville. It was a very early start. Salted pillies and squid for bait. A really bumpy ride out to Browns in the morning and the conditions for the first few hours were pretty ordinary, but the weather gods put on the best mid-morning to late afternoon that I have seen in a long time. Just glorious calm offshore weather. On the way out, we saw a whale broach, and for most of the day there was a pod of dolphins some where in sight, so there was plenty to keep us distracted. Anyway, back to the fishy details..... turns out electric powered Maria scored 3 Gem fish.... to manual powered Zoran's zero. Hmmmm. ... maybe some payback there for the 6 flatties I scored on Tuesday to Marias zero !! .... just sayin'. So here I am pictured with the gemmies.... not because I was trying to kind of claim they were mine ... but because I was about to gut them.... It was a slow day at Brown's, 9 drifts for 3 fish. Also, on the first drop Maria had the braid bitten off with 57m to reel in ... I conclude there must have been something stuck to the line that attracted a jacket. But regardless guess who had to re-rig the FG knot etc etc etc ! Also two of Maria's 3 gemmies fought to about 20m off the surface and then spat the hook.... only to bob up a few meters from the boat bloated....guess who gaffed or drove the boat to net them ??? Maybe 2 gemmies are a shared catch after all ... 🙄 Yes there is just a bit of rivalry between us ... but what a great day to share together. Cheers Zoran PS - We stopped at 12Mile on the way back... to have two rigs bitten off by JACKETS !!!!! ...... which convinced us to pull stumps to run back home and face the Friday arvo traffic. PPS - water at Browns 20.8C. Current 2-3kts running N to S.

Thanks @Yowie . Frankly I was concerned about the impact of all the fresh water in the Hawkesbury - it usually brings on the catfish and eels. So the plan was to go wide and salty. Going wide also helped testing the electric. So there was a bit of an agenda that I was working. But you are correct gotta keep trying something different. Cheers Z

I can vouch it was delish ! Maria said she wouldn’t mind some more of these but I’m not sure there is any real way to target them. Guess they are just by catch that taste 👍. Cheers Zoran

Yes I eat them and they are good on the chew, but I don't really target them due to the associated gear cost. They are mostly by catch for me. Nevertheless once we knew they were there, especially at the 120m depth I did go down to an all wire paternoster with the smallest long shank hooks I had onboard. They were still picking the bait off and leaving the hooks clean without getting hooked. Must have been tiny tiny but still pests ..... Cheers Z

Yup... agree. But anything dragging in the water such as a sounder transducer can create a tail. Thanks for info regarding the gas ... you say you are slowing down but you must still be doing a fair bit to have to refill that big bottle 3 times per year ! Thanks again. Cheers Z

Thanks Frank ... I hired the E gas bottle from Elgas when I was fabricating my floatation tanks ... but when I finished with my immediate projects and used up the gas it was hard to justify the monthly $18 charge. As a DIY fabricator its much cheaper for me to pay as I go, so I have been keeping an eye on the Bunnings $299 as that seems to be the best option but again I don't have the projects lined up to justify the bottle at this stage. BTW, do you think my approach will solve Antony's pickup problem ? Cheers Z

Hey @antonywardle, As others have suggested you could use PVC elbow to make a pickup ... if you do so, it will put a bit of extra force on the skin fitting so just keep an eye on it for cracking. Another approach could be to make a pickup out of some rectangular aluminium section and a bit of plate aluminium that would sit over the existing inlet - probably just sikaflex the plate section to the stern. Here's a sketch .... I could knock this up for you if you could send me the dimensions a and b, as I have some scrap plate at home and the aluminium section is available in bunnings in 1m lengths, the only probs is that I am out of Argon gas at present. I'm waiting for a few odd aluminium jobs to accumulate before I go and spend $300 on another bottle. If you like this approach and are prepared to wait we can park this for a while. Cheers Zoran

Hey thanks for all the comments amigos ! ... I didn't realise my writing skills were going to be analysed as well (reading through it felt a bit like I was back at school) ... but it seems I got a pass ! 😂 Cheers Z PS - here's the only video we took on the day ... the first electric retrieve featuring the JACKET !

After reading all these experienced Raider's messages .... I feel I've been living under a rock ! But just shows never too late to learn ! Cheers Zoran

Ok so the verdict is in .... latchet is a great chew ! I rolled the fillets in 5 spice + corn meal, placed a skillet in the BBQ, heated it up, drizzled olive oil and a few garlic slices on the skillet, placed the fillets flesh side down and closed the hood, then rotated after 5 min .... served with a side of air-fried roast vegetables - rustic chunked potato, sweet potato, carrot, onion, lemon, olive oil, italian herbs, black pepper and himalayan salt. The latchet is a firm flesh, but surprisingly sweet. Texture is a bit like thai fishcakes - firm. Now where do we find some more ! Oh .. the jacket tasted good too ... but too many bad memories with that one.... Cheers Zoran

That’s awesome- is he one of the costi brothers - that’s a hell of a lot of Flathead practice- plus you need a samurai blade knife !!! ??? Maria and I just decided he can have a crew spot anytime! But I agree like you it’s going to take me some time to get this accomplished. But just to put it out there - Maria just said she’ll be helping me clean fish next time using that technique!! Stay tuned- I’ll post a video as it happens ! Bahaha Cheers Zoran