Junky

Nine years old.

Biting those bullets is fun.

You can also swap the treble out for an assist hook. If they're not skittish you can drop your slug out the back in free spool while on the move. Do a big arc around them, pull up, then just rip the slug back through the middle of them. Only seem to work if they're not skittish though, which is hardly ever.

Hahaha. My kids were out there at Easter and asking why noone was jetty jumping. They thought it was because there were no stairs to get back up onto the jetty. I explained that there is no stairs because the authorities do not want people swimming there due to the shark population. My PB sighting of a tiger was on the other side of Fraser, out on the Gardiner banks. He's a local out there I'm told, and he would be up around, possibly over the 5m mark. I'll never forget the size of that huge blacked out eye as he glided effortlessly under the boat about 10m down. It was a 5.5m boat and this thing was just as long. They're like mobile reef systems with the amount of fish that hang off them.

You could easily paddle to coochie on the yak. Urban legends have people walking over there at low tide. Red beacon area on the NE side of coochie is worth a look. Bass in eprapah Creek, next to movie theatre. There's also a few ticks in there as well. Check yourself over after a visit. You could launch a kayak down the end of beverage road. There are jacks in there. Also big cod and a big groper. Caught a few of its grand kids, but no chance turning it. Very pretty fish when juvenile though. Massive green zone at the mouth of eprapah Creek so be careful there. I've pinched this map from beacon to beacon. If you don't have a copy then... Here's a copy

I hope they're destroying them. It's sad to see this country with so many introduced pests killing off our native species. I that video, I was surprised to see that bass even avoid them. Bass are one tough fish and very territorial, and I've seen them kill jacks twice their size in fish tanks.

Pearl Cichlids. I had these when I had an aquarium. Great looking fish but extremely ferocious. If anyone catches one. Don't let it go. Destroy it. This recent vid came across my feed yesterday.

Just keep at it mate. You're not doing anything wrong so to speak, you just need to experiment. Your catching fish. That's a start. Start with presenting your baits in different arrangements. Remember, what works well today, may just get ignored tomorrow. The tackle you're using plays a big part too. Fish as light as possible. Start with about 8lb main line, braid or mono. 10lb fluorocarbon leader maximum. I'd suggest a running sinker rig to start with. It's a very common rig to run. Find a sinker size that sinks to the bottom as slow as possible in the conditions you're fishing, if that makes sense. Don't drop an 8 ball in dead still water. If the water is dead still, try no sinker at all. Use fluorocarbon leader. Instead of 1m to 2m of leader in that pic above, keep the leader length down under 1m. Around 500mm to 700mm should work well. Hook selection. Small hooks equates to small fish. A 2/O or 3/O size Mustad big red or similar for general fishing. Use long shank hooks for whiting. Again, larger hooks will not fit down the gob of smaller fish. Whiting inhale the bait, so you end up with a hook in the gut of undersized fish if you're using smaller hooks. If I'm predominantly catching small/undersized fish I tend to move on, or target a different area of the waterway.

Not sure they went broke. From all reports they've moved to Chinese manufacturing. https://www.saltwatermarine.com.au/trailcraft/trailcraft-china/ There's a few companies doing it now.

I'm glad you responded with that. I read it over 10 times and thought "what the hell am I missing here" because MJ always posts fluent responses. Seems Mangas artificial intelligence is at work here...

Ahhh yes. I've seen the pictures. Very inspiring. I screenshot one and sent it to a mate. He's been chasing them for a while. He does okay, but nothing like the addicts fish to date. He can't get them up. It deflated him a little at the start when he saw the pic, but that turned into determination to chase them even more. I've caught similar size fish offshore, but bay blueys are something else. The ones offshore resemble what I can only imagine a stubborn staffy terrier tied to the end of the line bouncing all the way up. 2m to 3m rod tip movements in a split second. I run that line on my popping gear. Good for about 100lb. Knot strength is brilliant. FG to leader. Hitzky swears by those reels.

Dunno about the shimano stuff, but the daiwa stuff is awesome. Gonna need strong hooks.

Once you get up above Bundaberg, watch out for crocks. We wear crocks up here... Jokes aside. Crocodiles are not stupid, and love repetitive actions of fisherman. Treat every entry point to the water as a fish cleaning station. Boat ramps, little sandy beaches, everywhere. The further north you go, the closer you get to becoming a meal. Don't steup camp right on the rivers edge either. Talk to locals about the areas you wish to visit. We are the sillier species in this case. That being said. Have fun. Plenty of fish to catch. Get yourself a 10lb, 20 to 30lb, and a 50lb setup. Get a couple of gold bombers, some slim twitches, a handful of plastics, and also get setup for weedless fishing the plastics up the creeks. Check out Andy's fishing and wild cook. He spends a lot of time up in the creeks showing how to fish plastics weedless for jacks, cod etc. You'll have a ball. Just live by my first tip, or risk death ignoring it.

They're a good solid platform. Welds are fine, Aussie built mate. Over time, depending how hard you are on it, you'll probably have to touch a few welds up, but that aluminium for you. 200hp will push that along nicely. Never been in one to give opinion on the ride. I'd say it'll be okay. Been in a few like it, and they ride nicely. Don't know Canada's pricing but here in Australia that amounts to a bit under 85k. That's what a 2023 model goes for. While it's never been in the water, it still has ageing of components to take into consideration.

You know, that's a great pondering question that I've been thinking about lately myself. While braid does have terrible abrasion resistance, if the hook sets well enough, abrasion is kept to a minimum. I know fish flick the line with their tail etc, but a clean fight will see a successful landing 9 times out of 10. Some of my biggest fish have been caught the lazy way. Braid, straight to hook. That brings me to thinking that when I lose a decent fish, it's always at the leader. Hmmmmm. I rarely use over 50lb braid. Only 100lb for popping/stick baiting, and that line will be sent down if something is wrecking me on the reef.