SquidMarks

from my experience, the heart of the fish continues to pump after i have spiked it so when i spike then cut its 'throat' to bleed, the heart goes ahead and pumps away all the blood still.

I have had bonito sashimi from a 75cm bonito down to 30cm bonito, they are all great sashimi! (my favoorite fish to sashimi actually!) All excellent advice for ensuring quality sashimi there! I might add that i spike/kill the fish as soon as its caught and then go through the procedures mentioned above (bleeding, icing, filleting as mentioned by letsgocrabing and treating the flesh as mentioned by flatheadluke) I believe it helps with the flavor of the flesh as a struggling bonito is quite lively and must produce some hormones which do change the final taste of the sashimi!

you need ot be measuring that sort of stuff mate!!! Well done!

We would get growled and scratched all the time catching the little feisty buggers (for local population research/tagging purposes). Koalas can be really vicious despite their calm and chilled out appearance!

Found the thread (and relevant page) just so you dont haveto Lee! http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=79115&page=3

Hi Lee, i have since replaced the floor with 4mm marine grade ally sheets with regupol. (the ally platewere about half the price of sourcing hdpe though i believe the hdpe would be the better option). I have used regupols 2 part adhesive. The floor does flex a little with the 4mm aluminium plate but i never need to replace the floor again so all in all im happy! i have another post with the whole pricess on here, just dig around the last couple of pages.

so wheres this new spot then eh mate? Just joking! Great feed there, it feels good finding your own little patch when it produces! well done!

where would i find longnose point crazydave?

Thanks Spudly, thats the kinda info i need! The fish as far as i know are around the corner from the peninsula.. (going to try and target the kingfish).

Hi guys, Im hoping to do some fishing in JB over the summer holidays (will be towing my boat down there) and as i have never fished JB before im wondering if there is any sort of special etiquette (apart fro normal boating/fishing etiquette) i need to be aware of regarding the royal navy etc? I am aware of the marine sanctuary zones and that i need to stay well clear of point perpendicular around the tubes so the LBG fishos can have a go, but how does it work with the navy? do they ever close down parts of the bay for training or is there any other infor i might need to be aware of? How much room do the blokes at the tubes need (can i fish say, 500m from the shore there etc?) or do i just take an extra wide berth around the place (im guessing if im getting pelted with sinkers im too close? ) Also, are there other areas i need to be aware of etc?

I think you might have better luck approaching a chain store rather than a sole owner business as you will find most often that owners tend to look after their own stores and find it hard to relinquish the responsibility to someone else (even family let alone someone who wants to get paid!). Having said that, nothing is impossible so unless you ask you will never know.

Wow.................... I love rock fishing but always use safe practice when doing so. I have had the unfortunate experience of almost seeing a rock fisherman drown of snapper point. me and the missus were bushwalking and stopped at the ledge above the point to watch a couple of rock fishermen. The waves were breaking hard over the point now and then but these guys just insisted on staying on and braving it out with a rising tide. I mean, the commemorative plaque naming all the dead fishermen and the life rings positioned over the point just doesn't deter people! Long story short, a wave swept a guy in (who was not wearing a life jacket, nor suitable shoes and turned his back to the water to rig up). I had to grab the life rings and throw them down to his mate so he could throw them to him but at this point the wash was taking this guy away and he couldn't get the rings close enough to him, meanwhile my wife is on the phone to 000 and the rescue chopper had been deployed. pure luck had it that the guy was not swept onto the nearby rocks and managed to swim around to the small beach (he was a pretty strong swimmer), meanwhile the rescue chopper made it there in 10 mins flat hovering 50 m from us looking for the bloke (an excellent response time in my opinion considering all the steps involved in mobilizing said chopper to a location such as that, my hats off to the people who work there). The bloke was buggered when he made it onto the beach, he walked up, packed up the gear with his mate and walked off... no thanks, nothing.... Im just glad i didnt see a person die on that day.

