Welster

I use 20lb and it seems fine. I'd be returning it.

On a handline!

Hi Stanton, The age old debate... Just the fact you mention water sports leans me towards the etec two stroke. With waterskiing in particular hole shot is more important than speed and I think this is where two strokes have an edge. If you were just fishing I'd think you'd be happy either way. Is the Suzuki heavier? I have a new Etec 150HO and am very impressed so far. Speak with Huey to make sure you are set up tight. Btw I'd be thinking the 150 you don't have to use it all but it's there.

After waiting anxiously for another opportunity to get out, I was all set for Sunday. The first trip with my dad in quite a while. It started pouring around 5 as we planned on leaving at 5:30. I received the " are we still on" text responding quickly with " Yep all good". Arriving Arthur Kyeemah ramp just after 6 with very few trailers in the car park had me pretty happy. It wasn't raining and we only got one brief shower after launching. Sweet. I had kings on my mind so we set off to collect some yakkas. We quickly collected 8 or 10 and moved on. We tried around Henry head for a while for zero's. Seeing as it was pretty quiet with boat activity we moved on to Mol point. Set up twice and pulled the anchor twice. Third time lucky. Two livies out one just off the bottom the other near the surface and nothing doing. Although you never know what entertainment will be and the water skier provided me with some much needed humour. WTF We persisted for maybe too long with a nearby boat picking up a king on fresh squid. Damn I should of tried to get some squid. Dad landed a flathead about 41cm at the same time. Dinner for one sorted. Time was marching on so we decided on a flattie drift off Brighton. Shortly after I was on landing my PB 59cm on a gulp plastic. Dad decided to join in and a short time later bang he is on with another nice fish. . Pretty content with a feed we called it quits and headed home. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's just amazing! Well done.

Well done guys!

I think Cameldownunder has answered your questions. I think the life jacket rules change at 4.8m. I also think the beam of the boat is 200 mm or so smaller. You will do better in the price range at that length though and easier to handle. The longer boat will be more comfortable, ride better and more stable. At the end of the day it's a compromise one way or another. The 5.3 m freedom sport had a 115 Yamaha two stroke that was reliable and pretty good hole shot and could pull an adult out on one ski ok. Our new 5.7 Easyrider with 150 etec is a much sportier hull runs magic and uses far less fuel.

Hi Geoff, As a teenager my family owned Haines Hunter and Pride half cabins around 5m. After not having a boat for a long time a mate and u bought an elcheapo half cabin followed by a new 2003 5.3 Freedom Sport. We have recently upgraded to a 5.7 Stacer Easyrider from Huett's. We have families with young kids so we do the family boating, watersports and fishing mostly inside but some outside the heads. Originally we were undecided on the bow rider version but after owning one they are really hard to beat as a family all rounder. I'd suggest with 4 kids going over 5m and near the maximum HP for the hull. I'd be open open to either brand and base my decision on the best condition one in the price range I could find. I think if you can stretch to just over 20k you will do better. Obviously with cabin style boats they are better outside and fiberglass rides better than aluminium. The problem with cabin boats is on a nice day nobody wants to sit in the cabin making the boat unbalanced. In contrast the kids love being in the front of the bow rider which helps. It's easy to manage the anchor too. The bow riders are good to fish 3 up with one in the front and ok for 4. The freedom sport is a very stable boat at rest. They are also pretty wide, our 5.3 was 2.4m wide. The 2003 freedom sport has the transom step where the motor sits straight across the back. Later models seem to have a step in the transom step where the outboard is and a larger strip across the back of the boat that wastes more deck space. The last thing is depending on the age of your kids our 5.3 had a max of 6 adults. So that may be worth checking. Happy hunting which ever way you go. Jason

We have a boat with new clears and were a bit dismayed when on holidays over a couple of days of rain they went cloudy. They were on the boat at the time and quite difficult to see through. When the sun came out over a few hours they cleared right up. It's a bit ironic the "clears" for crappy weather go cloudy in crappy weather but I guess it's the nature of the material they use.

That looks right. Thanks

I fished the bay with a good mate on Saturday. It turned out to be way hotter than I was expecting although I'd take that in preference to a windy day. Fish were busting up around the drums and after unsuccessfully throwing metals, plastics and pilchard pieces we moved on. After this we mainly stuck to drifting and the relaxed style of bait fishing. At Watts reef and east of the wharf for a few throwbacks, and a flick for squid we came up empty and moved on. Our next spot was drifting wide of Ramsgate where we managed to pick up what turned out to be the fish of the day. A 41cm flattie on a gulp plastic. Dinner for 1 sorted. Shortly after my mate caught a small reddie that came up with this odd looking thing. Any ideas what it is? It was nice to hang out with a mate in the water even if the fishing proved to be a bit disappointing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know you guys always recommend about tapatalk which I have tried, chrome to me seems more user friendly. I just hit new content and there it is. So I have no idea which action a post is in. On chrome at the bottom you can select full version as well which I never do. I think the disadvantage of chrome is I can't see the cool emoji to post and I think pictures are harder to post, I will get back to you on that if I catch something worthwhile!

