Solo fishing again at the bank . Hadn't been able to get any livies so out with a dead gardie.  No one else around so had to get a pic with my 12' beach rod to get a size, this one about 6' but still a good half hour fight but had fun getting it up on the beach on my own 

 Missed out on Grand Final tickets like the majority of Perth

Was on ticketmaster refreshing every couple of minutes until the "Join Queue" sign popped up. Joined the queue as soon as it popped up and when the tickets came on sale I was still 12,000 in line. Must have been hundreds of thousands of people doing the same thing. A mate went on right at 10:00 and he was 154,000 in the queue so he just gave up/ After 10 minutes of waiting tried getting tickets, nothing.

Good for WA's economy, would have loved to have gone!!

Anyone selling any let me know hahaha!!

 I know many on here have gone down this road already replacing the trailer under their pride and joy. 

With so many to choose from either good or bad . I am looking at replacing the rust bucket under the dominator . Could someone recommend a good one for the job preferably down mandurah way. The tub is 18ft 6" and currently sitting on one rated to 2 tonne 

 With a fairly uneventful days fishing after loosing a decent size shark at around 12 and with a feed of whiting in the esky . I was thinking of packing up for the day as there was no live bait left only some old thawed out gardies . Threw one out with the hook through the nose for the he'll of it . Nothing touched it for about half hour so thinking the crabs had got it . Wound the line in to find the guts missing and T hats it. Threw it back out not expecting much.  10 minuit later my rod went nuts and with a good half hour fight a monster of a shovel nose broke the surface . Was between 6 and 7 foot long but I estimate it to be over the 100 kg Mark as it's a solid beast . Couldn't lift it too high .

 Not much else on the cheek today . Lost a big something assuming it was a decent size shark but at least I am going to have a few good feeds with this lot

Hi all - have not wet a line since April 2019 so a bit overdue!

Planning to go for a morning flick to chase some small stuff herring/gardies/mullet etc.

Was looking at maybe hitting the beaches in Warnbro area. Much around at the moment?

Found my burley bucket while cleaning out the shed....made it late 2018....so it's well and truly cooked now :-p Might need a Hazmat suit before I pop the lid....

Cheers

 Currently got an axium 9 and looking at getting a 1 kWh tranny to go with it , but also thinking I might look at a stand alone sounder . Couple we have looked at is a furuno fcv 588 or a Sinead s2009 or similar and going with a 1kw tranny as we are looking at going out a bit deeper so will need something a bit stronger than a 600 w . 

All feedback welcome

Gday guys, been a while since I have looked for a decent stickbait rod and looking for some upgrade recommendations from those in the know.

My lures are 100mm/40g & 120mm/45g, I have a couple of reels in the 6000 size (shimano) with 50lb and ideally would like to use those as they are a great size.

Im looking for a rod that is around the 7ft, soft tip and strong backbone, PE2-3 range, budget of around the 400 mark.

The reason i'm chasing a softer tip is that I am using quite a few different top water lures that need a bit less of a ripping action through the water.

The type of fishing I will be doing is shallow water bombie / reef fishing anything from 3mtrs and above.

Any recommendations on a rod would be greatly appreciated and does not have to exactly match what's listed above.

Thanks again

Scotty

EDIT : Happy to look at something that you may want to sell as well. Cheers

EDIT : Thanks for the feedback as I have seen alot more quality gear and learnt a few things to boot.

Please recommend any apps you have found to work. There is so many and I dont know where to start.

Cheers fishwrecked.

 Got these books from the kids.  Im trying to work out the birds that I should have known for years.  Ive been hunting up at Mullewa lately and there is loads of birds, mushrooms and puff balls i want to id.

Need a good native tree guide now.

 Cheers

 Happy fathers day to all the Dads out there.

Got a call from son wishing me the best and reminding me that he was trolling for mackies out off Helbie Bank waiting for the wind to drop off so he could drop a line in for goldies

When we decided to move premises, an important consideration was the ability to construct an appropriate fish packing room.  This room needed to be easily cleaned, and be suitable for gaining a permit where we can produce and sell food grade seafood products.  The room is now finished and we have our final health inspection on Monday.

