patl

Idol Threats What size is the bar crusher? and what motor did you put on it? Thanks Patrick

expensive lures those ecogears to throw at jacks. Sometimes when fishing those rockbars, wharves etc... it can be a lure a cast if the big tv's, jacks or fingermark are playing!

The fish could be a diamond trevally or a pennant fish. See this post for a few pics of each... http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/inde...=2685&hl=expert

Fished the high tide at F&S Friday morning with whole squid, started at 4:30am. Lots of small pinkys eating everything we put in the water. Had one screamer of a run around 8am but didnt stay hooked up. Went for a quick troll around joey to have a look, caught a frigate on a trolled fly, a couple of good sized tailor and a couple of bonnies. Home by 9 Patrick

We used circles, the sail disgourged its stomach right beside the boat, we tucked it back in, we then towed the fish for a while till it virtually broke free out of my hands. We had one marlin deep hooked even though we used a circle, is this common? It was bleeding badly as it come up. This guy has been fishing for marlin for 10 years, mostly at Bermi and this was his first so he was already going to take it. I personally dont begrudge people taking a fish every now and again, especially if it your first or some milestone etc..., even though out of the few I have caught I took one that was bleeding badly a few years ago. Even though this was my first sail I am happy with a photo. Over the three days I was there the most boats fishing the jail grounds were about 50, some boats caught more then 2 or 3 fish each day, some boats also took every fish. I was amazed at the amount of dead frames of bills (both marlin & sails) at both boat ramps, it was a bit of a cemetry. For the week we took a hammer (the guys I where with come from Vic and they seem to like eating shark?), a couple of dollies and one bill.

a couple of strikes on bonito but no hook ups, all the fish where on slimys, it seemed to be no slimeys - no fish.

another - changa hooked up solo

another

more photos

fished swr last weekend, Didnt catch a lot of fish, 2 marlin and a sail, my first sail which was fantastic. Sat - about 50 boats out on the jail grounds, probably saw around 50+ fish caught and a heap of free jumpers. Slimeys were very hard to get, we only got two and both got nailed but didnt stay hooked up. We had a heap of yakkas but had none taken. Probably fishing too heavy as the fish seemed to be between 30-50kg. Went back to where we staying and downsized some of the gear. Awsome weather and a great day on the water Sun - weather a bit rougher with some wind squalls coming through in front of storms. Wind was from the SE but as you are not that far offshore it is safe enough. At least got a couple of more slimeys. Trolled little pink squid along the wall in front of the jail for a few bonito as well. We just didnt seem to be doing things right today and struggled to get one strike for nothing. Thats fishing Mon - my last day! under pressure now. Slimeys were not easy to get and got half a dozen. Trolled south of the jail grounds as this was where the birds were doing laps with only a couple diving. Lots of bait on the sounder and saw heaps of bills and dollies in the water either jumping of chasing bait. Had one big dollie try to eat a big slimy but couldnt get it down even with him crashing the bait about 3-4 ft from the back of the boat. After a couple of hours we got one marlin about 35kg, at least we are on the board. Decided we would get a couple of bonito and try them. Started trolling under the jail and didnt get one until we down at green island, started to troll back from under the light house, went only a few hundred metres when the 10kg outfit gets nailed, in 14 metres of water and couple of hundred metres off the beach. This was better fish plus 50kg, after over an hour we get this fish. At one stage a big hammer was trailing the fish but left it alone. Because we pulled in the other bait we killed the bonito, had a couple of slimeys left so put both out. Didnt even get the rigger set and the 15kg rod goes off, still in 15 metres of water. At first we where unsure what it was as there had been a few cobes caught, the fish breaks the surface and we can see a small bill but still unsure what it was. A couple of jumps and it is a sail, my first one Ive had on. After 10 minutes or so we bill the sail and two of us bring it aboard for a quick photo, pulled the fish along and it revived really well and sent it on its way. Saw beakie/changa hook a fish and took a bit of a long distance photo. Left SWR at 7pm, got home after 11, what a weekend. Patrick

Why dont we make a date and meet up there one Sunday, especially now as school hols as finished. I have thought before about having a go there as it is only 10 minutes from home

