DaveW

Well done Ozy That's a very nice Bream for Conjola - you'll have to let me know where it came from

Nice fish mate - but it looked better with the original background

We tried the elastic band idea a while back - they do damage the fish a little bit, and tend to break, the hair bands corrode at the join. I'm looking for something non-corrodable, minimum damage to fish and easily acessed/buildable - we will work it out eventually

That's not a bad idea at all - If the X-Tools clips don't work out, we may have to design something else......... The Fishraider Velcro Tournament Culling System - I like it

Joe I've got the Quick Cull, and the clips, even though they don't pierce the fish, are way too big for Bream and keep their mouths locked open heaps. Tony, I ordered the same scale, in fact the full culling system, and will wait and see how it turns out - here's the goss: X-Tools Grip n' weigh culling system I just hope the jaws aren't too big - but the memory function on the scale looks the goods I also have a set of the Field and Stream FS-25's and have used them for over 6 months and they've been great........ I'm just looking for the 'perfect system' You can get an idea about the Quick Cull problem from the pic below: Cheers,

Howdy Jethro (and 1337) I have no interference problems at all, but I do run the sounder from a completely seperate battery to the M.K. I've been told more than once that connecting a sounder and electric outboard to the same battery is bad news for sounders, sometimes causing irreversible damage - I think this happened to Donfish??? My battery for the electric is stand alone and not connected to the alternator (supposedly not a 'pure' enough source of power and could cause deep cycle battery damage). And Byron give me a yell anytime Cheers,

And to finish it off you can see where I cut the hole and mounted the X-51 bracket, bringing the cables through If you want any more info just give me a yell

I then run the cable through a hole I cut in the live well, you can't see the hole but you can sort of follow the cable. I also had to cut the access port in you can see to get under the deck and install the Q.R. bracket for the Kota. The port also helped heaps getting the battery cable and sounder power up to the front deck. FYI my Kota is only held on by three bolts. I couldn't get the mount angle I wanted and get all four in (not to mention reaching them), while I'm at it getting the third bolt in was a pain, my arms weren't skinny enough and I lost some bark:

I then cable tied the transducer cable to the curly Minn Kota control cable - plenty of cable In hindsight, I would've run the cable down through the center of the curly Minn-Kota cable........... it's amazing what you find out when you read the sounder instruction manual I'll do it when I get around to it...........

The cable then runs up through the 'grab handle' and is cable tied to the shaft, leaving enough play to raise and lower it:

Here's how I did it mate - and I'm running almost the same setup you are except I've got a Matrix 35 not a 37 The transducer bracket from the X-51 got a little panel beating to curve it round the bottom of the Minn-Kota, I then use a big stainless hose clamp from BIAS with a strip of rubber from Clarks to attach it:

Since it's going to be rego'd in NSW you could go for a personalised rego number, as long as it ends in 'N' (like 'BREAM ON' on mine). You're limited to 7 characters total (I think??). WBIN WILYBIN WAZABIN PLACN PLACKN LUREN (probably taken) I'll have another think

Four words - SEX ON A STICK Dave

Yeah I saw the custom bit - it's all Japanese to me I like the spare parts option as well - that shallow spool for the 1500 looks $hit hot, add the 55mm flash handle and you're in business :gleam:

Hi all, Just doing a bit fo surfing and saw the Daiwa Certate - the max drag ratings (if for real) are unbelievable :yikes: The 1500 - 2000 size ones can handle up to 4kg, with the 2500 handling 7kg of drag................. that's just nuts - equate it to 12kg stand up tackle running a hard 6kg drag, from a little spinning reel :gleam: There's a pic below for all the tackle junkies, and I've been told retail is around the $600 mark - if I wasn't pretty damn happy with my little Okuma Inspira's I could see the credit card copping a flogging :naughty: Cheers, Dave

Something else to think about is fishing into the wind, just having the 'lecky ticking over enough to hold station, irrelevent of what the current is doing. This is where the MK Auto Pilot function comes into it's own, either in current or wind I believe there is no better way to hold still in the same spot. Another point, it's damn near impossible to fish with the wind or current through oyster racks, unless you have a good sea anchor or the famous 'brick on a rope'. Then you just use the 'lecky to drag the brick along

Here''s BREAM ON - she''s lost a bit of bark since then :ohyeh: