Benzeenees

I have occasionally put E10 in my Yamaha 60hp 4 stroke by mistake and have not noticed any problems. I just top up asap with unleaded (if I can get it) or premium. As I usually fill up when the tank is about half empty, i'm really only getting E5. I'd be surprised if 1 tank of E10 would have any effect unless it was left sitting in the tank for a long time. Years ago I accidentally half filled my car with diesel. It ran pretty rough until I was able to dilute the diesel with petrol. And it didn't seem to have any effect on the engine long term.

Down at the ramp I thought I'd give the new Outlander a bit of a test. So I retrieved the 490 topender from the side where the ramp is covered with sand. In normal mode (eco 4wd - but its really 2wd), it just started digging into the sand. But with 4wd locked in she drove away as smooth as you like. Now I'm looking for a steep slimey ramp for a real test. Perhaps Dalmeny and a trip out to Montague Island.

The ramp is OK but be prepared to get in the water when you are coming back in. You will need a mate with you. The ramp is concrete and not steep, but it is a little exposed. Just south of the ramp and about 1 km out is a reef called the Robbie shoal. Quite shallow and can be breakers there if the swell is big. Take care heading out. Straight out from the shoal, in about 40 - 50m there is sand/gravel where you can find good flathead. Take a marine park map with you because there are several sanctuary zones in the area, but there are no marker buoys. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

I was fishing off Moruya Heads on Monday. Very quiet, almost no wind. No real action. But there were hundreds of the smaller species of mutton bird out looking for food. There is clearly not much around as there were dozens of dead birds on the water. And the live ones were really hungry. I threw a large chunk of fish to one. Usually they are not interested in big pieces, but it started tearing into the fish. Then a war erupted as about ten more joined in. And then, quite quietly, a sea eagle moved in. After an exploratory pass, it swooped low and grabbed a mutton bird and flew off slowly, passing just in front of me. An I had no camera with me! Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

That was yabbies - this %#&* app keeps 'correcting' my writing! As far as I know, cats of any color are not much use as bait for whiting, or any other fish. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

Pump around the area in deep water for 15 minutes then fish in the murk that has drifted out. The little worms, bits of yabby and other edible stuff will attract whiting. Use tabbies (nippers) or squirt worms as bait. The best bait for flathead is flathead. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

I tried eating one - it was in a restaurant in either Tasmania or NZ. Disgusting. Like a cross between a stringy old chicken and a kipper. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

The ramp at Belambi is fine. Just make sure your GPS is on as it is hidden behind the headland and can be difficult to spot from out at sea - all the headlands look the same if you're new there. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

I agree that kingfish is good. And tailor. Australian salmon smokes well too. The best I ever ate, in Geralton' was smoked albacore. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

Headed to a commercial fishing park outside Jakarta with the grandsons - nearly 5 and nearly 2. Caught quite a few things. A bit like a freshwater sweep but with some pink and yellow coloring. Took 3 home for the housekeeper and sneakily replaced them with some frozen fish to have for the boys dinner. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

I've just purchased a new Mitsubishi Outlander diesel to replace my 11 year old BA falcon. My initial assessment is very positive. Even in Eco mode you can't tell you have a boat behind you, although the fuel consumption does increase from below 7 l/100km to a bit over 10. That's on a short hilly run to the boat ramp - about 20 km return. The only negative is that the rear support pillars obstruct my view - but on the other hand the side mirrors are great, as is the rear view camera. I'm sure it will handle even steep, slippery ramps like Dalmeny with ease. My boat is a Quintrex 490 - total weight including trailer, fuel and fishing stuff would be around 1200 kg. The car is rated to tow 2000 kg. More reports later. Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

Heaps of whales off Kioloa on Thursday. But we stayed well away from them - so no screen shots. And we picked up a nice bag of flathead.

It depends on where you want to fish. Murray's Beach is very convenient for the Middle Ground and the Heads. I have heard reports of break ins, but have had no problem myself. You do have to pay a National Park entry fee. The ramp at Huskisson is good, but it's a longish, slow run down the creek to the Bay. If you're camping, Honeymoon bay is nice, but only with a small boat - under 4m. There are a number of other ramps that I haven't used.

