will_l

Hey guys, I've found a boat in port Stephens, however before making the drive up I'd like to get a pre-purchase inspection. Can anyone recommend a place that does them or possibly even conduct one themselves (will be payed) for me by any chance? Boat looks good but I don't wont to make the same mistakes as I have in the past. Any help would be great! Thanks a lot, Will

Wow really? Yeah I thought it sounded extremely over the top but thought it was normal. Guess not. I really need to see how much I'll use it most times a go out. I'd think I'd use anchor a lot but then also motor quite a bit with it flicking plastics through morings, going around surfacing tailor kings etc

Ok great, and so just to clarify when they say max amp draw they mean max amp draw PER HOUR? Is it common to find dual 12v in parallel to power an electric? My ideal goal would be to have the electric and bait tank powered by the 12v's in parallel (and then charge the batteries after each run) and then the sounder, lights, radio etc power by the starter battery and a single deep cycle, which are obviously charged by the motor. Does 4 batteries sound a bit much? Will

Hi, So when a company advertises the amp draw of there now mount motors is the max amp draw PER HOUR? So for example say a 55lb 12v motor is advertised as drawing 50 amps would two 100amp 12v batteries in parallel effectively give, at the least 4 hours of run time if the motor was drawing maximum amps throughout that time? Thanks a lot, Will

Thanks for the messages guys. Even if we didn't get anything I would of learnt a lot! Hope to post more reports from my own adventures in the next few months.

Does the red net and red fishing rod behind me count at all for COTM? Thanks a lot, Will

So, for christmas + Birthday, I got a charter on Sydney harbour. I woke up nice and early, at around 4:45 and left home at 5:30 for middle harbour to meet the guide. We left, past the spit, at about 6:10 and went looking for squid. Went to multiple squid spots around the harbour and by about 8:30 had a dozen or so. We went out the heads to a spot I have never heard of but was about 30 - 40 minutes out the heads. Plenty of good sounds of bait on the sounder however we got no kings. We tried down rigging, drifting etc and didn't even get a hit. There were 5 boats out there and every boat got a one or two 85cm+ kings. We decided to head back in, dropping in via the artificial. No luck there so we went too some of the bouys around the harbour. Thats where we had better luck. Down rigged squid heads around some of the normal bouys and after 5 mins off went the rod. Using 30lb mainline and leader, after a 5-10 minute fight I had an 81cm king on board. Before we even touched the king, we set out the rod again and then worked on unhooking and bleeding the fish. Before I could even text my dad the rod went off again. This time I pulled up a 72cm king. This was awesome fun and my spirits were lifted from the slow start. Set out the down rigger again and bang, 5 minutes later, we were on again. This king went 79cm. We got 3 kings from just 2 squid heads. Unfortunately we had to go in but I learnt quite a lot about down rigging and how to fish the harbour (times of year, currents, tides, tempreature etc). My guide was extremely knowledgeable, so I'm feeling very confident next time I go out my self.</p> <p>Hopefully my results only get more consistent from now on. </p> <p>Will</p> <p></p>

Are you talking about the ferry wharf? If so kings there is pretty incredible. I catch the ferry from there most mornings and have never seen anything better then a Leather Jacket caught there...

If your only looking to go offshore now and then I'd look for something much smaller + $20k wont get you a great 6m half cab. You'd have to look for a boat <1990's

If your going offshore why not try some of the reefs for kings and snapper (the gps marks for long reef, the peak, 12 mile etc are widely known). If I got the chance to go offshore I wouldn't bother with a fish I can catch down in a estuary 15 mins from my house...

Tim, wheres the throttle of the boat?

Nice boat mate. On the TAB's website though the smallest territory PRO is 5100. Was yours a special order?

Thanks a lot, I'm now aiming to head up on the weekend. I don't have a down rigger, so would just anchoring up and dropping squid strips or a squid head get many results? TWill

I would say any small curly tails (2.5" and smaller) will get you some flatties. The most important thing is to make sure you keep the lure always touching the bottom.

Thanks a lot mate, Will give them a go when I try and head up too pittwater.

Hi all, After not having much luck with Kings the harbour I want to give Pittwater a go for kings. I have absolutely no knowledge of the system so was wondering if anybody has any starting spots for them. I will only be doing catch and release with kings and then aim to get some keeper flatties up the river later in he day. A fish I prefer the taste of much more. Any help on some King spots would be fantastic and highly appreciated. Thanks a lot, Will

I think using a paternoster rig with a squid jig under the spit bridge early morning (dark) or late afternoon (dark) is good for squid but I haven't tried it.

