Hweebe

I started out with a 7in. Was running split on Chart, Structure and traditional sonar, this was also too small for me. Ended up keeping the 7in, networked a second 12in and I really like this setup. Smaller unit for charts which is synced with the Larger unit for the structure and sonar. I ran out of dash space but got a RAM arm on gimbal that allows me to move the second display any which way. Just a thought....saves mucking around with new transducer. Just some network cables and plug in to power and you are away. Completely DIY as it was straight forward.

What has prompted you to part ways? Are you looking for more screen space or just want to change brands. I've used both Garmin and Lowrance. Garmin Menus intuitive, whilst Lowrance has a small learning curve but after that I don't see much difference especially for us fishing Moreton Bay is typically shallow waters.

Thanks @rayke1938 I wasn't aware of this change. Checked and sure enough my lifejackets will need to be replaced. What are peoples thoughts on replacing with the inflatable life jackets? I understand they need to be serviced every year and are not "set and forget". Reading into it further some manufacturers allow for the owner to self service but does anyone have experience with how water police deal with this when they check your on board safety equipment? Hweebe

I'm guessing you don't have guages to work out your optimum cruise and or RPM? Is this are cruise speed or at Wide open throttle? RPMs?

Hi AFO, Link to media statement released today: https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/91299 Public consultation on draft fisheries harvest strategies is open until 31 January 2021. Still time to have your say on new chapter of fisheries reforms Queenslanders with an interest in the state’s landmark Sustainable Fisheries Strategy have another three weeks before consultation on the latest phase of reforms closes. Acting Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Yvette D’Ath said public consultation on draft fisheries harvest strategies is open and expressions of interest are sought for stakeholders to join fishery working groups. “Finalising harvest strategies is a key step to enable our fisheries and fishing stakeholders to be ready for new management arrangements on 1 September 2021,” Ms D’Ath said. “Public consultation has been a key tenet of the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy since the reforms commenced and this is a continuation of that process. “A formal period of consultation by Fisheries Queensland is open until 31 January 2021 and I encourage all fishing stakeholders to provide feedback on the harvest strategies online.” Ms D’Ath said nominations are also open for membership of ten fishery working groups which are integral to delivering world-class fisheries management reforms. “This is an exciting opportunity to be part of sustainable fisheries management,” she said. “Fishery working groups provide important operational advice on the management of specific fisheries and serve as an effective communication and consultative forum between fishing stakeholders, Fisheries Queensland and the government. “Fisheries Queensland is seeking a range of stakeholders including commercial and recreational fishers, charter operators, seafood marketers and processors and people with conservation experience to join the fishery working groups.” Under the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy, working group membership is renewed every two years, and members of the original fishery working groups have been thanked for their efforts. “The initial working groups were very effective in narrowing down reform options, developing 13 draft harvest strategies and leveraging operational knowledge and advice from fishing stakeholders,” she said. Two new fishery working groups will review Gulf of Carpentaria inshore and East Coast Spanish mackerel fisheries while the Rocky Reef Working Group will be re-formed to continue its work. Seven other fishery working groups are also being re-formed to continue implementing harvest strategies and monitor performance. Ms D’Ath said a new Vessel Tracking Working Group will be established and a dedicated e-hub engagement portal has been launched for stakeholders as part of a Fisheries Queensland review of vessel tracking. “Vessel tracking is an important for part of providing ongoing commercial access to fisheries resources and the Queensland Government wants to work with commercial fishers to address their issues and find workable solutions,” she said. Expressions of interest to join the new fishery working groups, including the new Vessel Tracking Working Group, are due by 31 January 2021, with the first meetings likely to commence in March 2021. To nominate for the fishery working groups, provide feedback on the draft harvest strategies or view the vessel tracking portal, visit https://daf.engagementhub.com.au/.

@Drop Bear pro tip for when you do head up there . There was definitely some second guessing from me to head wider on not. Like Sam's says get it done early

Definitely the spotties we’re feeding on tiny bait when I was up there. Downsizing from an initial 40-50g slug to 15-20g made all the difference for me. The bait was smaller then your typical halco 5/10g but I didn’t go right down to this size because it was a balancing act between “matching the hatch” versus casting distance to get the lure into the bust up. I remained fairly close in to western side of Fraser moon pt to Rooney’s and then back and got a feed. I wanted to try further out into the central bay but conditions bit choppy when I was there. @samsteele115 Xmas was my first time to HB but I’m interested to hear how you went about exploring the bay to find the birds/fish. What’s your typical plan of attack for HB? And what led you to head out further?

@Mission I don't think we can make that conclusion to boat limit as not all species have a boat limit. It will come down to the legal definition of "Possession" - Common law explanation below "The essence of the concept of possession in law is that, at the relevant time, you intentionally have control over the object in question. You may have this control alone or jointly with some other person or persons. You and those persons (if any) must have the right to exclude other people from it. If these conditions are fulfilled, then you may be said to have possession of that object, whether it is your own sole possession or whether it is a joint possession with somebody else. It is not necessary for you to have something in your hand, pocket, wallet or purse before the law says that you have it in your possession. Further, you do not need to own something in order to possess it. You can possess something temporarily, or for some limited purpose. You can possess something jointly with one or more other persons." BTW I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice - but in crab example - Fisheries will argue you are in possession and are in fact above the possession limit. It would be a hard argument for you to deny its in your possession when they are all stored in your chest freezer.

