Wantingaboat

I was over near Tunks park and saw a school of about 150 of them about a week ago and they too were massive. They were swimming around on the top of the water looking pretty casual. A small shark or some kings would have had a field day as long as mullet taste ok.

In my opinion a 1000 sized reel is pretty small to be using land based unless you are fishing for small species of fish or squid and with light line such as 6 pound. If you wanted to go for tailor, salmon or even the odd king then i would move up in line class and size of reel. As you dont descibe the type of lure fishing ie soft plastics, spinning metals ect its hard to know what you are using it for. Mike.

Cheers John. I have it sitting on my wooden floorboards so i presume thats ok. On the charger it has three lights. One that indicates the battery has no power, one that is half charged and one that indicates fully charged. It seems to get to fully charged pretty quickly and i disconnect it then. I will just leave it on all the time if thats what is best. Mike.

Hey Justin, I recently bought a Tyrnos 16 for use on various fish like jew and kings in the harbour. Its loaded with 40pd braid so its not exactly what you want but very similar. I had never used an overhead before and was also worried about it especially cos it doesnt have a level wind to make sure the line goes on the spool properly. Its a piece of cake. Dont worry about it you pick it up in about ten minutes. When i fight a fish with it i dont even bother. Next time i drop it to the bottom though i try and rectify any uneven line that exists on the spool. The lever drag is also pretty simple. its a matter of pushing a lever forward or back similar to how you would use drag in an eggbeater(instead of turning the thing on top of the reel clock/anticlockwise). I went against the Tekota as i heard that lever drag was superior to star. Not sure if thats true. If you plan to do any casting with it forget it!!! I just drop baits over the edge of the boat, live or dead. Hope that helps a little. Cheers. Mike.

Thanks Pelican. There is no connection at all between the motor and the battery. No alternator or anything else. The only way i charge it is to disconnect the +/- at the end of the day, carry it inside and hook it up to a charger. Is this an ok way of using it and preserving its life?

GT thats exactly the set up that i think will work. I may make it slightly bigger on one side as yakkas prob need more room to swim around. Cheers for your help guys/girls.

Hi again, Got a question about my battery. Its a sealed 100 amp glass matt(what ever that means) battery and its pretty much brand new(was not cheap). I have hooked up to it my sounder, all nav lights, bilge pump for boat and bilge pump for live bait tank and i have a ciggie lighter adapter that i use for a spot light occasionally. Now my sounder gives me the voltage reading and it seems to vary a lot. Can someone tell me if i have over loaded this battery as i was told before it should be plenty. Not sure what it should be at when fully charged or what voltage it needs to be at when i start to worry that the electrics are going to start dropping out. To me it seemed that when i was using various appliances the voltage would drop and then when i turned them off it would go back up. To me this sounds weird as i thought the sounder would just measure the amount of battery power left and not go up and down. Is this normal? I have a pull start engine so running the battery dead is not a problem with starting but being out in the middle of the harbour at night and the nav lights failing is. Can anyone shed any light on myh questions? Cheers Mike.

Yeah there are some good spots. See mrsswordfishermans post.

Hey Diver, We have a place at Summerland Point on the lake and i reckon a killer bait is chicken gut. Its stinks an unbelievable amount, not really surprising, but its the goods. You get plenty out of a packet and its something different from the usual prawns if ylou can handle the pong. I fish straight off our wharf and the bream love it. I do what you mention and cast and leave and they hook themselves. If you are after plastics then i find the small bream smashed any gulps i put in their way but once i used a powerbait, which i believe doesnt have the artificial scent, i started to get more large bream. Not sure what they are called but like minnows but more translucent and slightly green in colour. Worked for me but not as good as that pungent chicken gut haha. Cheers Mike.

