BaitDropper

Yeah, agree with above comments, plenty of better alternative options out there rather than to delve into a structural change.. I

What a great report. AND a fantastic result, very happy for you. A first Marlin is always something you remember, whether fishing from a boat or indeed a dam Jet Ski !! amazing. I remember mine like it was yesterday, but it was actually near 40 years ago.. Well done

Glad someone else is being " inconvenienced " Well, not really 😁.. The worst day I cancelled, there was two boats going out together, I didn't, the other had a great day out !! That rubbed salt into the wound big time....

Just a wee gripe....... In the last 2 weeks, it's now been 4 times, the boats been readied, the gear has been all set to be loaded and the phone rings the night before putting the dampers on a day out fishing !! And of course,re scheduling again comes down to the weather/wind.... I am truly having a bad run 😁, My wife is actually seeing a huge funny side to this and enjoying giving me a bit of ribbing on the fact. It's actually been Tradies and town planners etc, important stuff happening around the house, at the minute, so I wasn't able to put people off or change days or times. Gripe over ...........😁

I carry a Hub in the tub, purely for a spare should something un toward happen, So far, in over 20 years I've not had to use it, for myself, but have used it on " those that feel maintenance is not necessary " on at least 3-4 occasions and made them pay appropriately for a replacement Hub in a tub...

I never water my chillis, just leave it to the rain. If we don't get rain for a week, I'll water then. I've got mine planted between the cucumbers and the tomatoes and found them quite maintenance free to grow. I always get the soil right before planting, Chilli's don't like having wet feet and luv the organic stuff to grow in, the more " rotten the compost" the better. Sometimes, every year, something just doesn't seem to do as well as the previous year, sometimes it can't be explained, just re do the next year and things seem to sort themselves out. This year my beans didn't do as well as last year, did all the same things I did the previous year, but nope, not as good.

Thanks Ryder, I may well look for that product. They've been out in force of late down here, few neighbors have passed comments when I showed them my arm. I've got a couple of days left of the anti biotics, which seem to be doing the job, I've just got the hard lump around the bite center left, the red lines have pretty well disappeared, so I'm nearly back to normal. As I mentioned, I've never reacted to anything like I reacted this Tick bite, so it's unusual for me to have any type of reaction. It takes a fair bit for me to even go to a doctor, yet alone taking pills for a week, but I new I was in a bit of bother, especially when it swelled up over night like a golf ball growth on my forearm, but the red lines creeping up my arm were what made me pull finger and get it looked at. I've certainly learned a big lesson, especially with a heap of re doing the gardens here still left to do, I don't fancy going through this again. After reading above, all the possible ramifications, I am happy to say, I've had 2 meat Barbecues over the last few days and my red meat appetite is still there and going strong 😁.. Thank God....

Great report Albert, And well done on your fishing session. I wouldn't be to worried about a wee bit of sea sickness, It can happen to the best of fishermen. There are some good sea sickness products available, which do work, as I have a friend that has to take them, otherwise he is burlying up every time he's out in a boat. Don't be put off.

Happy to say, that the anti biotics are doing there job, redness has reduced markedly already today. It's a first for me, I usually never react to anything, a bit of tee tree oil or meths on any sting or bite usually does the trick. Been stung a few times here and bitten by god knows what on occasion, but never had any reaction like this before. I'll be being a tad more careful in future, I can tell you that for sure.

Yes. it's opened my eyes up a bit, I've never had any sort of reaction like this until now. Heard of a lot of animals/pets being seriously effected by tick bites, But. I have Learn'd my lesson for sure regarding protecting one self No real change this morning, hasn't got worse, it's as itchy as hell, maybe red ness has dulled somewhat, I think the anti biotics are starting to kick in. Neighbour said to me, the wet, humid type weather, seems to bring them out ? .... Dunno.

Just a wee warning for those out there that have know that they have Ticks on there property..... I've plucked off maybe 4 or 5 over the last 2 years, after working in our gardens, a real pain, but nothing more. So I usually spray up with that bushmen stuff, its expensive but really works, I failed to do this Sunday, after lathering up with sun screen, didn't tick spray. So Sunday, I did an all dayer, finished off an area of the lawn, spraying, then continued with my re do of a raised garden out back. Came in about 5.30, filthy, was ordered to shower. I found a dam tick on my for arm, managed to pull it out still intact, called the wife in to check over my back, yep, another wee sucker at the back of my neck. So, on with the trusty kiwi Tee tree oil, same as usual. It got a bit itchy like a bee sting, but nothing unusual. Next morning, woke up to a throbbing arm, with a golf ball sized lump on my for arm. I ignored it, didn't show the wife and eventually headed out side to continue in the garden ( sprayed bushman spray), until I realized it wasn't right, showed wife, she wasn't impressed, so I headed to the local chemist who gave me an anti histamine, and told to take Panadol and Nuerifin, and to come back next day. Well, the anti histomine did the trick, the golf ball like swelling had shrunk 3/4 of its size, BUT, I had a red welt, from my wrist to my elbow and it wasn't pleasant to touch. To cut a long story short, I ended up at an emergency doctor, who said it is indeed infected and he issued me 2 different type anti biotics, drew a line around the welting and said if the redness goes past the line I've drawn, or it hasn't reduced within 48 hours, immediately head to emergency, he gave me a letter to present. I asked him about why I've reacted in this way, it's never happened before, he said he's seen 4-5 patients in the last week, with exactly the same issue, highly infected tick bites exactly like yours.... So, whether its the warm humid weather that has bought these little bugga's out, or a new type of tick, Dunno, but it has sure taught me a lesson about spraying and covering up when getting into serious gardening. I didn't think to take a photo, while it was swollen, it was pretty ugly !! 😁 So be aware that there out in force, well, my area on the south coast, cover up and/or spray with some repellent. I'm crossing fingers that these drugs do the trick, emergency Dept's aren't my favorite place

More prominent at the minute, Warm waters and time for them to drop there Pups.

