Belligero

I suffer from anxiety for just about everything in life its all consuming so it was a big hurdle for me getting a boat, learning to reverse the thing and then manage it at a ramp. I just would take it down on a work day when possible & later at night when it was dead and just practice backing it and doing the checks etc etc. Got to the point I don't even have to think about what I am doing these days. I have always thought I was a little impatient with others at the ramp but I never showed it and would just offer to help if I see someone struggling which is pretty often. That was until I visited a sydney ramp to help a mate with his boat. We went to the ramp across from the airport with a park in it, Can't think of its name. It was absolute chaos. Horrible people horrible place. Didn't worry me I still did my thing just fine but I remember when I go back up home I told myself I would never go to that ramp again haha. Essentially just doing it over and over will build you confidence like anything in life and for the most part people at the ramp are pretty chill.

The title of this post gave me a chuckle lol

Hey mate, Do you have any motorguides 80lb 72" in stock? Shoot me a msg

In my signature there is a link that will give you plenty of options

I've been chasing Jewies on vibes for roughly 6 months with semi success. I've installed a new outboard 4 months ago and have put 45 hours on the motor. 40 of those hours have easily been spent searching for Jewies. Over the time I've managed a 30, 50, 62 & 82(on bait) plus a hundred other species. The hardest part about chasing these fish is finding the fish as they will move constantly and if they are not moving they usually are not all that keen on feeding. So I've learnt to find the bait that's being worked at the right time. 2 hours either side of the tide is when all my jewies have been caught regardless of the time of day. There's no shortage of bait in lake mac you will find bait just about anywhere but finding the bait that's being worked is the challenge. Launched the boat at Summerland early & was dedicated to not returning to the ramp until I land a decent enough fish. 6 hours of moving all over the lake, searching and casting I was pretty tired and keen to just land a flattie for dinner and head back defeated. Fishing a bait school I have found in an area I really like and not having much luck out of desperation I took hold of the lure and said to it "catch me a bloody fish" as I had not landed anything yet. Sure enough that cast on the drop the lure was smashed. Massive headshakes long runs and a good fight on the 2-4kg veritas matched with Daiwa TD Black 4000. 10lb braid 12lb leader. I've been using Jackall Transam 90mm lately which have been performing well with the flatties usually taking two or three home each trip. Largest this season being a 72 model (photo attached, released) The fish went 92cm just shy of the meter I have been chasing but I was very happy with the catch regardless. Released to be caught another day. Ended the day with a nice 60cm flattie half hour later and was home by lunch.

Hope all is well with FR folks. Been fishing lake mac a lot since getting the new motor. Few jew lots of flatties etc etc. Planning on heading off to Broughton Island, Nelson Bay on Tuesday. Have spots to try from some of the locals so we are pretty keen. Wondering has anyone had any luck with kingies out there lately? We are undecided to look at the FADs, troll for whatever or just chase snapper. Far too many choices! Cheers

The squid was used as live bait. It was a hard decision to make too

The old motor was a 1994 Mariner. Came from the original owner. I had it for about 5 years. It was a great motor plenty of grunt. My mechanic said he hasn't seen one in such good condition in 15 years. It started having issues and found the previous owner must have been using e10. Fuel line broke down and made it's way through the carbs. Plus they also used silicone to seal the airbox and that made it's way into the reeds / #3 piston so it was making noise. With the cost of repair it wasn't worth it.

Yep. Looked at the Merc but figured for the price I may as well go the Yamaha

The reason for my concern was I was dropping from a 75 2-stroke to an f70. But I wouldn't care if it was much slower I just really need the reliability as I mainly fish nights and never ventured offshore due to worry about the old girl. haha yeah some bloke at the ramp was telling me he keeps trying to turn it on once its already on. The telltail is pretty loud on it so I can hear that! Glad I made the purchase even if it cost an arm and leg. Cheers

Cool I will give it a shot It was a 6/0 so he did a good job. I keep a lot of by catch so not don't usually bother with circles.

