Ed.

Went up there once before I was married, hired a small tinny and went trolling up the inlet, there was a section there that every time I went passed it my lures got absolutely mangled, off the top of my memory it probably was in the Chinaman Creek area, obviously something with very large teeth. I decided to move on to another area as anything that powerful was something I did not want to catch and it may not have been a fish! I had to call it quits early as I got a real bad dose of sunburn. Important lesson learned... don't forget the Sunblock!

I used to have an electric winch on my 26ft trailer similar to this one: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-4000lbs-4000lb-Electric-Winch-10m-Dyneema-Rope-Boat-4x4-4wd-Boat-3000-4500/163669184959?hash=item261b7191bf:g:fkkAAOSwgApXA8KO:sc:AU_Regular!4511!AU!-1 , When I built the trailer I unfortunately made it too tall (should have used drop down axles) anyway it required a fair bit of effort to haul up the boat using a manual winch (did it only once on the first launch before switching to the electric winch) unless I submerged the trailer which I try not to do. These small winches usually use an aluminium spool and on mine the spools' flange cracked due to shock force when my boat slid down the trailer and there was some slack in the line, the Dyneema stopped it in it's tracks ( Dyneema doesn't stretch). Replaced it with a 13000lb one (steel spool) which was way overkill but bought it because it was cheap, as that size is in more in demand due to the 4WD crowd wanting that size, so sellers volume price was 50% cheaper to get that particular size. Anyway the 4500lb one worked well, hauling up the 26ft boat, used it for about 8 trips before it cracked the flange, they are a bit slow due to the huge reduction in gearing but required no physical effort on my part, downside is that you really need a spare large battery to connect them to (via Anderson plugs) as they do suck out a lot of amps on full load, another downside against them is that should the battery or motor die there is no way to retrieve the boat as it doesn't have a handle. That is where the one from Anaconda I think is better in that you do have a handle to use should the need arise. I was thinking about putting a 4500Lb winch on my 18.5ft boat but the hassle of connecting up the battery and getting it charged up after the trip is a bit of a pain so haven't done it yet. So far my 3 ratio manual one works fine so not inclined to swap over. I did however replace the wire cable on it to a 8mm dyneema cable as I don't like wire cable! If however you are getting older or have back or shoulder issues then the Anaconda unit or a similar type would be worth considering. On a smaller but still heavy boat, a good 2 or 3 ratio manual winch will be much better suited and quicker unless you have some sort of physical issues.

Unfortunately mankind is the problem as far as the oceans Eco-system is concerned, because we take fish out of the ocean and eat it to grow and multiply, almost all of mankind's biomass does not contribute back in any meaningful way to the oceans ecology or it's food biomass, due to our bodies not ending up back in the ocean to continue the food cycle. We die and get buried/burnt, so approx 100kg of "food" (per person) does not get put back to the ocean to get recycled and contribute back to the oceans food chain. Which is a big contrast to dead fish in the ocean, if you tie a fish frame to something underwater in the ocean and you can be pretty much assured that within a few days it will be gone and recycled to replenish the food chain. When you also consider the billions of fish that get killed or die on a daily basis in the oceans, you would be hard pressed to find a single fish skeleton if you went for a dive underwater. Anyway the law doesn't care if it was dying or not as it would be too hard to prove so we just have to accept it and just release undersized fish even if they are dying and go catch a bigger one! Cheers Ed.

At the end of the day, there is very little that gets wasted in the ocean, when you consider the amount of fish that gets killed and eaten in the ocean on a daily basis a few fish caught buy fishermen and then released even in a dying state will not make any impact in the great scheme of things, the ocean recycles almost everything, what dies or gets killed, will get eaten and then it goes up the food chain. Simplistically, every predatory fish out there has to eat another fish almost on a daily basis or every two or three days, so a billion fish = a billion meals (fish), the plankton eaters provide the bulk mass of food (fish) that eventually move up the food chain. The larger the predator the more fish it eats. So your contribution of a dying undersized fish will not make a great deal of difference and will just provide meals for other fish, crabs etc. which will gladly appreciate it, they in turn get bigger and eaten and so move up the food chain. The problem arises when mankind takes the fish out of the oceans which removes the fish biomass from the food chain, so the caught fish do not contribute to continuing the food cycle and so less food for other fish. That is my 2 cents worth.