The are all same - generic rebranded - they all do the job

Yeah really disappointing to see that you have done all the research in keeping the maintenance up but still having issues. @Junky is onto it, a gal trailer nowdays is just not as good as ones done from say a decade ago. It is unfortunately all about making a buck, the cynic in me thinks the industry is trying to push boaties onto more expensive alloy / aluminium trailers so they don't spend the time/dollars on producing quality Gal trailers.

Fishbrain = Think of it as the social media of fishing (aka Facebook for fishing)

I've been to Fraser when it is both busy (Australia Day) and quiet. It's an experience on the busier days good for people watching as there is always something happening opposite the campsite but if you want a more relaxed pace easy to move around and park at the main attractions go when it is quiet. Even then there will be people around. I find I also feel safer beach fishing with less 4wd speeding through camp zones (occurs frequently).

Bag limit is an old term that has been replaced by Possession Limit. From Fisheries QLD website. "Possession limits are in place to conserve heavily sought after species, species that are easily captured, share more catch, reduce illegal fish marketing and promote responsible fishing. Possession limits do not apply on a per day basis. Any fish you have caught previously and may be keeping at home in your freezer, for example, are included in your possession limit for a fish species." Nowadays you need to know: Three things Size Limit, Possession Limit and if you are a boat fishermen Boat limit As a example the limit for Snapper: 4 per person with no more than 1 over 70cm / 8 per boat with no more than 2 over 70cm (with 2 or more people on board) Or for Prawns: Possession limit of 10 litres per person / 20 litres per boat (with 2 or more people on board) What is unclear is if you have a household of say 5 people who you typically share dinner could you "gift" 7 muddies to each member of the household? Effectively increasing the possession limit to 5 x 7. I think the possession rules were introduced so that people didn't stockpile say a year worth of prawns during prawning season and is encouraging fishos to eat what they catch rather then stockpile.

That's a very versatile rod and reel combo for the shore based fishing. The rod length she help you get out into the strikezone as well. The Thunnus should also have ample stopping power in case 4000 isn't enough line.

Nice work on the flattie - I usually only get dart / tarwhine / bream with the pipis you find around there. Have you been there around tailor season? Wonder if I should head there or all the way to Fraser this year.

Good to see your kids prefer a rod over a nintendo switch controller

An oldie but a goodie. Thanks Sam for the tips I dug this article out just before my Trip to hervey bay for xmas 2020 and your tips are spot on when searching and reading the birds.

I have something like this....can by purchased on Ebay for cheaper https://www.tacklewarehouse.com.au/samaki-line-spooler.html

Thanks @marty interesting that you don’t use gang hooks I’ve always thought wire in popular areas such as palmy would turn off fish but ur def getting the results. I will definitely give wire a try. Only cubes rather then whole pillies is also something I have to try maybe the adage “big bait big fish” doesn’t always work on macs So ur using bait runners to float the cubes unweighted out the back to get the bait down to the strike zone. I’ve not really invested in baitrunners so will need to look into that as well. I haven’t fished on the boat outside Moreton bay as similar to @ellicat I’m trying to grow my sea legs but want to pick a good day to try my luck out the seaway. Thanks for sharing.

Good call on extending the holidays and conditions look mint in the photo. @marty when fishing palmy for Macs what if your typical rod, reel and bait rig? Cheers hweebe

Day 1: I tried many of the marks on the way up on the western side of Fraser and also the Roy Rofus artificial reef. I would concur, not much happening on the marks themselves. At best they are really just starter marks for general areas to fish you will have to do your own work to find structure but Hervey bay for the most part is a featureless bay so after the first day trying out the marks I changed tactic and used the birds in the sky Day 2: Just following the birds (western side of fraser up and back to Rooneys) we we able to get a feed of spotties and these were a lot of fun with good runs compared to the schoolies here in Moreton Bay most ranging in the 80+cm mark. Landed a few and lost a few to bust offs but lots of fun and we had more then enough to freeze in our portable freezer. Day 3, 4 Third and fourth day was just catch and release we had really learned how to read the direction of the birds and predict where to cast better. One thing we learned was patience and getting a quality 1st cast into the bust up was a sure fire way to hook up. When the boat placement or cast was just out of reach we had less success. So by Day 3 and 4 with our arms a bit weary from two days of casting we were more selective of when and where to cast. Surprisingly this lead to better hook up rates. Interesting notes: I dropped in to Tackleworld there for more metal lures and was told the spotty run was "lean" this year. Lean must mean something else in Hervey bay as the action was non stop once birds were located. One thing to note when going to Hervey bay you will have to do the Km's. Getting to the top of rooneys and back is a decent trip compared to when i putt around moreton bay.

Marks were straight form internet using whatever name was provided. Where there is a description of the types of fish to expect for the mark this has been included in the description field on the files. I recommend u look into using google earth to manage your marks.

That's the plan! Hoping the birds will be working the bay but failing that i'll explore and drift these starter spots.

File added let me know how you go with the file type. There was also the option of a KML file if this file is not compatible

Hi AFO members, Back from a long break away from fishing and AFO. I'm planning to trailer the boat up to Hervey Bay for a pre-christmas fish (fingers crossed weather plays the game). I've pulled together every Hervey Bay fishing GPS mark I could find on the internet into one Google Earth file. Let me know if you want me to insert the file into this post or work on a PM basis. I don't mind either way a google search reveals all these marks - I've just done the work to get the marks ready to upload for your sounders. ***Google Maps kmz file Added*** There are definitely some duplicates but this will be a good starter. If you have a Lowrance I've also added the their proprietary file type (one less conversion) Hervey Bay Fishing GPS marks (from interwebs).kmz Hervey Bay 2020.usr