mattdan

Hi all, Was out Botany today on a charter. Come home with a good feed bream,flattie,whiting and Bonito. I have never tried Bonito before so just wondering what they are like on the table and any recipes you may care to share. MattyB

Hi all, Heading up to Hawks Nest this evening for the weekend with the and a mate and his . He asked me to take my boat but i looked at seabreeze and told him I didn't think would be a good idea. He is now thinking of taking his parents boat up there. On seabreeze it only has a listing for the Newcastle area but me thinks it wouldn't differ to much to what I would expect at Port Stephens. My question is if this is in fact the case? I am trying to talk him out of taking his parents boat up wasting the excess fuel andeffort due to the forcasted weather. Granted my boat is only 15ft whereas his is 19ft, but I still think we could be asking for trouble. What are your opinions? I have included the link for seabreeze. http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/nsw4.asp MattyB

Hi all, Just wanted to know if anybody can help. I have noticed that my boat suffers from porpoising. When this happens I trim in but it doesn't seem to flatten out and 99% of the time I am finding myself having to power off to stop it then having to start and reset again. My boat is stern heavy so I think this is where my problem is stemming from, but I am unable to do much about it, due to under floor tank, oil tank and battery, also I have a pod at the stern on which my motor is mounted. I have search the forum and many have mentioned motor height. I have to check it but I think my cav plate is in line or just higher then the bottom of the boat, so from what I have read this seems to be about right. I am a bit dubious about moving the motorup or down as I don't yet know enough about this and its effects on the peformance handling side of things. I talked to the guy from permatrim and he advised a permatrim will solve my problems. This is all well and good but I would like to hear from others who have experienced similar and fitted a permatrim and whether it has helped or not as I don't want to go drilling holes in my cav plate for nothing. I understand all boats are different but if I can get a general concensus. This also raised another question, the cav plate on my johnson is 'V' shaped unlike many other brands which are more squarish. Has anybody fitted one to a Johnson or Evinrude with a 'V' shaped cav plate? I am just thinking of post permatrim strength problems. Any help appreciated MattyB

Hi all, First report so here goes. Got to Kymeegah ramp at 6.30am with my brother and father in law and proceeded to get the boat ready. Though to myself I give her quick start up before I back down the ramp just to make sure she will go hit the key and she turns over every so slowly. Thinking to myself no don't do this to me I only had you running at home a couple of days ago. Anyways, turn off the ignition and the motor is still trying to turn over. What the???? Pull the motor cover and due to the very low voltage the starter motor had jammed and would not release off the flywheel. I didn't have any tools so I asked another boaty if he happened to have a shifter he happily abliged and said just throw in the tray of my ute when you are finished. Disconnected the battery and the starter stopped turning but was still jammed up. Managed to lightly tap it back down. Called the old man to look up where i could get a new battery from, he called me back a few minutes later and said NRMA batteries are on the way. He works for them and managed to pull a few strings. Battery guy shows up and supplies me a new battery I fitted and she started with no fuss. So ready to launch and in the water at 8.00am, not ideal but hey what to do. Headed out to just off the runways and anchored up. Started a burley trail and before long we are getting taps. Then one after the other 3 small juvenile snapper. Two to my brother in law and one to me. Then my father in law boats a whiting just over size but we decided to let it live for another day. A couple more small snapper and 2 yakkas for the brother in law. Then we here geez that was a bit hit and I think he's on. Father in law has his rod bent over, I was just waiting for it to snap. After a short tussle up comes a well fed flattie, I grabbed the net and my net was too small. I tried to get from the front behind sideways however I could, NUP. He decides to spit hook and mozie back to the bay floor. I won't explain what came next, I am sure everybody within a hundred klms heard me. I think being conservative somwhere between 60 and 70cms but could have gone bigger I will never know for sure. So A fun filled day all up 9 snapper/squire all undersize, 1 whiting returned, 2 yakkas returned and a could have been very tasty dinner, so looks like baked beans on toast tonight. Now, whats with the snapper? My finder was beeping at me all day with fish it has one of those fish id things and it has three different sizes for the fish displayed and had bulk of all three, I tried varying depth of our baits on the bottom to a metre from the boat and everywhere in between I thought the small snapper usually hid down in the weed beds. What was i doing wrong? MattyB