We have documented the build in photographs over the period and I thought members might be interested to see what was involved.  The self-draining floor was the biggest challenge and we were fortunate to have a “master tradesman” prepared to do the job for us.  The MAPEI products used were sensational and I would certainly recommend them.  

We started with an old kitchen area.

The existing floor covering was vynl.

The bottom 300mm of existing plaster needed to be removed and the walls painted with acrylic.

The 800mm wide door was too narow for our purposes so needed cut out with the doorway enlarged.

The floor slab had to be cut to gain access to the sewer pipe.

An appropriate floor trap needed to be selected and installed.

The existing vynl flooring needed to be removed.

The residual glue had to be ground off (this was the worst job of the project).

Levels were set around the border (>1:100 falls across the floor, with steeper grade around the drain).

Engineered scree across the whole floor (It was a pleasure to watch the floor being formed by someone with years of experience and and turn out perfect).

Epoxy prime.

Epoxy wall coat.  The product of the project was a MAPEI “snow” that when added to the epoxy products could “stiffen” them enough to bind to the walls.

The final coat of epoxy really came up a treat, and the glass spheres added at the end produced a non slip surface.

Given the floor at the door was raised by 50mm, there needed to be the frame and ramp.

The next phase was to move all the equipment in.  The sink that you can fit a lug in, with the hot or cold pressure spray, was a bonus to find.

We have worked the room for a week or two, and it is really everything that we set out to build.  The ease of cleaning has reduced the time for this task by a large amount, and the arrangement of items allows for very efficient operation.

Should anyone have any questions about the build or products used, please feel free to ask.

Mick  

 i`m getting my trailer regalvanised and i want to replace all the bolts.

where is the best place to get galvanised bolts . most places want you to buy a box 

but i`m looking for somewhere you can buy them individually 

cheers

Mark

 Ahhh too much seriousness around here , let's kick off the finals series with a little humour. 

 G'day all,

Heading to Kalbarri in a couple of weeks for some R&R, just wondering if it's worth taking George Grey dve in for something different than just heading up the highway? 

Also is the Blue holes any good for shore based fishing? As it's virtually across the road from where we are staying. Love a nice pan fried Tailor for breakfast. 

I haven't been to Kalbarri for years and last time was fishing Red Bluff beach. Any other tips appreciated. 

 Correct me if I'm wrong but this my first GT if not one my biggest trev ever so it's a pb 

 Hi all

Just read a report that the 440 Roadhouse just north of Geraldton will be closed from 30 August for 9 weeks. can anyone confirm as was planning to stop for fuel as towing a van and not easy in Geraldton to stop for fuel.

thanks

We have just received notification that our application for assistance under the Small Business Lockdown Assistance Grant Program has been refused because the business was not within the eligible primary business activity.

When the lockdown was initially announced we made the decision to close our business over the period because “it was the right thing to do”.  We primarily service the recreational fishing industry and with the “stay at home” and “one hour of exercise within 5km of your home” directives, recreational fishing was not considered an option under lockdown conditions.  These are difficult times and everyone must “do their bit”, but we all heard the rhetoric from the politicians saying that small business that was genuinely impacted by the decision would be compensated for losses incurred to the tune of $3k.

When the applications for assistance opened, I must admit to being a little perplexed by the eligibility criteria (see https://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/SBDC-Lockdown-Grants-Round-2.pdf).  No worries I thought, there is a category for sport and recreation and we would have no problem demonstrating 100% reduction in turnover over the period as we closed our business to the public.  It however seems that a bureaucrat has assessed us as not eligible because services to the recreational fishing industry does not meet the criteria for sport and physical recreation under the guidelines.

I get it, there has to be guidelines regarding eligibility so the grant program is targeted at the right places.  What I don’t understand is how a small business that essentially has to close over lockdown is not eligible because of some poorly worded guidelines around primary business activity.  It just doesn’t make sense to me that businesses that were allowed to remain open are eligible if they could demonstrate a 30% loss of turnover, where we endured 100% loss in turnover and have been refused.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy to be situated in WA where the State’s policies have provided for generally minimal disruptions to normal business conditions – no doubt eastern states businesses are doing it a lot harder than us.  However, the option to review the decision is open and I lodged an application for review within an hour of the refusal notification (the text is included below).  In the scheme of things, it is not a lot of money but it would compensate for the loss of revenue over the lockdown period which I thought was the intention of the grant program.

