PaddyT

anywhere with kelp, from 1-30 m of water, sometimes on ribbon weed in clear water areas like Pittwater

Yeah- na- i draw the line at makos, tigers are just hard work!

Quite a few around the hour mark, longest recent one was a small black on my bait jigging rod at the wide bait ground off Coffs, around half an hour on a light spin stick , Stradic 3000 and 6lb braid before the sabiki rig finally broke, had to re do the drag washers as they cooked during the fight-I try to keep fights short by using the boat as much as I can but sometimes it doesnt work. Generally find we have marlin under 100kgs at the boat on 15kg in around 30 minutes, on 24 in about half that, im not a fan of green marlin beside the boat so will wait till they are settled before tracing them.

Clever set up of a small boat especially the trailer

2nd hand for that price, see if you can get an old FSU 4120, will handle just about anything off a beach, just make sure it has no broken guides etc, BTW most rods are broken through "operator error - so to speak", high sticking, dropping , slamming in car doors etc, use the drag on the reel and "angle " the fish, dont wind it in. Your other thought of an Alvey is a very good one, great way to learn how to fight a fish on a free spinning Alvey!

Every spot is different, I have one kingie spot that only fires when the current is hard from the north and another that only works when its coming from the south, there are services on the net eg Ripcharts that give very good info but the situation can change very quickly. its counterintuative but we only get warm blue water in summer off Sydney after a southerthly- lots to learn, keep notes about each of your spots and go from there

How big is your boat? How much have you driven a boat at sea?

Ok , your questions are a bit "how long long is a piece of string" but heres what i think-general bottom bashing for reefies/flatties with a paternoster-20-30lb braid and 20-30 lb nylon leader. Fishing for snapper in a berley trail- 15-25lb nylon depending on the territory you are fishing. Kings- anything from 10lb braid to 100lb braid depending on the size of the kings and the territory, 20lb to 130lb leader, my two general king rigs for downrigging are both loaded with 40lb braid and i use 60-80lb leader in general, if i am putting out a live frigate or big squid then i go up to 80lb braid and 130lb leader , but most Sydney kings are ok on the lighter gear (that said i do get wiped out here and their but thats part of the fun). Dollies are pretty clean fighters but do have very raspy teeth which will wear through the leader in a prolonged fight- ive caught them on everything from 6lb line to 24kg game gear. If i am targetting them i will usually use 15 or 20lb braid with 40lb leader , just check the leader after every fish.

Solas know their stuff, every boat is different, usually they will allow you to swap props if the first one they send doesnt do what you want for free (your shipping expense) go on their advice over "dr google"

) Install trim tabs or similar on the stern - to help lift the boat stern at lower speed. Agree with this, trim tabs are a far better option than a foil, personally i'm amazed that he even gets that boat on the plane

Go prop before foil, foils have there own problems- but gee's that boat sounds way underpowered.

The herring should be showing up, upstream in places like Berowra I reckon they are a better bait than mullet anyway. Jig them up on the channel markers

They turn up in all sorts of places, because they ride the tides they tend to concentrate heavily on one piece of structure and the next peice of structure (that often looks identical) will have none. They are a much more widely distributed fish than many realise.Am guessing since the removal of commercial effort in the harbour they have probably bounced back .

Sorry thats 14000 not 140000- added one to many zeros.

People get obsessed with motor hours but a well maintained motor that has been used is a better buy than a low hour motor that hardley gets used, gaskets etc dry out, impellers crack, fuel gum builds up etc. The hull is the most important part, all boats eventually need repowers but these days 10000 hrs is not unreasonable on a 4 strokemotor. One guide i know ran Suzi's for 140000 hours and barely serviced them.

Most fuel on the east coast comes from overseas (Singapore), so what you get at one servo is the same as any other, most outboards are fine with 91, its just that 91 without ethanol is hard to find. I tend to use 95, most fuel problems occur from contamination at the servo itself.

Some general info is all im willing to give but here it is, kings in Pittwater are spread throughout the system , they will very very occasionally turn up around Flint and Steel on the top of the tide but i wouldnt bet the house on it. The kings will be on the prowl for two things- bait fish and squid. If there are bait balls the kings will feed on them but can be very very picky-if they are more spreadout then live or fresh squid is the way to go. learn to catch squid and get a downrigger, final tip , look for tide changes early in the morning when there isnt much boat traffic.

G'day Bear, currently selling my TABS 5100 , its fully fitted out and is well under your budget PM me if you are interested in having a look cheers

Youve got to remember the public service is overrun with folk of a left leaning bent- they dont like rec fishing for idealogical reasons , its got nothing to do with reality or fact

I do something similar with a softdrink bottle cap-pushed a bolt through the cap, screwed a nut on and then put the cap back on the bottle and wind the line off, ive also found that i can use this system with empty line spools and rewinding line onto them and then reversing the line- gets a lot more life out of braided line. I have a Bees Knees spooler which makes the whole process painless and fast- I also have visitors who use the Bees Knees - price of admission is usually a beer!

10/0 through the back and a largish running ball sinker right down to the hook and throw it into the corner of the beach where the weed meets the sand, use them where you catch them as well

Hargraves Beach is a pretty consistant spot for them early morning, ive tended to only hit it in Autumn when I was fishing that way. Just a pillie on gangs and a bit of weight- that beach tends to have a fair bit of current, and its not your clasic beach with gutters etc- its just one big gutter that the schools tend to move up and down.

Maybe- but how about we all get off our butts and still get to the rally and see if we can get some of the stupid lockouts up and down the coast removed, vote for the SFFF at the next election so they get the balance of power in the Senate, we might start getting some better funding for Fisheries patrols, boat ramps, artificial reefs, we have a ball rolling here politically, lets not let it roll back on us.

Still need to turn up to the rally and VOTE for the party that will place a moratorium again if they get the balance of power -SFFP- at the next election

The real indicator of drowning , the Royal Life Saving Annual drowning report came out yesterday- Rockfishing deaths in all of Australia- 10, thats right folks 10! But its the countries deadliest sport right!Stay safe everyone.