frankS

My best yellowfin weighed in at 213.85 lbs which converts to just over 97kg's and that was from a dead boat at the Peak Sydney back in the Autumn 0f 84. I was using a custom Sabre rod and 8 1/2 Everol reel with 120lb jinkai straight to the 16/0 kirby something xxxx hook. took me 1 1/2 hours to land it and it sat on the deck of my boat for 3 hours before being weighed. I recon it probably would have gone the magic 100 kg's IF weighed straight away. That memory stays with me for life. I can only imagine what it must feel like to land that supburb speciman from the rocks using spin gear. My hat comes off to the angler and those who helped him land that trophy fish. And thanks Derek for showing the footage here. Frank

I'll sell you a Savage Scorpion 485sf with a flat floor for probably less than you are looking to pay. 2002 model with 2005 90 hp Etec motor just been serviced with 354 hours on the clock all registered and ready to take fishing will even throw in a couple of rods and reels of your choice. Contact me if you are interested. Frank

As fab said a side console would have flat floor for both your feet. Even in a 18 footer with back to back seats I couldn't stand up to drive and had to sit on the top of the backrest to sit and drive. Didn't take me long and I made a tackle locket wit seat on top. Much more practical . I left the Port side back to back seats in as they are extremely comfortable for 2 passengers. Frank

At one stage I bought a cheap ride on mower and fitted it with tow ball at the rear, in hindsight the towball needed to be fitted to the front of the mower as it was too difficult to kink my head to see where trailer was going. Still have the mower sitting in the back shed. Frank

Hi electric trailer movers are extremely SLOW . I have 2 of them one with free wheel so you can push the trailer freehand if needed and the other is fixed drive mode. Neither of them are ideal over grass, on a concrete path they will maneuver the boat/trailer with ease albeit slowly . Don't believe the advertising BS they try and tell you . If you do get one get the free wheel version as at least you can put it in free wheel when on flat concrete and push with body weight. Frank

That's OK until one day you go to the boat ramp to launch and there is a transportable weigh station waiting at the ramp. They will weigh the boat/trailer as is with all the gear in it and if it goes overweight they will call a flat bed truck to come and pick it up and tow it to a impound center . Then you will need to arrange to have brakes fitted to trailer as well as pay impound and towing fees. Plus you will need to obtain new blue slip for trailer and re-register it at your expense. Can be very expensive to have brakes fitted to an old trailer. Frank

Hi You mentioned about converting an open boat to a side console, well I may have something that might interest you. It's an older boat but really age does not have a great bearing with Aluminium boats . I have a 4.3 (14 foot ) Quintrex open runabout currently being converted to a side console. It is at the moment sitting on a fully registered unbraked Dunbier trailer the boat also has full rego I have a choice of a 35 hp Yamaha 2 stroke motor OR a 40hp Johnson both in very good condition both are electric start with forward controls Johnson has electric trim and tilt. I also have a brand new Aluminium trailer that would suit the boat that I would put full registration on. I could do a package deal for you for less than 1/2 of the money you are prepared to spend. You need to come to my place and inspect and talk about how you want to go about it. There are threads on here that you could read about the boat and trailer. I also have another 4.85 Savage Scorpion for sale that I could do for under your budget but that would be too heavy for you. Frank

Neil. Also on the way to Ophir you will pass the Banjo Patterson memorial site where Banjo was born. Just a bit of history for the kids to enjoy. Frank

Neil. My favorite haunt up that way is Ophir reserve on the lower Lewis creek . Great yabbying at the 4th crossing on ophir rd on the way to Ophir, you may see Platypus fossicking about if you just sit and be quiet at the crossing. You can catch Trout and redfin at Ophir some good walking trails and an old gold mine that the kids would enjoy take suitable lighting as it gets dark very quickly in the mine. Great place to take kids with lots of trails and interesting things to explore. I will try and send you some detailed maps of where to go. Is your new COW 4x4 by any chance ? Frank

Well it's a sort of update. I have drawn some rough ideas of what I intend to do to the Quintrex tinnie I have as a project boat. The boat as it sits Roughtly what I intend to do, cut out section of front bow add wide side gunwales make storage under each side gunwale make rear cast deck to hold batteries and fuel tank bilge pump deck wash etc Fit floor make and install front cast deck with loads of storage and make and fit side console. Motorguide bow mount electric will be on bow. Don't know if I will go with blue carpet or grey boat will be gunmetal silver inside and out with possible white trimmings. Haven't decided on seating layout yet. Open to any ideas that anyone may have for improvements. Frank

I am selling the scorpion and will fit the electric watersnake to this boat 5.5 heavy glass so the motor will be up against it but I will just have to see if it copes, if not I will have to resort to a 5hp outboard and anchors. Frank

My boat is a Savage Scorpion 485sf 16 ft. It has a reasonably high bow and the 60" 12 volt does an all right job in bay or river but outside if I had to do it again i would opt for the 24 volt 66" shaft . My 60" 12volt is 65 lb thrust where the 24 volt is 80lb just a bit more prop in the water and a bit more power. 2 batterys needed that I can't afford so will have to make do with the 60". Photo before electric fitted. Bracket I made for electric. I removed the bow rail altogether. Bracket I made for shaft and head of electric to sit on so it was held firm while not deployed. Frank