Cudgeree Bay at the northern end of Windang (there used to be a caravan park there) is another good place. Lots of sand flats in that part of the lake.

Used to live there 40+ years ago. Try the sand flats near the entrance on the north side. Also anywhere along the eastern side from just south of Primbee to just north of Windang. And there's always the area near the bridge on the southern side. Good luck. Some of these areas used to be good for squirt worms.

Pigfish are good crumbed and fried quickly. No good in foil on the BBQ - they go mushy. Our leatherjackets are heading north so you should get even more soon!

There is a bag limit for LJs (sadly).

Fished off Mossy Point in 40 - 60m both days. Each day we caught a nice bag of morwong and flathead with the odd snapper and pigfish. Some of the mowies were quite big. The flathead have just turned up after being absent for a few months. The good news was we were only snipped off once, so the toads and/or leatherjackets seem to be departing. Monday was blowey with a strong current and 15.8C water. Tuesday we had light to no breeze, a mild current and water between 17.2C and 16C. We still struggle to locate more than the odd snapper. But, on the bbq we find morwong to be preferable to snapper.

I just bought a Shimano Baitrunner 8000OC. In the box is a little packet of washers used to adjust the winding shape. It says there are instructions in the manual. There is no manual in the box, and I can't find one online. There is an Instruction Sheet - but guess what - no mention of winding shape. Any reel gurus out there know what it is and how I use the washers (no smart comments please!).

I've just replaced my 5 year old Nauticpath card with a new Navionics Platinum chart. The detail around headlands, bays and rivers is much better. With the old card I sometimes found myself boating on land! The Platinum card has lots more contours and includes details of marine national parks - although its not quite accurate. For the one sanctuary zone I looked at the boundaries shown were ouside the actual zone - I suppose that's better than if they were inside the zone! But it should be easy to get it right with modern technology. There is a feature called "Fish n Chip" which provides even more depth detail. Unfortunately, when it's activated you lose the marine park info. And the first bit of interesting detail, just south of Broulee Island, turned out to be complete fiction. The card was showing a reef rising up to 2m from the surface in a spot where the water was over 10m deep. And there's nowhere close by that resembles the feature shown. I've looked at another spot that I fish a lot - out in 50m of water, and the Fish n Chip contours look all wrong - so I'll be interested to see how it matches up with reality next time I'm out there. I'm not sure yet whether I've wasted my money. My old card covers all of Australia and NZ whilst the new one only goes from Brisbane to the NSW/Vic border. Is any one else using this chart? I'd be interested in your observations. Perhaps it's more accurate near Sydney?

That's odd - when I google it (just mohel, not mohel fish) I get http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohel

no bites - look up mohel on google.

Also known as green toads - they snip you off. Tuesday and Wednesday, two of us lost over 300m of braid to these nasties. They seemed to be attracted to the brighter colours - orange, red, yellow. Has anyone else found this to be the case. Would we be better off with green or grey, or perhaps mono? Any thoughts.

Fished out from Broulee on Monday and Tuesday and between Moruya Heads and Tuross on Wednesday. Perfect conditions, but cold. water temperature between 16C and 17.4C. Monday - zip. Tuesday 1 nice snapper, 1 mowong before the toads found us. John lost 150m of braid + sinkers, clips, hooks etc. I lost 50m of braid. Added 1 pigfish to the bag then off home. No tailor, no salmon, no flathead and no kingfish. Decided to motor down to Tuross on Wednesday after launching at Moruya Heads. The aim was to locate some flathead off Coila. Successful - 15 eastern bluespots between 35cm and 60cm. The big one was a real monster. But the cost in braid and tackle was large. I lost another 100m of braid, as did John. There were leatherjackets as well, but at least they only took the terminal tackle. The #@%^&* green toads were snipping us off 5 to 10m from the surface.

South coast doesn't look too bad from Thursday into next week. Biggish swells Thursday, settling after that.