frankS

Couta means cold water. Frank

I was actually surprised. I was one of those that thought Qld would have a clean sweep. Right up to about 7 minutes from the end I keep thinking Qld would make 3/4 miracle tries. How good did the NSW boys hang on. Well done to them. Frank

Back in my youth money was in pounds shillings and pence . In 1966 when dollars and cents came to be, was the start of inflation in a big way. Prior to decimal money you could get 12 penny lollies for 1 shilling. On the 14th Feb 1966 this straight away became only 10 1cent lollies for 10 cents so automatically there was 2 in 12 lollies lost. and this went way beyond lollies . Everything became automatically more expensive, and things started to become a smaller proportion then in the old money days. Who can remember Wagon wheels when they first came out ? how big were they ? how big are they now, but you still pay more for them. I could go on forever but it would just upset me. Frank

Well I was never a paper boy as such. I did however gather newspapers and sell to a couple of shops in Enfield where I grew up. I also collected horse manure from the ice man and milk man, bag it up and sell to those with gardens. My main source of pocket money came from mowing lawns, My elder brother bought a new Victa 18 " petrol lawn mower and I would borrow it while he was at work and go around the streets and mow people's lawns. It became a good income. My local fish and chips shop (who I sold papers to) gave me a casual job on a Friday morning, before school I would go there and peel and cut potatoes and soak them in the bath tub. I would then sit and watch the owner cook the chips in the large vats and when he nodded I would go to the tub full of soaking chips and with a square metal bucket about 20 ltrs size with holes drilled into it (similar to a berley bucket) and scoop out the chips and take it to him to be cooked (had 2 of these buckets and one would be draining of water while the other was cooking) . He always gave me a bag of chips to eat on my way home. Then after the shop closed on Friday night I would go there and clean the fat vats and all the display counters etc mop the floor and make the place spick and span. I would also collect bottles. My uncle had a place in Croyden Park and he turned it into a Beer bottle collection depot. there were hundreds of crates of beer bottles and other type of bottles all in crates that held 12 bottles each. I remember when the truck used to come and collect the crates that the wooden tray of the truck had a slight V going toward the center of the tray so that when the crates were stacked up 4/5 high they would lean towards each other and they were very stable. Never seen this since on any truck. The driver would also strap the crates down but the slight lean towards the center stopped the crates from falling off.

I have a couple of Beastmasters 4 sale but they are not what you asked for. Frank

My fly fishing experience. Was back in 1994 and I was on holidays doing the tourist thing in the UK. A friend of a friend owned and ran the Killin hotel in the midlands/highlands of Scotland. Being the owner of the Hotel this gave him the rights to be caretaker of the stretch of waterways that ran beside his Hotel. River Lochay which flows into Loch Tay about 1500 meters from where I was fishing. I introduced myself and we had a good few hours together talking various subjects, fishing came up in the conversation and he suggested we go down to waterside and catch a Salmon or two, he made it sound so easy and after lunch we headed down carrying his FLY gear. I thought WOW this will be good I have never held a Fly rod in my life and thought I would make a complete fool of myself after bragging about how good a fisherman I was ( as you do ) . He gave me some instructions and demonstrated how it was done with several nice casts, it was my turn to try. I stuffed up the first attempt by allowing the fly to drop to the ground behind me (rookies mistake) I had another practice cast that wasn't too bad and he gave me a couple of more tips and aimed me to where he thought I should try and land the fly (was more like a salt water feather for trolling) I cast out and on my 3rd backswing I let it fly to where he pointed. Man all hell broke loose, and the rod bent over and I was on. I think a bit of panic came over me and I started to shake, he told me what to do and I managed after some very intense vibrations to bring the monster to the bank where he slid his huge net under it. It was a great capture for me and he told me it was one of the better fish that he had seen come from his river, it went 115cm, don't know the weight but I am sure it fed quiet a few of his customers in his restaurant. Don't even know exactly what species but all he said is It's a Salmon. What an experience and one of the many highlights of my 3 trips to the UK. Frank

Great find, do the Alvey tackle boxes still have the divider inserts in them ?. You should come to my place and see what you can find laying around in my sheds. Frank

