Neil Stratford

Bait was snapper frames.

Good result Ray , well done . regards Neil

The Wife and I put the boat in at Ray Bay at 4pm on Sunday afternoon .Just a breath of wind with a slight shimmy on the surface of the bay. Surprisingly there wasn’t too many boats at the ramp.The snapper closure must have kept a lot of people at home. We had all the pots pre baited, and half of them fully assembled before hitting the water so it only took about 40 minutes and we’d set all 8 pots and were back at the ramp . Whilst giving the boat and trailer a wash , we heard about a pod of humpbacks out near Harries - pity I would have taken time out to go whale watching. Anyways ,Went back this morning , launched at Raby Bay again , this time the bay was like a sheet of glass - glorious day ! Pulled the pots in quick time and went home with 20 nice full sandies. So for the next few days we’ll be feasting out on the back patio on a few ginger beers and sand crab sandwiches …… someone’s got to do it !!!

Well done on the PB’s . Couple of solid fish there. regards Neil

Hi Ray , yes sounds like we do it the same way, with the irrigation tube. I think just the standard nozzle on the kero degreaser gun stuck up all the openings still gets a better coating as it atomises a whole lot better . I did it both ways to ensure the entire rhs internal got a good coating. I just used my car tyre compressor to supply air to the gun .

Boat is a 4.75 stessl edge tracker powered with a 70hp Suzuki on the back and 80lb Minn Kota on the front. As of late I’ve been using it more than my bigger boat - but I only ever use it in calm waters. I’ve used it at Hinchinbrook, Lake Awoonga , Lake Monduran to the north , Hinze Dam ,and Jumpinpin to the South and Lesley Dam to the West . Used to do a lot of Jew and Thready fishing in it in the Brissy River but not much of that recently.These days it spends a fair bit of time down at the Pin - hunting Jew ,flathead and whiting and up in the Hinze dam chasing bass. Regards Neil

It took 3 days, but my old trailer came up pretty well after some TLC . Dropped the boat off the trailer ,onto some old tyres , in the back yard on Wednesday. Stripped all the rollers and skids off. Took it to a welder , and had the last three rusty cross members replaced . He charged $350 which I thought was quite reasonable. Got it home and degreased it , and then gave it a good hit with a gurney. Then gave it a generous going over with Cold Gal. Followed up by a spray inside and out with a product called Lanotec Steel Seal that I had sitting in the back shed. Replaced 3 worn rollers , Cleaned the rest up , and re greased the roller pins , then refitted them all . Refitted the skids and gave the contact surfaces a spray with some silicon. Big Job , but hoping it will extend the trailers life a little longer , and make it a little easier to get the boat on and off. Now sitting on the lounge hoping I can get up tomorrow to check the bearings , brakes , and put the boat back on the trailer and adjust the skids and rollers. Regards Neil

Yes Strong winds and Closed season on the snapper - I’ve got my little boat sitting on some old tyres and giving its trailer a good over haul.

Well done on the snapper. You just need to get the timing right on when to catch them. Neil

That’s a tough day at the office Ray. She’s a heavy boat with all those batteries , might have think about putting a pulley on the cable to reduce the load on those electric winches. regards Neil

They look like nice sized fish , well done. regards Neil

Hi Ray , sounds like the shrimp are a bit light on , down at the Hinze recently. I see the dam has dropped significantly again since you took me there .I can only imagine how tuff it must be getting in there to service that run of pots.I also wonder whether they are still being share farmed. My little boats sitting on the ground in the backyard atm . I was forced into doing an overall on the trailer because the rear cross member’s rusted out .The trailers booked in to get 3 new cross members welded in a weeks time . Once I have it all setup up again , I’ll get you down the to the Hinze and we’ll move all those pots out of that area , to some greener pasture. Neil

Couple of thumpers there , well done.

Nice snapper well done ! regards Neil

Dog and house sitting at Bribie for a while . Here’s my Rainy day project from this morning. Purchased a $3 graphite 7 iron golf club and a $1 Set of stainless BBQ tongs from Vinnies yesterday and re purposed them into a long handled de hooking tool this morning. If the rain keeps up I’ll make a short handle one as well.

Nice Grassy , we’ll done .

Took advantage of the perfect conditions this afternoon . Headed out at 2pm. The fish were on the chew from the first drop. Whaler sharks were on the job too. I recon they setup camp right under the boat for two hours. Got some quality fish this time , biggest one was a male fish a tad over 700mm . Put the boat back on the trailer at 7pm and headed home . regards neil

Nice well conditioned fish that big one. Well done regards Neil

You can now take a stroll from Caloundra to north Bribie Island .

Fished the southern bay again this afternoon for a nice little feed on soft plastics. Put the boat in at 2.30pm and fished till the sunset . Ended up with 3 snapper, 3 tailor and a flathead. Tagged and released about a dozen undersized snapper and grassies that I had to sort through to get a feed. Fish on ice now , I’ll fillet them tomorrow morning once they chill down. regards Neil

Made a few more hybrids and jigs for 1770 , while the wife did an outstanding job on my resort wear shirts. I recon the locals will be jealous. Just got to encourage her to do a trout , and a red throat shirt and the wardrobe will be complete. Neil

Here's some footage of trolling Hutchinson's shoal. Check out the under water footage of the prop engaging into forward gear. Regards Neil Hutchinson Shoal sm.mp4

Well done , your on fire!

If sea conditions are fair to good and I have a full load, it burns about 1.2 lt per km at 25 knots . I can comfortably do a trip to somewhere like Square Patch off Moreton Island , about 80km return trip from Raby Bay , with about a 1/4 of a tank of fuel in reserve .If I go much further I always take extra fuel in jerry cans. Regards Neil

Better than watching the grass grow. Seems the bass schools have been highly mobile for months now.Might be that a big percentage just went over the wall in those last floods and the numbers are just way down on what they were.