[Cabarita Greenback Tailor Comp.]

Ta Roberta.

Cabarita is close to me. 20 mins away on the coast. Nice spot as well!

Yep, $25,000 in cash & prizes to be won. I will weigh a bigger Tailor if I get one.

Should be a fun comp.

Cheers,

Grant.

G'day Jewhunter,

Yearly I used to go for holidays up in that neck of the woods and we used to go to Cabarita Lake for parasailing and the likes.

Are there fish in that lake? Or are we talking about a different Cabarita?

Cheers

Mariner

[How Much Do You Pay For Fuel]

June prices in now.

[Ballooning From A Breakwall]

hey james only if i dribble,

gary

[I've Died And Gone To Heaven!]

Are these stores privately owned?

How could one possibly afford to keep that level of stock?

There must be millions of dollars worth of gear - that is one floor of four, plus their other branches.

Maybe it's consignment stock?

[Euro2008 Football Championships]

think you have made a mistake i was under the impression it was invented for men to touch each other

soccer is the real football

any sydney fc fans on here???

I think the aim of any game/sport is participation - isn't it?

Personally I enjoy watching all sports

[Yamaha Vs Mercury?]

Hi Raiders,

I am currently looking at buying a new 15 hp 2 Stroke outboard for around $2200.

It appears that both Mercury (USA Model) and Yamaha have products to suit.

Can any convince me why i should buy one brand over another?

Thanks for your advice.

Cheers

Ted

Like Vipernut says, each person will favour the brand that they presently own.

Personally, I had Johnson outboards for over 15 years in my youth and they never failed me, then I had twin 50 Mercurys, again no probs.

As Craig rightly points out the Mercury has all the controls (gear shift) on the tiller handle and is excellent one handed control when trolling (quite difficult to put the engine out of gear once hooked up if the rod is in the other hand) I used a 25Hp Mercury extensively for this purpose whilst in PNG and could not fault the engine for any reason.

Currently I have 6 Yamaha 15s, 2 Suzuki 15s & 1 9.9Hp, 1 Johnson 25 plus 1 9.8 Tohatsu. Can't complain about any of them with exception to availability of spares for some particular models.

Go for the Mercury, tiller gear shift is invaluable as Craig points out.

Dealer back up service is the only other issue you would need to address.

Hope this helps

[Currumbin Goldcoast, Storm Season~]

F##k that!!!

The only way you'd get me crossing that bar would be by air!

[Yft Trip Sat 30 May]

The great Alfonsinos is a nice looking fish, was it one of the keepers, and are they good on the table?

Nice fin and great quality photos.

Congrats and well done.

[50 Million Reasons]

[How Does Quintrex Measure Boat Length?]

My boat is a 490 topender. I would have thought that meant the length was 490 cm or 4.9m. However, according to the Quintrex website the boat is over 5m long and measures either 5.33m (bow to transom?)or 5.41m (overall?). Does anyone understand where the 490 comes from?

Possibly that may be a measure at the waterline?

[Euro2008 Football Championships]

QUEENSLAND

[Downrigging]

i never heard of downrigging before this, but the illustration is awsome.. totally understood it instantly...

great artwork!!!! pin this for sureeee

DOUBLE

[South Of Browns Saturday]

It measured just over1400mm do the length weight conversion. Big thanks to the well wishers.

Who gives a rats as to the actual weights, bloody big torpedos for my mind, and I've seen a few of them.

Congrats is deserved for boating those specimens.

You've got my well wishes anyway!

And to the knockers

Cheers

Mariner

Boban

Given what is happening at the moment, I thought I would post this table to help everyone estimated the weight of their fish.

[Please Help Me Fix My Bike]

You may want to slip the assembly off and check thee is no visible burs on the shaft

or damage to the spline- unless you've riden it for ages like it it will be OK.

If you don't have tools;

Just tell them your cotterless crank nut is loose and you don't have a tube spanner to tighten it and they will be happy to do it I would think. as most nuts are 1 of 3 sizes.

Cheers

Good advice Pel,

We are talking about the bicycle arn't we?

[Murphy's Law]

Well fellow Raiders,

Most people would be too embarrassed to post the debarcle which I experienced on Saturday, but "what the heck" I've got thick skin, and managed a laugh as well.

