Mik

Greg won't understand that post mate, it has the words LOW SPEEDS in it!

Yes they do. Here's how I do it though perhaps others have another method, this works for me. Grab an appropriate sized bean sinker (Sized by skirts internal head size) Use the hook to punch a small hole in the top & then thread leader through that hole. Then thread the bean sinker onto the leader & then push it into the skirt right up to the head. Now tie your hook on & you're set. You can troll them or cast them, depending on what you need. PS - if the sinker proves too heavy & you can't get it ontop of the water (Where I have found it works best) try a large plastic bead. Basically its only to stop the hook pulling through anyway but the sinkers have been spot on for me.

Mate I'm actually planning an offshore trip before end of Feb maybe early March. Things are a little tight at the moment so I have to wait & see. I will give you guys a call before my plans get finalised.

Good job on the T&R mate, those things don't BBQ too well So how's the new weapon mate? Is Splinters up there yet? Hope you guys see some serious action, I'm crushed I couldn't get up there.

Yeah me too! On my own with 52cm fat Yella Belly thrashing around like a kid on red cordial sitting on an anthill & the net tangled around lure and rod holder and of course bloody side cutters about 2 inches from my grasp.....OUCH!

Hey mate I have no idea where you should mount your electric as I don't own one & know bugger all about them, however, on the burley masher, don't think of it as such a big deal to lose that altogether. I have a muncher but I won't be using it much in future after buying a weighted burley pot / cage. It really is the best thing since sliced bread. What I really love about it is that you can position it anywhere in the water column you like, right near the boat to distribute just like the masher does, right on bottom to release burley up current from my baits thus putting my baits right in the zone where fish are getting excited about whats on offer or anywhere in between. As far as I can see the only thing I'll miss about the masher is that I can drop pillies & any dead yakkas etc straight in & munch them up, but the cage puts out burley so much better especially if you use the pellets. I have started making my own frozen burley now that fits neatly into the cage & yeah its a pain but I figure its worth the effort to get quality burley distribution. That's my thoughts anyway, just sounded like you might be a bit sad to lose your masher. You can always go a weighted bomb & save the masher for suitable offshore work or other types of fishing where the electric isn't required.

Nice one, well done to you both. Hodgey for his time & efforts in helping out a keen fisho, brilliant mate that's what this world needs more of. And well done to you to Rob for firstly having the guts to put your hand up & say "Help" and secondly for getting amoungst them with your new found techniques. I'm sure it won;t be long before we see some great catches in your posts.

You simply can't post something like this without a picture....otherwise it leaves us to our imagination. See I'm thinking something like Now seriously, wait for it....wait....wait......wait then...................BOOM! Insane. So you could get to your fishing in around 0.5 seconds but your decky will probably still be somewhere between middle head & parramata C'mon, give us a preveiw of the insanity you're about to undertake, if for no other reason that for us to tell you how crazy you are.

Ummm, mate the mice have found a batch of steroids somewhere, turned into things only very large Murray Cod could get their mouths around!! I duplicated a tiping tube trap into a bucket, only on a large scale in a 44 gallon drum for my shed, feckers are getting into the boat again. I haven't caught one yet but its just a matter of time till I get the trap fine tuned, then all I need to worry about is how much an industrial freezer will set me back so I can transport the buggers to Brooklyn for us....... Oh my God, just had a vision of the monster Jewies we'd catch on that bait Thanks Dicko, sounds a bit too complex for me & my goldfish

I'm no expert here, others may correct me on this or at least clarify it, but I am pretty sure Awowana's are related to & very similar looking to the Sarotoga. Sarotoga can & are kept in aquariums but I would think it would be a fairly dedicated owner for these fish as they sound pretty hard to keep.

I use a good ol blender for my burley (Actually only started last week, bought an $80 one & blew it up trying to blend old squid, lesson, squid REALLY strains the blender when it wraps around the blades ) Bought a cheaper one $54 & as long as I use enough water, no squidlys & do it in bursts, adding frames, heads etc slowly, it works a treat. As for the quantities your talking about a mincer would probably be better. I mixed up mine in 90mm PVC downpipe with screwed ends at a length suitable to get two lots of cylinderical frozen burley into my weighted burley bomb cage. (IE one PVC tube holds enough to fill cage twice) I guestimate they would be about 1.5 to 2 litres. I added chook laying pellets coz I have found that if you freeze liquids only (With frames etc in the mix obviously) then the bomb takes too long to melt / disperse, so adding the chook pellets after I've blended the gorey stuff makes it a more friable or break-open-able type mix if that makes sense. I use tuna oil, tuna bricks, anything tuna like & whatever I've got left over from bait. I also do mix quite alot of water in to enable the blending since I've been doing the bulk mixes but I don't think that will make any difference to the effectivness of the burley as there is a nice thick brew of disgusting gunk in there, any self respecting fish that can't smell that in the water from 400 miles is probably in a frying pan anyway. It took me about 1.5 hours to blend it all & get it into the tubes, will post some pics later of the setup. Given that some of my bait was frozen, thawed, re-frozen & then left in a sealed bucket in an old fridge for a week part of the time to do this job must be an allowance for the good ol and of course recovery time, time to get beer & settle stomach, time to have a smoke & ponder "Is this really worth it?" etc etc. So if you've got a stomach like the inside of a cement mixer you'd probably do this in about 15 minutes PS - The blender handled two large mullet, medium to large slimeys & several horse yakkas but I did cut them into smaller bits first, about 2 inch cubes.

It's dang easy Billy Joe....

Hey mate do you use pre-bought casts for the DR bombs or make your own? If pre-bought where do you get them?

