frankS

Fab1 OK mate, that sorta makes sense to me the way you put it. I did have the leckie going constantly most of the time I was out there, varied speed of troll and power from setting 2 right up to 10 ( max ) at times and a few spot locks to test the thing out. It is a reasonably large boat for a 12 volt electric motor and now I realize how much battery it can draw I will not use it as much in the future. Yesterday was more about testing the electric and my new 9" Lowrance sounder out, spent most of the day playing with the new toys rather than concentrating on catching fish, so I will use that as my excuse for having an ordinary day as a fish catcher. Frank

Pardon my ignorance but how do you go about doing a " draw test " ?. and what do I need to do this test ?. Battery bought as a 180 amp hour . Frank

I bought the battery as a NEW battery about 12 months ago and has been sitting in my workshop with just the occasional 12volt drill being used from it. Charged it up to full capacity the day prior to putting it in the boat. The charger unit is a 100 amp charger for majority of charge then I put it on my small Ctec charger for final trickle charge which red full charge before putting in boat. The battery The charger Charger size comparison gas bottle is full size bbq bottle think 9kg so it's not a toy charger Frank

Hope someone can help me with a possible battery problem. I tested my new Watersnake bow mount electric motor out yesterday. It is the Geo spot gps 65 lb 60 inch shaft model the boat is a 4.85 savage Scorpion 2 people on board with light breeze and low chop in Botany bay. Approx 5 hours use both trolling at verious speeds from 1.7 k's per hour up to 4.8 k's per hour and a bit of spot lock that used the motor to hold position . My battery is a 180 amp hour which was fully chargged to start with. At the end of my 6 hours on the water approx 5 hours of using the electric my battery went down to one light displayed on the motor and the remote told me the current had dropped down to 11.5 volts. This seems excessive power loss to me as I used to run my old bow mount on much small boat all day with a 115 amp hour battery sometimes 2-3 days away using electric motor on and off without the battery ever being fully discharged. I bought the battery on line from an Auction site so I am thinking that maybe the battery is some how less than standard and it may have been a reject battery some how ?. What is the thoughts of other electric motor uses ? should a large battery last longer than 5 hours use on a 4.85m boat ? Or am I just being Perrenoud and expecting too much from the battery ? . Frank

Neil. Wished I could say things are getting better, fished approx 6 hours yesterday for one lousy keeper Flathead and a few Tailor. Still better to be on the water than just wishing I was there. Frank

Mate got to my place around 4.30 as planned we loaded boat with gear and headed for ramp half way to the ramp my mate states that he forgot the bait OK no real problem we will call into the bait shop and grab some OR just use plastics. Got to the bait shop and it was closed so down to the ramp at Kyeema . launched just after daylight and headed straight to Kurnell to try for some Squid picked a likely looking weed patch and deployed lecky and hit spot lock, after about 100 casts with not a touch decided to drift, up and down a few times without any luck. Decided to go over to Yarra bay and troll up and down just off the beach after 3-4 back and forths we only scored a few under sized Flathead so went a bit deeper tried again for some Squid and again no luck. Picked up one keeper Flat around the 45cm mark and a couple of Tailor but nothing worth taking a photo of. Done a couple of more trolls up and down the container wall and decided it was time to call it quits. Got the boat back on the trailer around 12 noon How time flies when you are having fun. Bit frustrating not bringing home a decent feed but still had an enjoyable boat ride and some leasure time on the water. Frank

Neil. Boat has been sold, got my asking price and still have the bow mount electric motor and battery. I can use it on my next boat project which is the Quintrex that's down in the back yard. Frank

Neil. water level is above 100 percent at the moment, this as you would know could drop by Xmas. If you look on google maps at the lake it shows an old version of the lake which at my guess would be less than 70 percent of capacity the banks would be much easier to fish at a higher level with grass going all the way to the waters edge. I will send you what is my opinion of the best locations that the kids will have the best chance of catching some good bass and other species via PM as the time gets closer . As said before I can lend you plenty of gear for the kids and yourself if needed, I have around 500 bass hard bodied lures and heaps of packets of soft plastics so don't be shy about borrowing enough gear to see you through. One tip about worms, IF bought elsewhere other than around the lakes foreshore take them out of the soil they come in and dig some earth close by the lake bank and put them in this a good 3-4 hours before using them, best over night if you are there long enough. There is camping with toilets and showers at the camp site. A fee is charged but it is reasonable. If I wasn't going to Bermagui over Xmas I would meet you there with boat and we could all fish from a boat but alas my plans are to go to bermi the week prior to Xmas and stay 3-4 days, home for Xmas of coarse. Frank