Friday night at the usual haunt, two hundred beers later, thought I'd better get home and catch some zzzz's before the 6.30 departure time. Get home around 2.00am and prepare and load the car for a quick exit, hit the sack around 3.30am.

Don't have an alarm clock, but the magic body clock woke me at 6.18am, shit, better hurry. Take the drinks and ice load them into the car and get to the ramp at 6.45am, not bad going. Anyway, my two mates are waiting for me, and tranfer of gear from car to boat happens in a matter of minutes, and boat and trailer on the ramp within another 5 minutes. (boat is parked in the Yacht Club boatpark).

OK, newly purchased 2nd hand boat so the plan was to familiarise myself with the operation and handling, and hopefully wet a line or 2. Launch the boat by 7.00am and tie up to a mooring bouy some 20 metres from the ramp.

Try with earnest to start the engine but to no avail. Engine turns over with ease but wont kick, so change fuel filter, check fuel lines (plenty of fuel as I refilled 400 litres the day before) and they seem to be okay. Next, take off the engine cowling and "have a look" for any visible reason as to the reluctance to start. About 2 hours had passed by this stage when I noticed a broken fuel line to No. 3 carby, cut the end off and re-connected. Give another kick but nothing.

At this point I noticed the stern beginning to submerge, F##k, don't panic but jump over the side into the water and "swim" the boat back to the beach before it sinks.

Fortunately we had tied to the bouy and were in about 4 metres of water only. Managed that without too much trouble, however when I jumped into the water my prescription glasses fell off and sank to the bottom. Get some diving goggles and 15 minutes later recover my specs - "phew", no optometrist here so would have to buy new ones from Australia if lost.

Get the boat back on the trailer, drain out the water and collect my outboard mechanic from his house. The mechanic inspects the carburetors and amazingly they are full of 2 stroke oil. Only reason that I could think of was that the engine had been full tilted up for some 3 months prior to me purchasing it - maybe Huey may have a better clue for this. Cleaned the carbys and engine fires up first crank.

Okay, now the sinking problem - in front of the narrow engine well are 3 x 6" inspection ports, these are located under a fold down panel - low and behold one cover is missing and whilst we were down the stern of the boat fiddling with the engine, unbeknows to us the sea was lapping over the engine well and draining into the inspection port and salt water was filling up the under floor compartment. In hindsight we were fortunate that the engine didn't start or this situation could of occured out at sea!

My mechanic cut a piece of plywood, and silicone was applied to both sides and used for a replacement "lid" for the missing inspection port cover. (I was going to get that damned boat in the water one way or another).

T'was now 1.00pm and after a lunch at the Yacht Club we were ready to launch the boat for a second time. Got my mate to hitch back up the trailer and I pulled out from my boat space and proceeded to reverse back down the ramp. All is well as I look out the rear window whilst approaching a small hump in the ramp and then f##k me dead, the boat and trailer have come unhitched from my 4x4 and heading off down the ramp at a great rate of knots on their own. Luckily it is a duel axle trailer and it it did not veer sideways, however the bung had not been put in yet as the plan was to drain the last water from the hull whilst the boat and trailer rested on the incline of the ramp. My mate who hitched up the trailer failed to lock back down the ball - unusual for him as he is a very experienced boatie and fisho - has fished Kona, PNG, etc.

Get the tow rope from the 4x4 and pull the boat up again to drain the water, considerably more had come in again due to the bung not in.

All right, this 3rd time around everything is sweet, boat launched, car and trailer parked, off we go.

Tentatively at first to get a feel of the handling and power of this 3 litre V6 225Hp beast. Sit on 30 knots for the first 15 minutes or so then give it stick to max 40 knots. Not bad for a hull that is 1,000 kg plus 500 kg fuel, probably 200 to 300 kg engine, 4 big blokes (we now had the outboard mechanic with us) and a couple of eskies and all the gear. All up I'd say around 2.5 tons. At least the weather was on our side, no wind and a slight swell the whole day.

We'd lost the best part of the day but "what the heck" put out some skirted and hard bodied lures after coming up on some birds. The bonito were small, very small and it appeared nothing else with them. Pulled in the lures after an hour or so and decided to do some bottom bashing. After a half a bagfull of average size reef fish we decided to call it a day (5 coral trout, 3 coral cod, 2 sweetlip and 4 big eye nanny's). Couldn't prevent the temptation of trolling a couple of hard bodied lures across the reef before we headed home. Small reward, a spaniard of around 50cm (I said small reward) was boated before lines in.

