Captain Spanner

The cables should last a lot longer than 4 years. I went through a few cables in a short time span and also broke worm screws and helms as well in that time as well. It turns out the guy that used to service the boat then was a bit sketchy and he was replacing the cable without detaching the motor and on my setup that meant he was bending /kinking the cable and cable setup to install it, in turn putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on the cable and starting with a damaged cable. It also made the steering very heavy. Which if I had more understanding like I do now, it would have been a tell take that something was wrong. I didn't understand any of this at the time and we got towed home on two seperate occasions due to dead stearing. Both nearly ending in being washed up on rocks at some point. I was able to put the boat in idle and hand steer the motor away from danger when the cable snapped but had no steering whatsoever due to seizure when the helm and worm screws died. Make sure the cable has not been bent on installation, and does not have any form of bend or kink. I have gone hydraulic for our 15fter with a 90hp and will never look back. If hydraulic is at all within reach of your budget or circumstance I would try to squeeze it. It has lots of other benefits too. If not. Make sure the seizing is not relate to bends/kinks and possibly get a second opinion if you're not sure. Dead or sick steering cables can cause pretty serious situations.

Great point mike. And keeping in mind that if it's predicted 14-17kts you have to budget that there is every chance it will be over 20kts at some point and that's a whole 'nother level again when it's westerly. Into and almost 2m southerly swell.

We use the same trimmer as njsconst and the last cover lasted 10 years and only tore at 10 years of age when a gumtree branch went pointy end down through the back section parked in a mates yard. No damage to the boat at all. The cover has a lot of attention to detail eg reinforced carpet bits on the inside at all contact points esp. But not limited to cleats, Nav lights, grab rail, bollards, antenna mounts and fits snug.

Probably a lead mould. If a fish had half the lure on its mouth and was swimming across or away from the direction of the line pull there can be a pivot or folding point in the corner of the fishes jaw so the pressure of the fish and line can bend it. Was it easy to bend straight again ? Some of my knife jigs bend when I catch kingies and we just straighten them with our hands.

In pretty sure the 6000 and 8000 are the same reel but the 8000 spool has more line capacity and will probably show specs of a few grams less due to less metal in the spool. If this is the case I would be inclined to pay the $11 for the extra line capacity as they will be the same size me weight in your hand to fish.

You could keep it as spare and of you lose a lot of line (eg 100-200m) off the top due to a jacket or bust off etc you could wind the remaining good line off the reel onto another reel or spool and put the 148m between the backing and mainline and put the good remaining 400m back on the top so you haven't got a knot in your top 150m. I tie a double in the two ends of the braids then double uni the doubles together. It will spend most of its life never seen on the spool anyway.

Hi mate, I'm sure if you see schools or good gutters people would be happy for you to put it in a thread and might reciprocate if you're lucky. I haven't been out to the beach recently but if I'm thinking of going I check the surf report cameras around where I'm thinking to get an idea of conditions. If you know the beach well and what you're looking for you can often pick if there are gutters from some of the surf cams.

Has anyone had any experience with the IZM series in the Daiwa sensor surfs yet? I like the look of the 153xxs on paper as I'm a big fan of the k series guides but I haven't seen or held one and was wondering if they were too stiff on the tip for a jewie take? Or if people think 15ft is too much rod for a breakwall. I currently fish 12 and 13ft without dramas. I appreciate that you need a bit of grunt in the tip to cast big baits but not sure if it might be too much to still have that little bit of absorption for the smooth take.

If you have a couple of spare spools/reels you can put the mono/backing of choice on top of the braid on your reel to the perfect capacity, then take the backing off onto spare spool A then all of the rest of the line off onto spare spool B. Put the backing from spare spool A then the line from spare spool B back on and you will have a perfectly filled spool without having to guess how much backing to add. If there is already some backing under the braid you can just remove the braid part to spare spool B and put the new backing from spare spool A between the old backing and the braid to save winding

Fantastic work mate you should be really proud. Unfortunately for you from now on you will probably have a bug that gives you trouble concentrating on things like work and probably miss out on a lot of sleep planning and chasing more of them. There is something addictive and mesmerising about that silver on the sand as you now know. Thank you for sharing your experience with us and we wish you many more.

I have crew that have a habit of "temporarily" storing lollies in the glove box and the boat lives near trees. We use Ant Rid if we get really annoyed but normally I just leave them to their thing and they eventually move along. It is available most places. That would be the gel stuff. They are also more active around rain.

Can I add a rod or two to the discussion without intending to hijack the thread. I have been trying to make similar decisions in the same lengths and weights, I am also curious of the 16ft surf sensor pros and cons and the action. I have also had the Penn Prevail and the samaki in the same short list. I usually fish 65lb whiplash on a 12000d bait runner (65lb braid means I can fish 50-60lb leaders and get all my line back when repeatedly getting spooled by rays and sharks). Can anyone add opinions with the prevail in the mix? I think I liked the action on the daiwa the best of those when loaded up but would like K series guides, I didn't know the daiwa a had them. There seems to be a tournament model in the daiwa as well but I'm not sure the differences between that and the sensor. Hopefully someone on here has some experience with them.

