cruisecraft

Hi Camoman Yesterday I was off between wattamolla and marley drifting for flatties. Lost gear to leatheries in 100 ft of water but closer in was where the flatties were (without the leatheries) largest was 56cm. Kept 10. Regards Kit

Good one sparky 77. regards Kit

Well done boys, a very nice striped marlin. Regards Kit

Chewy I fell in the brine with the mobile in the pocket recently but quickly soaked it in fresh water(for 30 mins) to get the salt off. Then I took it to a mate in the mobile phone industry who took the phone apart and gave it a good clean up with an alcohol based liquid. He said it was the salt that does the damage to te circuitry. Hope your phone recovers.Main thing is to not to switch it on, until after a good clean up . Regards Kit

Thanks fellows for the advice on how to handle occys. They taste great(with a bit of marinate) on the hot plate of the BBQ.Just don't over cook them. Regards Kit

Ben In your considered opinion, do you think if I might have occy phobia? I couldn't get that bloody occy off fast enough when it made a grab for my hands. Of course the pliers flew out of my hands when I flicked the bloody thing off and everything went into the drink. How does one "neutralise" these monsters of the deep? Regards Kit

Well Done Lukeric, What sort of weights do you use to get down and did you use livies for bait? Regards Kit

Jim Bream Well done on the catch. I was out on the 3rd runway early Sunday and there were quite a few breams there and yes there were a lot of small ones around 25cm which were thrown back to get bigger.At the drums try fishing into your burley trail with either no weight and feeding the line out or a small ball bearing lead shot, we(me and big pommy ben) caught heaps of trevs and rat kings there on Sunday. A question Jim, how do you "kill"/"dispose" of octopus when you catch them. I cut the line on first one on Sunday that I caught as it was a hugh one and the second one, I dropped the pliers overboard when trying to unhook and release it. Its tentacles made a grab for my fingers/hand and that was it, I flicked it off as quick as I could and it together with the pliers went in the drink.Pommy Ben couldn't stop laughing at my expense . I shudder at the thought of a live one wrapping itself around my hands. I think I have octopus phobia.I can handle them when they are dead and love them BBQed. Regards Kit

Hi fellow raiders, Pommy Ben took me out on BB today in his 18 ft half cabin. Launched from St George motor club at 6am and anchored at the 3rd runway. We burleyed up and fished for bream and the rat kings that have been hanging around the area. Scored plenty of breams but only kept 4. Boated one rat king on 6lb fireline on a gulp worm that was taken on the drop. Nippers accounted for the breams. With the tide change we headed for live yakka gathering, this was really difficult today. We could see the yellow tails but there was just as many juvenille sweep amongst the "ball of fish" fighting for the food in the burley trail.In the end we only had 1 yakka and a pike and left for Molineaux Point 400m away. As expected Molineaux Pt was a car park today. There was very little action, so we headed for the drums. At the drums there was heaps of good size trevs and rat kings. These were all scored on pillies on 6lb fireline. It was a lot of fun, especially Ben's king which went 60cm and took ~25 mins to boat. In the end we took home 4 breams and 8 trevs. It was a top day on the water. Thanks Ben. a pleased cruisecraft a very happy Pommy Ben

Panooch I usually burley yellow tails up with chook pellets/tuna oil and find that chicken breast(cut into tiny cubes 2-3 mm, and just enough to cover the tip of the hook) stays on the hooks better when fishing for yellow tails. Regards Kit

Well done to the young fellow, top lizard on light gear. Regards Kit

Tumra I decided not to take the boat out that evening as I wanted a quick fish after dinner and it was also a bit windy ~20 knots. I had pump the nippers during the low tide at 2pm and went to the neighbours place and fish off their "back yard". I am no gun fisho and I got lucky that evening as there was only 3 fish caught and the other 2 went back in( a stingray and an undersized whiting) Regards Kit

Thanks Jewgaffer I know that spot well, as I live on the Hacking.I have fished that spot on the run in tide but now will burley and try the lures as you suggested. That 48cm whiting came from Burraneer Bay on Sat evening about 7pm and in 2 feet of water and I was land based. Regards Kit