I dont really agree totally that fluro is much less visible than mono. The marketing all points that way and so does the price you pay for it but to be honest i think mono is fine/adequate. I was in a tackle shop the other day and a pro, wont say which one, was in there buying mono to use as leader. He told me its all BS but i still use fluro leader anyway as i need all the help i can get. As i said before you dont need a swivel when using with a jighead. I use massive JH's sometimes when flicking 7 inch jerk shads for kings without a swivel and thats connecting 20 pound braid to 30 pound leader or 40 pound braid to 50pound leader. For the lighter stuff i definately wouldnt use one. If i were you why not try a few of the suggestions that people have given and make up your own mind. No point in forking out hard earned de niro if its not going to give better results. Cheers. Mike. ps. Shame Slinky didnt respond to this one as i am interested in his views.

Hi K76, Others may correct me but if its 4kg mono fishing line then you dont need a fluorocarbon leader. The reason that people use leader is that it connects braid fishing line to the hook. Braid is very strong, much thinner in diameter but its also a little brittle and easily snapped or worn through if scratched along rocks/reefs by a fish thats being caught. You use the leader, which is usually a heavier class line than the braid, for the last meter or so. I believe this is less prone to what i mentioned above. People use different length leader to suit their preference. A guide that i use when tieing on leader is the length should be just shorter than the rod length. If its 10pound or less then its easy to tie the leader straight to the braid using a double uni knot. For the stronger line 20pound+ it starts to get a bit trickier as the diameters of the line vary quite a bit and the use of a swivel can make it easier. Like i said some may correct me but thats what i think. Cheers Mike.

Persistance pays TnK. Another great Jew. I was out on Saturday night for an overnighter so i know how cold/wet and windy it was. Good man for battling the elements. Cheers Mike.

Hi All, Hope you had a good weekend. I have recently built a live bait tank out of an esky and tested it out on Saturday night. Works pretty well but one issue i have is that i caught a couple of squid and then went over to Balmoral and got a few yakkas. I put them in the same esky and the squid didnt like it one bit. The squirted sackfulls of ink constantly at the single yakka i put in there. Has anyone any ideas how this could be overcome? I guess some kind of divider would work but the issue with that is that the water inlet is on one side thus the water wouldnt circulate in both sides. Does anyone just wack the squid/baitfish in the same spot and not worry about it. I am also worried that the yakkas might eat the squid. As squid as most people probably realise are hard work to raise sometimes i dont want to be feeding my bait. Cheers for any help. Mike.

Hey rmz, If you work as slowly as i do on a boat then that baby is going to take some time to repair. Will be worth it in the end. Take your time and figure out exactly what you want to do with it. Good luck with the rebuild. I think seeing photos of rebuilds is one of my favourite things on this site. Cheers. Mike. ps. Was that middle stringer rotted as in your earlier picture it looked like you were keeping it and then it was gone?

I agree with breamhunter. My mate has a 435 hornet trophey side console and its a sweet boat. Two live wells, heaps of storage, rides pretty well and add an electric and your pretty set for anything inside of the heads. I suppose you can take it outside on a good day but we never did. Dont know much about the other boats but i agree again with BH that i wouldnt add a bimini. Would just get in the way unless you plan on doing a lot of anchored fishing in the sun or rain and if you are, a hornet isnt the right boat for you anyway. Just my opinion. Good luck with the search.

They are some juicy kings. Bet the reels were screaming. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. I hope some are around this weekend if i dont get blown out of the tinny.

Thanks Pelican, Its great when people take the time to write a few lines of advice...Hint Hint Knudge Knudge. I have no intentions of bringing aboard any sharks at night or even during the day but we will just cut them off should we get one. I agree that Tunks is a better ramp but that wold involve driving back over the bridge on Sunday and as its only the second time towing not sure thats a good idea. I am the bloody designated driver to the footy and to fishing so no issue with the cops. Will make up for it when i get home. Thanks again. Mike.

Me and a mate are planning on taking the tinny out for her first night session on Saturday night in the harbour. Now i know its forcast for strong winds so that could force us to fish out of the main chop but was wondering what we should be targeting. The idea is to TRY and get some squid, and maybe yakkas but dont know if we are wasting our time at night. I know squid go off the bite in wind so have we no chance of getting any? I hear that fish cant really see the baits and smell them at night. Is this true? If so will pilchards be better than live/fresh bait as its stinkier? We are off to the rugby and then putting the boat in after that. Should be around 11pm. Hoping to fish all the way through and then til about 10 or 11 am. Would love a shark but have only ever caught Pork Jacksons and they are a bit weird for my liking. Cheers for any help. I know i ask a lot of questions but its the best way to learn. Mike.

