ellicat

https://www.australianfishing.com.au/forum/topic/46126-interesting-creature/?tab=comments#comment-993889

No, the bristles are a bit like fibre glass. A bit irritating but no lasting pain.

All bait last night, but Leo was using snapper flashers on his line.

Mate, it was great seeing your obsession finally realised. We have put in alot of hard hours. The road to a 60 has begun. Hopefully it'll be me though.

I'll let Leo tell that story.

I didn't actually touch it per se. It was attached to my squid bait but dropped off before I could see it. Leo found it on the gunwale. When I went to remove the squid from the hook it must have been covered in the spines. I didn't know what was prickling my hand until Leo pointed the little sucker out.

Went for a session at the rock wall tonight with @Leosonfire. I got done by a bristle worm right at the end of the night. Wiped my hands on my shirt and the little spines went into my tender belly. Bugger. Anyway, there is more to the tale, but I'll leave that for Leo...

I recently purchased the Fathom 25NLD2. It's a good reel. Pretty similar in size to what you already have but heaps of drag and two speed.

I thought it was you...

Do tell

PS Welcome to the forum. It's a great place to learn things and ask questions in. I know I have learnt a lot here about boating and fishing over many years.

I used to drag my family of wife and two kids under 15 around the southern bay in a 4.2m runabout, similar to what you are looking at. We'd also drop into places like Horseshoe Bay to stretch the legs and let the kids have a run around etc. We enjoyed the runabout style with windscreen and comfortable seats for the adults. Kids don't really care about their seats and backs at that age, although I did get a cushion for the rear seat. That boat had a 35 and then a 40 horsepower 2 stroke motor and was more than adequate up to around 12 knots. After that you'd have to slow the trip down a bit or preferably not go out far. The more south you go the better the protection by the islands from the winds. I agree with going the larger boat theory. 3.5 to 4 will see you outgrow it quickly. Even though I had a 4.2 I always thought something a bit bigger would have been better. The truth is a bigger boat would have been better. The 4.2 was definitely the minimum for what we did. I now have a 4.7 with a 60hp 4 stroke and it opens up a bit of the northern bay, so on a good weather day I can get to Moreton pretty comfortably and enjoy places like Tangalooma. Something more for you to consider. As they are phasing out 2 strokes in the short term (very soon I believe) I'll assume you will be getting a four stroke. That is a good thing as your range is far better. I'm averaging a bit under 7 litres per hour (about 5.3 km/l) with the 4 and was getting about 2km to the litre with the 2 strokes. So in summary I suggest - - Get a tinnie at least 4.2m. (The tinnie will also be more forgiving of hull damage at the ramp and on sandbars etc while you're getting used to boating) subject to the size of and age of kids and how many there are; - Get a 4 stroke; - Get a runabout style; and - Get as big as you can afford/tow.

You'll have to refer back to this thread before your next trip to remind you what to take. Ugly stick for the win.

Well, another year over for the Tipping Comp. Congratulations to Kelvin, who managed 2 perfect rounds to grab the extra bonus points of 4. So resounding was his victory that he would have won anyway. Thanks to all that played. It was certainly an interesting season. I'll have to dust myself off, put the boat away and start following who's in and out of teams if I'm to have any impact on the finals next year. haha Now on to State of Origin. WooHoo. Anyone going to put forward a prediction yet ?

Some very nice fish there, Robbie. Good to see it all worked out nicely with the weather and fish. Did you get through all your rigs ? and which outfit was your favourite ?