Cobiaaddict

Hi All, 
Its been a while since my last fishing post and a long time since I last had a fish to be honest I think Australia Day was my last fish . Headed out with a mate from Tasmania who has not ever caught a decent shallow water bay snapper before , So the pressure was on . Lucky me,  with literally months off the water and know knowledge of fish on the chew any where the search was on. 
Headed out for a quick  bay snapper session Saturday arvo leaving Clontarf around just after 1pm to grab some live baits and then find some nice hard rubble bottom to anchor up on and burley in hope of a July snapper,
After spending a couple of hours searching for live baits and finding some nice rubble bottom with a little drop off we anchored up about 3.45pm and started to burley up , send some baits back hoping some fish would come on the chew, 
After waiting close to 1hr (5pm),  the 1st rod got lit up and the decky was into a nice fish with good head shakes,  few tense moment as the fish ran for drop off with great intent ,  but some nice rod work and Ben had his head turned and coming to the boat nicely,   few more small runs and  I slid the net under a great fish , as we were dehooking this fish and getting ready for a few happy snaps - the other bait-runner went off hard , so I set the hook with it still in the rod holder - struggling to get this one out of the holder,  I was now onto another nice fish which I felt running hard along the bottom almost straight away.,  after some back and forth action I slowly had nice snapper in the net and on the deck of the boat 🙂 yay me,  trip successful,  So we quickly rest the baits and went about a few photos,  after getting a shot of Ben holding both fish , both rods went off again with a big double hook up on 2 more cracking snapper at 75 & 78cm  - which went back - I went checked the esky had a quick measure and with a 81cm & 84cm in the ice box I realized we where wasting out time.  Ben had set another 2 baits out and whilst holding my Snapper for a photo we had another double hook up,  Ill put the photo up of myself looking away at the back of the boat holding my fish with a concerned look of holy geeeeezzzzz.  😆.  
We had another crazy 20minutes with about 5 more fish hooked and released totaling 11 for the session and taking the 1st 2 home for a feed, 
Both fish weight 6.0kg & 6.1Kg  . 
 
Hope you all enjoy the read 🙂
Cheers Josh <><

Well I don't really have this problem at the moment but it is a great one to have up your sleeve. 
Facebook-sd.mp4

Hi all,
 
just a warning - this is a post about hunting/shooting so if that’s not your thing please don’t read on. To all others - enjoy!
 
i have a good mate who lives in Palmerston North, about 2 hours drive north of Wellington. He is a mad keen hunter of many of NZ’s delicious feral animals - deer, ducks, goats, turkeys etc as well as a keen fisho. Each year, I have been traveling over for the opening of duck hunting season which is the first Saturday in May.  Owing to flight specials, this year I was lucky enough to have a week and then a long weekend trip over chasing ducks.
 
after a bit of set up and organizing on the Friday, we were up and away at stupid am to be in position ready to go for the 6:30am start. We didn’t have the best of opening days mostly owing to the weather - fine, sunny and still - meaning the ducks once airborne were happy to cruise around at 5000ft and laugh at us. We bagged 9 birds for opening day.
 
sunday we tried a few different things and managed to grab 8 more but generally a bit quiet all round. A bit of exploring in the afternoon saw us at a lake, then a few ponds, down on a river, trying to find where birds may be hanging out.
 
on Monday after a mostly unsuccessful morning our luck changed. We were driving along and saw about 60 ducks sitting in a crop paddock - the farmer was close by so after a polite conversation we were granted access to all his land including crop paddocks, a few ponds and a 2 km stretch of river. We didn’t bother the birds right then but hatched a plan for the next day.
 
our plan was to shoot out of lay-out blinds - kind of like a swag that you cover in grass and lie inside and then pop out and surprise the ducks as they land in your decoy spread. A new thing for both my mate and I. Owing to a time constraint, we only had a 2 hr window to do this - man what a way to spend two hours. Ducks constantly came in, often landing within 10m of the end of the shottie. We knocked I think 11 ducks down in 2 hrs, definitely will revisit this game.
 
wednesday we were again quite time limited but managed to hit a few ponds and a river and drop about 6 birds.  Then had to jump back on a plane home on Thursday.
 
following Wednesday I was back on a plane with the plan to shoot out of layout blinds on Thursday morning. After about 3 hrs sleep we were off and again had a mad fun morning with 7 birds hitting the ground and many laughs had. Only problem after 3 hrs sleep and constantly lying down was staying awake in between flights of birds! Some interesting duck calling was heard from one blind in particular - the rarely seen snoring puddle duck. We jump shot a river on the way home and dropped 3 more birds making 10 for the day.
 
Friday was a very frustrating day, again clear and still with very few birds moving around. We tried about 5 different spots but only managed 3 birds for the day. With a similar forecast for Saturday, we hatched a different plan to head about 2hrs out of town to his mates farm with all of the guns (3 x shotties, a .243, a .308 and a 7mm rem mag) to target ducks, turkeys, goats, geese, deer, pigs... whatever we could find! We had a really fun day, bit of walking, some target practice with the long arms, stalked in on some ponds and dropped some ducks and chased a huge mob of turkeys around and eventually got the jump on them and had a mad bomb up close range with the shotties on those too. Finished the day very satisfied with 4 ducks and I think 8 turkeys - anyway, it was a lot of turkey breast meat at the end.
 