Your "Nessie", was that a Dugong?, never seen one in the passage before, there are probably plenty of them in the area as there are quite a lot of sea grass beds up the passage but just haven't come across one.

I also was having trouble connecting to this and also another forum site, but it turns out it was related to my VPN server in Sydney (so far), however I could connect when using the VPN server in Melbourne though, not sure if these issues are related to your problems though I suspect that somehow they might.

I don't think that end nippers work as well as side cutters do. Having said that I only tried to some cut hooks with a cheapish pair which I used for cutting MIG wire, etc, so the better brands like Knipex might do the job more efficiently as they are well designed and use better heat treatment and steel.

Had the same happen to me, needed to disable the Adblock plus and Ublock origin from this website, seem now that everything works again.

Most of those baits should have worked, I am assuming that you set the pots near or in the mangroves, if you did then maybe time to try a different location, most mangroves up that way should have them. I don't think that Mud crabs are fussy as to what they eat, I have even caught them using a tin of sardines with a couple of small holes in it as we had run out of bait. The oil and smell leaked out and attracted them to the pot and they really mangled the tin trying to get to the sardines in it.

There are lots of videos on YouTube about "how tuff are Ugly stiks". and usually you can go up a line class or two from what is stated on the rod and you would have to be doing something pretty silly to break on as shown in those clips. As this is an old thread and the OP has already got his rods this is a bit of a moot point except for some additional info for those who may be looking at getting Ugly Stiks. I picked up two USB-JOH5637 80lb 5'6" Blue Water jigging over head rods on about August and was quite impressed with the power of these thinnish rods. I paired them up with a Makaira 30 with 150lb braid, tied the line to a tree and put it on full sunset drag and no issues there, should have been about 55lb drag at that setting.The only downside is that these two rods had cracked epoxy on the first large guide only when I first got them, it was where the guides sat on the blank in between the two feet. Easy enough to fix but should not have had to with a new rod. I contacted the seller only to be given a story on how they contacted the distributor and just have to wait for them to respond, (that was about 8-10 weeks ago), so not holding my breath on that one, either way I have fixed one by re-coating the epoxy and will just do the same with the other in case the seller is talking out of his bum and trying to fob me off, he did offer to get me to return it but I have time as that one is just a spare rod now anyway so not really worth the trouble. I also have been toying with the idea of stripping all the guides on it anyway and fitting them with a set of SiC ones, purely because I have some spare. So overall as others have said the Ugly's can take a beating and do survive. There is a silly commercial that was released that is good for a laugh, but I would not recommend doing it to any rod to prove a point.

Once it cures on the skin it will eventually rub off, might take up to a week or so though. In addition to all the others maybe Acetone, but it is pretty resilient stuff as you probably know by now.

My understanding is that a "MILF" means something totally different, that is unless your dentist is female!

It would probably depend on how the old fishing line was discarded by whoever collects it. If you put the old line in a bag and throw in the general waste bin, when it gets to the tip, the dozers flatten out the piles of rubbish and that bag could get ripped open and the old line exposed sometimes with hooks attached, potentially posing a tangling risk for animals or birds that scavenge the piles. If the old line get put in a dedicated bin and then the line gets disposed of by melting or other such process it would be a better and safer solution. Having said that I think that the risk to birds and animals may be quite low so it might be a solution to a problem that doesn't exist or is insignificant. When you consider that billions of birds die annually just by striking buildings and a very large number die hitting cars on the roads, I wonder if it will make any difference in the larger scheme of things. I would probably use one if it was there because it probably is the right thing to do but not because I foresee it solving any problem. Plastics in the ocean pose a much greater threat to anything swimming in it.

Yep, know the story well, last weekend all the stars aligned, perfect weather, tides right, missus wasn't working, seas flat, filled up with fuel, ice and bait, launched the boat and couldn't get out of the hole, wouldn't plane, so limped back to the ramp and off to get it repaired, should get it back on Friday. Turns out It's developed a faulty injector and also had a bad sensor or loose wire on the compressor. Previously took a 26ft Scarab up from home to Roslyn Bay, put it in the water, went about 100m next morning on the way to the fueling dock and the computer chip died, towed back to the berth, waited 3 days for a mechanic to arrive to make his diagnoses, estimating 6 weeks for a replacement part, so again towed back to ramp, onto trailer and back home, waste of holidays! Haven't had much luck with Mercury/Mercruiser motors. These things do happen when you own a boat so now I make sure that I test it out before a long road trip. So as I said before, I will just stare at my fishing rods and drool over the pics of the guys catching fish!

