garfield28

Hey Rick, how was the water colour while you were out in the arvo? In the morning it seemed to be like a lime sort of colour. Not sure if shut them down while we were out there. Cheers Geoff

Nice fish Rick. You're pretty keen mate being out there now!! You deserve fish that good.

Nice fish boys. Beautiful Port Stephens put on a stunner of a day today.

Thanks Rick, and you're not wrong mate.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone. I bought a new relay, and for now it appears the it's all fixed. Thanks guys, appreciate it. Geoff

Did that Rick... Originally I could only get the motor to go up not down, so I swapped the switched over last night, and when I did it would only go down not up. Cheers mate. Just sent you a PM Antony.

I should mention it all coincided with my pulling the battery terminals the day before. I pulled them off and tried to clean the lead ends up a bit, not sure what they're made of but they seemed a bit discolored, so run over them with a metal brush.... not sure if that could have anything to do with it, as all of my other electrics, sounder, stereo, lights etc seem to be working fine. Thanks Geoff

Thanks smasher... and $50-$80 would be OK... any more and the handbrake might make me sell! I'll give it a go Hateanchors, cheers mate. Thanks for that info fishingrod. Mate when you say a automotive parts store, which would be the most likely you think? As the motor is going up but not down, Is it possible to switch the relays over so that the up is down, and the down is up to determine if the down relay is no good... can that be done? Or is there another way I can test to see if the relay is no good so that I don't buy new ones if I don't need them. Thanks Geoff

G'day all, I have a Mercury Saltwater series 125 out board and it has just stated out of nowhere giving me problems with the tilt and trim. Started yesterday at first I got to the boat ramp and when I tried to tilt my motor up from the forward controls there was nothing. I went to the back of the boat and tried to do it from the actual motor but same thing. Anyhow left it down and got the boat on the trailer and went home. At home it come good and started to go up with no dramas, but now it will go up all the time but will only every now and then go down. A few times I'd have to go up to get it to go down, but mainly it just will only go down intermediately. The batteries are good, when I press the button either on the forward controls or on the outboard itself, there's no clicking, no drowsey flat sound, its just completely dead not making any noise and just not responding. I think mine is a 91 year of manufacture, and just hopeful there is a few things any of you can guide me on checking to rectify the problem. Thanks Geoff

Thanks BN. Yeah I just decided to have a look at them and if they needed changing I would do it, luckily I chose Sunday to do it. Thanks Frank, I hope you're well mate. HaHaHa me and B1. I like to drift or tie up to structures :-) I'm surprised my bearing didn't wait until I was with you somewhere and then it goes... something usually gives out on me when I'm with you. Hopefully sooner rather then later, and next time we catch fish and I don't forget, lose or stuff something up! Cheers

Cheers Antony

Thanks for the ID I had thought EP myself but wasn't sure.

G'day Raiders, Just a quick report from this arvo. Did some bearing maintenance on the trailer this morning, and just as well I did as one side had water inside it and the small bearings were just about to give way! anyhow I was keen for a fish after finishing the bearings, so my 2 sons and I headed out to Raymond Terrace/Hunter River for a fish, was originally gonna go around soldiers point around 1-ish but gave it a miss because the wind was up and was probably gonna find it hard, so thought I'd go the river instead in the hope it was a bit more secluded from the wind. Got in the water later then we wanted as I can never stick times ? so was nearly 5 by the time the boat hit the water. We just drifted the whole time and found quite a few fish showing on the sounder. My eldest son gets a good bite and when he sees it near the boat he screams for me to get the net, I was a bit slow and he didn't have his drag set correctly and one flap with the tail he loses what he predicts to be a 80+ cm flatty.... Snapped him off at the leader. Didn't appear to do much at first but as soon as it saw his rough head it bolted! We caught a few soapies all around 30 to 40 CMS which were good fun, my youngest son then caught a bream which he was wrapped in and then just before we left I have a decent bite and it took off straight for a snag. As there was a bit of wind still where we were we did drift quite quickly, so I reversed back to where it snagged me and I somehow got it back out. I'm no fish expert but is it a bass? Picture attached. Was good to get out and catch a few fish and wet a line. No keepers for the table again for us, but hopefully next time. Thanks for reading Geoff

The man loves his fishing!!

