slinkymalinky

If every day was a sunny day... the world would be a desert. Cheers, Slinky

2U, 2U, dear Stuuummmpyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy 2U. Mid life crisis.... why is it called a crisis when you can now go out and get yourself a new boat and a new 4WD to tow it without anyone raising an eyebrow. Enjoy mate Cheers, Slinky

Hi Byron, I'm not 100% confident interpreting a knot verbally and I just wanted to make sure I understand your instructions correctly. I've just been trying out the knot and I've attached some pics so you can let me know if I've got it right. It certainly looks the goods as a knot... I like the way the tag end comes out of the bottom of the knot once the loop is trimmed to allow for good 2 hook rigs. Let me know if I've done anything the wrong way. Cheers, Slinky Pass a loop of line thru the eye of the hook tie a half blood knot using the doubled-up line pass the 'looped tag en' of the doubled-up line back through the first loop of the half blood knot after pulling the knot snug, trim the 'loop tag end' so that one strand of the loop can be used as a dropper for a 2nd hook in a 2-hook rig, trim the other side short.

Dave.... Everyone knows that you get rid of the box in the garage and make sure you leave a bunch of rods with reels mounted lying around with at least one rod minus reel. Then you could have mounted your Stradic and it would have been "just one of my old reels that I'm going to respool". It worked for my 5000 that I picked up on Thursday. Got to love the more compact body and the new spool lip profile on the new Stradics. Cheers, Slinky PS.... Mrs davemmm, if you're reading this it's all lies and I'm just some Raider trying to cause trouble. PPS.. Mrs Slinky, if you're reading this it's all davemmm's fault. He's a bad influence. PPPS. Gofish Pete, it's really all your fault for having a sale. You should offer a marriage counseling service with every new Stradic purchase.

yeah Tricks, I often launch at Roseville solo (Little Slinky can't help too much either). There's a good pontoon so I usually drive off the trailer, tie up at the pontoon, park the car, then off. The best way to recover is to get a spot at either edge of the ramp. There's no 'beach' but there are rocks that are easy to hop onto with deep water right up to them. The other way I sometimes do it if I get a spot on the left side of the ramp (as you look at the water) is to tether the boat with a really long line, push it off the trailer, then walk around to the pontoon holding the other end. Doesn't work when it's busy though. Even when it's pretty windy outside, it's usually pretty quiet at the ramp. My boat by the way is a 4.8 Quinnie. Cheers, Slinky

Hi all, Taking a break in Mid April through to mid May and towing the 4.8 Quinnie to SE Qld. I'm pretty comfortable in the estuaries but what's on offer pelagic wise on the near inshore grounds at that time of year up there? Roberta??? You seem pretty wired in to the mid North Coast fishing.... any thoughts? Just trying to plan what gear to take. Thanks, Slinky

Hi again Pelican, I used 5/32" aluminium rivets so they'll hang tough for a fair while. I might add it to the winter maintenance 'to do' list and drill them out so I can replace them with stainless. I bought myself some Duralac for when I do it. thanks for all the advice. Cheers, Slinky

I found I can see the bomb deeper if I angle the transducer back behind the boat a bit, but I'd rather know what was directly under the boat. Angling the transducer gives false depth readings and distorts everything anyway. This season I've been playing with the sensitivity a lot and I now adjust it up and down all day to suit the conditions/depth to keep the screen free of clutter but sensitive enough to show good detail. The auto sensitivity is hopeless for fishing.... you either end up seeing too much or not enough. I also run my sounder on split screen zoom once I've got my trolling path sorted. The zoom gives heaps more detail. When in deeper water if I find the fish hanging in mid water I'll set the upper and lower limits of the sounder to just focus on the depth range I'm finding fish, or that I'm downrigging. This gives all the pixel detail to just the area I'm interested in. If I can sort out an emulator for my Mac I'll post some pics too. Otherwise I'll just take some photos of the screen next time I'm out Cheers, Slinky

That's a beaut fish... just goes to show you're always in with a chance while you've got a bait in the water. Cheers, Slinky

I'm the same with locations on the Central Coast and in Pittwater I've always used a downrigger... let me know if you've got one. If you're happy to drive to Sydney Harbour, the kings have been very cooperative for the past couple of months. I can pm you with a couple of squid spots if you like but at least 50% of the kings caught this season in the harbour have been on yakkas.... You can get heaps at the North East corner of the 'island' at Balmoral (not giving away any secret... you'll recognize it by the fact it usually looks like a boat showroom between the hours of 5am and 7am). The trick with the yakkas is to try to get smaller ones although plenty of raiders have successfully used big buggers too. I've not done it but i'd also suggest you keep a rod out baited with big peeled prawns... they've been picking up plenty of Kings lately. As to spots... fish near any of the habour channel or ferry markers and you're in with a very good chance at a fish. If you flick back through the threads in the fishing reports section you'll get heaps of info. cheers, Slinky

to all you new Raiders... I've only been around for a few months but everyone makes you feel welcome and everyone's very generous with help and tips. Jump on in and have fun, Slinky