On the way back I noticed the water temperature drop from 29.5 deg to 28 degrees, so put out a couple of cockroaches. Not more than 5 minutes and a good strike and hook-up on the 10kg. Nice sailfish around 10 to 12 kg tailwalked once, then you guessed it, threw the lure. I think it was never meant to be for that day, never mind, a nice take home feed of reef fish and the thought of a couple of coldies back at the ramp retained some semblance of sanity for the day.

At least the retrieval of the boat went smoothly at the ramp.

Finished off a carton with the boys, while sitting in the boat in the boat park. Topped off with a couple of scotches then off home.

Trust next week will go much smoother. Did not take photos of fish as there were nothing of any size to brag about.

Have you ever had "one of those days"?

Cheers

Mariner

P.S. Forgot to mention that the first tube of silicone purchased from the hardware and brought to the boat ramp was already solid. Sh#t, had to go back and exchange it for another one - made it 10 minutes before hardware store closed.

[Team Penguin At The Mountain 30-5-08]

Hi everyone.

It was at this point that all hell broke loose and we had Yellow Fin bustin up all around us, and some of these things were getting totaly airborne, however they were of a smaller variety to the ones we had already landed. But who in their right mind is gonna complain when u can just about touch them.

penguin

Great effort Penguin, had many a day like that. As I mentioned in a previous post, when the water is boiling like that, we start throwing Xmas trees or small metal lures on light lines. Great fun, only problem is the multitude of schooling fin invariably swim across your line and bust off your hooked up fin.

Congrats to you and your mates for an excellent days catch.

Great group shot, viewing it with envy.

Did you tag any of the fish you released?

Cheers

Carl

[How Do Some People Afford Boats?]

It's called creative accounting I think

Or having a friendly bank manager helps too!

Seriously, few of these lavishly appointed super cruisers are owned by an individual.

You will find that most are owned by corporations, co-operatives or conglomerates, a bit of a tax right off possibly?

[Anyone Wanna Share What They Use To Make That Special Batch Of Burley]

I have an old family recipe ( been in the family for over 12 months ).

Ross

You guys haven't learned anything from the Colonel , he kept secret the 7 different herbs and spices he uses and look at the cash he has now! Buggered if I'm going to tell you my secret!

Now here is the really cool thing , havent used it all? No problem , keep it in an airtight container , and leave it in the boat. IT DOES NOT GO OFF !!! Must be some sort of preservative in one of the ingredients , our PB is 3 weeks , opened the lid , and no evil smell , or any sign of decomposition of the pilly pieces at all.

Ross

Flightmanager has obviously intercepted highly "Top Secret" documents from the Colonel's preservatives department on how to keep your chicken finger lickin good , hence his special recipe

[Browns Mountain – Blue Eye But No Yft]

Mariner,

you've done your homework. thanks for the info mate.

cheers

Adam

Hi Adam,

I have to be honest, try this link for all your fish recipes;

www.frdc.com.au/species.php?f=8&v=f - 17k

Cheers

Carl

[Browns Mountain – Blue Eye But No Yft]

Hi Adam,

Mate that's a lot of fish fingers! Well done.

What are Blue Eye like for eating?

Spanker

Here's something to whet your appetite, and might be of some info

Cheers

Mariner

Nutrition Facts per 100g of raw product

Kilojoules 500 (120 calories)

Cholesterol 25mg

Sodium na

Total fat (oil) 1.3g

Saturated fat 29% of total fat

Monounsaturated fat 38% of total fat

Polyunsaturated fat 33% of total fat

Omega-3, EPA 54mg

Omega-3, DHA 228mg

Omega-6, AA 30mg

Cooking Ideas

Bake Boil Deep Fry

Grill/barbecue Poach Raw

Roe Roe & Milk Salted

Shallow Fry Smoke Steam/microwave

Available all year, the blue-eye trevalla is a big, thick-bodied finfish that has gained a great following in the past twenty years. Its mildly flavoured flesh is excellent eating.