Thanks for the replies men. I wouldn't mind a thing that can pump for you, as I'm useless at syphoning

Hi all, My boat has been out of action for a bit over 12 months long story, but more to do with my trailer than my actual boat. Anyway, I have tha all sorted now and in the next few weeks I hope to be back on the water and have a few questions. Seeing its been sitting there so long I'm going to try and get all of the fuel out that has been sitting in it the whole time before I start it.... would anyone know of an easy effective way of doing this properly also please? I was also wondering if I should take the bearings off and check them, even though they were just done prior to her sitting there, but I don't know and wanted to check if it is something that should be done after it hasn't been moved in so long. If there are any other things I should check or do prior to kicking her or over - or moving the trailer from the spot it has been for pretty much 14 moths solid, I would love to hear them and really appreciate any tips. I currently have both batteries on the charge and have cleaned her out as she was filthy! Thanks Geoff

Thanks Scratchie, yeah it certainly has been a while, still trying to get my boat sorted so I can get her out and about beautiful PS.... HaHaHa yeah the boy is a banana but he's improving. Thanks BN, yeah that's for sure mate just one of those really memorable days.

Hi all, Went to the Hawkesbury river with my son, brother and nephew on good Friday, and not expecting the fishing to be too good in light of all the rain we've had but seeing the trip was planned some weeks ago, we all decided to stick to the plan to go. Met the brother and his son at the ramp at 5.30 am. First stop was to go pump some nippers, so off we went to our spot and got a bucket full in no time, then a while doing a drift near the wreck, the boys were setting their rods up while cooked egg and bacon rolls for breaky. It didn't take long after the first cast the the nephew was onto a good size flatty of 45 cm, next one in the water was my son who pulled up tight on another Flathead keeper. It went a little quiet for a short time so we moved spots and instantly were rewarded. The nephew was onto a stonker of a flatty easily 70cm + but lost it at the boat. Next thing my rod peels off line and stops, I wonder if I've hooked a log on the fast drift or if I have a fish, I wind in and the line is tight and heavy but nothing points towards a fish, but then this thing just goes bezerk and starts thrashing its head, I take my time with the drag set to get it in and after a short while up comes this monster Flathead easily 90cm I reckon, I know straight away with my light gear I'm more then likely not going to land it, but I got her real close to the boat and she just goes ban, bang with her head and back to the depths of the river.... was going to be my trophy fish for sure, was never going to keep her but would have been lovely to get a couple of pics with that big beautiful beast. After that let down we moved back and started our drift again and proceeded to catch more Flathead all of legal length but seeing my brother doesn't like eating fish, only catching them (weirdo) and my son and I had enough for a feed we were just catching and releasing. My brother catches a good size bream 43 cm which he was going to let go but for some reason it's guts came out of its bum hole not sure why or what was going on there, but we decided to taker it home for the oven. My my nephew cathes another good size flatty which again bust him at the boat and then I catch another big flatty that this time I land in the boat... she is easily my PB fish let alone Flathead and in all the excitement and me wanting to do the right thing and get a quick pic and then let her go, I didn't even measure her. I reckon she was mid 70's maybe more but as I said I didn't measure her, just got a couple of quick snaps and then watched her gracefully swim away to one day give someone else the thrill she gave me. All in all, was a top day, easily one of my most enjoyable on the water. Great weather, great fishing and great company. My young bloke has his P's and drove back to beautiful Port Stephnes whiched allowed his old man to enjoy a few nice cold ales while out on the majestic Hawkesbury. Thanks for reading Geoff

Great report Jeff, glad I didn't see that white pointer, I'd sh@t myself even if I was in a big boat! . Was that Taylors beach where the kids got the whiting? Some good size whiting Baz, Second Jeff's thoughts mate, once you're up and settled you'll fall in love with the place. My family and I only moved up 2 years ago, it hasn't all been roses, I left a wonderful job I had for 17 years and the kids all started new schools etc. Scratchie is your man for fishing up here, but If I can answer any questions for you of my experiences on just recently moving up and resettling - or how we have adapted etc just send me a PM and I'd be more then happy to help or answer where I can mate. Hope it all goes well for you and your family, and you have no regrets - which I'm sure you won't.

Thanks heaps for that I'll give it a crack and let you know how I got on.

Hi Paddy, mate it's the same all the time, I barely used the pick up and the thing to the right is a LED light

Hi mate, yours seems to sit lower then mine and there is a strake there, I thought that was a no no spot to install them? You get any help from someone in the know or just read the instructions and self installed? I went out on Sunday so I taped it down a bit lower and I still had problems. I did notice it was rooster tailing quite bad so not sure what that tells me if anything.

A couple more

Here are some pics of my transducer if anyone can maybe see some issues with where it's located I'd love some advice. Thanks Geoff

Thanks for that I'll check it out. I'll get a pic of the transducer too and post it on here. I am not an experienced sounder user but I'm over the problems I've had with this unit, I don't know if it's just me but I know a couple of guys who seem to just get on the water and never have issues with theirs, one I know is a HDS model but for the $1300 I paid for my unit when it first came out I'm very disappointed to say the least!