7 months down the track and the project is still sitting there ( as is ) I haven't touched it. I have bought a 40 hp Johnson 2 stroke for it and sat it on the transom, has electric start forward controls and elect tilt/trim. Just got to finish a couple of other projects and then I should be able to get a start on this one. Frank

My thinking would lean towards a Mack Tuna , the spots fade with death, the rear dorsal shape gives it away for me. and of coarse the size. Great catch and that's a really nice Kingie. Frank

Who can remember the old boat ramp that was at Penrhyn road botany before the foreshore ramp was built ?. I used to launch there often and at low tide the black silt could be knee deep and there could be as little as 2 " of water to put the boat in, sometimes if I timed it wrong I would have to wait for the tide to come in a bit before I could launch a boat. The 12-14 footers were hard but my 5.3 savage Lancer , well you would have to wait OR go to another ramp. They eventually moved the ramp up to the corner /end of Penrhyn road which made things much easier and this was a 2 lane ramp with a good incline and things got much better. Frank

I have always believed the area known as the Tugs was as the red marker on this map. Some parts of the area is prohibited to fish being inside the perimeter if you drew a straight line between the two outer demensions of the shoreline to the marker at the right if this makes any sence. The marker is slightly to the left of this line . As a note be very careful if anchoring near this as the bottom is very snaggy. and a few anchors have been lost here, one of mine amongst them. Frank

That is a very nice looking boat with some very worthwhile modifications. Nice wide gunnell mods that look like they are well done, looks like you have turned it into a side console, some more photos would be nice . I have a 4.3 Quintrex that I will be doing very similar mods to once I get a few household chores out of the way. I will probably do a step by step thread as I progress with the build OR PIMP as you have put it. Frank Edit. On reading again I take note that the red boat is a different boat.

Zoran. Looks like a great day on the water despite the lack of targeted species and the cold weather. You may be able to claim a Hairtail on plastics record ?. Something I have never done, although catching hundreds of Hairtail I have always got them on bait. Frank

I love all types of fishing from gathering bait catching livies, Marlin, Tuna and other game fish and once only fly fishing in the highlands of Scotland a huge Salmon. I have pretty well done it all but my very favorite fishing is the humble little Bass. Nothing pleases me more than heading up the Colo or an extended trip up to Lake StClair or one of the lakes, even when I head north for the Barramundi I prefer to go after the bass. When fishing lake Monduran all my mates were dead set on catching 1 metre + barramundi while I set my mind on the huge Bass that are up in the high reaches of the lake. Coming in 2nd would be casting a metal lure besides a boiling school of Tailer and hooking up till my arms can't take any more. I have caught metre + Barramundi and metre + Murray Cod but my all time greatest fish would have to be my 55cm Bass caught in a small system near Hervey bay Qld . Frank

Neil. That is a great Cod and I am glad for you and your mate to have captured it and released it in good condition. Sometimes it's worth the freezing conditions to have a great capture like that. Frank

Neil. Here's another box of tassie devils and some stump jumpers. I also have a heap of plastics and other lures like metals Jigs etc as well as about 50 squid jigs . In the past 6 months or so I have sold well over $1000 worth of lures and that is selling them at way less than 1/2 price mostly about 1/4 of shop price so a lot of value. To be honest I don't use a lot of different lures on a session of fishing I tend to put one lure on and use it a fair bit, when bass fishing I might try a dozen different lures a session but not always. Val is going strong I am struggling a bit . Thanks for your reply. Frank

For what it's worth , here is how I go about it. 1. Place boat on level ground, preferably concrete. 2. Undo all straps including winch cable Push boat back off trailer so I have approx 8" ( 20 cm ) of clearance . 3. Lower front of trailer so cupling sits on ground, this raises the transom up slightly. 4. Place cradle under transom and block up with boards so the transom fits snugly on cradle. 5 Raise front of trailer up with jockey wheel as far as it will go, this will slightly lift the transom off the trailer. 6. use whatever device is available to lift front of boat clear of trailer ( in my case I have the gantry OR I do it under a car port and use the roof of carport as gantry ) 7. I use a block and tackle OR come along type lifting device to lift boat. Either use bow rail OR front winching hook ( what you use to winch boat onto trailer ) to secure come along. 8. Lower jockey wheel so trailer is level and roll trailer out from under boat. 9. You could use blocks of timber or whatever to stableize boat if you feel safer doing this. Over the past 40 odd years I have built many boat trailers and have modified and repaired dozens of boat trailers and have used similar process to this. I have also just lowered boat onto ground OR tyres but in the case above you want the boat swinging so having boat on ground won't work. Hope this helps someone who may want to do the job in the future. May not be the best way to do it but it's how I do it. Frank