If it's not too late may I please add a plus one to my attendance, I just heard back from my fishing buddy and he is very keen. Thank you.

I would like to come if there are any spots left. Thank you.

I use gamakatsu worm hooks with no offset in a 1 or 1/0. They are fine gauge. The main reason you pull hooks with trevally is because their soft mouths tear. So make sure you maintain even pressure all the time but not too much. Make sure you have a nice long leader, like a rod length if using braid to assist with shock absorption and less mouth tearing. The circles should hookup in a stronger part of the mouth but you may want to fish a smaller size and make sure you don't strike. Just wind smoothly until the rod is loaded and you're on. Good luck.

You could remove the hooks or duct tape them against the lure.

I don't know about that specific setup but the look of the esky including handle shape/setup and hinges look similar to an icey-tek. It looks like dimensions are critical for your application.

Not sure on that size boat but generally you want a lower pitched prop to get you up quicker. This may result in a slight loss in top end but you said you accept that. I have heard that a stainless prop has a thinner profile than an alloy prop so may pop you up quicker in an equivalent pitch but I haven't tried myself. I know that 90hp 4 stroke we fish struggled big time with heavier loads with a 19" pitch prop and does equivalent loads with ease with a 17" pitch prop but the motor redlines past 6000rpm at wot and we lost 1-3knots top end. The boat is still nose down a bit too much when trimmed out but that happened with the 19 inch prop and I think I may need to remove the fins/foil or change the height the motor sits on the transom but while related they are different issues to prop pitch. My basic understanding is going down a size in prop pitch is like going down a gear in a car.

My guess and attempt at help. It sounds like your pump normally works, then didn't work after traveling at speed or in rough conditions, stopped working, then after being turned off and turned on later, probably at rest after some time. I think your pump works fine, has cavitated (sucked air) and then got an air lock and can no longer suck water because it needed to be reprimed. When you turned it off, over time the pump/line had been able to fill up with water again and reprime itself so it can pump water again. You are lucky your pump didn't burn out (I burnt an old one out running it dry like that and burnt out a brand newy sucking a fragment of broken balloon). A good pickup will minimise the occurrence of cavitation but will not fix it if it happens. I carry a length of thin hose that fits/seals inside the outlet of my pump line (where it plots into the tank). When the pump cavitates I first turn the pump off, force the whole hose (both ends of a 1.5m clear hose) under the water over the side of the boat so all of the bubbles come out and the line is full of water. Seal each end with my thumbs and force the sealing end into the pump line outlet then quickly blow on the other end to force the water into the pump line, stop blowing, then turn the pump on. Hopefully it will start pumping again. If not then repeat the whole process. Sometimes jamming your little finger in and out of the pump line outlet might provide enough pressure change to get it going, or splash/slap water into the pump line outlet. Good luck.

Check to see if any of the wiring connections are dud and check with a multi meter you are getting enough power to the unit. You only need to be a tiny bit under the threshold for it not to turn on.

I use mid knots for lines in that bracket for that function. It will probably take you a couple of goes to start feeling confident. It now takes me about 10 minutes to tie one, they go through the guides very well and are very strong, most reliable knot I have found once you are confident with it. I don't own a PR bobbin but guys that do will vote PR knot which is similar. I don't know how to tie a GT or FG knot so I can't say that mid knots are better or worse than them. I just like mid knots If I get jacketed on the water or get busted off and need to put on a new leader I just use an Albright to save time. Really hard fluoro is a little more difficult because the knot relies on the braid biting into it and different braids work differently. Make sure you pack down your knots under a serious amount of pressure. I used to use the toe ball of the car. You will soon learn little ways of changing how you pack the knots as to how they will hold. I fish spin reels and still put on 3-6 or more metres and wind it onto the reel depending on what I'm doing. Be conscious that harder and stiffer lines like fluoro will potentially have more memory and get curly if kept on the spool for a while. I often use jinkai for my leaders because it knots well an has a well balanced stretch for a tiny bit of shock absorption to help with pulling hooks, and hard fluoro for a trace of 1 or 2m for my rig when down rigging. Please note Jinkai is not too crash hot for abrasion resistance but a lot better than braid. I dribbled on a bit there sorry. Good luck.

I can get the bottom at browns with my hds 5 with a standard tranny. I set it on 50kz, you might want to set it to deep water and manually set the range to either 500 or 600m depending if you are over the top or off the side. You may also need to fiddle with the gain, ping speed and transducer angle. I have only been out in my boat when it is dead calm and reading the bottom at rest.

If you are worried that part of the line might be subject to getting maxed out on pressure at any time or worried about knot strength you can double the line over before tying the double uni or you could tie s Bimini on each bit of braid and then double uni the two doubles together. If you really want to overkill the join. This option is obviously quite a bit bulkier than the first standard double uni option.

Nice work again mate. You have a pretty consistent formula.

Also very important that when you install it there are no forced bends in it or it will be stiff and break things further up the line