Le Pasha

They look like this. You put live striped tuna and yellowfin in there to keep them alive as baits for marlin. The pump supplies water to the tubes to keep the tuna alive, most are black inside to keep the tuna calm. As you can imagine it is not that easy to fit tuna into a live bait tank and that is where the tubes are more useful. Not too many boats have them though. Daniel

Thats another awesome kingy! I am sure I am not the only one who appreciated that reply to all our questions. Great Fish again, Daniel

Hey mate. Try this: http://www.oceanblue.com.vu/fiji.cfm From what I have heard they are quite pricey, but by far the best business out of Fiji. Well worth the money I reckon. Options from Big blues to GT's and Coral Trout. Cheers, Daniel

Mate that is a stonker of a Kingy for the harbour. Thats an awesome catch and something you dont see everyday. Just out of interest, what tackle were you using, as a fish of that size is bloody hard to land!! Well done!! Cheers, Daniel

Top effort mate, top lizard! Daniel

As I said before mate top effort, you will get that beak guaranteed with the effort you are putting in, only a matter of time. Besides, wouldn't be complaining with a 1m+ dolly, thats a top fish! Cheers, Daniel

60ft Custom Built Assegai like this one. Absolute machine and built to take a beating, twin 1500hp MTU's.......

Agreed Warnie, hooks are very sharp, but they do have very long points in comparison to other hooks, which make them suspect to rolling over on a marlin's bill, not worth the risk for me. Sharp hooks are good, but when the point is too fine you start to run into problems such as the point rolling over. Peter himself has said that if you wish to fish 37 and 60kg tackle that you will need to change the hooks. Cheers, Daniel

I have run a 6.5 inch destroyer one one occassion for a couple of stripies, nothing to write home about. They look pretty good in the water. If you are going to run the skooners in conjunction with your skirts you might need to slow down your trolling speed to 5.5 or 6.5 knots, as when you push it up to 7-8knots they tend to blow out. Thats probably where the destroyers would be more useful than the skooners. I hear from Peter Pakula that Violetta will be one of the standout colours, might be worth a go. Skirts look ok. If you compare them with the 'old' softease pakula the skirts are longer in the dojo range, which means you will probably get a more 'lazy' action from the lure.....time will tell. Personally I am sticking with the oldies for now until the new skirts prove themselves. I am sure they will but for me, if it aint broke dont fix it, the oldies are catching fish so I have no reason to change. Another thing is the single hook rig which is standard, personally I prefer double hook rigs (shackle rig at 60degrees) , however the dojo hooks seem to be razor sharp which helps A LOT more than people may think, considering they have to go through a marlins bill! Either way you can't go wrong with the softease or dojos. Cheers, Daniel

PM Sent Daniel

Hey boys, try this game. If you can figure out how its done please tell me.....driving me crazy http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html Daniel

Hey mate, rather than buying the CD you can access and read the Between the Lines CD online here: http://www.pakula.com.au/BTL/Docs/000%20Index.html If you go to that link you will see that some of the sections say 'yes' to being online, however you will find you can access all of them. Have a read, it might not have all the stuff on the CD, but it is an awesome start. Daniel

It will cost you if you buy brand new from the Cabo dealership here, but if you import a used model, a Cabo 32 is probably one of the best express boats out there at the moment! Awesome ride and build quality, buil to fish. Locally, you can always look at the Deep V Albermarle are very nice as well Daniel

Agree with Netic, the Rapalas are absolutely awesome rods. I use a 15-24kg overhead jig Stick on a small Avet MX and for the price it is superb, Fuji Sics, great aesthetics, love the split rear grip, and the foregrip feels great in the hands (its in the mould of a tyre tread). Plenty of grunt in the rod too and I cannot fault it...you wont go wrong with the rapala. In saying that have a look at the new Shimano King Mack rod, great action, you will pay a little more than the rapala, but it is very nice too. Value for money goes to the Braid Concept though. King Mack is 8-12kg, and 7' which seem to fit your specs perfectly! I am pretty sure you will find a rapala with similar specs too as there are 17 in the Braid Concept Range. I own both the rods mentioned above, and you wont go wrong with either, but you may as well save some money and pick up a rapala. Daniel

