Adventures with Zoran

[Yowie]

Zoran called me Tuesday, "would you like to go fishing Wednesday". "of course".

An early start on Wednesday to drive to his place then to Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River to launch his boat. A great boat, all the mod cons, a big screen from a well known company that shows up depths, channels, fishing spots, reefs, water temp, etc etc.

We motor to near the mouth, loaded up with about 3 dozen yakkas, fire up to head out to a Fad to try for a dollie (have never caught one), and the screen goes blank. Checked the wiring and fuse, nothing wrong, the screen is dead. 

Zoran called his boat mechanic, so we anchored and waited for further info. Phoned back later, but nothing could help, the screen was blank and nothing working. No marks could be found in the middle of nowhere.

A decision was made to head out for a flattie drift, and Zoran had a map on his phone to give us an idea. We headed to about 50 metres, and drifted. Nothing but spikies. Zoran loaned me one of his rods as mine was rigged for livies. 40 pound braid, 40 pound mono in a paternoster rig with 2 x 6/0 suicides "in case you hook something big". I normally use 20 pound line for outside flatties.

I hooked a spikie and let it wiggle about for half a minute. Doing this sometimes attracts a blue spot flattie, which will grab the other bait (unless you have unknowingly hooked 2 spikies) The spikie was wiggling about, then a big hit. I was thinking a big flattie, then the line started peeling off, not a flattie. More line going out then no weight. I wound up quickly, then found weight and the line took off at speed towards the surface. A shark kicking about on the surface.

It swam to the other side of the boat then up front, with Zoran ducking and weaving, moving rods out of the way, the he manouvered the boat around, and the shark swam back to the original side and headed back to the bottom at speed.   Zoran said to put some hurt into the shark,  but my arm was hurting trying to lift it back to the boat. 🤣

It was hard trying to lift it, so we guessed it was foul hooked. I would get it up some way, then it powered back to the bottom many times. It was just a dead lift. Eventually I had it beside the boat, easily 5 foot long. The bottom hook was in the side of it's mouth, which is why I did not get bitten off, and the top hook was in it's dorsal fin, which explained the dead lift. Zoran managed to free the hook from the dorsal fin, but broke the line for the mouth hook.

We did not get a good look at the shark's head, other than it was a toothy critter, as the dorsal hook kept it upright beside the boat. It looked like a type of whaler, a thick body not like some of the thinner whalers, dark brown along the back. Zoran was guessing maybe 40 kilos in weight as it was a solid shark.

Re-rig and back into the spikies, then a few showers to top it off. It was looking like a dud day, the wind had dropped and no drift. We decided to head out to maybe 60 metres, a few kilometres further out, still no wind but a slight current to keep the boat moving. Eventually pulled up a blue spot, then re-drifted the same spot a few times to pull up 12 blue spots, the biggest at 51cm, so a few good fillets to be had. It was about 3pm, so time to head back.

Not too much swell, but some wind slop from the previous days nor-easter. The boat bounced a bit but handled the conditions better than his previous boat. Very few other boats out there. The yakkas were returned to the water, still alive and kicking.

Zoran showed me a way he fillets flatties. No scaling, just cut the fillet behind the pectoral fin (side fin behind the head) but leave on the pelvic fin (underneath the pectoral fin). Remove the fillet, place the thumb under the skin near the pelvic fin and lift the skin off. The pelvic fin falls off with the skin, and just a matter of removing the rib bones. It was easy to do after a practice run.

No photos, but a good day after a slow start, the flatties saved the day. Thank you Zoran.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Yowie

[bessell1955]

Your day was full of adventure.

[frankS]

Some days you have bad luck. but still you ended up with a decent feed and a adventure.

back in the day before sounders and GPS units we had to rely on position fishing by lining up certain marks on shore, you could still be several k's off the actual mark you wanted but that's all we had.

Maybe Zoran should get some old paper charts of the area he fishes in case he has this problem again, at least you can look at the paper chart and get some idea where you are in the ocean.

Or perhaps a 2nd cheaper gps sounder as a back up ?.

Zoran. Have you found out what the problem was yet ?.

Frank

 

[Yowie]

33 minutes ago, bessell1955 said:

Your day was full of adventure.

Certainly was, at least a feed in the end.

[frankS]

Sometimes when I am fishing out in the blue stuff I will turn my electronics off and revert back to the old days by lining up certain marks on the shoreline, especially if I am only a couple of miles off the coast, I only do this when I am familiar with the area ! . When I go to Bermagui I don't need sounder or GPS as I know my marks well.