I would have loved to come and joined you guys up there but I am getting some work done on my motor and unfortunately I do not have the time to check it out locally on the water after it's finished to ensure everything has been fixed and no more gremlins are lurking. One thing I never do is go on a road trip without checking that I don't have a problem and just drive hundreds of kilometers, only to have to come back and to get more repairs done. So I will just have to sulk and read about all the fish you guys are catching.

Excellent, your first Mullaway will be one you won't ever forget.. They can be elusive, took me over 6 months to catch my first, after that for some reason or other they became easier to catch then.

Are you guy's trying to get me into trouble?

The missus would have my head if I bought more, I now have way more than enough rods. I traveled down with 6 but unfortunately I could not go fishing. The Ugly Stiks were 37kg rods and I only had one spare reel to put on which I spooled up today and fitted it, but I will replace one of my old short strokers with the second rod so that helps me resist the temptation to buy another reel, otherwise I will be sleeping out in the shed at nights if I get another reel as well.

Is anyone else going out fishing from Bribie Island on Saturday? Looking at the weather forecast it seems that this week end should be great out on the water, (unless I have misread the forecast) thinking of going out with the missus to the North/East of Cape Morton as I haven't taken the boat out for a very long while and would like to put some fish in the freezer.

My wife and I managed to complete the 5.2K Klm trip to Melbourne and back in one piece, we now have a new grand daughter and after a shakey start to life she is now doing well and putting on heaps of weight. Didn't manage to catch up with my old diver friend down in Melbourne as he was in the US at the time and only got back the day after we arrived home. However I will be catching up with him at X'Mas as we are flying down there for a quick family X'Mas reunion and he has invited me to his 70th birthday, so will get more details on Port Phillip Bays condition then, I drove by my old diving location at Mt.Martha rocks and although I didn't go in the water, from the cliff above it looked healthier than the last time I was there. Didn't manage to do any fishing at all down there due do to complications with the birth so all my time was spent helping out, although I did buy two new Ugly stik rods to bring back and add to my collection.

Nice looking property, close enough to town but far away enough to have decent sized block, be an effort to cut all that grass though?

Gotta be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that! and this is from where the conversation goes downhill!!

These are the ones I got: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Knipex-71-02-200-CoBolt-Compact-Bolt-Cutters-7102200/271257050182?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 There are a couple of variations of these ones, 1) Thinner rubber on the handle, 2) Angled head, 3) Spring in between handle, and there is even a 160mm version. I ordered mine from Germany (where they are made) due to the cost of locally sourced ones, that is if you can find them and they can be up to 2 times the price so you need to shop around. With the GST added it will end up costing me $71.39 delivered and these will cut up to 3.6mm piano wire which is extremely hard so most hooks should not be a problem. Big hooks are extremely hard, I ended up getting a HIT red jaw 600mm pair of bolt cutters for the big shark hooks, I tried several different brands of bolt cutters and some were left with a dimple in the jaws after one cut. The HIT ones are designed for high tensile wire so no issues.

Quality work, , at least whatever was screwed down won't move too much, might add a bit of drag in the water though, those screws seem to have a bit of corrosion on them as well, probably not stainless. Someone deserves to be sacked on the spot.

Ouch! that's gotta hurt, I had just ordered a pair of 200mm Knipex bolt cutters for that very same reason, I do have a larger HIT 600mm pair for large shark hooks but also wanted a much smaller pair to carry around i my tackle bag for moments like these, should that happen to me or someone nearby. The 200mm ones are much easier to handle one handed and will cut though most (up to 3.5mm) hooks easily as well. Only ever had one small hook into my thumb, it didn't hurt that much but by the time I got medical treatment hours later, the old thumb was well and truly "sensitive". The hook didn't go right through so the Doc aesthetically ring blocked my thumb, now that hurt! jabbed me about 15 times to try and make my thumb go numb, then they cut the hook tip out! That little episode left a lasting impression on me, don't want a repeat!