I let them go but apparently they are not bad. Might give one a try next time

Took the boat out after work for its first real fish since getting the new motor. Ran over from Summerland ramp to Murrays for squid. managed a small one. Remembered I now have a 4 stroke so I don't have to be so worrisome on fuel. With that in mind I travelled up to the drop over for two to three drifts. Only tried this area once or twice before so I'm yet to find my grounds however managed to pick up 4 good size squid and 2 good sized leathers fairly quickly. Just before dusk I made the trip back south and anchored near Summerland for a few hours. Hooked a 41cm bream which was built like a tank. Unfortunately he was gut hooked and after 10 minutes of trying to swim him he kicked the bucket so the neighbors got a meal. Also hooked up to a small jew that found the anchor rope. Got him boat side before he pinged the hooks. Nothing of size so all good. Back home in bed by 9PM. Will give it another shot next week once this weather system has passed. Cheers

Seems no matter where you sell you'll get time vampires but you can usually tell who is genuine and who isn't. There is a demand for boats at the moment so sales shouldn't be too hard. Someone mentioned ebay. I wouldn't go near ebay. No only are the fee's stupidly high but they also hold the money for a certain amount of time. good luck

Hi mate, I've started the run in process now which is roughly 10 hours. First hour you need to keep it under 2000RPM and the second hour just enough to get on the plane. The remaining 8 hours following you can travel any speed but not to run it at WOT for greater than 5 minutes. It seems to punch similar power to my 75. Has plenty of get up and go. Smooth, no shuddering like the old 2. No smoke barely any noise. WOT with myself and my mate was 31 knots. It was pricey but worth it.

Ended up repowering. Long wait from Yamaha but looks to suit the boat well. Hopefully will run the motor in this week. The dealer was terrible though! But all sorted now. Thanks all.

Hey All, Boat has finally been repowered so I should be back at it in in the next week or two. I usually fish by myself or I have a couple mates I take out but don't mind giving others a run from time to time. If you are a local and want a run chasing flatties, jewies etc within the lake give me a yell. usually fish late arvo / evenings during the week or some weekends depending how busy the waters may be. Cheers

Wouldn't even consider a boat for capital reasons but I get your point. My days of second hand 2 strokes are all but over now. Thinking more into it I'll probably go the new 4 stroke as I like my current hull. If need be I can take the new motor to another hull further down the line if required.

Hi All, Long post; I have an old 5m fiberglass runabout boat which is well build and solid. I enjoy the ride and I'm able to handle it by myself. The boat currently has no motor as the previous motor had mechanical issues that were too costly to repair considering the age of the motor. I'm a bit lost on the best way forward from here; On one hand I enjoy this hull however there are a couple of small things that concern me like the wind screen needs to be replaced and fitted with something a bit more suited & being an old fiberglass there is no rot currently but it's something always on my mind. I had planned to just sell the hull and trailer & save for a newer stacer like a baymaster 489 or similar however speaking with my mechanic he suggested I put a new 60 4stroke mercury on my current hull & use it till I'm ready for a newer hull then just take the newer motor from my old hull to use elsewhere. He mentioned stacer / quinn hulls are good but about 15 years before major corrosion issues slowly start to appear. I think I would be up for roughly 10K supply and fitted new 60 merc 4stroke compared to 25 - 35k for an alloy boat that suits my needs. Thoughts?

Catch just about anything near the outlets. My mates son caught a decent size cobia in Lake Mac too. I fish it often and have not come up with one yet.

Funny that. I only just moved up to the coast and that storm sent a tree onto my old boat. Moved to lack mac now and new to me boat stays well away from trees.

yeah nice plenty of good flathead in the system. Might take boat out Saturday night. See how long this wind takes to settle down

East Coast Lows (ECL) are intense low pressure systems which occur, on average, several times each year off the eastern coast of Australia, in particular southern Queensland, NSW and eastern Victoria. ... East coast lows are also observed off the coast of Africa and America and are sometimes known as east coast cyclones

Mate it's a bit risky in an ECL especially on the southern beaches. It'll be a wash out.

I've heard them being caught there I use to fish there a lot before I got a boat. But use to a catch a lot of trash fish too. I'd go to one of the other beaches around but the most important thing is to find a good gutter. Without a gutter you are basically wasting your time. I'm not very good off the beach but one of my mates is a bit of a gun and catches plenty of jewies around that area. Cheers