Boban

I'm going to stick my neck out here. I've been on a fair few boats and I'll admit that I own a Cruisecraft Explorer 600. The boat I had before that was a plate boat which didn't last 6 months from new. My father and I hated the ride. It was one of the brands listed above. I wanted a real fishing boat so I thought the plate boat was the answer. I was wrong. It was a good fishing platform though. Before you buy a plate boat, go for a ride in a fibreglass boat of the same size and compare the ride. For mine the only plate boat I would buy is a Sailfish, but that is not a monohull and you get no change from $100K. I'm sorry if I offend anyone, I'm just giving my opinion which is obviously limited to a small proportion of the boats listed. Again, each to their own, but for mine, if it's going outside, you are better off in a fibreglass boat. PS- Check out the new Explorer 685- awesome looking rig.

Stumpy, We are almost neighbours, I'm about 11k from Berowra Waters. As to your problem, I used to do that sort of thing for a living when I was a younger man. Custom car audio at a time when a CD in a car was something flash. How time flies by. There are generally two types of carpet with some intermediates. The difference is not so much the material but rather the manner in which the back has been treated. What you need is the flexible type. It can actually be stretched to some extent but you will find that you still need to cut and join it if the shape is too extreme. If you do it properly, you'll barely notice the joins. The glue whether sprayed or brushed on is the same. It is contact adhesive. The spray type is simply easier to apply but not really suitable for one off small jobs because of the clean up that is involved. If you don't already know, just make sure you apply to both surfaces and let them dry. Now here's the trick. Once they are brought together, that's it, the carpet cannot be removed easily without destroying the bond. Do a dry fit up and note the easiest way to bring the surfaces together. With a V, I would start in the middle and work my way out to the edges. As to suppliers, BIAS, Whitworths and Simonsons (wholesalers) will have what you need. By far the greatest variety will be at Simonsons but the other two will still have what you need. If you need a hand, then take a trip over the ferry and I will give you a hand. Cheers Mitch

Looking at those photos highlight that I am wasting my life within the office. Good stuff.

Sounds like a top day fishing. Nice bag of fish. My biggest ever whiting come from the beach near Ettalong.

Love seeing those fish coming out of the harbour. Good stuff

Mate, they are some nice looking fish. Generous offer, Im sure someone will take you up on it. Cheers Mitch

Ross, I know the area well having attended every summer since my eleventh birthday at Hawks Nest. Reading your story made me feel like I was there. Knowing the area puts it all into perspective. I recently got caught at Broughton Island, but my boat is only 6m long. Like your day it was dead calm until something turned on the switch, and the wind hit like a tonne of bricks. No build up, nothing, just a wall of wind. Nothing like your story but I can honestly say I was scared, but at the same time confident that the boat would pull us through, if I wasn't stupid. My biggest concern was that I had my 3 children and wife with me and you can imagine the looks on their faces. For some reason (might have been the perfect weather in the morning) I left the clears at home. Needless to say I was very wet by the end of the trip with the south easterly pounding the port side as went went along slowly. I know exactly what you mean about waiting for the hug boots to be slipped on. The thought of a hot shower also has a lot going for it when you are going along at minimal speed and freezing, with just 14Nm to the heads. Cheers Mitch

You've been spoilt for the future mate. Nearly 50kg as your first. You gotta be happy with that. That's a workout no matter how you are built. Cheers Mitch

Thanks for that Flattieman. As to the smiles, I'm not one to smile for cameras, as noticed when she saw these pics. "What you need to hold a fish to smile in a photo?" Too many comebacks to that statement, none of which are good for your health The slick rig in the photo is a new one. The one which captured the fish was demolished, so a few spare tails wouldn't go astray. They are easy too fish and get down well. I used two different sizes and the fish I caught corresponded to the size of the lure. I think I caught about 20 fish on the shallow reef just off Whitehaven. I tied the dinghy up to the black marker pole and just kept casting. It was blowing about 20knots so I didn't pack the camera. Just the 5kg outfit and some soft plastics. I caught everything on the small slick rigs in the same colour as shown above.

Yes that is the same passage. I did the same with my poppers and got no-where. I figured the bait must be tiny because my casting wasn't too bad. I wasn't wrong as the fish spewed whitebait everywhere when I brought it into the boat. Even the tuna had a gut full of whitebait. Compare that to the tuna I caught in Port Stephens (same type) which had 2 tailor and 4 yakkas in its gut. Big spaniards seem to be a target for many. They also seem to be very hit and miss. I spoke to another bloke who got plenty of everything but not one spaniard. Yet he went to Shute Harbour off the fishing jetty and saw some absolute monsters. He wasn't fishing at the time, just went for a look. BTW I've seen some big fish down at Shute Harbour at night and heard plenty of reports of good captures from the jetty.

I know a few people who like to eat them. Others that love grilling slimey's too. Once upon a time, people in this country wouldn't eat octopus or squid......different folks, different strokes. Like me, I don't like eating fish or any other type of seafood.