I use the improved albright on 6lb Braid to 10 lbs mono through to 50lbs Braid & 80 lbs mono & haven't had any slip or give. The trick with the improved albright is to wrap the braid evenly & close, then pull down progressivly & evenly. Also, try getting into the habit of trimming all mono on all knots at an angle of 45 degree instead of straight, this sounds like a nothing solution but it does make a difference to the flexibility of the tag ends & aid with preventing it catching on anything. Slim beauty is a nice knot too.

Great pics Ray, wonder what they'd look like on a slow shutter speed?

I've had a couple let go like Slinky mentioned, using cheap hooks just doesn't equate to fish on deck. I've learnt my lesson the hard way & now use only Gamakastu or Owner on my live bait rigs (And most of my others too) but it still pays to check as Slinky said, even top brands fall short on the gap of the eye sometimes. Byron will tell you I'm a fan of sliding snells & I reckon I'm pretty good at tying them too, but I have to say I do like Byrons special twin hook knots after he educated this young fella.

check your pms mate.

I does depend on your sounder I think, mine shows the bomb but if I'm using a light weighted bomb, like say 3Lbs & my boat speed &/or current are holding the bomb out back a bit or to the side then the transducer won't pick it up. To check if your sounder picks it up, drop it when you're stationary first, make sure the line is vertical & that its directly under the boat / transducer, then you should see a solid line at the same depth constantly, wind it up or down & if it moves on your sounder then you knwo for sure thats your bomb.

Just my humble opinion mate (And there are plenty more experienced guys here to give you info...but) why spend the amount of money we do on electrical instruments like sounders & not use them. It took me nearly 18 months to get what I consider to be a good feel for my sounder (keeping in mind I am country based & don't fish nearly as much as I'd like too) What I've learnt from studying my sounder is that it really helps to take in other factors when determining if the picture you see is what you're looking for. Looking for changes in water surface appearance, proximity to structures (Even if they are not in the immediate picture), water temp, signs of life like birds, surface activity etc will all help you to start making better informed decisions on which areas are worth stopping at & which ones should be left for another day. You've heard stories of guys (I've done & witnessed this myself) where there is a gathering of boats & no one seems to be hooking up, even though they are in the "General" area of interest, yet this one boat's crew members are screaming out for some physio after reeling in fish after fish..... the answer to this is a subtle difference that boat has picked up on & it may have been gleened from the sounder PLUS additional info the skipper calculated & used to make a good call. It could be positioning (Especially when anchoured) it may be rig type & bait used, direction of currents, but I'll bet the sounder had an initial if not continued role to play in the strike rate. You're on the right track in my opinion, now when you start to ID what type of fsih you're looking at you (And its confirmed by the catch) then you're well on your way to bagging out more often. I am still learning & continually try to think outside the box when it comes to sounder images & what could be there, think of your fishing trips not as a chance to catch a feed or score a PB but as an opportunity to learn a bit more each trip, succesful or not there are always lessons. Anyway, thats my 2 bob's worth, it might be short change to some or it might be gold, the only way for you to really know is to exploit all your tools available, especially the expensive ones. I often spend a considerable amount of time (Especially when I'm on my own) just sounding out the water below. If I've had a bit of luck with a few fish & they go off the bite I check the tides, if it looks like its coincided with tidal changes & I don't hook up for 20 mins I like to move & have a scout around, there is nothing better in the realms of fishing than to come across a productive patch that you have found that's not one of the "Regular Hot Spots" that the crowds are busily joslting for prime position on. Having a nice little slice of water to yourself that you determined might be a good place to try is pure ecstacy when your rod doubles over & you come up solid & thumping. Good luck. PS - one thing I always try to do (I say try coz in the excitement sometimes I forget my name, let alone things I should be doing other than fish) remember to study the sounder images when you do actually get some action. Look at whats going on down there & do your best to commit to memory the differences between a picture that sees you bring in 1000 pinkies & a picture that sees you haul a few hoods along with maybe signs of baitfish etc. PPS - and just to throw a spanner in the equation, I have been smashed big time when there is very little fish action on the sounder, but the thing that took me there was structure......

Awesome Slinky, simply brilliant info & detail, the pics are great too. Is there a chance that a Tiagra 50W might be showing up in these posts soon? Oh and Tyrnos 30, Spheros 8000, and and and .....

Hey folks I found this on the web (Looking for mouse traps funny enough) anyway, I think it possibly the best aquarium setup I've seen but I can't work out how they are able to keep the water in the top half, any ideas? On the mouse trap thing, I found this one amoung the search results....holy mother do these things hit fast or what!!! eating a mouse.....warning, some people might find this offensive if you love mice!!!

Might be worth trying the local tackle shops for a marine map. They have depth contours on them & other very useful features show like wrecks etc. Well worth the $ which isn't that much from memory. Sorry, can't help with the websites.

No no no, I don't wanna know ...................... Not fair......... Ah well, I guess if I can't be there in person then I'm there in spirit, hope everyone gets into them, but I still ain't happy Jan Good luck to all participants.

Ditto as above on the softer rods for squidding, also you didn't mention braid or mono. If your running braid try adding a few extra metres to your leader in mono (Top shot say about 3-4 metres & tie with an albright so if will handle the guides easily. I run this on a reasonably fast tapered rod with 6Lbs braid topshotted with 4 metres of 6Lb mono.Might just give you that extra bit of give your looking for. PS - this isn't setup only for squid, its my 6 year old sons rod & I ran braid coz I feel in love with it for flicking small plastic myself....hehehe now he has to get in quick to grab his own rod!

Nice report & well done, especially on the squid, from what I read you caught them on hooked rigs not squid jigs.......here's us spending $$$$$$$$$$$ on flashy jigs & your prawns are cleaning up. Excellent!