I hope Hodgey doesnt mind me using his quote. I PM'd him a few nights ago cos i am experiencing it with my new sol. Heres what he said "Firstly, make sure you haven't 'over-spooled' the reel by putting too much line on it. It should be about 1mm or so from the lip. Secondly, you will experience this knotting if you do not wind up the slack after each jig of the rod tip, especially if using 4-6lb braid. Your explanation is pretty close. You want to make sure the line is wound back on under some sort of tension, otherwise it forms lose layers, which will lead to loops, knots and swearing! Just work on your technique a bit .. it will all come good. To prove the point, cast the soft plastic out and wind it straight back in. Do this a couple of times and you will se that the line lays nicely on the SOL and there is no loop. IF there is, and you think it is because the spool is too full, simply remove some line." Hope that helps. I actually think it has to do with the line and reel. When ever i start with a new reel/line i get those knots. Maybe my inexperience or maybe just takes a little time to adjust to the gear. If you take it slowly unwinding them they come out 9/10 times. Mike.

Hi there. May be a stupid question but is all the equipment not transferable when you change cars? Air shocks and tow bar off the old car and then fitted to the new one? It seems when you fit the tow bar they remove the back bumper and replace it with a new stronger part. When they did mine they offered the old bumper back to me. I would take Stewys advice on the shocks as people who have done this first hand are the best ones to ask. According to Toyotas website i could tow 700kg with my little car which is pretty ambitious. The manual says 550kg which obviously contradicts the website. Make sure you do your homework as it seems that you are going to be towing a reasonable amount. Cheers Mike.

Dogtooth you are the man when it comes to kings. Just when i thought you had caught the biggest of the year already 1.2m Good job. I look forward to your next report. Mike.

I guess i dont want to spend too much. In the past month and a half i have bought a live fibre 15-24kg overhead, a shimano tyrnos 16, a daiwa sol 2000 and a team advantage 2-4kg. Now i am no Bill Gates so my cash is fairly scarce so will try and keep this a bit cheaper than those combos. I say that now but show me a few pictures of good rods like i want and i crumble. I have been reading past posts from Slinky and his flair for quality rods and reels has no bounds. I wanted to team up the rod with a symetre 3000 i think. Most people think these are reasonable reels???? Mike.

I can say for sure that there were some absolute monster kings caught on Saturday. Get your heavy gear out. I had 40pd braid and 50pd leader and was absolutely smoked twice. Salmon should be a good backup if the kings are not firing though. Wish i could fish tomorrow.

Jewgaffer you should be asleep preparing the fishing machine body of yours for the op but if your awake then......or if any others have good advice - what is a very light weight ugly stick rated to at least 8kg? I seem to be obsessed with 7 footers but i am told these are too long for boats. Maybe subconsciously i am trying to compensate for something. I dont believe its too long for the fishing that i do. Maybe if i was fighting a yellow fin but i wont be.

Hi All, I know this is probably a simple question that i may well know the answer to already but.... If i had say a rod rated to 8kg and i put 30 pound braid on the reel and i tightened the drag all the way would the rod snap. Now i know if i had the drag backed off it probably would handle it but the reason i ask is i have a great bream rod 2-4kg and a pretty good overhead 15-24kg but my rod in between sucks. Its a beast of a thing(very thick and heavy) but only rated 5-8kg i think, Penn made rod and reel loaded with 20pd braid, very heavy and i am no Arny. It has caught kings by just being left in the rod holder but if i wanted to chuck around some 7inch jerk shads or like it wears me out pretty quickly. I do actually like the rod but other than sitting in a rod holder its pretty useless. I like the look of the raider series by shimano but if my memory serves me correctly they are only rated to 8 or 10kg max for the barra model. I wanted to put a 3000 or 4000 sized reel with 30 pound on it but not if i am going to snap it in half. Any advice raiders??? Cheers Mike.