Andy Loops

G'day Raiders, I have two below deck fishboxes (port and starbourd) that are about 5 feet long and a good foot deep - insulated and plumbed with a drainage pump. Problem is that the drainage pump extraction point is actually BELOW the waterline meaning I can not pump the area dry as boat is berthed. There is always about 5cm water in the box that is mucky and pretty much just plain disgusting... As a result have had the boat for nearly 1 year now and still have NEVER used these great boxes as I cant keep them clean. SO I have been thinking about a way to fix the problem. At the moment I am leaning towards creating a template that I can take to Clarke Rubber to cut a rubber section that I can stand vertically in the box to create compartments. It would have to be thick and the compartment has to be water-tight to hold Ice and Fish so the mould would have to be perfect. Has anyone done anything like this / have a shop they could recommend?? Also - any recommendations as to how to take the mould to use as a template for the rubber cutters? I really want to do the job properly and make sure the end result works - especially with our first Tuna season coming up!! I dont have any pics but will take some over the weekend to add to this post. Cheers, Andy

Almost looks like a SandGroper!

Hello Raiders, I am finding it inefficient to buy small packs of crimps, collars etc and was wondering if there is a supplier that will sell in relatively large packs (packs of 200 instead of 15 or 20 pieces). What do the more serious Blue Water boats do?? Also, I can't find the spiral nose cones for gars locally. So went to the net but struggling to find a good supplier (there are a few for the commercial fishery but can you buy from these wholesalers?). In an ideal world I would like to have a catalogue in front of me so I can get the exact sizes I am after (in bulk!), order them online at a fair price, take delivery a week or so later... GO fishing. Any info appreciated. Cheers Andy

Has anyone done a course recently in Sydney?? Could you provide any contact details?? Thanks! Andrew

Thinking of hitting some of the wrecks off the Northern Beaches on Sunday with little brother. This is a new type of fishing for us... Any tips? Do you guys anchor and burley in the 20-30ish m water or do you drift past the wrecks? I intend to drop strips of slimie/frigate down and see what eats them.. will be using Handlines loaded up with 100 pound mono for a change (hoping for a king or two). Exciting fishing hopefully! Have a great weekend Raiders! See you on the water.

Hows about buying shares in Dalbora Marina - they are charging 1.99 at the pump for premium unleaded!!! Fair enough the marina is on the water but its still serviced by road!!

Hey raiders, Rather than hijack the double bimini thread I thought I would post a seperate report. Easter weekend I took the wife and kids up to Port Stephens to stay with family at Salamander Bay. Convinced the old man that we have to secure all loose items in the big Riv and get out wide to the warm water. Checked the SST's and saw a great temp break right on the 200m line due East of Port. The old boy has his rig decked out with 12kg Penn Steeltip rods and Daiwa Sealine 600 jigging reels spooled with 50 pound braid. These reels are pretty much bullet-proof but having never really used one before I wasnt sure of their suitability for this kind of fishing.. Anyway, we picked up some big Slimies off one of the islands first thing Sunday morning and off we went to find the warm water.. The way out we crossed a large pool of 19.2 degree green but as soon as we approached the 200m mark the temp jumped steadily right up to 24.5 degrees with the warm current slopping up the 2-2.5m swell. We set the spread at 23 degrees and within 10 minutes we are hooked up to a decent fish! Slimy Mackeral coloured lure on the short corner got hit. A couple of jumps right at the back of the boat gave us a good look at the fish and then it dived deep - stripping line very quickly.. I had set the drag on the reels at 4.5kg's the night before (rough estimate at 1/3rd braid strength) but this was not putting any hurt on the fish at all... I made the schoolboy error of adding another half kilo drag with a couple of clicks of the star and ping - the braid popped. I am not sure if this was due to a nick in the braid, me adding a half kilo more drag, or a dodgy knot - but it is something that we are thinking long and hard about... (I admit I am a newbie to this sort of fishing so any pointers with regards to drag / at what point increasing drag becomes an option - would be appreciated) We reckon it was around 60-80kg's - surprised the hell out of us as its our first hookup to one of these beauties!! ... Really gave us a schooling in tackle and the integrity of the connections - knots, crimps, etc.. Next time we head out I will be spooled up with quality mono as suggested by Warnie and will be triple checking all knots and connections as we DONT want to lose the next fish! This was the first time the Old man had been wide fishing with me and I was stoked to see how excited he was when the fish was jumping at the back of the boat - he couldnt believe his eyes! The next morning he called me up and just said - Andy - I cant stop thinking about that fish getting away - we have to get back out there I think that is a great result! We trolled around for another hour or two but no interest... That was our only slimey coloured lure so we switched to the livebait - nothing. Headed in buzzing from our first close encounter with this majestic fish. All in all a very memorable Easter Sunday! Cant wait to get back out there!

