lancer

Hi Steve The lure that did that caught the most fish was a 6" storm deep diver. This was a long minnow type and you had to hold the rod because as soon as you felt a bump you let the rod go backward a little bit in case it was a snag. You didnt need to strike hard if there was a fish as they where hitting fairly hard. The cod took a tilsan deep diver that was 4" long. I was just told by my mate that Burrendong dam has just been closed because of Blue Green Algae last night. This I suppose was to be expected but the fish are there and are in the mood to bite, so if you want to go for the sport, have fun. I cleaned the fish we caught and they seemed very healthy and it seemed to me that the muck was just on the surface and fish were deep down. Pappy if you can get hold of some small yabbies take those. I found yabbies in three of the yellowbelly.

With all the rain, I had been planning a trip for the past 4 weeks to go to Burrendong Dam in Central Tablelands to chase Yellowbelly, Murray Cod and Redfin. Everytime I was about to leave Sydney, there was rain and more rain and so on Tuesday I met up with a friend at Burrendong Dam ready to be washed out, however we did not get any rain for the time we were on the water. With the recent rains, Burrendong was rising and the last I noticed it was at 15%. I think it was getting toward 20% now and the main ramp has some water over it. Parts of the dam had nearly 100ft of water in it. What was surprising was that the water looked like it had the algae on it, like we saw in Warragamba dam. It looked yuk. Well at 8 am we decided to have a go anyway and see if we could find some clean water. As we motored out we saw fish on the sounder under the murk and thought that this cant be right. Well we turned left from the ramp and started trolling and within 300 yards of the ramp I get a hit and up came a lovely 42 cm yellowbelly. Started trolling again and my friend Ron hooked up and this fish really put on a show. It turned out to be a 50 cm Murray cod. The cod was released for another day. We then caught two other yellowbelly's in the next few hrs and numerous hits. The water temp was 24.3 and the sounder was telling us that the fish were sitting at 4.5 metres down so we used lures that dived to that depth. We then moved down to the main wall and there was not as much activity there. Then I had hooked up on a snag and spent a minute trying to get the lure off it by backing up the boat. I had given up on my lure, when suddenly the line moved downwards and the fight was on with another yellowbelly again 42 cm and really golden in color. It must have wrapped me around a log and then swum back out, it was a real nice surprise. Continued trolling and finally lost my favorite lure and gave up for the day. What started out looking as being a crook day, ended up with being my best in lure fishing in freshwater for years. It just showed that even if the water looks crap, have a go. David

Stan Consider buying a piece plastic chopping board say 2- 3 cms thick and if its only going to have the pump on it, buy some sikaflex from Bias boats and put the board on the transom where you want it. Make the sikaflex thick. Use small stainless steel screws to attach the pump to the board. This way you dont even drill the fibreglass to create a problem. Also you can remove the board later by slipping a long knife or blade under it. To be on the safe side if the sikaflex lets the board go, make sure you use a big cable tie down attached to something solid near the pump so that the pump does not fly inside the boat at the end of the cable. I used this on my old fibreglass boat and if you make the board big enough I had my sounder and pump on the board, the other thing is that you can adjust the positions of the sounders etc without worrying about drilling into the transom. Dave

Take the motor to your local lawn mower man. Its looks like a standard 160 cc victor two stroke and that being the case its easy to service. Also if you need to get a new motor take a look at the next council clean up, there are usually a few out there. In terms of the bottom end just clean it up and grease I would think.

I went out at 5.30 am on Saturday and the I found the fish on the sounder at North Head and there was some big ones there and heaps of bait. The problems was that there was a 3 metre swell rolling in and the they didnt want to take any lures. Also it there was a large log floating around with heaps of rubbish in the water.

The next question is can these also fit yamaha motors. Over to you Huey.

The scariest wave in Sydney harbour is the 1m+ ones that come off the ocean going tugs when they are rushing to get to the heads. They come in sets of three. These waves are so powerful and I wonder if others have had the same feeling when coming across them. If and when you come across them make sure you turn the bow towards them and motor back through and hang on.

With a four stroke I found that for trolling they are almost as quiet as an electric and for me that was the clincher. I have had a 40hp merc which was a derated 60hp but the weight at 96 is to much, but boy its was the smoothest 2 stroke by a country mile. Loved it for trolling. If you can afford it, go for a 4 stroke, otherwise get a good 2 stroke and a cheap electric later on if really into estuary trolling.

Does your boat have a live bait tank/bait draw that sits above the transom. I was going up the coast on Friday and looked down and saw a boat which I reckon was in your position. The conditions looked great after all the rain and wind. Well done on those fish.

This idea I have used once. Get a wet cloths - the blue / green cloths for washing up. cut and fold a little bigger than label. Put it over the label. put cling wrap over it and tap the edges. Leave for a few hrs Then pull it all off. Hopefully the water soaks through underneath and makes it soggy and the label falls away. Clean up with warm water and detergent.

Well I towed a dingo and trailer about 1500 kilos on the weekend with my Honda CRV and whilst the Honda towed it, it was heavy work and I also had the joy of towing the dingo up a slight ramp that was wet and the four wheel drive had to engage. All wheels were spinning and moral is that normal AV tires wont give you the grip that you sometimes may need to get up the ramp. I had coopers on so they were good tyres. The lack of torque towing 1.5 tonnes is a hassle. For occasional or short trips the Honda will be ok but if possible get something with more power. Make sure that the hitch and the back suspension can take the weight also.

