amkr

I run 98 in my 75HP. I run 98 in everything I own - even the lawnmower gets 98. I do this because if the fuel is sitting for a month then the rate of decay for 98 will put it somewhere around 91 anyway, if I started with 91 I'll end up somewhere lower.

Give or take a month for the fish to start holding. The Mahi follow the currents down, so if there isn't a warm water current pushing near the fad then they won't ever find it. Last season the Botany Fad was a dead zone, I made about 8 trips out for 0 and didn't hear of anyone else catching there either. I think that was partially attributed to the fact that it had been blown away 5 times and never stayed put long enough to hold fish.

Theres a guy in the states that does bonito skin on the inserts, it looks great - I reckon the dollies would look unreal though!

The moulds are usually flexible enough to pull them out. - lot of people make 2 piece moulds though so you seperate them up the middle.

You're a freak mate, I don't know what you're putting on those pilchards but you keep pulling up giant snapper!

I've used mine for throwing a halco twisty around, it's not going to explode on you but it's really not built for any kind of distance. As for bait fishing, I bottom bash for flathead with it No doubt there's better gear but I've found it works well and is still quite sensitive to flathead taps

rubbish for casting.

I use mine for everything, I've trolled for Bonnies with it

B164 Would do you well, but its not a chirp transducer (Airmar don't have many Thru-Hull chirp's) - otherwise something like the a B265LH, it sticks out of the hull through so not ideal for a trailer boat. Ideally a through hull version of the TM267LH would be perfect. Another option to look at is the Simrad S2009 or S2016, they are dedicated sounders (no nav but have 1KW output onboard so you don't need the BSM). Link that up with an NSS7 for maps and it might come out a bit cheaper than going about it the other way.

If you're running 1kw you'll need the bsm to run it at it's potential, the nss range can't output 1kw You'll also want a bsm if you're planning to use chirp functions properly. It will operate direct off the nss, and there's a good chance you'll never have an issue, it just won't be at its max potential.

Isn't it supposed to be the other way round - I think they come up higher during the night and dive deep during the day? I went to a talk on Daytime Swords with Richard Abella a while ago so my memory might be hazy

There seems to be 2 trains of thought on this - one is that it makes more 'noise' and attracts more attention. The other is that it moves too much and the marlin puts it in the too hard basket (additionally, more erratic movements give less hookups apparently). Who knows. Are the heads weighted?

nice, liked you on facebook too How big is the moth?

Hahahaha At $80 a pop for the good stuff, I can make my own and still put pennies aside for a collection of tiagras! I started doing it because I really liked the art in some of the Hawaiian stuff and decided I wanted to have a crack at it myself! Catching a Marlin on one I made this year is just going to be an added bonus!! Time wise it's not too bad, I think I spent under an hour on that blue bullet. Most of that time was because Im doing everything the hard way without Moulds and lathes.

They look great - I love the eye's you've got on your inserts! I haven't started adding inserts to mine yet.. mostly because I haven't had the time to set up a decent mould for it. Maybe I'll have a crack this weekend. I need to buy some pigments to get some colour into the heads - I've been experimenting with some different colourants and i'm getting very mixed results... I've cast mine into PVC and shaped & polished them on a bench grinder and drill press. The first one has no shape at all to it, I used a piece of PVC that was probably waay too small for anything practical. I coloured the resin with chalk shavings with absolutely no idea how it would turn out :/ I don't think this one will run very well, unweighted and a ridiculously aggressive slant but we will see I suppose - its about 5.5-6". This is another last minute experiment that I'm working on, on the left is a JB Little dingo for size comparison.

Awesome, I might weld up something similar - looks very effective. Is that insert a hex nut from Bunnings? I think Jim Rizzuto reccomended that in his book. Area casting them in silicone Moulds?

That bearing sounds like a good idea - have you got any more info on that?

I've been running mine in the drill press. Its slow going but it gets the job done.

5-8inch is the standard

People say the Japanese made ones are better, not sure if theres any truth to that. I do know that the malaysian made one is probably the newer of the 2.

I was out there Sunday too, with the forcast supposedly 2.6m swell I was planning to fish for squid. Instead I peered out at the heads and accidentally ended up at the peak. I think the weatherman had the forcast backwards! Botany is hard for squid, I never do well there - here's where I go though. 1 - Back the boat right up close to the rocks. burley hard and you'll be plagued with yakkas. 2 - Pull in next to the walkway and drift out to the middle, its deep here but it holds some squid. 3 - Between 4 and 6m of water through here, drift along and you'll cover some large weedy areas - you can go a bit further around the rocky areas to the east too. Just be careful of the rocks. I've heard of people doing well to the east of #3, other side of the oil wharf. Never tried there though.

I don't do too badly with the 2 stroke etec. Used about 55L cruising around the southern canyons. But 110 for heatons to the canyons is great!

I've got a few tuna theories which were partially confirmed by Chris from Ripcharts. I look more at the altimetry than the temp breaks. I believe they are more often found on that 0 line than at temp breaks. I've got a mate that went out last Sunday, picked a day that the charts looked friendly and headed out. Came home with 2 50 keggers!

Are you looking at charts and heading out to specific areas or just going out and seeing what's around?

Thats a big day of trolling!