Hey Mate, If you go all around middle harbour just around people's Jetties, around drop offs and points I'm sure you will get quite a few. If your not looking at eating the fish then going down any of the rivers off parramatta river, west of the harbour bridge, will score you a nice amount as well. Will

Thanks for the replies. Going to have another go again in the next week or so. Am I targeting kings in the right areas? I never see marks on the sounder around the markers or really any spots I go. Thanks a lot, Will

Hi Guys, this is my first report and unfortunately I didn't get anything notable so there are no pictures however it was still an enjoyable day with many things happening. I woke up at 5:30 and was on the water by 6:30. My first point was the get some squid. I wanted to get the squid early as I heard this was the best time to get them so I resisted the bust ups I saw happening around me to carry on to the squid grounds. Unfortunately I got nothing, so it was off to get some yakkas. Got the spot and there was a huge amount of bait sized fish but they were all dart looking fish. Got multiples of the dart looking fish but threw them all back so in the end I only got 1 yakka in 45 minutes. There was some big kings swimming around as well however I was so torn on wether I should spend 10 mins trying to setup the big rod or just keep bait fishing and in the end just kept on bait fishing. Ok, not the best start but I have my soft plastic's rod so I went to look for the first spot for a fish. Got to Vaucluse and dropped the yakka down. Was there for about 35 minutes with no hits so brought the yakka back up and put it back in the bait tank. There was hardly any swell so I thought I'd give Old Mans Hat a try, and it was insanely calm. Protected from all swell and wind. Dropped down the yakka, got a hit, brought it back up and there was a chuck taken out the back of the yakka (what would that of been?). Dropped the yakka down again and felt a few bites and then they stopped so I winded up and I was snagged. Sorted that out and then started to give soft plastics a try. Unfortunately nothing again. So decided to troll a hard body around a bit then troll around north harbour. Still no luck unfortunately so I thought I'd go back to basics. Brought out the bream raider and went up middle harbour a bit. Started to get some legal flatties, pinkie snapper, grinners etc but threw them all back (How safe is it to eat fish out of the lower parts of middle harbour). Was getting quite a few hook ups just going around the moorings, drop offs etc so I was enjoying my self. Then just behind me I realised they were filming a fishing show. We were practically fishing side by side for 30 mins so if they use any of that footage I might be famous . They were fishing from a bass boat with a separate boat with the film crew. My bad luck on some big fish was soon going to change (so I thought). I was fishing the little grub and started feeling some constant pulls. Squid! Brought the lure to the boat and saw there was about 4 squid hitting it. Quickly changed to the squid jig and cast out. Before it even hit the bottom I got one. Straight in the bait tank and threw out the jig again. Was instantly on again. Put him in the bait tank and went again. Didn't get any more for 10 minutes so I thought I'd head off and give the squid a go. Went back to back to Vaucluse and put down a squid head. No hits for 30 minutes so went back to Old Mans Hat. Lost the head to (I assume pickers) as I felt no bites. Put down the other head and same thing happened. Very annoying. I had the heads sitting at about in the lower third of the water coloumn, few winds off the bottom. Tried the squid wings around some of the markers and lost those to pickers as well. Decided to head home and call it a day. On the way back thought I noticed some floating jerry bottles and a guy swimming. He called me over and his boat had just sunk. He was a tow boat, towing a group of people when it happened. I dropped him off at Mcmahons point and went back home. A strange finish to a pretty enjoyable day. I left at 5:30am and got back a 4pm. Thanks a lot for reading. Let me know if its too much info and too long, this is my first report. Will

Low wind, large swell it looks like

Sorry, a bit off topic but a lot of people say that the haines 445f is an amazing handling hull etc etc but I'm just wondering what people mean by this? Would it be able to go to the fads, the peak etc in a bit of slop (as in would you have to still be quite specific in the days you pick like any other 4.5m boat) Thanks a lot, Will

Great write up. Thanks a lot for that.

Thats what I'm hoping, because if it is a 'Vamp' it is cheap for it. I'm hoping its like an owner who doesn't really know much about the boat and just wants to get rid of it.

Hi, Ive seen a boat for sale as a 'seafarer v sea centre console' but have never heard of this type of boat and just wondering if this is the actual name of the model. I thought the only centre consoles were the vamp (5m), vouge (5.5m), venom (6.1m) and viper (6.5m). Could this possibly be a seafarer vamp? It's listed as a 15ft boat made in 1982. Thanks a lot, Will