jewgaffer

Many Happy Returns Geoff hope you have a nice day celebrating your Birthday today Cheers jewgaffer

Watch for heavy rain and chocolate water and have a crack at the thumper size yellowtail that follow the run in tide right up to the platform around Gymea bath. Mark my words Chris the more rain and the muddier the water is the better the Hacking fishes for the larger winter yellow tail thhe hardiest fish in the sea. Blue water golden kelp and no connection to the fresh and because of the dead end at Audley makes the Hacking what it is Cheers mate jewgaffer

+ 1 to Hodgey's post well done Pongrass18ft Ian I can't remember seeing the Sydney area fish so well for so many species in general - it's as though a complete change has taken place in our part of the Pacific with the effect of changing outside currents on fish movement and migration after so many years of only average fishing if not drought type conditions in the main in the estuaries on most species for quite a few years now... After all the very quiet winters we've had we've seen some exceptional out of season results including these types of results from Pongrass 18, Cungee George and PeterS who enjoy launching in the Hacking and spend a lot of time fishing the run along the National Park Cliffs. Looks like it won't be all that long before we see some thumper size snapper moving up along the cliffs from the south coast. Cheers jewgaffer

Nice haul of flathead BillyD you must have fished right into a flathead nest and stayed there - very handy to know where the nests are too as flathead become very territorial even at night and are genetically geared to attack anything that resembles a moving bait. Cheers jewgaffer

That's one helluva blue swimmer crab tide'n'knots not only absolutely worthy of a Fishraider record and congratulations on landing it. What a magnificent meal it's going to make. Cheers jewgaffer

Thanks all for the advice so far Geoff thanks for offering to take a photo and posting it up of the "elongated hole" where the steering arm enters the left hand side of the transom well. I like Dunc333 suggestion of using a rubber grommet known as a slop stopper. I wonder what sizes they are available and whether a slop stopper can be slightly modified for a nice neat fit where the steering arm travels from side to side into the port side of the transom well. Thanks for that Duncan it sounds like a handy rubber product just made for the job, something that I was hoping would come out of my post. Cheers jewgaffer

Top advice aquaman As you say Breambucket not only needs a good quality battery charger to charge his deep cycle battery but he also needs to have a charger good enough to maintain and top up the battery and hold it there when required Cheers jewgaffer

Hi Raiders, I had a new 60HP Mercury Bigfoot Motor fitted to my Side Console boat last year & had to have the motor raised a couple of holes to a higher position so that the cavitation plate would be just covered by water when the boat was at rest. I need to make sure that the boat is still completely waterproof - haven't had a chance to test it as yet - and this particular boat has always been "a dry boat" and didn't lose any water at all when driving uphill with the bungs out after retrieving the boat at the boat ramp after a long day on the water. I need some advice or ideas on fitting some sort of rubber product or something made for the purpose so as to completely fill the gap in the transom where my steering arm goes thru as the existing holes for the steering arm had to be elongated to over double the size rather than going to the expense of modyfying the transom well and then repainting the area etc. As always your advice will be very much appreciated as I am very fussy about not having any water sitting in the hull when the bungs are in - I always put my boat away with the bungs out so as to drain out any rainwater immediately and also to aerate the inner hull and to prevent any associated rot inside the hull. Maybe a rubber surround is made for the specific purpose? perhaps Huey or Geoff aka Geoff on Fishraider would be familiar with a suitable product? Photo taken before my new 60hp Merc Bigfoot motor was fitted and shows the same copper steering arm which moves from side to side inside the transom well when the steering wheel is turned. This photo was taken after the new 60hp mercury motor was installed - the left side entry of the steering arm is the main offender because of it's size and the possibilty of sea water splashing into the area or allowing back wash to come into the hull- doesn't show up very well in the photo but the hole to accommodate the steering arm inside the transom well had to be elongated to over two times it's original size. I need to have this area addressed so that I can get back out on the water without any further ado once my hip joints have been replaced, operations which I expect will commence in a few weeks. Cheers jewgaffer

Funny post Musty Thanks for sharing! I must say I had a pretty good laugh at that guy's antics. You know to this day I still have my own private little war trying to reverse a boat trailer particularly when reversing into a confined spot and moreso when the boat isn't connected to the trailer, especially when reversing a trailer on the smallish side over rough ground which causes it to bounce around all over the place and take charge of the steering. Cheers jewgaffer

Hi Rockfisherman. The golden rule when fishing bays and rivers is to have the wind or the drift direction coming from behind you and fish back towards structure or the shoreline in the direction of the boat drift at the time, no matter how slight the drift is. Cheers jewgaffer

Hi Prawn Star A few months ago Geoff aka Geoff on Fishraider did a comparison on a spread sheet between the various model fish finders including the HDF series Lowrance fish finders (High Definition Series). I couldn't find the particular post but did manage to find my reply to a similiar post addressed to a member also looking to buy a good quality sounder at a sensible price for his tinny . This is part of my reply and it was ineresting that Geoff himself favoured the Lowrance ELITE 5 over any other model in the under $500 price range from memory "I think you've made the right decision going for the Lowrance Elite 5 model sounder...I was quite surprised to find out (from the mngr of a large retail outlet) that the HDS5's have been outselling the equivalent Furunos by 5-1 ie the Furuno 620 and also the Lowrance HDS equivant of the big selling Furono 585, the deep sea model ...I reckon the Elite 5 is a retail "sitter" aimed to attract the estuary off shore market and gives general fishos that don't require a sounder that better covers the deeper fathoms off shore the best of everything including the $300 card in the one package" It would be a good idea to get the raiders price on the Lowrance ELITE 5 from Huey as Geoff certainly put a lot of research into fish finders at the time and my reply in calling the budget priced Lowrance ELITE 5 "a retail sitter" speaks volumes for the quality of Geoff's research when chosing a sounder for himself. Cheers jewgaffer

Roberta Keep up the good fishing Cheers jewgaffer

Nick I'm not sure whether you have already addressed the requirement to install an all round anchor light that complies with the 1 metre clearance regulation i.e. the anchor light must be mounted a minimum of 1 metre above the line of the port and starboard navigation lights and must clearly visible at 360 degrees of vision. An all round anchor light must be displayed at all times when boating at night. I have an all round anchor light the same as one in the photo below and it is mounted on a small alloy plate on the top of my side console unit. This particularly anchor light is very good quality and costs around $65.00 but well worth the money (it's available from boating suppliers such as HM in your area or WW's, It is of the screw in telescopic type and, when not in use it can easily be stored out of the way i.e. against the side gunnel of your boat using those plastic clips that are used for storing small oars, boat hooks, nets, gaffs etc Key Benefits & Features: The 12 volt plug-in removable type 360 degree anchor light which can be quickly removed from the base for easy storage. The telescopic locking shaft allows for adjustable length that extends from 600mm to 1.2 meters. Fitted black nylon base with stainless steel cover and a rubber sealing plug. Aluminium telescopic shaft with sealed long life LED's in an anti-glare lens. Cheers jewgaffer

Congratualtions on reaching 1000 posts Leo. Keep up the good work mate Cheers jewgaffer