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Hi guys and gals, I’ve just purchased a new boat and trying to work out what sounder to put in it Has anyone got and feed back on the Lowrance HDS 9 Live with the 3 in 1 transducer. What depth is it achieving? In my previous boat I ran I Lowrance with TM260 tranny and was happy. Any feedback appreciated.

We fished yesterday (10/7/16) out of Botany Bay. Head straight out to the southern Canyons dropping the lures in the water as we cross over the shelf. Conditions during the day just got better and better. Picked up this 52kg YFT 5kms NE of the Sth Canyons on our way up to Browns.Good 15 minute tussle on 24kg happy to get him in the boat. Coolest water we saw was 19.1'C and warmest was 20.4'C. Pretty happy with my sounder setup (1Kw Tranny) giving clear reads like this.

Thankfully I'm on long service leave until mid February so I'll be putting in plenty of hours Marlin hunting ?

Went out with high hopes from Port Botany today. With a forecast of light winds and virtually no swell conditions looked perfect. For once the BOM/Windwilly/Seabreeze got it right conditions were better than good! It seemed the wider we went the calmer it got, at times it glassed out. Ran out to the two FADS off Botany Bay but there was no signs of any dollies. Didn't waste anytime and pushed on out to the shelf. Put the lures in and trolled NE past Browns for about 3hrs without a touch. Turned and pointed the bow south and trolled back to the Southern Canyons again without a touch. Checked out the Port Hacking FAD which was sitting dead upright, not even a hint of current running. As they say "No run No fun". The FAD was lifeless. Headed back to the ramp about 2:30pm with my tail between my legs. Not often I go duck eggs and not even turn a reel. On the upside the water was a beautiful blue and water varied between 22.9 - 23.5'C. Only heard two other boats off Sydney tag fish.

I just recently upgraded to a TM260 and water tested it on the weekend. Mine was giving a perfect picture at 20knots. I would suggest dropping the transducer height by 5mm. If your still not happy drop it down in small increments until your happy.

I would have said breather as well. For the sake of $10 replace the primer bulb. I had a similar issue with one of my motors and it was the primer.

Heard two boats on the vhf out at Heatons good a couple of YFT. One called for 50kg.

170kms and didnt turn a reel, not even a touch. Water was 20.4 for most of the day and green.

Tomorrow is another day. One thing I know is you wont catch them from the living room.

Yep we are going out from Botany Bay on Friday. Hopefully the wind doesnt get any stronger in the arvo.

Great report & pics. I'm doing a 7 day charter to Swains Reef in Sept so good to see what I'm in for.

Other than my rod & reel I gave all the lures and soft plastics that I took over to the local fella who took me out fishing. He was very appreciative as that sort of stuff is not only hard to get on Tanna but very expensive for the locals.

The rope on the deck is their anchor rope....all 500mts of it. They anchor in those depths and fish with deck winches using what looked like 300lb mono for a deep water fish called 'Poulet'. Glad I didn't have to pull the anchor up by hand! Poulet makes up a large part of the locals diet and is readily available in all the local restaurants too. Its very tasty. In regards to the rebuild post Cyclone PAM it was very disappointing to see such little progress. Port Vila itself is obviously back up and running and one would hardly know that the place was ripped apart four months ago. However once you get out of Port Vila into the villages and especially on Tanna the locals are still living under blue tarpaulins where their roofs were blown off. Some coastal roads were washed away and new roads haven't been re graded or repaired so the local have to go 4WDing through paddocks just to get around. This itself is causing a lot of unrest between the private land owners and locals just trying to get by. In Tanna, the southern island that was hit hardest by the cyclone everything is still damaged. Even the airport building roof is missing half its roof. You cannot get any fruit on Tanna as all the fruit trees were destroyed. The locals are living wholly on root vegetables, rice, chicken and fish. Thankfully UNICHEF has provided large temporary tents so the schools and some hospitals can carry on. Hopefully these buildings can be repaired before the wet season arrives in a few months as inside these tents will be unbearable with the humidity and temps above 30'C+. The underlying issue with the rebuild is that the Vanuatu Government was corrupt and only last week the people threw the Government out and appointed a new Government. They have a very different political system to ours in the way it operates. All the aid that was sent over to Vanuatu by Australia and New Zealand still remain sitting on the docks in shipping containers in Port Vila which was very disappointing to hear. Our very own Gov Gen Peter Cosgrove was on Tanna last week when we were there have a look around at what needs to be done. What the people of Vanuatu need is TOURISM! It is a beautiful place with world class fishing and amazing scuba diving. Tourism is down more then 50% post cyclone and it is hurting the locals who rely upon it. Hopefully with the change of Government there will be some much need progress in the coming months as it is a beautiful place.

Just returned from a recent trip to Vanuatu and was able to squeeze in some fishing with the locals. Caught this Wahoo off the southern Island of Vanuatu (Tana) on a 6in Xrap lure in 400mts of water literally 300mts off the coast. Taken on my Stradic 8000 loaded with 50lb Power Pro braid and 30lb Black Magic mono leader on a Shimano T-Curve 7ft (3pc)travel rod. I have some awesome GoPro underwater footage of the fish.

Mate I installed a single Deck Tech 5x LED 15W (750 lumens) on the top of my rocket launcher to light up the back deck on my 22ft boat. It does it easily, actually probably a little too bright. Have a look at the link. https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=123&item=31835&intAbsolutePage=1 If you go for the twin 1200/2000 lumens you'll need to the 30+ sunscreen when its dark and a welders helmet. Nathan