Zoran. Here is my 5.3 Savage Lancer swinging in mid air while I was building it's new trailer I need to sell the gantry as it's not used these days. Same applies to the Lancer. Frank

This is my cradle, can be adapted to ant shape hull bu adding wood. I have a full sized gantry that I used when I was fitter and working on boats and trailers regularly but it is too large to lend. Frank

Hi Where do you live ? Anywhere near berala ?. I have a cradle that fits under the rear of the hull which you roll boat slightly rearward from trailer then place this device under hull/transom then you can use a engine hoist to lift the front of the boat off the trailer rollers. Little bit of work involved to get things just right but it's a very successful way to raise the boat off the trailer to perform the job you need to do. If you like I could lend you the cradle and a engine hoist and a few lifting straps to do the job with. I personally can't help much with lifting and such but could supervise you and possibly a mate to do the job. Frank

Trying to make the fishing shed a bit neater. I had several tackle boxes full of lures of various types and found a new sheet of peg board so decided to place lures on board so I could see at a glance what was there. Idea is fine but I think I will start over again and take the hooks off all the lures and hang them by the O ring, this will save a heap of space and I might be able to fit some more lures on the one board. I still have about 6 tackle boxes full of lures that I won't be pegging on boards such as tassie devils Soft plastics spinner baits and of coarse my collectors box which house such lures as Floppies, Knolls, Killer, and a few special hard to get lures. Frank

BaitDropper Were you a Fishnet member whilst in Vic ? The stories of disabled fishing days rings a fond bell in my time on the old site. Frank

Any time you feel the need for a chat just PM me and I will give you my address. I am home most days as I don't get out much these days. Frank

As noelm pointed out above anyone with money can hire a charter and let the skipper do the work and put you onto a good fish. With game charters you don't need to be a good fisher person as the skipper and crew do all the work steering the boat and the crew will tell you when to wind the handle on the reel all you have to do is PAY the dollars for the privilege of being on strike. Doing it yourself is the greatest buzz you can have. There is no better feeling than to have a decent fish on the end of your line. I have done it all BUT I still get a thrill catching bait and having a solid Whiting or Bream on the end of light line. It's all a matter of having the right gear for the job at hand. Kingies are one of the best fighting fish you are likely to find inshore and a decent fish on appropiate gear will give you great vibes. get out there and do it. Frank

Hi I fished as a kid doing the usual stuff fishing local rivers and teaching myself as I went along, as I got a little older 14 or so I started hiring a boat from tom uglys and by the time I was 16 I bought my own boat ( I left school and worked full time from my 14th birthday ) a 12 ft tinnie and trailer with 4hp Johnson on the back. My brother in law would tow the boat to the ramp and me and a mate would take the boat out for the day, usually Georges river or Botany bay, sometimes the hacking and he would pick us up at a designated time . By the time I got a drivers licence I bought a 17 ft half cab ( Pongrass ) and started poking my nose outside the heads of the bay followed shortly after going out to the peak and the shelf. I caught my first Marlin ( black ) 244LBS off Jervis bay ( the Banks ) when I was 19 years old as I was travelling all up and down the coast by this time. I have been lucky enough to have caught most game species that inhabit the east coast of Australia and have some very large fish under my belt. None of this came by chance and I worked really hard to learn the basics as I had nobody to teach me anything, I read a few books and articles in magazines and this helped me a lot. I have been fortunate enough to have fished with a few legends of the art including Bob Dyer Jack Erskine and a few others. It's not easy and I have always been a battler money wise so had to do everything on a really tight budget. So it's not easy but anyone with the want can do it Frank