Ross in all the times I have passed under that bridge I cant remember seeing a sign there and if thats the case then there is 3 times you have to slow down on a run to the harbour. I went down and saw the two Queens in Sydney Harbour and everyone was going flat out. Rhodes 8 knots Mortlake ferry 4 - 8 ? Gladesville Bridge 8 knots. However the rivercats go through there at 25mph and create a pressure wave a metre high so why are we being pinged. Our trailerboats would produce a 30cm wave when on the plane.

Ben take a look over the motor and trace back the electrics, you may find that there is a fuse in there and that all you need to do is to replace it. Yamaha motors have a spare fuse near the fuse holder. How do I know, well I was changing batteries at the ramp and not being able to look properly underneath the battery shelf I hooked the wrong terminals up. The motor refused to start and I felt like a goose as my kids were there saying whats up dad with me mumbling under my breath.

Another thing to try is to see if you can send some compressed air up the tell tail. This will usually dislodge the obstruction and hopefully the flow improves. Use this if the wire treatment doesnt work.

Well this dumb bunny one time, forgot to undo the hook and was wondering why he couldnt get the boat off and his friend sat there and grinned with each straining moment. Who needs enemies.

The last time I was there the water was at 20% and in spots the water was nearly 100 ft deep. We only got one redfin that was 1.5 kilos and of all things we had a 3 kilo carp hit a lure. They are going to have to stop letting out water soon or there will be nothing for the fish. If my memory serves me correct the last good water in there was when Eugowra got flooded. When the water is up if you turn left from the ramp and keep trolling, if the reddies are there you will get one within 300 metres.

The only other thing I would add would be that if you are worried about the weight, half fill the tank and see how it goes. With a 35 hp motor it would take it 3 hrs at full revs to use half a tank. 36 litres.

I agree with daniel. At the moment you can get a TLD 25 for under 200 with a 10 year guarantee. These reels used to be over $500. For kings, small marlin, large jewfish etc there is nothing on the market that has the quality or name. If you do get one its best to get mono as the thin braids up to say 50 is hard on fingers when laying the line on the reel. The exception to the rule however is if you can get a thick smooth braid and that can be layed up ok. The tackle shop guys can advise when you see them. On my TLD 25, I got 18kilo tortue as it was the same diameter as the 15 and three kilos stornger. If you want to be able to cast or use it off the beach then the baitrunner is the way to go. Yes you could use it on marlin but there is a possibility of being spooled quicker than the tld 25.

I have had a permatrim on a previous boat and it really did good things. But having a new boat and not wanting to drill holes why not try this: 1) whenever starting off - trim the motor right in and work out the setting at which the boat jumps on the plane and the rpms. This may take a number of take offs to work out the best in trim setting. 2) trim the motor out until the boat will run straight and you dont have to steer it. Take a note of the setting. 3) then start always start off on that bottom setting and accelerate immediately to the rpms that gets it on the plane and then trim to the good running setting. This is the technique I use on my boat to get the best performance without having to resort to a permatrim.

Geoff any day fishing is better than working. I wish you caught your bag limits of those plate sized snapper as those are the best of eating. David.

Can I suggest not to buy it for a few reasons: 1) the reason why the motor is to long for the boat is that it was designed for a short shaft motor. The transom was not designed to possibly hold a motor of this size. 2) the boat was originally an open fibreglass boat and that explains the low sides look at where the steering wheel is set in the middle of the front of the boat. also look at seats and screen. If it was a centre console set up and the console in the middle the boat would be more sea worthy. 3) when you are running one up this boat will be unbalanced as you will be pushing the nose of the boat into the water. You will need to make a number of adjustments in terms of weight for balance to get this boat to run right. 4) Without a power tilt its a pain to adjust the motor so that it gets the right trim. Also its a pain to jump two seats to get to back of boat to pull up motor when coming into shore. If you end up fighting with the boat, you wont get the enjoyment out of it.

I hate to say it but it looks as if you are up for a new tank or if you get lucky finding a spare part. The ABS plastic is hard to glue and the last thing you want is for it to break especially in a boat.

Well I just back from 2 days in Narooma and the Bar was perfect, tides perfect for getting out, wind wasnt to bad and the only problem being, no pelagics on the bite. The water temp out near Montague Island was around 17 degrees and even 10 kilometres off the Island on the ocean side the temp got to 18. Had one strike for 3 hrs trolling but it didnt stick. I did see one school of striped tuna but by the time we stopped and started trolling they were gone. Tried the flattie grounds and got two just legal flatties and two slimies who picked the baits up as we were bring them in. You know its bad when the charter boats beat you back in, but two days at Narooma and no fish its still magic.

Hi Anthony A friend of mine had a home made set of those rod holders and they are great when you have a boat thats narrow in the beam and not wide like yours. It effectively gives you a spread of 6 Meters when compared to 2.5 with four rod holders. The other beauty of them is when drifting and they help keep the lines apart. I am making a set up for my boat that extends the rods straight out from the sides. Say hello to the Banana man for me. David