This firm-fleshed finfish lends itself well to most methods of cooking. Cut into cubes coated individually with a herbed crumb or batter mixture, blue-eye trevalla can be served in conjunction with other seafood for baskets , or as tasty morsels for finger food. To ensure even cooking when deep frying, use thin portions only. These can be achieved by using a butterfly cut

The emergence of blue-eye trevalla cutlets as a popular form for this finfish will give you some extra scope in preparation. With the marrying flavours of wasabi, soy and ginger, blue-eye trevalla is also superbly suited to sashimi.

Heads and frames are occasionally available. They provide tasty flesh and can be used to make an excellent soup and stock.

Flavour

Mild, Delicate, with excellent eating qualities

Oiliness : Medium

Moisture: Moist

Texture : Firm

Medium to large flakes

Flesh Colour : Pale pink

Thickness : Thick fillets but often cut into smaller portions

Bones : Only a few large bones and these are easily removed

Price : Medium to high

In southern states, blue-eye trevalla is very popular and therefore is a high-priced finfish. Where it is not as well known, it is medium-priced.

Suggested Wines

The mild flavour of the blue-eye trevalla suggests that the accompanying wines be fairly delicate, so as not to overpower its taste. Wines such as young, cool climate rhine riesling, traminer and some of the young, fresh, unwooded semillon, chardonnay and verdelho styles are suitable.The stronger flavours of the Mures Upper Deck Huon style blue-eye trevalla recipe with a ragout featuring several types of mushrooms, semi-dried tomatoes and garlic, and drizzled with pesto could even take a shiraz be adventurous!

[Fishing Gear For A Good Cause]

Are any of you raiders involved with a charity of some kind that may have a use for some of my spare fishing gear. I'm selling a bit but there are going to be a few rods, reels etc that, while not finding a buyer, are still good enough quality for someone to get some enjoyment from them.

I'm thinking along the lines of Camp Quality, Ronald McDonald house or similar where they'd get use out of it for kids or families.

I don't want any replies from fishos looking for freebies for themselves but I'd like to give the gear to a good home.

Cheers, Slinky

Great idea, possibly scouts also may have a use.

[Maori Wrasse]

there are 2 type of maori wrasse thou.. the 1 in NSW is a small fish a red fish with a white belly and brilliant blue lines under its chin. where as the maori wrasseis Qld is a huge blue fish..

Here's a few pics just to confuse you even more

Cheers

Mariner

A Tripletail Maori Wrasse caught on hook and line at a depth of 2 m, near Ningaloo Reef Marina, Western Australia, September 2007. Photo © M. Ashbil.

The Tripletail Maori Wrasse is greenish to brownish with a vertical red and green line on each scale. The head and thorax have orange-red dots and irregular lines. There is a white band on the caudal peduncle and another on the base of the caudal fin. The caudal fin of males is rounded with elongate upper and lower lobes.

It grows to about 45 cm in length.The Tripletail Maori Wrasse feeds mainly on small fishes.The species occurs in tropical inshore and coral reef waters of the Indo-west and Central Pacific.In Australia it is known from off central to north-western Western Australia and northern Queensland to northern New South Wales.

Redbreasted Maori Wrasse at Osprey Reef, Coral Sea, December 2000.

The Redbreasted Maori Wrasse can be recognised by its distinctive colouration. The body has six to seven white vertical bars on a red-brown background. The area around the pectoral fin is yellow to orange. The bodies of large males are almost black, with white vertical bars and red colouration on the front of the body and operculum. This species grows to 36cm in length. It has dorsal and anal fins that are pointed posteriorly.

The Redbreasted Maori Wrasse is found throughout the tropical Indo-west Pacific. In Australia it is recorded off north-western Western Australia and on the Great Barrier Reef and offshore islands of Queensland

A Humphead Maori Wrasse at a depth of 2 m, photographed through a glass window at ‘Marine World’ off Cairns, Queensland, March 2005. Photo © John A. Long ARPS.

Adult Humphead Maori Wrasse have a relatively deep body, a rounded caudal fin and a hump on the forehead. The fish is green with wavy lines on the body and two lines behind both eyes. The species name 'undulatus' comes from the Latin for 'waved' or 'wavy'. Larval specimens look very different It is the largest species in the family Labridae, growing to 2.3 m in length and 190 kg.The Humphead Maori Wrasse feeds on molluscs, fishes, sea urchins, crustaceans and other invertebrates. This species occurs in inshore waters and on coral reefs in tropical waters of the Indo-West and Central Pacific. Larger individuals are usually seen on steep outer reef slopes at depths between 10 m and 100 m.