Hey Nath, forgot to congratulate you on your first, well done mate, nice fish! I think the best boats are those that give the angler the choice of whether to capture or tag and release. Daniel

njsconst, I dont know where you were fishing, but in Kona waters (the Big Island) they definately tag and release now, and some boats are only T&R. Where did you get they only captured, sounds a little strange. Here have a look at this. Although some boats still practice capture, they most likely also tag spome fish. Also by having a look at the graph on that link, the T&R percentage of fish is constantly on the rise year by year. The first year is 1995 and so on. http://www.charterdesk.com/stats.html#2003 Daniel

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/artic...79_hpphoto.html For those that have not heard, the brand new maritimo 555 has burnt and sunk off the coast of dunk island. She was meant to be fishing the Heavy Tackle Season up north and was on the way. Could have been worse, at least the crew is ok. Hey Ross, is this the same maritimo 555 that you were meant be fishing in Port Stephens 2008?? Daniel

Any luck Boutime. A mate of mine got stuck into the fin, only small however at around the 18kg mark but 3 of them, but the highlite of his day was tagging an estimated 120kg+ striped marlin!!! Good effort for a very early season beaky and another one to add to his already large tally!! As well as this one of my crew went out today for a good day on the fin. They landed a 17kg fin, a 20kg fin, a 40kg fin, and fought and lost a 60kg fin boatside after a gruelling 2.5hr fight on 10kg tackle!! Would have been an awesome effort on the light 10kg tackle. He was spewin, especially since it was lost due to a bad gaff shot!! I am sure there were many more fish caught wide as well. Heaps of makos taken at the wollongong tourny too, including a 398kg fish on 15. Daniel

sent now. Should be there

Hey Wigg mate, if you are bait fishing with 20lb braid I strongly recommend the king mack, the magnum butt may be a little light for 20lb braid. I got mine from my local tackle shop but they are on all the main online tackle shops and I am sure one of the site sponsors would have one. They only came out this year I think so they are new, but i have only heard good things and I love mine. 4000 Twinpower is fine. Check your PM's. Daniel

Hey Wigg, what do you intend on using the rod for, bait fishing or soft plastics. I had the same dilemma only a few days ago. I was choosing between the viper 6-8kg and a shimano king mack 8-12kg. In the end I chose the king mack, softish tip which is more suited to bait fishing but plenty of power in the lower section perfect for kings. If I was using plastics I would have picked the nitro, however the stiff graphite tip will mean some pulled hooks when bait fishing for reds. I love my king mack, closer rating would be 8-10kg, fuji sics as opposed to alconites on the nitro, 2 pce (detaches at the butt). Mine is matched to a 4500 baitrunner with 20lb nitlon. After speaking to a couple of rod builders, it was clear that the king mack was more so suited to bait fishing, while the nitro is better for flicking plastics. Same pricing too. Dont get me wrong though, the nitro is an awesome rod, and has a great warranty deal. Just my 2 cents, have a look at it if you get a chance

Sweet pics and report Ant, looks like you had an awesome weekend!!! Good stuff to all the boys who caught fish, got stuck into them by the sounds of it!!!! Didn't lose any gear either!!!! Worked your ass off to plan the weekend, and everyone had a ripper time, good stuff mate. I would love to come down in a coupla years and giv it a go, cant wait! Danny

The reason the 555 maritimo has such different lines is that its maritimo's first purpose built game boat. The boat was designed by Cairns captain Bill Bilson (skipper of Viking II) so you know it will be able to handle everything thrown at it. Seems that the boats been kitted out completely, with features such as a teak release marine game chair and US 'Lees' outriggers. Should be able to handle live aboard heavy tackle fishing easy as well as the interclub stuff. Maritimo will also be coming out with a 50 and 63 foot game boat model in the future. Big engines on this boat with the CAT c18's, but in comparison to a yank sportsfisher its not much lol. Take for example a viking 48 flybridge, which has an option of TWIN 1100hp MAN'S!! Or how about a similar sized boat, a viking 54, which can be optioned out to run on TWIN V12 1550hp MAN's.....crazy.....they love to go fast. The maritimo is no slouch at 38kn either, especially with the extra weight of the tower too. Congratulations Ross, even if its only for one season, its still worth it, should have a ball, Daniel PS: Ross, check your PM's when you get a chance, thanks mate

Fishlexic/netic and others, how did you boys end up going? Cant be stuffed waisting fuel with such an inconsistent tuna bite so we stayed home. Opening day sailpast and pointscore next week for Botany GFC. Daniel

Thanks Netic mate, do you know any specifics about the rod? How much did you pay for it if you dont mind me asking? Anyone know anything about the Nitro Viper?????????? Daniel