Even though I have lived in Sydney most of my life I am NOT familiar with Sydney marks, been about 15 years since I have fished the Peak for example.

Frank

[Yowie]

11 minutes ago, frankS said:

Some days you have bad luck. but still you ended up with a decent feed and a adventure.

back in the day before sounders and GPS units we had to rely on position fishing by lining up certain marks on shore, you could still be several k's off the actual mark you wanted but that's all we had.

Maybe Zoran should get some old paper charts of the area he fishes in case he has this problem again, at least you can look at the paper chart and get some idea where you are in the ocean.

Or perhaps a 2nd cheaper gps sounder as a back up ?.

Zoran. Have you found out what the problem was yet ?.

Frank

 

Some days are like that, but a feed is a feed.

Only the second time I have fished that area of Sydney, so it is new to me. Down south I use the land marks as I know them.

For an expensive unit, it was a dismal failure. Zoran might have to take the boat back to the dealer, Wollongong way.

[GordoRetired]

Hope you get the sounder problem sorted. When mine played up a while ago I checked the wiring under the dash and even though I did not feel that I had really changed anything it has work well ever since. Guess mine must have been a loose connection. 

 

[Isaac Ct]

Good stuff Yowie and Zoran, better than nothing. Good feed still

Well done

[Larkin]

Good feed of flathead, can’t go wrong with that.

Shame about not getting a chance to wet a line on the Dollie’s! At least you got an arm workout on the shark 😂 

Navonics app on your phone - has all the marks for the fads, popular spots ect and maps are saved. Has relief shading so you can even see the bottom structure on the local reefs without needing a depth sounder. I use it as my main navigation to get to all my spots.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Larkin

[Pickles]

Dave -it’s always a good day out with Zoran, (the cruise craft is an outstanding boat. A pity the electronics took the gloss off the day - I’m sure G….. will come to the party & replace it.

[JonD]

Often the brightness accidentally gets turned right down so dark that unless you realise this is the problem and how to brighten it back up you can think its an issue with the head unit, not saying this is the case but often it is.
On big trips I tend to carry a handheld gps, also paper charts which I screen shot from online and laminate.

[zmk1962]

Top write up Dave. You must have kept sneaky notes as we went through the day 🤣.  I’ve had a very busy day so didn’t see this till now. I’ll pull the video off the GoPro and post here - let’s see how much of the bronzie arm stretching we actually captured. 
One thing you forgot to mention though was that the final tally of keepers was 10 Yowie : 2 Zoran. Thank you for that.
But if we’re talking spikies it was 10,000 Zoran : 11 Yowie 🤣. 

We survived the day running off Navionics on my iPhone - but with no sounder working there was no way to find bait balls or structure. I do carry hard copy marine charts and have a mounted compass as well just in case  - so all good in that department.

Thanks everyone for suggestions re Garmin troubleshooting. I’m pretty familiar w electric stuff … trust me the head unit died.  Today’s test with the multimeter proved it. 

@JonD I actually had that problem a few trips back … the screen was overly bright heading out in the dark - so I turned brightness down / maybe turned it to auto - then during the day it self dimmed to black. I figured out the fix that day - double tap power button or switch off at battery - reset brightness on garmin pwr on screen. But sadly that was not the problem on the day.
Anyway long story short. Dealer has been phenomenal and called today advising garmin had dispatched a replacement unit to their Sydney warranty electrician. I’m waiting for him to contact me.
Sh*t happens I guess. Especially when you’re bedding in a new rig. You just have to make the most of what you can do when it happens. 
cheers Zoran

[Yowie]

11 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Good stuff Yowie and Zoran, better than nothing. Good feed still

Well done

It was a bit quiet, though the shark was entertaining.

[Yowie]

9 hours ago, Larkin said:

Good feed of flathead, can’t go wrong with that.

Shame about not getting a chance to wet a line on the Dollie’s! At least you got an arm workout on the shark 😂 

Navonics app on your phone - has all the marks for the fads, popular spots ect and maps are saved. Has relief shading so you can even see the bottom structure on the local reefs without needing a depth sounder. I use it as my main navigation to get to all my spots.

The flattie feed made up for it, and the shark was a buzz. 🤣

I'm sure Zoran will sort things out.