Hey Warnie, In finishing the plait and plaitting the tag end back into itself - do you do this by folding the tag end back along itself to form a loop - then plaitting this loop into the main plait for 3 or 4 plaits. Then take your entire double and pass it through the loop formed by the tag end. Finished by gently pulling on the tag to end up to snug up any slack?? I am pretty sure this is how the knot is demonstrated in the Between the Lines CD (my bible at the moment!).. I am very interested as we lost our first ever fish on Sunday (80kg stripe out of Port Stephens) - and I think it was the plait that was the weakpoint... It was either there OR it was the knot connecting the double to the snap-swivel (I tied a uni knot with the doubled Braid straight to the swivel). What knot would you recommend to connect the double to the snap swivel (assuming you run one). Cheers, Andy

This is a great DVD - I just picked it up last weekend. I am also going to rig up some wind on leaders for the first time this weekend - cant be that hard!! Famous last words!

I had a bad experience with some of the 'pellets' from Bunnings.. desperate for wood I headed to Bunnings thinking they must have smoking chips or sawdust.. they had hickory chunks (which were no good for my smoker although I probably could have shaved them down somehow) and these 'flavoured' pellets.. I found the pellets to be $%#house although we were smoking a striped tuna which probably wasnt the brightest idea in the first place... Meat was ok but the cat ended up with an exotic dinner .. Even she wasnt too impressed!

The wreck in Slamander Bay is about 500-600m directly in front of the Oyster Leases. If you have a sounder you should be able to locate it. Have had some massive bust offs there but put them down to Stingrays - could well have been big Jews charging off into the deep! Good luck! P.S. Be careful with alcohol on this waterway as the police boat is not afraid to pull you over and check the alcohol levels.

Hey guys, Finally Easter is around the corner and we can get into it. Wondering if anyone is able to provide an update as to where the fish have been lately?? If you are up there give us a shout - we will be on Talisman IV. Cheers, Andy

Reports like these are what keeps the motivation levels up to get out there!!! Great read! You will get him sooner or later!

Heya Roberta, I am another one that has been smoking fish for the last 6 months since reading some of your posts on fishraider. Have 8 nice bonito fillets in the fridge waiting to go in the smoker (caught on Sunday).. I have found leaving them a day or two makes the end result that much tastier too. Also, I tend to just salt down the fillets in the fridge overnight, wash the salt off and put some coriander sprigs over the fillets just before going in the smoker. They come out delicious but wondering if there is a better way... Another thing you might like to try is drying the fish. My wife is Thai and she loves dried fish & squid. She dried two of the biggest fillets under a grill at low heat for maybe 40 minutes or so yesterday and they come out very tasty. The bonito is by far the tastiest dried fish that we have done to date - maybe because of the oily flesh. This is not for everyone though as the end result can be salty and fishy ;-) that is kinda the idea... Love smoked fish threads - keep them coming! I dont know about everyone else but I find after being out on the water since the early hours of the morning, handling dead and live bait, killing, cleaning, preparing the catch - the last thing I feel like at the end of the day is fish for dinner!! SO ironic but it happens everytime we go fishing... The smoker means we dont waste any of the catch (salting/smoking and drying fish preserves it) and I dont feel pressured to eat the fish immediately! Cheers Andy

Shot you a PM Slinky! Might just be able to help you out!

Warnie you are a legend thanks mate!! Robbie sent you a PM! thanks fellas!

Hey Raiders, I will finally be taking a few days off from work over Easter and planning on heading up to Port Stephens to chase gamefish out wide but of course with Marlin on the brain. Was wondering if anyone can give me any pointers on where to head / best places to source bait / any general info that will help me out as I have only fished the islands in the past. If anyone will be up there over Easter give me a shout. Cheers Andrew

Those shovelnose are a bit of a pest - my brother and I had a double hookup on two of these critters - both around 1m the last time we went for a drift chasing flatties.. I guess you can have confidence that your baits are in the strike zone at least.

The Broken Bay FAD is definitely still there - was on it yesterday - it is around 2 miles south of where it used to be. You can get the mark here; http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recrea.../fads/locations

Nice day out! I was wide out of Broken Bay on Sunday but 22 degree water from Lion Island out to the bait grounds (around 33 k's out).. Couldnt get the temp gauge to budge all morning! I was experimenting with a bunch of new lures and quite happy with the setup now - looking forward to getting back out there. The Broken Bay FAD was a carpark at 8am on Sunday morning - the only fish I saw landed were some smaller dollies taken on squid strips from a fish trap near the FAD. I really need to invest in something (website membership?) or someway to track the water temps and current to save on fuel! Anyone with any suggestions??

Wow what a fish!! Caught in the daytime on a SP!!!! Contrasts with the cold wet nights sitting under the rail bridge in the Hawkesbury waiting for hours and pulling in eel after eel!! Well done!!!

Really appreciate that Warnie. Will be out there this coming Sunday and will be sure to give them a shot. Cheers Andy

Great topic for those new to the blue stuff (including me) .. I would be interested in any bait station marks out of Broken Bay if anyone is keen to share?!! Have been stuck on land the last two weeks - cant wait to get out there again!!!

I have been using Aussie Plait rather than Bimini as it is so much easier to tie (and is the one detailed on Between the Lines) - which is stronger?? Apologies for hijacking but it seemed relevant to the thread. Cheers AL

There are lobbies on just about every headland - places like Long Reef etc... You will need to don a mask and snorkel and work on the freediving technique. A few friends of mine fish with spears and regularly supplement their catch with a few lobsters. They are definitely out there but it is bloody hard to get them.