Can't go wrong with them mate. I've got 2 2500's a 4000 a 1000 and yesterday bought one of the 5000's from Go Fish at their sale. I love the look of the new upgraded spool lip in particular and still just as tough and just as good value. Cheers, Slinky

Not sure this helps but this is what it looks like finished... the line 'coming out of' the top snell is the main line that passes through the sliding snell and is then connected to the bottom hook. the Snell on the top hook is tied with an extra piece of line. Both ends of the snell are trimmed off once the main line is passed through the snell and the snell is tightened. It sounds like you might be thinking that you need to attach the top tag of the sliding snell to something.... don't. You should end up with a double hook rig on the main line but the top hook should be able to be moved up and down the main line to suit your bait. You use this double hook rig exactly the same way as any other hook or 2 hook set-up. You can use it on a paternoster as a dropper or like a lot of us do with downrigging & livebaiting, used with either a sinker above the trace that has the 2 hook rig at the end of it, or with no wieght and just clipped to the downrigger bomb. Hope the pic helps but you should only end up with one piece of line to attach to anything. Cheers, Slinky

Does anyone know whether there is an emulator that can be downloaded for Lowrance sounders for Mac computers. I've got a Lowrance LMS 337 and following on from Robbielite's post I wanted to record some readings that I can post. I can download an emulator from the Lowrance website but only for Windows. Anyone got any thoughts?? Cheers, Slinky

Good idea to take some pics. I think my Lowrance has a download function that I've never used. I'll check the manual and see if I can get 'replays' of the fish. We've been getting much better at seeing and interpreting the readings this summer and its amazing how often strikes can be called before they happen. I run my baits about 10m back from the bomb so I rarely see the fish moving up to the bait although I quite often see fish coming in to have a look at the bomb. The Social was frustrating when we watched the bomb sail through or just above a bait school being monstered by kings, without getting a touch. I'm pretty sure the bait was garfish judging by the number we had at the back of the boat when we anchored. It would be interesting to see if gar schools have a different look on the sounder to yakkas and slimeys. I know the schools on Sunday were wider and flatter than the really distinct 'balls' that appear with yakkas and slimeys being hammered. Anyone else who can post sounder pics it would be a great idea for all of us to get better at using them. Cheers, Slinky

I can just see the look on Mrs Slinky's face. "Honey, why are all the meat and all the shelves from the freezer sitting on the sink and why is the freezer full of rods?"

I must be a bit weird... whenever I get a new rod I can't wait for the cork to get a bit dirty so I don't look like a poncy Toorak fisho who owns all the gear but never uses it. I used to do the same thing in Tassie when I was a trout fisho... whenever any of us got a new Akubra, Drizabone or Japara, the first thing we did was take it of and stand on it in the mud a couple of times. We always used to hang %&*$ on anyone with sparkly clean gear. Cheers, Slinky

G'day Robbie, It's a bit fuzzy but it looks like there might be some nice arches hanging off to the left of that bait hugging the bottom... you might want to lower one of those bombs a bit and make another pass. Cheers, Slinky

Come on... don't be shy... let's have a look at the photos of you as mini raiders!! Here's me in about 1978 with a Gold Spot after a day out from Cairns on the fabled Sea Baby II. I can blame my mum (in pic) for my addiction to fishing and tackle hoarding. Lots more hair and much less waistline.... Cheers, Slinky

Came back in for a second look... nice photo editing. Hopefully you won't end up with quite so many people there next time. Even though you said you caught it a while ago, hope springs eternal and there's not limitless room for you at spot X. Still can't get over that fish... here are the rest of us with thousands of dollars worth of boats and downriggers and stuff all getting in raptures over 80cm fish and you put us all to shame... and on 10lb with all sorts of nasty stuff for the big beastie to tie you up in. Truly memorable catch!! Cheers again, Slinky PS. How do you edit one of your own posts after putting it up? I did the same thing with photos of some fish we caught a couple of weeks ago and wished I'd been a little more secretive but didn't know how to amend them.

Awesome mate Lucky it wasn't on a sunny weekend day.... you would have had to untangle about a dozen boats and swimming kids from your line afterwards. Top Fish, Slinky

Hodgey... classic!

That beach looks awesome... heres a couple more. Taralga, NSW The Entrance

Hey Stocko, There are lots of spots in Middle Harbour that can hold Kings. The best thing to do is get yourself a map and try any of the deep drop-offs you find particularly around any of the prominent points in Middle Harbour or in among the moored boats. Just watch any good kings... they know the location of every mooring and anchor chain by heart. Give each spot about half an hour and if nothing happens, move around until you find em. Cheers, Slinky

Beautiful Frangkie, Here's some more... Bay of Islands, NZ Jackson River, Cape York Little Pine Lagoon, Tassie Cheers, Slinky