Fished Pearl Beach friday night for only 3 hours, got one small bite but no fish. Due east swell running around 1-2 metres, wind backed off a couple hours after sunrise, then picked back up again around lunch time . The water is warmer and conditions are improving. Fished off lion is first up this morning, there were hundreds of mutton birds on top of schools of fish. All I could catch was choppers, caught 20 or so and then tried dropping knife jigs through the schools to see if there was anything underneath. Apart from one guy in a hornet I seen onto something bigger I didnt see anything else caught. The jig was 120g and still caught choppers on them. Went up into Pittwater, again schools of fish busting up but more tailor, a couple a little bit bigger but no kingies today. They ate everything I put in the water. Up to Lake St Clair in the morning till lunchtime, we will see. Fished Lake St Clair Sunday Only caught a couple of bass and a yella, not much size, most I spoke to said the fishing has been a little slow. Didnt have the best of days......Managed to catch my finger on a treble that needed cutting out when I got home (same doctors as DJMAC dad went to as they were telling me this story of how big the hook was they cut out last week) and the outboard is running poor and seems to misfiring on one cylinder and a wire got pinched at the back of the boat and 2 ft of wire went up in smoke. Looks like Ive got a few things to fix this week, thats life.

Thats great country out that way. My wife has some relos at Inverell and I also lived in Moree for a few years. I have fished a few of the rivers you mention, the Severn especially has some good fish, runs clear, different than many of the rivers further out.

Theres that much weed you need a mower not a leccy

I have a question, or should I say a couple. The last couple days we have had thundery storms with some lightining. 1st question - if stuck out in one of these storms what should you do? for example lay as much stuff flat as possible, disconnect the battery and wait for the storm to pass?? 2nd question - if you are struck by lightining at sea in a boat, what would happen, would it make a difference between glass or plate. As electricity takes the easiest path to earth wouldnt everything be earthed? 3rd question - we have all been sometimes in the wrong place at the wrong time, what stories have you guys got ... one example I was out in BB a couple of years back i seen this waterspout that was downright scary, at one stage I couldnt work out for sure in what direction it was heading, luckily it turned away but getting hit by it would have ruined my day! I been caught out in a couple of storms where it was raining that hard I had to put the bilge pump to get some water out of the boat etc... Your thoughts or ideas? Thanks Patrick

well done in those conditions to get some fish, I fished sat but after the storms I left it alone Sunday

Martin, They fished the valiant, from what I could see they mainly caught yakkas. A couple of dive boats then showed up, I left. I often spend 4-5 hours trolling around close in depending on the weather, my boat is not that big and usually only go out as far as east & west reef. I dont mind early starts and much prefer to troll than bottom bounce. Being reasonably close to the water you can launch the boat within 20-30 minutes of getting up and be home for lunch. Fishing is better than working and its my hobby as I fish usually twice a week (shit if the missus reads this she would probably say my life) Iain, I dont what it is but it seems the bigger the boat the more water you own, twice on the weekend I had to kill the motor and let the lures sink to try to stop the guys in those big boats running them over, surely those guys started out in smaller boats, but many seem to forget what it is like. In fact the wash off some of them is downright scary in a small boat.

Arrived at west head prior to sun up. Had no problem getting enough yakkas for bait (i only use a bait jig as bait catches too many sweep etc at the moment) Done a lap trolling in front of west head and then went out to the valiant, jee whiz there is a heap of bait on the sounder out there. There must have been a gamefish comp on a lot of the big 30ft+ plus game boats stopped and caught some bait before going out wide. Spent a hour hanging around there, had one bait hit, it pulled a fair bit of line off on freespool but didnt hook up - scratch one yakka. Then done a couple of laps aroung joey, no good either. Went into pittwater and gave up trolling live bait and pulled a lure and popper so i could get around the bays quicker and see if anything was happening. Last week there were some boils around stockes pt, started there and ended catching a king almost legal 59cm, got 3 good tailor as well. had a few casts at a boil here and there, looked around some of the other bays, not much happening. Home by 12. Patrick

Well done, it is good fun to have a fish close to home. Be careful Ken, You will start knowing them by name after you catch and release them a few times each.