Agree 100% Holls on all points, but if i may add..... Salmon are horrible frozen/defrosted. Fresh they are excellent treated using your method (bceah caught, bled and iced with the red flesh removed)

shhhhhhhhh luderick... RNP is HORRIBLE to fish off.. dont go there guys, only kelpfish around!

welst, the aluminium is actually heavier than the ply but not much. the regupol on top is what adds on the extra weight. (i bought 7m2 and it probably weighed around 30 kg) Thanks for the kind words NaCl and Ric, im really happy with the product too!

thanks spudly but the job is done! (what a weekend!) Not sure about the shinyness antony? Its 4mm 5083 plate aluminium and it was delivered on Thursday (plus at that point i had not prepsoled the sheets so they still had their oil residue?) I found out that Regupol is mega grippy! I tried to slide the batteries back into position and the things would not budge on the regupol. For those people wondering if there is any flex... yes there is, its only on the main 2 sheets but i cant say its more than what the old ply used to flex. Here are some photos of the finished product (havent had time to clean up yet so the floor is a bit dirty as you might spot in the photos). Time to put this job to bed and never think about the boat floor again! (not with rot, or scrubbing crappy carpet or cursing dropping a hook or a pack of hooks and wrestling to get them back from the carpet!)

Update: All the ally sheet has been cut to size and the regupol has been stuck on as of yesterday 11:30pm (huge day!) Hopefully today we can add on the extra support and screw the floor back down and that should be it! here are some photos of yesterday half way through the job (cutting and fitting floor pieces) I will upload more photos when the job is done so people considering this option in the future can see how it turns out.

i understand what you are saying koala, but it sill brings the discussion back to my point... " As for undersized fish being deeply hooked, the inherent problem of gut hooking an undersized mulloway has been discussed here before. They are known for their high mortality rate regarding catch and release, especially from being deep hooked but the law states that we must throw them back so we do. And we need to put on our conservation hats here, because if we did not throw these fish back then this excuse of 'a fish was deep hooked and would not have survived anyway' could be used to allow unscrupulous fishermen to keep their otherwise illegal catch. " Changing laws to allow fishermen to keep undersized fish because of gut hooking or poor recovery rates will lead to abuse of the system and this is why i believe we still must return all fish which are not legal to the water with as little damage as possible.

Ditto, If i cant get the hook without resulting in the poor fish or mouth performing weird contortions then i cut the line as close as possible and release. As for hooks following the food chain (the fish with the hook getting eaten by another predator), With the use of high carbon hooks they tend to rust out fairly quickly in a marine environment so i dont think there will be too much collateral damage there. Which makes me wonder, why do we still have stainless steel hooks available for fishing (i understand there's a saving to be had because the hooks will last longer, but if we wanted to save money we would sell the boat and get our fish from the fishmonger). As for undersized fish being deeply hooked, the inherent problem of gut hooking an undersized mulloway has been discussed here before. They are known for their high mortality rate regarding catch and release, especially from being deep hooked but the law states that we must throw them back so we do. And we need to put on our conservation hats here, because if we did not throw these fish back then this excuse of 'a fish was deep hooked and would not have survived anyway' could be used to allow unscrupulous fishermen to keep their otherwise illegal catch.

the floor (ally sheet with regupol attached) will be screwed down to the stringers just as the previous floor was and will be completely removable.

Ok, Hopefully the photos make a bit more sense. The photo without the editing shows the floor layout. The second photo shows where the angle will be attached for additional support and also circles the fuel tank angles used to support the tank on the stringers. That means that the angle used on the sides of the stringers (which will be added) will line up horizontally with the angles used to support the tank, angles will be added to both ends of stringers. I will also be placing some support rubber between the stringers and the ally sheet.

as for the floor.. im going reugpol.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Im not looking to weld anything still, the angle will be screwed down (i guess it will all make sense once i upload a few photos). As for the stringers, quintrex use angle to support the under floor fuel tank. That is, the angle is tack welded onto the tank and sits on the stringers which are pop riveted in, so that means that when laying sheet or ply, the sheet sits on the angle... ill take a few photos and it will make more sense...

Just for anyone still following this thread after all the bickering. I had a sample of 3mm ally sheet and used it to check for flex. It held together and but showed deflection with both feet placed between a stringer so decision has been made to go for the 4mm aluminium plate 5083. That should be more than enough. Also, the stringers used to support the deck on the quintrex do not extend up to the gunwale but end about an inch from the boats sides. I have also bought some 4mm aluminium angle to join the stringers to add additional support on the outside. I might take a photo or 2 to explain what i mean later on.

But if i need to replace the ply 2-3 times over the life of the boat then it would end up being cheaper going the ally in the long run... (and not having to redo a job every 7-10 years).