Another Wazza

Still a good effort @Andrew_P considering the conditions, and yes, it seems whoever did the bay forecast was smoking that exact same weed, it was pretty average out there early until around 8am, then it came good.

A fall from grace indeed, Jew wrangler one day, grinner whisperer the next, I'm glad you left the sea toad out of it to Brian, hahaha

Quality land based Mackerel!, nicely done

Thanks Ted, the funny thing about that is I actually haven't caught an undersized one yet, the smallest to date was 77cm caught with Brian. They are a great fish that tick all the boxes.

Hi @mangajack, I'm not too sure to be honest?, I had a look at another photo of an 84cm model, it too had a dark base around the pectoral, both fish were photographed probably 6 hours after capture.

Brian, it will be a technique that I'm trialling from here on in, next time we head out it could make all the difference!, hahaha

Thanks Steve, I was pretty stoked to get him actually as a spotty was the last thing on my radar, the plastic he took didn't have a mark on it, usually the mackerel slice the tails up a bit. The yeild off that fish was considerable too, having devoured that little Tuskie last night, I'm looking forward to sampling him this evening.

Towards the end of February I headed out in the bay in search of some Jew, I found them and had an absolute shocker!, I lost 4 fish (& plastics) to line break as I was going extremely hard on these fish to try and avoid being sharked, I also got snagged once, got snipped by a mackerel, and when I finally managed to get one close to the boat it got sharked about 3 metres away, I was devastated but not willing to give up, having lost 7 plastics & jigheads I headed off to BCF that afternoon to restock & get some new line. The plan was to head out there the next day and see if they were still around, well, what a difference a day makes, I dropped the first fish, but managed 2 in 2 casts after that, the 1st went 95-96?, there was a little bit of chop out there and they weren't behaving themselves on the brag mat I'll admit I took a pretty ordinary pic of him, but you get the idea. After I gave him the treatment and got organised again, this little guy paid me a visit With 2 onboard in quick succession, the decision was made to leave them be, as its just too risky sport fishing for them with the sharks never too far away, so I decided to move on in search of some more fun. That fun came via a little 30cm small mouth, which was a first for me in the bay, a Trevally not much bigger came after him, then I headed back in. It was a pleasant few hours all up. Fast forward a month or so, with very little fishing taking place because of some average weather, when I saw the conditions for Tuesday just gone, it was an easy decision to head back out in the bay. Jew were on the menu once again, so I deployed the same plastic from the previous outing and after working him for about 15 minutes I hooked a big grinner, now I "technically" didn't land him, no leader was touched, I swear!, I just let him chill next to the boat while I grabbed the pliers, when I came back to the rod he was gone, result!, the scoreboard remains unchanged. Not long after that incident I hooked up to what I initially thought was a small shark, it hit the plastic just off the bottom and started to scream off, then it started coming up, rather erratic mind you, thinking it was a shark I wasn't interested in playing it out, with a heavy drag set to try and beat the sharks, I wound it in with little respect, that was until I saw it was a nice Spotted Mackerel, perfectly pinned in the centre of the top jaw there was no way he could've escaped, I swung him over the side and swifly gave him the treatment. A surprise, and very welcomed addition to the esky, Jew were still on my mind so I kept plugging away, I missed a good hit, then the next flick resulted in a nice little Jew, success!. Another dodgy pic, he got a little bent out shape in the esky. So far that 1 plastic has nailed 3 Jew & a spotty, he's almost earned his retirement I'd say??. After that Jew I headed off in search of some Tuskies, having arrived at the spot and deploying the bait, I had a few enquiries early up which saw nervous anticipation almost reach fever pitch, you just never know how big it is until you set the hooks, this one sadly was no beast, and I made very short work of him. Still a very tasty fish though. Thinking the bite might be on, I hung around for a few hours but couldn't manage anything else, which in all honesty wasn't such a bad thing as the esky already looked pretty good, and I'm well stocked for the next few weeks. I pulled the jewels out of the Jew this afternoon, they are something I don't usually keep but I might start doing so in the future as they do look kinda cool.

100% agree @Hweebe the usable range is exceptional compared to lead acid.

I can relate to your experience Steve, I too fell foul of a bump in my “routine”, I went out one day, used the electric for 15 minutes, didn’t bother charging it as the app on my phone had it reading 100%, it was probably on speed 2 the whole time. Not having to recharge when I got home resulted in me not flicking my circuit breaker off whilst on auto pilot after washing the boat. Fast forward 7 weeks, with only 1 trip out which didn’t require the electric, and when I went to use it, realised the breaker was still on, oh dear, no beeps when flicking the breaker off and on, and upon checking the state of charge on the app, I saw a vampire had been hard at work drawing it down to a meagre 5.7v. I tried charging it once I got home, but it wouldn’t hold 100%, after I went through the range of emotions associated with losing a battery to incompetence, I began researching the lithium options. Other than the initial outlay, they are far better than an AGM, safe discharge of 90-95%, as opposed to 50% with an AGM, massive weight saving in the tinny too, after 3 days use in the Hinchinbrook it went down to roughly 40% I think. Anyway, the new battery also required a new charger which has a “recondition” function for lead acid, I hooked up my AGM to see if this wizardry works and the battery is now holding 100% again, I wouldn’t have bought a new charger to try and rescue the AGM, but it’s something a battery store may or may not be able to help you out with?

Hahaha, I had noticed a few things didn't make it into your recollection.

Brian, I'm still in awe of your display of pure unluck, its something I haven't seen before, and hopefully never witness again, hahaha. It was still a great holiday in an awesome part of the world. The channel is an amazing place to see and fish, and I can't wait to get back up there and get amongst it again.

Hey @Hweebe, this issue was raised by @Luc53 in June, I think most people have just made peace with it, but now that there’s no photos, I fear the natives are getting restless

You can use them as a substitute for tying a dropper loop

I have heard of people using a specific Loctite that cures in water to keep the plastic in place, considering the minute amount that would be required it would probably be the most cost effective solution rather than constantly replacing plastics, or having multiple jigheads rigged?

My favourite lure would have to be whatever is tempting the fish on the day, hahaha

I remember that morning Brian, you got smoked by something half decent only a few casts in, it was sad to have set that little squid free without having properly bonded with it, hahaha Those small Squidtrex look pretty good, being half the size they should be about half the price shouldn't they? Hahaha

Hey @Balkey81, I got the same bloke @Panther used to fit my plate, he did a good job & I know what you are asking in regards to grinding down the top of the coping to sit flush with the deck, he did remove a little bit of the coping at the top so the plate sits on top of the existing deck, I dont have any progress pics but heres a pic of the finished result

Hey Matt, they can be cut to suit

Have you looked at these Matt?

I thought I had that one figured out?, Ive been dealing with plenty of BS at work lately, hahaha. Damo, 18 months is sacrilege!, at least have the decency to take a hand line into a pet shop and work their tanks over, hahaha, I'm with @Bretto77 on this one, an intervention is most likely required

Thats a horse!, well done @Doughnuts, he wouldve played up nicely no doubt

A few nice fish there Hamish, enjoy your Jewie, well done

A few nice fish there Charlie, I would consider the one you landed a joint effort, and must commend the angler who shared the fun, great stuff

For anyone else Ray, that would be a good day, haha