OK Didn't read the headline correctly, you will be land based. OK StClair is still a decent place to land bass Bass and the occasional Yellowbelly but a fair bit of walking would be involved.. Frank

Neil. If you are taking your boat I would recommend a trip to lake Stclair above Singleton. If you want some gear call in and see me and I will set you up with whatever you need . Borrow OR Buy . Frank

For the Wobbler just cast and wind back in, very you speed of wind but it's pretty simple . With the Devil this is how I rig them up for Flathead and they are very successful as a flattie lure, you can add a pea sized ball sinker that runs all the way down to the swivel for added weight for casting and faster sink rate to get to the bottom. Try and bounce the sinker off the bottom creating fuffs of dirt/sand with a relative slow speed. I generally slow troll them from a boat but as you are shore based the above method should produce results. Frank

Jon. Don't go on Facebook, those kingies sound like the cruisers that are not at all interested in anything you offer them, over many years I have learnt just to leave them alone. Frank

I was going to take the boat out and give it a go but my mate who is a 30 year local said it would be a waste of time and effort so I just placed the boat in the paddock near the front fence and left it there with a 4 sale sign. Frank

Jon the boat in question is an OLD Brooker tinnie and a bit rough around the edges. Still a very good old boat with everything a fisho would want in a 14 foot tinnie. It's only going to take one looker that needs this style of boat as it has all the bells and whistles plus full registration on boat and trailer. Frank

I had a moored boat in the harbour for many years and sometimes caught good fish from the boat in it's mooring. Frank

I think most Sydney ramps are in OK condition. Don't know about the CCoast ramps been a while since I used any of them. Frank

Fab1 The cracks are getting bigger every time I go down there. Frank

The wind is driving me crazy like so many others. Stll had a good time catching up with mates. Frank

The old river ramp was not much better than a embankment launch. Frank

Zoran. My mate down there I have known since I was 15 years old, I was his best man at his wedding, we used to fish together as teenagers and still fish together now. He keeps telling me he is the better fisherman, I just let him dream on. Not holding my breath about selling the boat but at least Val is happy that is somewhere other than here. Frank

Noel. It won't be easy but try and get hold of line marking paint they use for marking the centre lines etc on the roads, really hard wearing paint and cheap as chips. I bought 60 ltrs tub about 40 years ago from an auction and used it for everything right up to last year when I left the lid off it and it gelled up. Lasts a really long time on trailers. Frank

My guess would be for a duel wheel cat trailer frame to be approx 200 kilo so @ $7 = $1400. You could have almost bought alloy for that and had the trailer for life. take what it has cost you to buy the steel and I think alloy is sounding better. Don't want to put a dampener on your project, and would love to see your work. Frank

Noel. At least you got it to galvanizing stage. I have been 12 months since I started my alloy trailer and it's still not finished. Mind you it's been sitting long periods without even being looked at let alone worked on. Pretty close to being finished but can't seem to find the inspiration to work on it. How about some photos of the product when you get it back from galvanizing ?. Frank

Hi guys. Just got back from 4 days down at Bermagui on the south coast. Didn't wet a line in fact didn't get the rods out of the car. Wind wind and more wind so not worth even setting up the rods to try. It did visit the new ramp on the river and must say I am impressed The new cleaning tables I have to say the old ramp in the harbour does need some attention but still a decent ramp to use but you need to be careful you don't twist an ankle. Left the boat down there in the hope that my mate can sell the boat to a passing motorist. Frank

Zoran and Maria. Fantastic ! great to see the boat finally on the water doing what it needs to do. Shame there were not more fish to be had but I suspect it was more about getting to know the boat than catching fish. Frank