I just looked at fish raider on my P.C which is pretty rare for me. Willy weather is linked at the top. Maybe it has just been added? I usually view fishraider from my phone ( Google chrome) so I don't see any of those links.

In typical fish raider style Boofhead has done it for you in the past. http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=45793&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1 http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=45796&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1 http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=45797&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1

Yeah thanks hawkesbass. That would be annoying turning up to a closed ramp.

I'd love to see some footage of the wrestle!! I caught one about 90cm on a gang pillie in the bay a few years ago. Bringing it into the boat never entered my mind.

Great report, well written and entertaining. The boys will be talking about that for long time. Well done

Well done and great report. A great reward for that extra effort dropping into another spot.

Hi Waz, The few times I've been to the tug boats for bait I have got bait without to much fuss. The other day I was the only boat before another joined. That was last Wednesday morning. Other times and there has been quite a few boats all in a small area. Everybody there is usually quite respectful of each other I guess the good guys are about early. Sometimes the bait jig alone was enough. Last week I needed a bit of pilchard added and they were right near the bottom. I have also picked up yakkas at Mol Pt whilst fishing on a small floating rig. Generally these are bigger. I use to get them at the end of the break wall near where it meets the shore with mixed success. Jason

Nice report Waz, Sounds like a fun trip rewarded with a top bream. Looks like nice conditions on the water too. It's hard to beat the area the tug boats are moored for consistency getting yakkas.

I recently purchased a new 5.7 Stacer bow rider from Huey. I was going to wait a bit before I reported so I could include some more thoughts and info. Very happy with the boat and the quality advice and experience from Huett marine atm. Just to add a twist to your thread Paikea I think you ( maybe somebody else) posted some time ago a pic of your old rig from maybe the 70's. I'd love to see more pics looking back in time.

I had the week to myself so I planned on a few trips for the week. Monday the 5th I fished the hacking with a mate Steve. Starting at Greys point about 6 we headed off. The wind was up a little so we picked a spot around LillyPilly. We noticed bust ups over the flats and some diving birds and decided to investigate. They were quickly moving around so after throwing a few metals we decided to anchor up near a drop off. We burlied up and Steve quickly landed a keeper bream. Shortly after I had a good take and some strong runs before boating a 63cm king. A great buzz for my first fishing trip in the new boat! In the next hour or so we landed another 3 from 55 cm no legals and a couple of bust offs so they all went back. We also had a couple of bite offs on floating rigs I'm guessing tailor. As the tide reached full things slowed down before my line got hit again. A bigger fish that ran hard stripping my braid quickly. I tightened the drag some but wish I'd gone harder on the 20lb line and soon enough the 150 yards were gone and I was at the backing. I thumbed the spool and the inevitable pop shortly followed. Shattered and excited all at once! I'd like to replay that minute or so and do it different, another learning experience anyway. Bait was pilchard and prawns. With the rats taking pilchard pieces and 1 on Hawkesbury prawn, with lots of tiny baitfish all over the area. The rest of our trip slowed down, with another keeper bream landed by Steve. So we headed home pretty content with a fun day. Wednesday the the 7th I fished the bay alone. Collected a few yakkas and a rat cruised by as I did, the tiny bait fish were near the surface and the yakkas down deep. I headed off down the coast. My first spot was half way down but I wasn't very confident with my spot so I moved on, slow trolling a yakka on the way back. Ended up anchoring near Henry's head. Dropped one yakka down deep and floated another under a balloon, put out a pilly piece on a lightly weighted rig. My balloon separated so I picked up the rod and I was on. A few strong runs and some back and forth I was pretty confident with 50lb braid and 60 leader. Then pop, I was swearing another fish lost! The leader was sheared through so I'm guessing maybe a small shark. I seem to lose a lot of fish under balloons or floaters. Shortly after I landed two more rat kings one on pilchard another on the livey. Things quietened down once more so I headed off. I trolled across Yarra bay for zero and headed home for an early day. I was going to fish Friday but spent the day on the water with the nieces instead to finish off a pretty good week.

Sounds pretty scary to me. To upload the video it is probably easiest on you tube and provide the link.

Thank you the copy and paste worked in the you player app. I still think it's i the settings but your solution gets around it. Ta

Thanks Mrs Swordy and Scratchie. I saw the vid on a P.C so no problems. On my iPhone I can not see it from Google chrome, Safari, tapatalk or if I type the name into the you tube app. I also have the Adobe reader app. I think "the son" has restricted it in his utube settings to only play from a P.C. But that's just a hunch. Anyway sorry for hijacking your informative post and video. You have encouraged me to give a Paternosta rig a crack for squid. Thanks Jason