You've got to be happy with that. Get one then two. Sounds like a good system to me. Cheers Mitch

Its funny just how many people don't think about the area as a fishing location. As a well known Sydney fishing guide has said, its good for fisherman, because the partners always want to go there. My sister and her husband moved there a year ago and are building their own house, so I've got it made when I want to go up for a quick fish. Especially with the cheap airfares. My BIL has caught a few big spaniards up there. I'm yet to hook up to one but I wont leave it too long.

We continued to fish and caught a number of smaller reef fish, all of which we returned to grow a little. But those fish creating all the surface action still had me intrigued. We moved back around to Hook Island passage and started casting again. This time I started downsizing the lure. Nothing worked until I got down to the smallest Raider. First cast and I was on. A nice little fish that fought well for it size. Must say it was very similar to a salmon. I still have no idea what it is, but it’s a pelagic of some sort. Once on the charter boat, I did manage to escape with the tender to toss a few soft plastics around the dropoffs first thing in the morning. You see the nice coral trout, well it was number 3, as the first two taught me to tighten up the drag. As I had 30Lb braid on one of my spin outfits, this was not going to be a problem. As you can gather fishing near any reef up there can amount to a bit of a tug of war. Once they’re out in the clear though it’s pretty easy. I could go on for pages but suffice to say, that between us, we caught fish after fish including coral trout, strippies, moses perch, spotted makeral, fish I have never seen before and a number of sharks. We could have eaten fish every night if we were inclined to do so. Anyway I hope I haven’t gone on for too long. Time to start planning the return to paradise. Cheers Mitch

Let’s just say that booking a trip away where “you” (as opposed to the other half) know that its primary purpose is fishing leads to a great deal of anticipation. This was my third trip to the Whitsundays and definitely not the last. It was the second time I would be chartering a boat. Well the trip started well enough. I arrived at Airlie beach about 8.30 and thereafter went to my sister’s house and then after unpacking the important stuff (the fishing gear) we went to Shute Harbour for some bait gathering and fishing. We faired well, gathering as much herring as we needed/wanted and one small squid. The squid were frustrating this time round for some reason and that continued for the remainder of the time I was on the water. Certainly unexpected. The next day we (the BIL and I) were off bright and early with three kids in tow. The seas were perfect and we got to the Double Cone islands in no time. We didn’t fair too well in the keeper department but we caught plenty and with kids that is the main trick. I had two thumping runs that only lasted for a few seconds before being unceremoniously busted off. This is where the southerner in me is exposed. Fishing too light a leader. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. The next day was without the kids and this made life a lot easier. We decided to fish the eastern side of the islands as the conditions were absolutely perfect for fishing. Upon getting to Hook Island passage, the fish were busting up the surface in all directions. I started casting a popper at the schools but failed to connect to anything. Actually there was no interest at all in my presentations. I changed to a shallow diver with no change in fortune. My BIL was fishing a bait down below with nothing but a few nibbles to report for his time. We then moved through the passage and headed south but still at the top of Whitsunday island. This is the same island where you will find the world famous Whitehaven beach. Again the surface was exploding around us but we couldn’t figure out how to get some interest in our lures. I didn’t give up trying when the schools came within casting distance, but in the meantime we stopped chasing them and I decided to set up some whole squid baits and put them down. This time I had 60Lb leader on to my 50Lb braid main line. I put that in the holder and dropped it about 20m, guessing that it was about 5m or so from the bottom. There is just something about hearing the sound of the ratchet go off that makes your heart start as the adrenalin kicks in. I was on in a big way and it wasn’t stopping. The drag was set lightly as this was the advice I received from the tackle store staff at BP Whitsunday Bait and Tackle (who I can highly recommend). I tightened it up but you start to question yourself at this point, because the star drag on my Calcutta 700 has no lever drag setting to put your mind at ease. So up it went gradually until I was happy that the rod was loaded sufficiently to slow the fish down a bit. That didn’t work but I wasn’t going any further. The day before, I wanted to go to the tackle store and speak to the owner to get a bit of local knowledge. Wouldn’t you know it, he was Sydney as well, only moving up four years ago. Anyway, I had to buy a net because the BIL had neither a gaff or net. So I bought both and left them with him. When I asked him how he landed the large fish, he said he just threw a towel over them. I was pumping and winding for the next 20minutes before I got it close enough to see some colour. My heart sank as I thought I saw a grey suit, but the BIL called it for a black kingfish (cobia). We were both wrong as it then started the circles. Without seeing anything again I knew I had a bluefin as I had the exact same experience in Port Stephens with a slightly bigger model. I eased the drag off a bit as I got it closer to the boat and there were a few more runs but we all but had him beat. The gaff went in first time and the fin was in the boat. We were both screaming and yahooing. Me because I had landed a good fish and BIL because he loves eating tuna (at least that’s my theory). By the end of it all I was buggered. It was only 8 am and I was ready to go home, sort of.

1002

Ah the memories of the weir as a young lad...... Most vivid of those is being swept over and landing over the cages. Scary stuff. I still held onto my rod the first time, but lost my tackle box. Getting back later in the day, I got swept over again and lost the rod. Those were the days when they used to let water out of the dam.

Im going there tommorow. What are the name of the jigs?