wazza69

Just putting it out there for any suggestions on a replacement windscreen to a 4 year old Quintrex freedom cruiser , 3 piece windscreen. The original dealer, Hunts Marine are anything but a " service department" , so third party supplier looks like the way to go. Any recommendations ?

Your not on your own finding the Hacking difficult in recent months. Me personally, I like to live bait with poddies near the drop offs or other similar structure, but lately its been difficult. I have found that in the absence of rain, the Hacking is visually spectacular, but doesn't fish as well. A little bit of rain, and the following weeks I tend to do better.

I would like to see similar tests done of fish and associated marine life in Botany Bay, and effects on them after it was revealed that Orica had admitted to contaminating ground water found in the subterrainean aquifer under the suburb of Botany. Their budget for the three year " pump and suck " clean up program was initially 100 million dollars, apparently this was revised upwards after 15 months ! Needless to say, I don't fish the bay anymore. Would also be interested in similar science research of the Georges River, particularly since the federal government approved their licence request to release water from the tailings dams ( ie water that is not stable or fit for human contact.....) into the Georges River from the BHP colliery near Appin.

Always use Grays Point, easy launch , easy retrieve. A little busy on a good weather day. On a disappointing note though, prior to xmas had my 6 metre trailer attached to the rear of the 4wd. On return, it was obvious due to the damage to the trailer hitch lock, that serious attempts were made to remove it and steal the trailer. They didn't succeed thankfully. Car park was about half full on the day - plenty of choice ! If this happens to you, report it to the Police and get an event number from them. By getting an event number, you are assured the attempted theft is on the database and when these stats start trending up for a given area, you get police attention down there by way of regular patrols. Keep an eye out when your down there on others trailers too. See anything suspicious, call the police, don't give these grubs the benefit of the doubt. Let the Cops do that. For the record, the anti theft device was a standard steel over the hitch type with padlock. It was twisted, mangled and didn't look pretty, but it held its ground and worked fine.

I know the feeling mate. I've been doing the lure thing in the hacking myself over summer and have to say, its nowhere near productive as it once was. I used to clean up down there. I have no idea why. It could be me, it could be wind, tide , weather, water quality, the list goes on. When I do succeed on lures, its been on small hardbody shallow divers, fished in water less than 3 feet deep, and always over light weed or directly adjacent too it. In deeper water, and by deeper I'm talking 8 to 12 feet, the good old fashioned chrome wonder wobbler worked a treat - - - if the fish are there ! Other than that, apart from this summer, I have previously had success using Allen's snakes. That's the Allen's snakes ( lollies ) commonly bought in Woolies or the local servo. Yep, I can hear you laughing. I was too, until I watched a Forster local pull Flatties with reasonable frequency from under the Forster Tuncurry bridge with them about 10 years ago. I now always have a pack of them in the boat as a ' backup '. No fancy braided lines or other " marketed " products either. Simple 6lb mono. Yep, I lose a few, but since going light, I tend to get more hook-ups than I used too. The two sons, ( teens ) , stuff around throwing poppers in water 1 foot deep, and so far, they are the ones that have the best success. Biggest flattie and biggest whiting were caught in water no more than 12 inches deep, on a weekday, with no boating traffic by a kid not even looking to where he was casting.................. I fish pretty simple, don't spend a fortune on lures etc. Most are bought from Big W or K mart. No big name brands here ! The only lures bought from a tackle store were the squid jigs. The way I figure it, the manufacturers / retail outlets can put all the marketing money into they want, it doesn't necessarily make it a better product than the $7.00 lure bought from Big W. After all, the wheel was invented over a century ago, and they still make them round today, in the same way I fish like my grandfathers did before me. Simple ! Cheers Wazza

Thank god ! I thought it was just me. Have not been able to raise a decent fish from the hacking or bate bay in the last two summers. I love the place, the clean water , river formations etc. but where are the damn fish ? Plastics, live poddies, yakka fillets and it's just not working. Cheaper alternative per result I think is to haul the boat upto nelson bay or forster once a month for a better return on dollars spent.