It was horrible to hear about this,,,,,,, while I'm not being an ass about it, swimming at dusk or dawn is not something I would entertain. Bull sharks come into the shallows early and late to feed, the reasons for them being around in such numbers is debatable I guess, but we either have to accept that their there, which they always have been, do a big Cull, or put in more preventative measures, Be smart about where and what time we hit the water. Bull shark attacks, are still considered rare. I hope the girl pulls up Ok, it's not good seeing attacks like this.

Well done, You now officially have the " bug " 😁

Agree with Burger above, don't think anyone will be in the slightest bored with old stuff like this noel, I luv looking at old photo's, especially old fishing photo's. I went thru alot of mine when I moved, didn't realize what I had kept. It's great to find those Gems..

That old photo is brilliant Noel, there's a huge amount of history in that photo, especially with relatives. You may well be able to get it copied to preserve the memory, it looks a bit worse for wear. But still a great shot of history right there.

Great article, Yes, LOL that's him. He's certainly changed over the years, but I guess we all do. He's still local, and a great encyclopedia of fishing knowledge, which has been great for me. Runs the exact same boat as I do, it was him that got me my 140 so quick, thru a dealer he knew personally.

Great photo there noel.. I fish with Rod's son, he's a good friend, fishing skills never fell far from the tree there, as the saying goes. But, some great memorabilia to be kept, for sure.

Glad no one was hurt, material things can be fixed or replaced.....

Incredible video, thanks for sharing. Some very big fish there. I've had only one good session on the cod, biggest was 950, like winding in a dead weight, but nothing as big as those in the video. spectacular fishing.

I feel for you Robbo, it seems to be happening in a lot of residential areas where there is a boat ramp. It can be very frustrating, Melbourne was a share nightmare for parking and wardens nailing you, without exception. We had to pay at all ramps down there, no free ramps and bugga all parking when the snapper season started, once the car park was full, you just went home or took the hit for the pending ticket. I agree with XD, residents would have been lobbying council to do regular inspections, for sure. A good warning to all tho.

Ohh, that is looking divine !! Just had my salad sandwich, Then had to see that...... 😁

Hi James, As I've mentioned, my engine stays on without being switched off, the whole time I'm out, Which could be for 2-3 hours or a month or so back, I was on the water for near 7 hours. The blue seas switch system, technically, means I can switch over to battery at any stage through the day without having to turn the motor off. I like to run off both batteries at some stage during me being out and generally do it half way, as I think you mentioned yourself doing, just to get some charge into both of them. So the system itself has huge benefits, not having to kill the engine to switch to your second bank, to me, is beneficial and if you think about it, COULD save any engine restart issues. The fact that I can do this, without causing alternator issues, to me, is a big safety factor and one I'd rather have than a switch system without this safety feature.

No, not the powerful ones, the same one I have, a mate fitted to his, its like an airport landing light !! It reflects perfectly off ali boats. I mainly went out on night fishes out of St Kilda, this is where all the " Illegal boat people "😁 used to go out from, they would sit right in the channel out, or straight out up to 1 or 2 Km from the marina entrance. And I'm talking small tinnies with 2 or 3 blokes fishing. They seem to clean it up for a while, but they would soon turn up again, it was dangerous, there was no way you saw them until you were right on top of them, I heard many a blokes chatting about near misses and from memory one larger boat went clean over one about a decade or so ago. Spotties can have there uses, but like everything else, need to be used sparingly and for safety puposes. Even following another boat in with one of those LED strips on there rocket launcher basically blinds you, so in general, dont use driving lights !! but for safety situations, spotties have there place.

It's a debatable topic, front spots, I definitely have experience from absolute idiots using them full time while motoring at night, nothing worse than those who feel the need to have them blaring, you actually see better with out any lighting. I actually bought a decent spotty for the rebuild and have it already wired ready to install mine if/once I get a bracket made. But in all honesty, I don't think I need it now. In Melbourne, I had numerous close calls, with idiots in tinnies, a couple of KM's out, anchored, with no anchor lights, it was fair frightening when coming back in at night and a tinnie appears right in front of you !! I was adamant, as most of my friends did, was to fit one for pure collision prevention, when just out from the marina's or ramps, They actually sit there, and are completely blind to those coming back in after a night fish. One instance we were coming back, I missed one by mere inches, near ran right over the top of him, the swell was up and seeing them was at the last minute, a frightening experience. We always radio'd it in, but it changed nothing, they were always there, risking everybody's life. Where I am now, I haven't had such an issue, but port phillip bay, is full of the night time idiots...