[Yowie]

6 hours ago, Pickles said:

Dave -it’s always a good day out with Zoran, (the cruise craft is an outstanding boat. A pity the electronics took the gloss off the day - I’m sure G….. will come to the party & replace it.

Always entertaining with Zoran. 

[jenno64]

Entertaining read Dave!

Lucky the flatties saved the day and the shark episode sounded like good fun!

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, zmk1962 said:

Top write up Dave. You must have kept sneaky notes as we went through the day 🤣.  I’ve had a very busy day so didn’t see this till now. I’ll pull the video off the GoPro and post here - let’s see how much of the bronzie arm stretching we actually captured. 
One thing you forgot to mention though was that the final tally of keepers was 10 Yowie : 2 Zoran. Thank you for that.
But if we’re talking spikies it was 10,000 Zoran : 11 Yowie 🤣. 

We survived the day running off Navionics on my iPhone - but with no sounder working there was no way to find bait balls or structure. I do carry hard copy marine charts and have a mounted compass as well just in case  - so all good in that department.

Thanks everyone for suggestions re Garmin troubleshooting. I’m pretty familiar w electric stuff … trust me the head unit died.  Today’s test with the multimeter proved it. 

@JonD I actually had that problem a few trips back … the screen was overly bright heading out in the dark - so I turned brightness down / maybe turned it to auto - then during the day it self dimmed to black. I figured out the fix that day - double tap power button or switch off at battery - reset brightness on garmin pwr on screen. But sadly that was not the problem on the day.
Anyway long story short. Dealer has been phenomenal and called today advising garmin had dispatched a replacement unit to their Sydney warranty electrician. I’m waiting for him to contact me.
Sh*t happens I guess. Especially when you’re bedding in a new rig. You just have to make the most of what you can do when it happens. 
cheers Zoran

Well, I did not want to post who caught how many of what, but seeing you volunteered it. 🦈

Regardless of the problem, it was an enjoyable day again Zoran. 👍

One thing I forgot was the lizardfish I caught, a toothy critter similar to the banded one I caught some time ago, but a little smaller.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Yowie

[Yowie]

2 minutes ago, jenno64 said:

Entertaining read Dave!

Lucky the flatties saved the day and the shark episode sounded like good fun!

Flattie fillets tonight, and more tomorrow.

5 foot of angry shark on flattie hooks made for entertainment, and a bit wave slop did not help. 

[big Neil]

That's what fishing with mates is all about. Overcome the problems and find alternatives to get out on the water. Turned out to be a worthwhile day and hopefully you will be back into it again shortly. Thanks for the post gents. bn

[Yowie]

22 minutes ago, big Neil said:

That's what fishing with mates is all about. Overcome the problems and find alternatives to get out on the water. Turned out to be a worthwhile day and hopefully you will be back into it again shortly. Thanks for the post gents. bn

Zoran is always entertaining to fish with. 

[zmk1962]

Ok Lads and Ladies,

Here's the much awaited block buster video:  Yowie  vs  Shark 

You decide who really won ???? 

Thanks for great company through the day Yowie ... you have a raincheck for when the GPS is fixed.

Cheers Zoran

[XD351]

Zoran you looked a bit edgy - you wanted a piece of that action didn’t you 😂

I reckon that Yeowie was thankful for the padded sides in the boat ! I had to watch it twice as I spent most of the time perving on the gloriousness of Zoran’s boat the first time around 🤤🤤🤤

[zmk1962]

I was peeved as we had a live tank full of yakkas and no sounder and no GPS navigation ... and we were supposed to be at the FAD .... but had to stick within phone range as we were getting calls and exchanging messages with my boat dealer.

Thanks for comments re boat.

Cheers Z

[Yowie]

Well Zoran, thanks for recording the session and not telling me until now.  🤣

It was not easy with the boat bouncing about all the time. Good thing the volume is hard to hear, as I was talking to the shark during the fight.  #*^# you shark, just give up, and similar polite conversations. 

For those wondering what I was doing during the later part of the fight, I had the drag set so that the shark could take line if needed, and when I needed a lift, I held the spool with a thumb or finger to give me the extra lift. When the shark wanted to take line, just a matter of lifting the fingers off the spool and letting the line go. Sufficent drag on the spool to make him work for it. Not a normal fishing technique, but what I considered necessary for this retrieval.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Yowie

[zmk1962]

Just a short update regarding the sounder/gps - dealer and electronics supplier came to the party, no fuss or issues and a replacement unit was installed today. All up and running again. 
cheers Z