fishrepellent

I live in Canberra and am looking for a fishing buddy to go for a fish regularly down the coast chasing snapper, kings, tuna and marlin. I have a 5.6m plate boat and fish out of Batemans Bay and Bermagui. I'd prefer someone who has a boat licence to help out driving the boat around the launch and retrieve etc. I can usually fish every second Friday and most weekends weather permitting!

The boat I looked at had sizeable "woofs" on both sides - about the size of footballs too. The welds were really shoddy and they were the ones that we could see - this made us question as to what it was like in the areas we couldn't see! I think that there were variants around the transom area too re battery storage - from memory on this boat the battery was simply in a battery box on the deck. A good layout though with heaps of room with storage under the decks etc. and it was "big" boat for its size.

Hi A few years ago after reading the great reviews I was pretty keen on getting one as it ticked a lot of boxes. So we went and had a look at a brand new one and was ready to pay there and then but was really disappointed in the quality of the welds (both internal and external) and overall finish which was really apparent. My wife who knows nothing of boats etc also commented on it as soon as we saw the boat and as a result we walked away deflated. At least the 5hr round trip was a nice drive! That aside, it had heaps of deck space and I liked the layout etc for what I wanted and from all accounts (well from the magazine reviews anyway!) a good boat - but I too couldn't find anyone except the magazine reviewers who had been in one. The NZ made Blackdog Cat's are single engine too. Cheers

PM sent

Not quite today but Sunday 23 April - offshore Batemans Bay. A very quiet day without turning a reel. Dodged the occasional shower whilst doing laps of the canyons like 2 others as well. Bird life virtually not existent and pretty well nil as far as baitfish was concerned. Water temps fluctuated between 23-25. Back at the ramp everyone else was saying the same which made us feel a bit better knowing we weren't alone!

On Saturday we fished offshore due east of Batemans Bay and headed north - didn't turn a reel. Baitfish very scarce on the sounder and only the odd bird about looking for fish like we were! Max water temp over the canyons was 21.7. A very quiet day but good to be out just the same.

Hi I'd like 2 as well please! cheers

Hi Raiders I moved to Canberra a couple of years ago after living in Qld and am into all kinds of fishing from chasing trout in the mountains with a flyrod to trying to hook onto something with a bit of size off the coast. After years of dreaming I finally bought my first boat (Razerline WA Classic 5.6) so I'm learning all the joys that come with that and looking forward to discovering the region's coast - oh and the fun of going down and dragging a boat back up the Clyde Mountain Range plus dodging kangaroos and wombats along the way - but being out on the water makes it all worthwhile... This is a great forum and I've learnt a heck of lots so thanks to one and all for sharing your experiences! Cheers Scott

Hi Jim I really appreciate your input and will look at getting the deep cycle battery ...as you say better to be safe than sorry! Cheers and thanks Scott

Hi all I bought a second hand plate boat and am looking at installing a dual battery system using the Blue Sea switch system: www.bluesea.com/products/7649/Mini_Add-A-Battery_Kit_-_65A I'll end up doing a complete boat re-wire as all the wire's copper - I've never done it before so fun times ahead! The boat came with 2 start batteries - one connected and the other is a back up which is stored separately (i.e. not connected) which is brand new. Can I run both batteries using one of the start batteries as the house battery without having to buy a deep cycle battery straight up? Engine is Yamaha 115A. The battery that is currently connected is a RACQ/RACV etc brand #7501 CCA 600 RC 125 Spare battery is a Seamaster Gold # MFM50 CCA 640 RC 140 The electronics that it'll be running are the gauges, VHF,UHF, sounder, and stereo, nav lights. I think I know that I'll be up for deep cycle battery.......thought I'd ask the question! cheers