dandas

Sure looks like a Sailfish to me. It would have to be my favorite trailer boat at the moment. Beautiful !!

Hi guys. The quick version - Went to Browns and pulled in a 6.5KG baby Albacore. That was it. The rest of the story. We saw a break in the weather yesterday so Raider Mike191 and myself headed out to Browns in my boat and some of his friends in another boat. I picked Mike up at 6am and headed straight for the boat ramp where we met the other guys. The Cruise Craft was in the water quickly and had its first Port Hacking dip. It was also the first time I had the thing in the water in about 3 months so I made sure it had a major service the week before since I had a few trips out wide planned. We started puttering out slowly waiting for the second boat to launch and by the time we got to the 8 knot zone we could see them coming in fast so I waited till we got out into the open and gave it some gas. As soon as I did. Pop. What the hell. The engine - Dead. No engine power, no trim, no tacos nothing. Everything else worked fine though. We figured it was a a fuse so started pulling everything apart while the guys from the other boat jumped over to give us a hand. Naturally swear words were flying around everywhere and the first thing I did was call the guy that just serviced the boat. It was 6:30am but I couldn't care less if he was asleep. I was ready to kill him. He confirmed that it had to be a fuse and tried to guide us as to where we might find it. No luck..... After about 45 minutes we got towed back in and the second boat set off for Browns without us. Both Mike and I were on the phone to different mechanics trying to get this thing fixed when all of a sudden Mike found a different fuse which turned out to be the one. There was even a spare. Beautiful !! So we changed it over and everything started and worked fine. Thank Goodness !!! So again we putted out and got past the 8 knot zone, got out into the open, gave it some gas.... POP. (swearing, cursing, shouting, jumping, stamping etc) Sure enough the same fuse blew. Luckily we had one more spare but since I am smarter than both Bart and the hamster I knew not to do the same thing again. Every time I gave it gas it dies so no more giving it gas. We basically were able to just nurse it back to the ramp. By this stage Mike191 is ready to kill me, the boat, and anyone else who interfered with a day on the water so decided we should just head in and go and get his boat. We did that and finally got on the water. We were 3 hours late and the day was glorious. So glorious that Mike hit the throttle and we did 26 knots non to stop to Browns. We made it there in about an hour. With all the rushing I managed to leave my shoes in my boat so I just about had blue feet all day. We trolled around for a while for nothing and the guys on the other boat also had nothing so after an hour or so we pulled up and started the cube trail. The water was between 17 and 18.5 degrees which wasn't as warm as we wanted but we had to make the most of the day. None of us managed any YFT but our boat pulled in a small Alby. That was it for the day. The second boat pulled the pin at about 4pm. We stayed longer and when we left the sky behind us was pitch black and there was a tiny bit of orange lighting the sky in front of us so we hit it hard to beat the darkness. Darkness won. We still managed to get home in an hour IN THE DARK. We were both a bit worried about hitting a whale since we saw so many on the way out but managed to get all the way home unscathed. What a day !! Dan BTW I tried to add a photo but I can't get it to work again....

Could have been better but it's always good just to get out there. I was out with Raider Mikeh191 and between us we managed a bunch of Slimeys, a Gummy Shark, and a Bull Ray. Dan

We kept bringing in good livey sized slimeys at Osbourne shoals off cronulla on Saturday if you get around there at all. Dan

Hi guys. Any news on how we can pay for this? Thanks allot Dan

I will be there not this Saturday but the Sat after. Off to Canada skiing in january too !!! Woohoooo !

WOW !! We are all on the edge of our seats wondering were you were.....

I'm in !!!! How do we pay? Thanks !!

Ling would have to be one of the most flavoursome fish you can get your hands on. Local Ling at least. Often the fish you buy at the markets is imported from New Zealand which is still good but no where near as nice as local. You really can tatse the difference. If I find local ling it is always the first fish I buy !! Nice Work !!!!

Fantastic fish. Were you cubing??

Hey Byron. A big happy birthday from me too !!

If you have a smaller bait I would say use that first. A kingy will take a bigger bait if it realy wants to eat but in Winter aren't as desperate for food. Give them a smaller bait and they should suck it in.

I have never fished the Hawksbery. Is Jerusalem bay deep? Or one of those really shallow bays? I was just wondereing wether my cruise carft will be OK in there or if it is really only suitable for light tinnies. Thanks Dan

Any photos??

I really love Patonga. A friend of mone owns 3 properties over the creek all side by side. You had to get there by rowing over.I used to spend a fair bit of time up there. Fantastic spot !! Congrats on your flatties.

I missed out on the last radio course so would be interested if one of them came up again

Please add me for any future trips or cancellations. Thanks Dan

Congrats mate. I have been stuck over in Europe for the past month and am desperate to get back and get out amongst all the fins everyone is raving about. Hopefully I will be back in a week or so. I posted a link to some awesome YFT in the Gamefishing Grapevine section which were caught in Mexico. The biggest I have ever seen. You should check em out !!

Hi guys. Just thought I would share some pics I found on-line., http://www.mexfish.com/mfn/mfn2005/mfn050926/lionetti.jpg At first I thought the fish must have been way closer to the camera than the guy but at closer look the guy is holding the fins. That is a MASSIVE fish !! Also here are some more biggies. Looks like I am off to Mexico some time soon :-) http://www.mexfish.com/mfn/mfn2005/mfn050926/mfn050926.htm Dan

We get out there so many times with no problems at all that I think we become complacent about how fast things can turn into a dangerous situation. Always be on your toes guys. It breaks my heart hearing stories like this. May he rest in peace at a place even better than this one.

LOL, thanks. It is so obvious that I didn't even think to look there.

Can someone suggest a good site for getting / subscribing to SST data? Thanks Dan

I heard the nightclub at Penrith Panthers has a few Lady Prawns on a saturday night. Prawns = Bad head, good body......

Well I had to shoot off to Hong Kong this morning so will have to wait until I get back now to pick them up...

As soon as I heard that they stopped making Dramamine I jumped on the phone to the chemist to see if they had any on the shelf (the shop shelf, not the continental shelf). Anyway as luck would have it my first phone call hit the jackpot. I called Bova Chemist Cnr President Ave & Kingsway Caringbah NSW 2229 ph: (02) 9525 3044 That is the 24 Hour Chemist opposite the station for anyone in the area. Anyway the chemist in there told me that they are a compounding chemist which means they make their own drugs and that for a while now they have actually been custom making sea sick tablets for Andrew Ettinghausen (E.T.) who needs them allot for his fishing show. He swears by them and has been giving them a bit of publicity lately and the chemist will soon be actually stocking them. For now though anyone who calls up can but some just by ordering over the phone. You have to order because they make them especially for you. It is a bit like The Matrix. You have to swallow a blue pill then a red pill..... Then do it every four hours like the rest of the sea sick tablets. Apparently they are not quite like Dramamine, Quells or Travelcalm, and they are made so you don't get gassy or sick. I ordered mine yesterday and will be picking them up today. I just thought I should let the raiders in on the hot tip !! Dan