This is what I used before I got a proper downrigger. It's just a alvey deck winch on a very short stiff cheap rod home made bomb and a cheap release clip 100lb braid and a loop of heavy leader to use as a stop when depth is reached. Worked very well. Once you get to learn how to use them you will get to like them. Frank

You should try downrigging them at walking pace for even better results Frank

My life as a fish hunter. I started young, my sister much older than me lived at Menai about 1 mile from the water. I would visit here often on my push bike,I lived at Enfield. I would have a cork handline with a pea sized sinker and a size 1 suicide hook and that was it, I would go down to the water with a slab of cheese and catch Bream, sometimes I would gather Garfish from the ferry skids as it pulled up onto the ramp. When not at my sisters I would fish with a mate at tom uglys in the Georges river and later in life when I was about 12 or so I would hire a boat with a single cylinder Lister engine which you started by turning a big red flywheel by hand and then putt putt up and down the river, I mostly started with a dozen or so prawns and usually by the end of the day I would still have 1/2 dozen prawns, I slowly got a little better at catching fish as I tought myself where and how to go about it. My Father died the day before my 14th birthday and I was forsced to leave school and go to work to try and help mum with expenses. By the time I was 16 I bought my first boat a 12 foot savage tinnie with 4 hp Johnson motor and a trailer ( bought from Nock and Kirby's ) I was too young to drive so my brother in law would drive me and a mate with the boat in tow to the ramp and pick us up at a set time. About this time I was about 16 I would shift from Lidcombe (where we lived at the time) to another sisters place at Liverpool and met a guy called Roger a couple of years younger than me but we hit it as good mates straight away, we both loved fishing. We would fish the weir at Liverpool for Mullett day in day out, the boat sorta got neglected a bit. Then I was old enough to get my drivers licence, things changed, the boat was once again the platform which we would fish from mostly Botany bay. I soon found I needed to get a bigger boat and at 18 I bought a 17 foot glass half cab (pongrass waverider) and started going outside the heads. It was then that I discovered there was a fishing spot known as " the Peak " . This is when things started to get serious, I would fish 3 sometimes 4 times a week and started catching huge fish, Kingfish,whahoo,Cobia, and the prize Yellowfin Tuna.The gear got begger and more expensive. Even though I was catching huge fish I still loved to catch the table fare Snapper,Flathead,Tailer and the like Most fun would be catching live bait Slimey Mackerel and Yellowtail. As time went by I would travel all over the countryside fishing and catching all sorts of species including many of the fresh water veriety. Loved every moment, even the hard times when nothing or very little was cought, there was always something to learn about every trip. about 1984 My passion became Bermagui and I would spend several days down there every month or so. I have cought several marlin, huge Tuna and record sized kingfish but I still love catching the smaller species just as much as the big stuff. These days I am more a collector than a fisherman, meaning I don't get out fishing anywhere near as much as I should but still enjoy getting down to see my old mate Roger who bought a house with 10 acres at Cobargo near bermi which I call my 2nd home. So you ask why I still fish and go boating all these years later ?. Well that's not a easy question to answer. I guess it's just something in my blood that keeps me interested. Although I have had many hobbies over my lifetime Hunting,Archery,golf,snooker etc I still regard fishing and boating my main passion. I just love every moment, weather it just talking with friends and indeed sharing some time with folk on this very fishing forum,there is just something about fishing that will go with me to my grave.

The reel is not a winch it's a means of retrieving line back onto the spool lift and wind on the down stroke is how they are designed to work. make sure your line is not wrapped around a guide and check all guides that they are not cracked. Frank

Noel. See if you can get a charter to chase some " Black Bass " strongest fighting fish on the planet. Frank

Pm sent. Frank

There is a saying " moon over head moon under feet " which I apply when Hairtail fishing as I have found this to be the 2 peak time's to all phases of moon . Frank

I would call it 4 bar 0 Frank

Neil. This of course is just my opinion, Over a period of about 60 odd years give or take a few I have found the Full moon period 2 days prior and 1 day after to be quiet dead for table type fish in salt water, don't know about fresh as I don't fish it as much. However there has been times when that was the only period I could get on the water and with putting in the hard yards have had some great catches, don't know exactly how this comes about but I would say it has been consistence. Like use the same lure all day long and catch heaps you think that was the lure of the day but you didn't try another lure so how do you know another one wouldn't have been just as successful In general there are other moon phases I prefer to wet a line. My preference is 1st quarter and 3rd quarter as there is less movement in the water and fish don't have to work as hard to get a feed. Frank

Straight line from tip of bow to top of transom. Do not include anchor fitment. Do not measure around gunwale OR along keel as many boaters think is the correct way . Frank

Well it's taken forever but it's finally finished. Please excuse the mess in the background . Time to clean up a bit of the property. Frank

I don't believe this thing has taken sooooo long to finish. What with buying the savage Scorpion which needed heaps of modifications and then buying yet another project boat in the Pride Gazelle which I'm still making things for it and trying to make it a fishing boat plus all that needs to be done around the house the trailer has simply been gathering dust. Well I finally decided to spend a little time on the trailer to finally get it finished. I have painted it and will assemble all the parts on it tomorrow and take some photos and show you all the finished product. Then it's up for sale. Frank

Can't help you with the model but Clark boats were one of the toughest boats going around almost bullet proof . You should get many years enjoyment from that boat. If you intend to fix it up a bit with improvements post the upgrades on here with photos. Frank