Zacnoel

Long tail off Sydney, the up side of global warming

Hi Another option is to purchase a decent quality solar charger. My rig is a bit bigger than yours and runs duel batteries and that should give one a little more confidence and as such in my case complacency sets in, and we all know what happens then. After replacing a couple of batteries. I thought I would use a good quality battery saver/charger and that would be the solution. I went out one morning to check the boat and how the charging was going only to find that the charger wiring loom was just a molten mess with little or no insulation left. I still don't understand how it didn't catch fire. As such I am not a big fan of leaving 240v trickle chargers connected 24/7'.That's just my opinion I then started looking at solar chargers. I eventually ended up fitting two 20w regulated panels. A little over the top just to top up the batteries some might say but also it rams in a bit of juice when your out on the water . As long as there is daylight the batteries are charging . The regulators have led displays that tell you the charge condition of the battery in question and touch aluminum/ wood they have been working a treat for two years now. Solar panels can be hard wired/mounted or portable. I'm not sure but the guys at Roadrunner may be able to help . I personally wouldn't go back to any other type of charger. And at the moment anyway there is no tax on sunshine.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/regulations/fw/illegal See the above link under the section bait . This is specific to NSW

Perhaps in NSW it's seen as a type of control mechanism. If people target carp as a bait source , it places more preasure on the noxious species and is seen as a positive (as long as the carp is dead) . But I do agree that there should be some form of uniform legislation between states

Just had a look on the NSW dpi. Site and it seems to be legal . Under the section " prohibited methods and activities" sub section "Bait" it states. You are not permitted to use non native fish or parts thereof whether alive or dead, other than dead carp I think the key word here is dead

When we fish for squid in the early morning ( pre sunrise) I now always turn on the flood light on the rear of my boat cabin. I never did in the past but can say without doubt that my catch rate is higher with the light on

I can't say I have tried but I have heard the same thing

Hi - I too have the same unit. Although mine hasn't seen much use I have seen countless units on the road with the same problem making me a little uncomfortable about the motors longevity. I will follow this post as I feel a solution may be useful to me in the future - good luck

No issue dude - I made the same comment in an earlier post and was hold that there is no preasure present in a bait tank. See the third and fourth posts

Did someone say preasure ?

Zip bait " skinny pop" in the yellow 020A colour absolutely slays the whiting down my way

If using Kiola ramp be sure to be back and on the trailer before the wind picks up - can get a bit exciting loading your boat sometimes depending on how many bodies you have to lend a hand

No Worries Dez AS you say even a bad fishing day is still a nice day out at JB

Huey, Does the 135HO have the bigger gear box ?

I stand corrected Huey, it is 2000 rpm, another consideration is that the 135HO is built on the same platform as the 150 and 200 hp V6, or so I'm told by my dealer, this surely should lead to a longer life considering that you are running the block capacity to the lower end and not working to its max output.

They technically don't , but for the first 5 hours that the engine runs at 3000 rpm or over the engine management system double doses the the oil mix. And I would think any brand new motor will loosen up a little with use. Both of these issues can effect the overall fuel consumption to some degree. Also the 135 opti is a two stroke As for the moving parts, on an engine that was serviced annually I had the alternator bolt fatigue and snap. This was a $1500 dollar repair on two occasions. I also had the bolts that hold the high pressure pump fail causing damage to the rear engine cover and the block. Potential repair bill 4-5k. Less moving parts has to be better In saying all of this I am not plugging execs, just just observing the outcomes of my experiences with two different motors

Hi Stanton 44 I've just had to do the same thing to my boat. I have a 6.2 Trailcraft and I was running a 99 model 135 Mercury Optimax. I swore that I would replace it with a four stroke but I have replaced it with the Evinrude 135 HO . When in play mode the hole shot is very much superior to the Mercury. Also the noise output is substantially less. At idle I need to check that it is actually running. On the run the Mercury was deafening, something to do with mercurys inability to quieten down the air pump I believe. The Mercury did have the edge in terms of top end speed but that could have been a matter of prop selection. At this point I can't really comment on the fuel economy of the etec as I am still in the run in stage. But it's looking good. I fished jervis bat the other day and used 12.5 liters. I didn't check distance travelled but we were out for 5hours Another advantage of the etec over the opti is that there is nothing hanging off the motor to go wrong i.e. No separate alternator, no air pumps and as such no drive belts to fail.this may be true of other motors as well In all a very tidy package, and yes a sexy looking beast.

Hi gully 27 My suggestion would be to replace the Perspex with Lexan , they are identical in appearance but with Lexan you can bend it in a vice or clamp and it will hold its shape. You can even belt it with a hammer and it won't break. It's tougher than Perspex and more maliable. If you purchased the perspex from a polycarbonate supplier they should be able to help. I'm not sure of the price difference but if you have to keep replacing the Perspex well ............$? . Also the tank looks quite large, I'm guessing between 80 and 100 liters, that's a fare bit of water preasure trying to get out, it may be as simple as the 5mm being to thin and the constant flexing and bulging of the Perspex as the boat moves is creating fatigue. As you would know, bend a piece of Perspex too far and it will snap or crack. Maybe 10mm is the go - good luck

Hi angry ant, yes two weeks ago they were on fire and we were picking them Up in 15m also. I had the down digger set between 15 and 20 this time also with no result. I received a call from some friends who were out wider on Monday . They were hooking up on metre plus kings at the banks And yes MV Sunray they will be very tasty, thanks for the replies

I'm jealous just reading about it

Hi Guys Fished jervis bay and surrounds yesterday with the intent of chasing a few Kings We were on the water before six and chasing bait, got a few squid and a selection of slimies and yakkas We headed straight for the cliffs below point perpendicular and fished here for about two hours with no joy. The area was dead ,even the same live squid bait kept coming up untouched At this point we saw some birds working about 2 miles out, so out went some lures but no luck. We then trolled south to wide of steamers beach , still no good. We now hit the bottom with some baits, when over the reefy areas we couldn't lose a bait. Things were looking grim. But the the humble flatly came to our rescue, once over sand we managed 10 each between the two of us and one Morwong. Water temps were ranging from 19 up to 22 degree over quite a small area. The water was really dirty and green , you lost sight of your bait after less than a metre. There was a healthy NE swell all day and when the wind picked up in the afternoon the sea got very messy.

Yep ,Kelp fish

Hi In the picture 1 , its not soft weed but a soft bottom. The sounder is powerful enough to travel through the various bottom subtrate and then return the signal to the sounder In picture 2 , you are correct the sounder is only converting a signal hit to a picture of a fish . As you say this could be three pieces of weed or three fish In pic 3 , what I think you are seeing is the bottom profile. The change from a purple bottom to a yellow bottom is just a change in bottom density, that is it may be the difference between silt and sand. To the left you can see what looks like weed growing on the sandy bottom then the bottom coming up a rise. Pic 4 , really hard to say Pic 5 , again you are correct , it is bottom structure and due to the darker colour it is slightly different density from the rest of the bottom Interpreting sounder info can be realy difficult. as Chopper has pointed out most manuals are available online Good luck

Soaking a bait is great but you know how it is ,your sitting there thinking gee its quiet. So you wind in and blow me down no bait on the hook. Hmmm how long has it been like that At least with plastic/ poppers etc I know when I am in the zone 100% of the time and I know it's working. As for success rates between the two , well Ryder was right - it is a big packet of wrigglers / worms , whatever!!

If they are on the chew then poppers are great . I've been having success with the jet popper and the halco roosta