In Australia it is known from the offshore reefs of north-western Western Australia and the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

It has also been called the Blue-tooth Groper, Giant Wrasse and Napoleon Wrasse.

An adult male Maori Wrasse at a depth of 6m, Gordon's Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, February 1999.

A 4 cm long juvenile Maori Wrasse at a depth of 8 m, Fly Point, Port Stephens, New South Wales, June 2004.

The Maori Wrasse grows to 47cm in length. The Maori Wrasse can be recognised by its colour pattern and shape. It is an elongate fish that changes colour pattern with age and sex. Juveniles and females are red-orange above and red-orange to white below. Mature males develop a black stripe along the sides, blue spots on each of the body scales, and blue scribbles on the head. This species is endemic to Australia. It occurs from southern Queensland, around the south of the country to south-western Western Australia. It inhabits coastal rocky reefs. In warmer parts of its distribution, this inquisitive species is often seen in shallow water. In cooler, more southerly areas it is found at greater depths, sometimes down to 60 m.

A Twospot Maori Wrasse at a depth of 5 m, Fly Point Marine Reserve, Port Stephens, NSW, February 2004.

The Twospot Maori Wrasse can be recognised by its colouration and caudal fin shape. Females have a rounded caudal fin, while males have a rhomboid shaped caudal fin with an extended upper lobe.

This species is brownish, often with white spots above and pale below. There is a dark brown blotch above the pectoral fin that is sometimes followed by three less obvious blotches. Orange lines radiate from the eye.

It grows to 15 cm in length. This species occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West and Central Pacific. It is most commonly found on rubbly and algae covered seabeds from the shallows to about 100 m in depth. In Australia it is known from Scott Reef off north-western Western Australia and the northern Great Barrier Reef, south to southern New South Wales.

A Cheeklined Maori Wrasse at a depth of 10 m, Mantis Reef, Wreck Bay, far northern Great Barrier Reef, December 1999

A Cheeklined Maori Wrasse at a depth of 8 m, Charlie's Reef, west of Castaway Resort, Mamanuca Islands, Fiji, April 2004

The Cheeklined Maori Wrasse can be recognised by its colouration. It is grey-brown to green or red with an orange-red to pinkish mark on each scale. There are orange to pink lines above the eye and about eight purplish to pink lines crossing the cheek. This species grows to 30 cm in length. It occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific. In Australia it is known from the offshore islands of north-western Australia and from the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

A juvenile Blackmargin Maori Wrasse at a depth of 5 m, Horseshoe Reef, far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, December 1999. Thank you to J. Randall (BPBM) for assistance with identifying this fish.

The Blackmargin Maori Wrasse can be recognised by its colouration. Adults are reddish with four irregular white bands on the upper sides of the body. The species name nigromarginatus comes from Latin and refers to the black margin of caudal fin of adults. It grows to at least 16 cm in standard length. This species occurs in tropical and subtropical waters of the south-west Pacific. It is found on coral reefs and inshore rock reefs.

In Australia it is known from the northern Great Barrier Reef and Camp Cove, Sydney Harbour.

[What Are All The Fishraiders Getting Up To This Weekend?]

Take the new toy for a spin

Have fun and stay safe

[How Do I Id This Boat]

Hi Carl, I can not help on the hull number-does not make sense to me-post pictures as you said. The Mariner should have a little disc stamped into the block at the top of the powerhead on the port side. This will give you a serial number and from that we can determine the age of the outboard.

Cheers,

Huey.

G'day Huey,

I weakened and bought the boat yesterday.

What I thought was a faded boat name from a previous owner, turns out to be the brand of the boat.

Robalo, have since posted the serial no on their forum (www.robaloboatowners.com/) to find out exact details and specs. Not yet removed the cowling to check serial no of OBM to get the year of manufacture.

Here's a few pics

Sorry for quality of pics

[Next Reel]

I'm just sitting around waiting for Ceph (or the ) to decide that Ceph needs to sell some of his gear..

I smell quality second hand gear on the way..

Or a divorce !!