Thunder

How much were Predator charging for the boat and how many do they take out? If you post the details, maybe other Raiders might be interested in going as well. Could be a good day. Cheers Greg

Greg, you must be desperate fishing in this lousy weather. You must have had the harbour to yourself. Congrats on the fish mate, you deserve every one of them going out in this weather. I can't wait for the pictures because the forum has been pretty dull lately. Everyone needs some excitement to read. Cheers Greg

The seas are only going to be 1.5 metres next week, so it is a lot less than 5 metres, but unless you have a decent size boat you will be staying inside the Harbour. The water is currently brown and there is a lot of debris coming through, so you had better be careful. They are also predicting rain for the next week, and if Pete is around, expect a downpour. I would put it off until the next week. Cheers Greg

Hi Nectic, I found that website with the maps and it is cool. You can get the water depths from it. Browns is around 490 - 640m deep. If you go out a bit further it drops to 2500m and more. Imagine hooking something from that depth and trying to bring it in. I just got a GPS point for you 34.1474, 152.1169 It is 927m deep with 3000 - 4000m deep around it - now thats a mountain - 3000m Kosciuszko is only 2219m Cheers Greg

Thanks Nectic. They are great maps, where do they come from? So where does the shelf start? Is it where "Bay Wide FAD" words are where there is structure, or is it the line of formations in the second map that deviates at Browns. Cheers Greg

Hi Nectic, On that map you posted, could you mark roughly where Brown's is (and a few other locations that people talk about - ie peak, fads, etc) I haven't been out that far, so it would give everyone an idea of how far they have to travel in respect to land. Cheers Greg

It's the pits !!! Big Time 5.2m swell next weekend Cheers Greg

Ceph, and you said the fishing was SLOW??? I think you may be in the same boat Rods and slippery hands bring a weird picture to mind - but let's not go there. Maybe you should tie both rods together, that way you shouldn't lose either of them, and if you happen to hook a hoodlam, well there might be another LONG story to tell. Cheers Greg

On the front page before you get into the forum there is a GPS menu up the top, but there are not many marks in it. If you do a search on "GPS marks" there are a few threads with links that have heaps of them. They are very useful Cheers Greg

I got stainless steel clips from BIAS as well as some rope. I think it was about 4.5mm thick. I got them to cut 2 pieces for me 2.5 metres long (they have a hot cutting tool that seals the ends). I put a clip each end, made it double, and put a slip knot around the vertical on my rail (ie 2 ends through the loop). One rope each side of the boat handles 4 rods - 2 each side. This gives plenty of length to get the rod out of the holder and fight the fish. I put the rope around the rod above the reel and snap the clip over the rope. Just make sure the clip does not interfere with the action of the reel. Cheers Greg

Butchers use a cake of stainless steel to remove the smell of the meat. After the Butcher told my wife that, she rubs her hands over the kitchen sink and says it works. I tried it after doing the fish and it does seem to work, but I always wash them with soap first. Cheers Greg

You must be desperate fishing for carp !!! In our local dam, the duck population has been decreasing. People wrote into the papers complaining, thinking someone was killing them. It turns out, there are huge eels in the dam and they have been eating the ducks. Maybe try some meat for bait, you may catch a big eel instead of a carp. Cheers Greg

As others have said, you will have to move the axle backwards, not forwards. You may also have to check the bushes in the springs, and how much flex is in your tyres. I have a 5.5m fibreglass boat and had the same trouble. My trailer was originally a tilt trailer and they changed it to a multi roller trailer. There was movement in the tilt section so I drilled and bolted it together. Heaps better. I noticed when I rocked the boat from side to side, there was a lot of deflection in the tyres - ie high sidewalls. I have since gone for lower profile tyres and have them inflated to near maximum. A bit better. I am trying to source some rally car tyres as they have a very stiff sidewall. This will reduce a lot of the movement and I can run them at lower pressures. Commercial tyres have harder sidewalls and are good for carrying weight, but the sidewalls are a lot higher. The lower the boat is to the ground, the easier it is to launch and retrieve, especially when the boat is heavy. I moved the axle back around 100mm as there was not much weight on the towball. ie it was fairly easy to lift the front of the trailer off the ground - it should be very heavy. The axle and mudguards were bolted to the chassis, so it was fairly easy to do. This improved it significantly. I then replaced the springs with heavy duty springs and it is a lot better again. Once I get the rally tyres I will be happy with it. My boat is very heavy and I contemplated fitting dual axles, but when you have to push the boat in and out each day, the twin axles are terrible for turning and manouvering, so I am stuck with single axle. I can now tow my boat at 100km/h in safety, whereas before, if I travelled over 90km/h I could feel the boat pulling the rear end of my wagon sideways. I hope the above helps you, as there could be more than one cause to your problem. Cheers Greg

What a great sketch - that is fantastic !!! Just shows how talented some of our forum members are. Cheers Greg

Congrats on the fish and the combo. How lucky was that!!! I hope Graeme sold it back to you for a good price !!! LOL How amazing is that? Out of all the people that could have caught it over the last 2 weeks and you were there to re-claim it. It is lucky enough that it was retrieved, but to be there when it was, is even more amazing. I think we should all go in a Lotto ticket with Ceph, although he has probably used up a lifetime of luck on that catch. Cheers Greg

I saw how long the post was so I skipped straight to the photo I knew it must have been a goodie. Then I read the post. That is one nice fish there and will keep you in tucka for a while. Nice report and congrats on the fish Loved the story. When does the DVD come out !!! Cheers Greg

You have some nice tucker there M8 !!! Good work Cheers Greg

How powerful are there claws? They don't look as strong as a crabs, but they look like they have a fair bit of meat in them. Cheers Greg

A nice feed to be had in those crays!!! How powerful are there claws? Pardon the ignorance, but where is Bidgee? and what river are you talking about? Lots of the dams and rivers are pretty dry now, which doesn't make for good fishing or camping. Cheers Greg

Nice Reddie Azza. They put up an excellent fight and taste even better. How far down the coast did you get that? (Town, not GPS mark) The rate "Spot X" is going, you may as well just say NSW or Australia. Cheers Greg

Hey Arch, It may be a case of too much I HAVE become a CANDIDATE ..... And I went to a Public School Cheers Greg PS I will have to stop picking on you, or re- read all of my threads twice otherwise it might come back and bite me on the ar$e.

Maybe you should re-name your boat !!! It is actually "FLYing Gaf" if you re read it. Cheers Greg

Most of the ramps around Sydney have poor facilities, especially for cleaning fish. I launched the boat at Rose Bay on Sunday and missed out on a parking spot. I had to park 1 km away. There were a few cars parked in the boat spots, which did not help matters. There are no fish cleaning facitities, but there are toilets. It was high tide and the lower section has poles on it that you have to push your boat around was nearly 2 foot under water at high tide and waves were coming in from the side. The better ramps have floating pontoons. I don't frequent the Georges, but I think you will find they are pretty poor as well. Cheers Greg

A friend is making me a flying gaf, which from the explanation, has a solid handle that detaches leaving the gaf in the fish but connected to rope that you can tie off. This stops you losing the gaf on heavy fish, but then allows you to get a grip on the tail or a tail rope around the fish to pull it in. I guess I will know more after he makes it. Maybe one day I will catch a fish big enough to use it. Cheers Greg

Hi Mitch, I own a business at Ingleburn which is probably out of your way a bit, but not that far from Parramatta. You are quite welcome to leave your boat in our carpark all day if you wish. We are here from 8.00am and I normally leave around 7.00pm. Tel: 02 98293158 We are at the end of the M7 and just off the F5 Cheers Greg