we got a call that night from a mate who had a mate who knew a guy who had a turkey problem on his property and would love for us to come and sort it out. Phone call made, plan hatched and away we went.  Farmer Duncan was happy for us to knock over any ducks we saw as well, even told us what ponds they usually sit on! We drove around the property looking for turkeys with none seen and just as we were heading towards the biggest pond to harass the ducks I saw a turkey head sticking out over the crest of a hill. Being the main reason we were granted access, ducks became a secondary concern and shotties were loaded with heavy shot and a .243 added to the arsenal if we couldn’t stalk in. Very tough stalk, no cover to speak of but we managed to knock 5 birds down, 4 with shotties and one at 260m with the long arm - my first crack with that gun too! Unfortunately when the first shot went off 32 mallards took off from the pond we were heading towards - and went “elsewhere”. 
we headed off around the farm again and saw some ducks loafing in a small stream as we drove past. Super easy stalk up and all 3 met their demise in short order. We then bumped into the farmer who put us into another mob of turkeys, huge stalk in including wading up a stream to stay hidden but the buggers spooked anyway. I unloaded from about 50m with the shottie and soon had 3 birds tumbling down the bank they were trying to flee up. Definitely the longest shots I’ve ever nailed with a shottie. Ninja dog's first wet retrieve of a turkey was funny to watch - only a bit heavier and harder to carry than a duck. 
 
and that was it... home, shower and back to Welly to get the flight home. Awesome coupla trips, look forward to next year, only 349 sleeps to go!
 
posting a link to a vid my mate made - he posts all sorts of hunting vids on his channel so if that’s your thing give it a look. Few photos to follow as well.


ninja dog doing his second favorite thing after fetching ducks - sucking up for belly rubs

tooled up to the max!




make shift maimai (hide) that netted us a coupla birds



 
awesome view of Moreton on the way in too.
 
cheers for reading
benno <‘>< 🦆🦃🔫
 
 

My little boy took his 44ft cat up to the sunny coast, he takes it up there each year for 3 months and goes up whenever he can. Here is some of the catches, hope I can get some of them.
Dino

The red emperor starting to get black in its lips showing it is getting big and mature, plenty of quality in that lot

Freeboard is good mate,  Some might say a little shallow but I found reaching over the side to gaff or net fish to be a good height ,
The extra wide deck gunnels make you feel safer also

Freeboard is good mate,  Some might say a little shallow but I found reaching over the side to gaff or net fish to be a good height ,
The extra wide deck gunnels make you feel safer also

BMT trailer packer is 1230Kg, 
Very soft riding boat mate,  little wet in side on stuff,  45Degree Dead Rise in the mid ship & 21Degree @ Transom
I fished all winter for bay snapper in  conditions up-to 20knots with out an issue,  Traveling around 32-35km per hour in head and following seas,
If you fill the water ballast your will do 40kmph easy and could push a lot harder if you like.
100ltr tank of fuel will see 220-235km pretty easy at 42km cruise speed with 3 POB,
 
 

BMT trailer packer is 1230Kg, 
Very soft riding boat mate,  little wet in side on stuff,  45Degree Dead Rise in the mid ship & 21Degree @ Transom
I fished all winter for bay snapper in  conditions up-to 20knots with out an issue,  Traveling around 32-35km per hour in head and following seas,
If you fill the water ballast your will do 40kmph easy and could push a lot harder if you like.
100ltr tank of fuel will see 220-235km pretty easy at 42km cruise speed with 3 POB,
 
 

I know a lot of people who would like to keep it in there back yard and take good care of it while we are away,  Yeah Camper trailer with boat on top of that or a roof top tinny,

I know a lot of people who would like to keep it in there back yard and take good care of it while we are away,  Yeah Camper trailer with boat on top of that or a roof top tinny,

HI All,
Its a bit unfortunate , but putting the Surtees up for sale , Going back to a small 12-13ft tinny for the next few years and saving up for a 21-24ft Hard Top of some description,  Also going around Australia for 6-7 Month's and cant take it to most locations we are heading. 
Details as Follows
2017 Surtees 575 Profisher Centre Console   ( 5.75m of 18ft 3inch)
2017 115 Yamaha 4-Stroke approx. 60Hrs   ( just had annual service)
Lowrance HDS 9 Sounder with Total Scan Transducer
Lowrance Elite 9ti GPS with Navionics Card
100lt Fuel Tank
Live Bank Tank
Reef Anchor with float retrieval ,  Over sized Danforth Anchor,  250m Rope & 8m of Chain
2 x large kill tanks Approx. 150lts in total
Epirb and All Safety Gear ( Life Jackets, V-sheet etc. )
Rego just renewed till August 2020
PM  me if you want more info or contact
Can arrange water test , no tyre kickers please
Neg: $55,000
Cheers
Josh <><
 

Sad to hear. I have loved your reports out of that boat. Someone is getting a great buy. Good luck with the sale. 

I’m happy to look after it for u while u r away 😜

HI All,
Its a bit unfortunate , but putting the Surtees up for sale , Going back to a small 12-13ft tinny for the next few years and saving up for a 21-24ft Hard Top of some description,  Also going around Australia for 6-7 Month's and cant take it to most locations we are heading. 
Details as Follows
2017 Surtees 575 Profisher Centre Console   ( 5.75m of 18ft 3inch)
2017 115 Yamaha 4-Stroke approx. 60Hrs   ( just had annual service)
Lowrance HDS 9 Sounder with Total Scan Transducer
Lowrance Elite 9ti GPS with Navionics Card
100lt Fuel Tank
Live Bank Tank
Reef Anchor with float retrieval ,  Over sized Danforth Anchor,  250m Rope & 8m of Chain
2 x large kill tanks Approx. 150lts in total
Epirb and All Safety Gear ( Life Jackets, V-sheet etc. )
Rego just renewed till August 2020
PM  me if you want more info or contact
Can arrange water test , no tyre kickers please
Neg: $55,000
Cheers
Josh <><