You cant eat tarpon apparently due to the bones and with there shape I dont think there would be much flesh on them anyway, Ive never tried. Mind you if you get the ones they get in the Americas, now some of them are monsters

Its great to see a few bonnies finally showing up.

Caught a few poddies and trolled them around west head for a couple of very small rats, one would have been lucky to be 35cm, I thought it was a tailor when it first hooked up. Went over to Lion Is but there is about 1.5m + of NE swell rolling in and it is pretty lumpy and messy, in my boat any way. Didnt even go outside any further. Went looking in Pittwater for something else to do, did more driving than fishing but found a couple of bait schools on the inside of Stokes Pt with an occasional boil, nothing too aggressive. Had a couple of follows on sluggos and bass minnows and strikes but did not hook up at all. Thought about fishing Juno for the high tide but i could have left the boat at home and walked across the river there was that many boats lined up, went home instead. Try again tomorrow

Sorry for being a bit niave. But how does cable drive work on a Motor Guide. I have seen the MK with foot pedals etc...

Joe A brand of boat a few of my mates owned years ago where Cairns Custom Crafts, you may want to check some of the photos on there site, we used to catch all sorts of things out there V nose punts, macks, barra, marlin, sails etc.... http://www.cairnscustomcraft.com

Joe, Around 4.75 - 5 metres with pretty close to max beam. I currently fish out of a tiller boat and dont mid that set up, but wouldnt mind a console set as far back as possible. As the boat is used just for fishing I dont mind no covers or clears but that could be negoitable. For a different set up there is a trap boat that works Broken Bay, he has a console with a centre cab set right at the back of the boat, interesting? Must be self draining with better than positive flotation! This would mean the boat would almost be in survey. High sides, low floor height as possible, if you can lock youre toes under something and then your knees under padded sides it can save a lot of bruises when getting thrown around. Nice wide coamings, you can sit on these when it is nice and calm. Under the wide coamings on one side an open type rod locker, under the other side storage for nets, gaff, oars. I would probably use an ETEC as they are so much lighter than a 4 stroke. That way you may be able to get away from a pod and keep the boat more compact with a full size transom. Motor with power trim and tilt. I love the idea behind the bar crusher hulls, very deep V running back along the boat with a water ballast to help stabalise it a rest. Too many boats under 5 metres are virtually a flat bottom punt about half way back along the hull, this is the part of the hull that does a lot of the hard work. A real pointy bow sometimes is no indication how a boat cuts through chop which a multi use boat would spend a long time doing. A keel to take the hard knocks that fishing boats get, especially if being put on sand bars or beaches at ramps, dams etc... A couple of inclusions *Horizontal rod storage (in a multi use boat being able to store the rods out of the way means you can troll really close into and around timber) *As many rod holders as possible, with 4 a side for bait fishing side on, 4 for bait fishing out the back (I fish a couple of places where the current runs hard so the nose needs to point up current), and 4 rod holders for trolling. Some of these holders would fit a couple of needs, mind you in my 4 metre tinny I have 11 rod holders now. *Live bait tank, probably at the back so the plumbing is short and simple, if something goes wrong here things could turn bad real quick. *Underfloor kill tank that can be used as a live well, under floor cool storage *Underfloor fuel tank with a filler situated so if you have that accident at the bowser it does end up in the floor of the boat. I also dont mind a reserve tank, always an insurance policy in case you get water in one tank or need that little bit extra to get home if the weather turns bad. *Bow roller that works with a decent anchor well that drains out of the boat. Storage for a minimum two anchors, usually sand and reef. *Full set electronics, but these would be a personal choice (radio, seperate GPS and sounder etc...) *Dry storage for life jackets and other bits of pieces *Different plug in seat configurations, *battery storage for a leccy up the front (to keep all the cable runs short) with an easy way to remove these if needed. If you were doing a bit of blue water stuff why knock the batteries around. Seperate battery for the motor and electronics. * bow mounted leccy with a removable base *flush mounted lights so they wont get knocked off if you knock something *and off course cup holders *trailer with off road capability and full length walk way, if fishing far north getting your feet wet can make you pretty nervous, trailer to be capable of driving the boat on. I am sure I have left stuff off but this could be a start. good grief, how much would all this cost???