Ed.

The 5th Dec still works for my wife (Audrey) and myself so put us down for those dates. Cheers Ed.

Out of those dates, the 5th or 12th Dec can work for both my wife and myself but not sure if those dates suit others. Cheers Ed.

The missus and I might also be able to attend but it depends on the date, time and place so put us down as potentials! As kmcrosby78 said, Shorncliffe sounds quite good as it looks like there are eating areas and a park for any kiddies.

The wrasse looks like it had some kind of flesh burrowing parasite. The Morwong doesn't look healthy either. I also wouldn't eat either of them.

It is blue on the outside but when you are in the water and activate it, the bladder expands and pops out and it will most likely be yellow or orange/red which is very visible, plus the reflective strips on it as well. I have a different brand which also is blue and it has a bright yellow bladder.

Just letting everyone know in case anyone is looking for a cheap inflatable life jacket (PFD). Aldi is selling some on this Saturday for $50. Don't personally know how good they are but they should be built to and meet Australian standards. https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-buys/special-buys-sat-6-november/saturday-detail-wk44/ps/p/inflatable-adult-pfd-1/ Cheers Ed.

Go on Drop Bear, you know you want to!

Speaking of, https://www.hookedonline.com.au/rods/shakespeare-ugly-stik/ have 40% off on the Ugly stiks at the moment.

Put them up on Gumtree.

Hi Robbie, are the oysters supposed to grow inside the cage or on the outside? 'cause if on the inside wouldn't they have an ever decreasing space to do so as they got bigger, by being squashed up against each other?

That is what I thought too, that jewfish just doesn't seem very healthy at all!

Time to relax and enjoy life more! Welcome to the forum.

That is one huge catfish!

Looking at your picture, a small puller should take about or less than 1 minute to undo the boss. I seriously doubt that the thread would go the full length of the shaft, from what I remember, the shaft should be a 3/4" Morse taper (most common) and it would most likely have a keyway with a metal key to stop it twisting or alternatively have a small spline on the stainless shaft for the alloy hub to be pressed on and bite into it by the nut to grip it, either way the thread would probably just be finished just below the top off the boss. If the puller didn't work and if the thread was the full length (which I seriously doubt), then I think that the only way to get the boss off would be to make a parallel cut on both side as close to the stainless shaft as possible using a Dremel tool with a small carbide burr and use oil to not clog the burr or a Multi tool + oil, and then try to spit it in two with a nut cracker or a cold chisel. Should be a simple and quick job to remove it. Have a look at these images and it will give you an idea on what it should be like under the boss. I doubt it, but, but first check that there isn't an Allen key grub screw holding (the key) in the boss in place. Cheers Ed.

Well it has been almost a decade since the thread was started, heaps of new reels and rods have been released since then, so good to get an update on the latest gear.

I would imagine that most fish will take a lure on a paravane, all it does is make the lures go down much deeper.

Same here.

If a puller fails to remove it, as a last resort I suppose that since it is bakelite or some sort of plastic, it may be possible to drill a series of close shallow inline holes and then use a cold chisel to fracture it to pieces to remove the bulk and leave just the boss on the shaft. I have never done this so don't know it would be successful or not, but judging by the way it has easily fractured it might be possible, having said that, the wheels' boss (if it has one) might be a bit of an issue to remove it if it is made from stainless steel or alloy, as that is what is probably stopping the remains of the wheel from coming off. Probably a bit of corrosion between it and the shaft. If the boss does not come off easily, then you might have to use a grinder cut off wheel carefully and then pry the remains of the boss off or cold chisel it off.

Tony Y, another thing you may want to be aware of is, that not all insurance company's are OK with doing such a mod as well as the increase in horse power. I had one insurance company refuse me insurance just because I put in different seat bases. The motor will be much heavier, the balance pivot point will be different as the extra weight will not be supported in the water at the transom and will be hanging out by about 60cm, so handling may be somewhat compromised and you will also have to check out if the hull is designed to take a larger motor let alone having it extended out a distance. You may be lucky and it might work well, but it may also handle like a pig too with cavitation in the turns amongst other issues. When pods came out and were all the rage, a lot of experimentations/modifications were done with mixed results, some good and the others no so good. I built a pod on a new 21ft hull I bought about 25 years ago and did it because the hull/transom was designed for a sterndrive and I got a great deal on a used 225HP outboard, so I ended up with more room in the back but wasn't overly happy with the handling. It may end up being a gamble. I am also with Angry51 on this one.

So how many offers have you had to be deckies on board?

I made a couple of these out of a very heavy wood to subdue fish when I still had my wood lathe, although I have never had to use them.

I also am a "Banana bender" actually so can't sign either.

Hey Neil, looks like you had some good fishing there, what part of Frazier were those pics of the Mangrove trees taken from?

You can also get a dedicated Solunar Fish Gauge like the Kokoda FishIQ, it's the one I have, but the only problem with this one is that it does not have an On/Off button so once you put the battery in, it will keep the screen active till the battery drains(CR-2032), and then you have to put in the location (limited areas in OZ only ie, Cairns, Gladstone, Gold Coast, Melb, Sydney) and also the time in again, although I think that there is a user location set by Lat/Long., but I haven't tried it out. With this one you can press a button and it will switch to the next tide change (4 periods) to show what you might be able to expect fishing wise at that time or you can select which day/month you want. It also has a blinking bar on the graph to show you what part of the tide you are in, plus the current moon phase. Personally I didn't use it much as I found it was much simpler just to go on to that site I mentioned (above) to work out when I should try to fish.