Huxstang

I would be asking where the boat is actually manufactured. Almost seems like its a chinese built hull?

Good effort - i love lure fishing - so interactive

Download the QLD Fish app mate and you can check you sizes….you threw back some very nice sashimi with that kingy…and I am sure you have checked and found its 60cm legal length.

Ahhh they are called boats for a reason..bring out another thousand…. I am no better. Always finding something I can’t live without -lol. Need to get a solution for a trolling motor stabliser - dont want to cut up my nice new Seadek just yet! And I just bought another Victron Smart Shunt so I can check the power on my house battery bank as well as the trolling motor bank. And will fit a VSR as a battery combiner while I am at it so I can charge the two AGM’s at once with the single battery charger. (If anyone doesnt know SPRINGERS Solar are the best prices for Victron and Enerdrive I have found - current Boxing Day sale is epic)

Thats funny Andrew, I picked that up and looked at it as well. I wish they had some of the heavier offshore spin sticks, that would have come home. Nice stuff Samurai…

I was trying to explain this to a mate today…he is only 40 so was screwed trying to go between pounds and KG then he was “WTF is this PE?” I just laughed and said it was something to even more complicate Rod ratings are a funny thing…I have an 8-14lb Edge spin rod which is quite capable of taking on impoundment barra and an 8kg Shimano spin which is no where near capable of doing the same job. I have no idea - I look more at what weight they cast these days to work out whether it suits me.

Yes mate, exactly what I wanted it for, some 2-3oz plastics - 7” Zerek Flat Shads and Live Mullet. Everything else I own cannot handle them to cast.

Got to love the traditional boxing day sales and this year was a beauty it seems. I would have loved to have gotten down to Doug Burt’s Tackleworld on the GC with 40% off everything other than Venom rods and I think the reels. Had to content myself in doing Tackle warehouse at Coorparoo which had 20% off storewide. I was planning on a few lures and plastics for the tacklebox but didnt buy anything with 20% off when I found something I had lusted over for ages in the rod sales rack…..Loomis IMX Pro 904C swimbait rod. I just couldnt walk away from that beauty when it was 40% off. Could easily have walked out of there with 4 rods if I had less discipline…Edge Pelagic series spin rod for $380, Couple of Venom’s for $350….silly good prices but then I would have had to have bought more reels. I am a sucker for a nicely built rod (and reel), lucky my will power is not totally gone. So who else got lured into a deal or two?

Paw paw

Very valuable lesson for us all. Summer storms can come through with winds well over 100kph quite easily. Keeping a weather eye out and hastening a retreat to shore quickly or at least getting in and hiding somewhere safe is a priority. I think running yourself aground on an island is preferable to the alternative.

EWWW well I guess I wont use my local ramp for a week or so to make sure I dont hook something nasty on the prop.

Nice work. Weather is definitely unsettled. Hope we get a run of decent weather soon

No, but motor is completely isolated from the sounders. They run off house bank and lithiums up front are isolated and only charged via 240v at this point, batteries are 12v 100ahr running into a Victron 12/24 50amp DC DC converter. Have heard of people having same interference problems with MK on Garmin sounders…no idea if its on other brands of sounders as well….only follow the Garmin forums. But from what I have read the problem is where you have a multibank 240v charger across house and troll banks. Will see how I go with regards battery life and wire in a DC-DC from the motor if it looks like I cannot do a 10hr day without charging. I’d run a solar but side console means no permanent roof to put a panel onto.

Yeah they are not low priced that is for sure. Reaility is that within a few hundred of a similar MK. $6190 is what a mate just paid in Townsville and a MK on sale seems to be @ $5900 for a 72”. Mine was cheaper but I had bought another $9k of gear at the same time. These latest generation leccys are certainly a step up, be interesting to see what the new brushless versions of the MK are like as well - but they will be as much as the Garmins in price. Ultimately I think it comes down to the type of electronics you run. I wanted to interface everything together - actually wanted the leccy mounted side scan transducer as well…but lets not get started on that saga.

Its a 75” which is just right for my boat. Garmins use brushless motors so they can be run as either 24v 80lb or 36v 100lb. Held super easy….actually the spot lock was next level good. I will have to video it to be able to show how good it is….they dont have so much a job feature as a move on spot lock…so using any of the direction arrows on spot lock just press it as many times in any direction as you want to go…move 20m left hit the left arrow 20 times etc…also does gesture steering but I havent tried that. With tide at full flow we just sat with no discernable movement at all. Happy to show you some time if you want after Xmas.

Well after 6 months wait and a change in the order my new Garmin Kraken trolling motor finally arrived (well not the one I ordered but thats a long story). Fitted it up yesterday and mate and I decided to get it in the water and calibrate it and maybe flick a few plastics. Launched at about 8.30a at Colmslie as neither of us felt the need to get up for the top of the tide and it was really just a play with the motor. Got the motor calibrated fairly easily and it’s definitely a great motor (it would want to be at the price!). Flicked a few around the gateway but other than a shark coming up beside the boat not much to be seen. Headed down stream, had a few flicks around Clara Rocks with a couple of touches and then went over to the rock wall opposite Boat Passage (I think that is the name) and had a good hit without conversion. As the tide turned went back to Clara Rocks and locked onto a solid squire at 54cm. Was using a 3.5” Z Man GOAT with a BKK 3/8th oz jig. That was about it. Overcast and a few showers kept the temps down.

Given the relative diameters of braided lines and the sensitivity they bring I dont really know if you need to change line weights on a reel between fishing adventures. I just change the leader diameter to suit the style of fishing. Same Shimano 3000 size reel with 16lb braid can fish whatever leader you choose - and survive most fish in say Moreton Bay. Go up to a SW reel and load it with 30 or 40lb line and just change leader from flouro to shock or a hard nylon depending on what you are chasing. That said I subscribe to Ellicat’s rule of - just have more reels and rods. Then you can fill the boat up with rods, trip over them, curse the lack of space in your boat but always have one loaded up ready to fish….seriously, you can have one with a soft plastic, one with a vibe, one with a different soft plastic all ready to go so rather than rerigging you just pick it up and go again.

Welcome aboard. A good bunch here, very friendly and very helpful.

Well its good to see even the good fisherman have bad days.

Nice catch. Been ages since I caught a spaniard. Trolling dead baits or lures?

Why not, will be away for the last half of the month. Go hard early

Damn thats a great mornings fishing.

Well done, I tip my hat to your dedication. No way I could do that many mornings so early….I am enjoying my post work life by not getting up so early too often

Nope, didnt fire it up at all. Used it at POB, bloody crazy where you can see the bait fish rising at your plastic.

I use aluminium spools so it doesnt matter lol. BCF also now stock a new range of Oceans Legacy rods…Stingers. The inshore and offshore spin are damn nice looking sticks for the money. @$330