Thanks Heaps for that I really appreciate it. I think the pressure is on me a bit to produce some fishing for them whether it be big small or otherwise so I wanted to keep my options open. For me the fact that I don't have to go to work and getting out on the water whether we catch something or not is enough for me. Thanks Again MattyB

Thanks Haraka, Going to get out tommorrow in Botany, I haven't caught them before but taking out the brother and father in law so I thought might try our luck for a few different species and maybe some squid, just to keep them occupied. Do squid have a bag limit? I have been looking on the fisheries site but I can't seem to find a listing for them. MattyB

Hi all, Just a quick one, what size squid would you consider big enough for a feed or small enough to not bother? MattyB

Thanks Domza, Yeh I figured it will be busier then usual, just a bit daunting for me launching and retreiving still. Launching isn't too bad cause I usually have somebody with me who can move the car off the ramp and park it but last time I was trying to retrive had a knob fly past the ramp just as I was lining up the trailer which ended up turning the boat side on, it was only due to quick thinking from the my old man and he managed to stop it before I hit the trailer, but he wasn't happy as he ended up a bit wet.

Hi all, Planing to get out on botany bay on Friday. After reading all these posts on these pea brainers, just wanted to know how it is during the week. I haven't been out for a couple of months so I am assuming cause of the holidays it would be worse then normal but, how much? I have only had my boat out twice so I am still learning, so I don't fancy having to deal with tools like this thus choosing to go on Friday. MattyB

The reel is a Fin Nor with a metal spool. I don't know the specs off hand but can advise if this is required. MattyB

Hi All, I am about to spool one of my spinning outfits with 15lb Tuf Line. Just wanted to know how you guage how much backing to put on so i get a it as close to full spool after putting on the braid? I bought a 300yd spool and want to utilise the braid as best i can without ending up with waste. I don't have a spare spool to do it in reverse first. Thanks in Advance Matty B

Hi all, I am planning to get out on the bay in the coming weeks. Just wanted to know what is your pick for ramps either cooks river or the one at Port Botany for ease of launch and retreive and also security as I hope it will be midweek. I have only had my boat in the water twice since buying it so I am still learning the ropes so to speak. I have put it in at Morebank both times so far but it takes me an hour to get out to the bay from there so I wanted to put in closer to the bay itself. Also what conditions would you call favourable? I was on a fishing tour out there a couple of weeks ago and the Nor Easter got up and made it very uncomfortable even on a 7 metre boat. So wanted to know what wind directions and speed should I be looking for being a newbie and still learning so as not to get into trouble. Matty B

Thanks for all the responses, From what you have all said it seems as many of you refer to the trace/leader as being the same thing with the difference being how it is rigged when targeting specific species. I am going to do a bit more homework on this before i decide to spool it. Ben mentioned books and vid's, are there any suggestions for books or video's that cover this topic? Matt

Ben, Thanks for the info mate. When you refer to your leader I am assuming that you are refering to this being used as your trace. Sorry about the silly and probably really obvious question. But this is where it is confusing me. Just the leader/trace bit. Are they the same thing and just a different way of describing them or are they 2 different things that serve 2 different purposes. Once again sorry about the question but as I have been out of the game for 10 years odd I am just trying to get back up on the lingo etc. Matt

Hi gurus, I just wanted to know if you could help me I am very confused I have a Penn 220GTO levelwind overhead reel and boat rod. I was thinking about spooling it with braid. I have never used braid before so i thought this combo might be a good place to start. I was down my local tackle shop last night and the guy helping me confused the hell out of me. Now i get that i have to use a mono backing first then the attach the braid. I am assuming with a double uni knot please correct me if i am wrong. He then said i need a leader of 8 metres or so. Now this is where i am getting confused. Do i join this leader directly to the braid or is this leader the same as what I call a trace ie: braid to swivel then leader from swivel to hook? And with what knot? So basically this is my question. Is the leader a trace or are they 2 different things? And should the leader/trace be of heavier weight then the braid ie: 25lb braid/30lb leader/trace? I was also asking him about flurocarbon line as many of you have mentioned it here, where does this get used in the equation? Lastly, is braid generally used for heavier outfits or can it be used for light gear as well? Matty B