Thanks for the well wishes fellows. Only thing is I haven't been able to land any fish on lures(poppers/pencils and even small sx ecogears) in the Hacking but I guess the fish prefer ala natural or maybe I am a poor lure fisho. The wife is not too impressed with my growing lure collection as I get more new ones to try to break this hoodoo. You would think I be better off sticking to nippers but then again this fisho loves new toys and challenges. Regards Kit

Hi Fellow Raiders I have been fishing the run in king tides over the weekend and doing well over the sand flats for whiting in the Hacking. So I thought I would share this monster whiting with the forum. When I first saw it, I thought it was a decent size tailor, but a second look confirmed it to be a monster whiting.I was then praying that the 6 pound braid and 8 lb fluorocarbon leader would hold. I was using fresh nippers and fishing with size 4 hooks on a running sinker. Regards Kit

Herdsman I look for "bait balls" on the sounder and hover over the bait ball with the lead sinker in the general area as where the bait ball is.You should be able to see your lead sinker with the better sounders(I have a furuno). If trolling past boat moorings/structures, watch the depth of the water (I generally troll past at walking pace) and have the lead sinker about mid level to two third(bottom) level of water. Regards Kit

Hi Herdsman I have a scotty downrigger but find you can get away with a "poor man's" downrigger by using a barrel lead sinker(of appropiate size say 8-9cm in length) down your main line onto a swivel clip.Then clip your leader with the double hook and squid or a single hook arrangement if using yellow tails. It is easy to use and if snagged on the bottom, the loss of gear is easier on the pocket. Of course the scotty gives very accurate depth placement whereas the poor mans arrangement needs visualization on the sounder to check bait placement. Regards Kit

Awesome capture and great read.Well done Regards Kit

Josh I have found yellow tails will survive when I put them in a wire cage that I suspend off a pontoon overnight, but squid and slimies will die if I leave them for more than 8 hours. I think the slimies need more water movement than happens with natural tidal flow. Squid I think get "stressed" and die of fright. Just my own observation.I believe prawns will do all right in a cage/burley bucket suspended under a pontoon. Regards Kit

This mako took a whole pillie meant for a fin, and when it tooked off and did its acrobatics, I was mesmerised and transfixed by the action.Thanks to Nathan for the great shot of the mako, whilst I stood and watched in awe. Kit

Thanks Pelican That explained it clearly. Regards Kit

Hi Huey" The term "WOT RPM" stands for "Wide Open Throttle Revolutions Per Minute", but what does it mean in practical terms.Thank you. Regards Kit ps excuse my ignorance in this.

Hi all Just putting up pics of a self installed 1kw transom transducer attached to a 585 Furuno.I sea trialled the 585 last week and it was sensational to >200ft at the Hump off Stanwell. I had to add an extra bit of 'fiberglass'(see pic 2 and 3) to shim the steel bracket owing to the transom of the CruiseCraft Explorer 625 being at 15degree offset to the vertical.This then made the bottom of the transducer in the same plane as the bottom of the hull.In the near future I will experiment and try it it without the extra fiberglass so that the transducer is facing slightly forwards, instead of straight down, to see which is better. Any opinions/comments regarding straight down or slightly forwards for the transducer, anyone? The transducer to the right of the outboard is a 600w Navman 4500. Regards Kit ps thats Max in the third picture. The 4th picture seems to suggest that the tranny is not level, I can assure the forum that I did use a spirit level to set the tranny correctly, its just that both the camera itself and the the cradle/boat was not level.

Hi Caine Like the others I have recently self installed a Furuno (to a glass boat). Mine is a 1 KW transom tranny and 585(similar to the 620 but just a bit bigger screen). I just hooked up the red cable (it has a 2amp fuse on it) to the positive terminal and the black cable(also has 2amp fuse on it) to the negative terminal. There is a black shielding earth cable(no fuse on it), I rang Furuno in Queensland and they said it does not need to be connected up. I tested it on the weekend(first chance 2 weeks after installation) and it was sensational to >200ft at the Hump off Stanwell Park.Still learning how to use it to its full potential. Regards Kit ps got some nice mowies there, pity no snapper

Well done boys. Fantastic pics. Good fins there.The water looked quite calm.Different story for us on Sunday southeast of Browns, wind picked up around noon and we came in. Nothing from troll out to Browns and cubed for ~4hours till noon for zilch and pulled stumps then. Regards Kit