Anyway, I am not holding my breath for a favourable review decision and will accept the "umpire's decision".  Time to head off for my second jab today, and hopefully lockdowns will be a thing of the past soon.

Mick

This email seeks a review of decision in relation to the above application.  In support of the review, the below facts and circumstances are relevant.

1. The business meets the eligibility criteria for Items 1 to 4 without question.

2. The business meets the eligibility criteria for Item 5 for the following reasons:

·         The business operates solely in the sport and physical recreation sector;

·         The primary business activity is services to sport and physical recreation;

·         The sport and physical recreation activity that the business serves was a prohibited activity during the nominated lockdown period; and

·         The business was closed during the nominated lockdown period because of the customers prohibited sport and physical recreation activity.

3. The review should examine the actual facts and circumstances that clearly demonstrate the main business activity is intrinsically linked to sport and physical recreation to the point that it cannot be distinguished from it.

4. The business suffered 100% loss in revenue over the lockdown period as a direct result of the lockdown conditions issued by the Western Australian Government.

We believe the decision is unjust and unfair.  We genuinely suffered financial loss and hardship over the lockdown period as we did the responsible thing and closed our business.  It is very disappointing that an ill informed analysis has somehow determined that our main business activity is not sport and physical recreation based. 

We were of the opinion that the Small Business Lockdown Assistance Grants were designed to support small businesses such as ours that were most impacted by the lockdown conditions, and meet the eligibility criteria.  This does not seem to be the case in our circumstance, and hence the request for a review. 

 Last line in the water while packing up and this monster came calling . To say I was excited when I saw it near the shore is an understatement 

 Was down at the beach nice and early with no wind and an incoming tide. Got a few I normally wouldn't keep but after swallowing the hook were bleeding bad. Lost a couple of good sharks (1 of which was a 5 foot hammer hooked in 3 foot of water) due to I think old braid that had been on the reel for way too long . Now replaced . All up had a great 4 hour session withseveral other fish released.

 Is there anyone in the Bunbury area who has the latest Cmap that I can stick in my Navman to see if its compatable before forking out to buy one and find its not going to work

The website says the 8000 ones will work but no mention of the earlier small sets

Any help will be most welcome

The Trailcraft is having a winter spruce up, ready for the summer.    To start with I put it into the very professional and safe hands of FW member "Surge" (Justin) of JLM Bodyworks to give the old girl a full strip back and respray.   

I cannot be any more happier with the outcome.  These photos were taken just on sunset today so they dont really show up what a great job Surge has done.    I cannot recommend his work enough and I know there are other FW members who will say the same.   

So if anyone is looking for a good spray painter, he is your man.  The workmanship is awesome and at all times Surge kept me posted with the jobs progression including SMS photos etc.   

Thanks so much Justin, your professionalism to detail and good old customer service is a real credit to you!  

Next in line is new windscreen, seats, bimini/canopy and clears, carpet and redo the dash, flush mount sounders/radios etc.   

Will post few more pics as bits and pieces are refitted. 

Cheers

Tony  

 Great day to go fishing today. Light winds and 30 degrees.  Feeds for a couple of days sorted

Hey fellas I need to transport a caravan from Sunny coast Qld to Perth. 

Anyone bought over a van or boat and got any recommendations?

TIA

 Never seen anything l i ke this one before

 Caught these in my throw net in hedland today.  

Much kudos to the Suzuki Marine team for a beach clean up at the southern side of Woodmans Point on Saturday.

We saw 12 or so people walking down the beach with rubbish bags picking up bits and pieces as they went.

Cheers for walking the walk and giving me a ball park figure on a new motor at the same time...

 Gents I have a brand new SS164 transducer that I can't use on my boat for sale looking at $1250 ono. Has an extension cable for lowrance but could be changed

Anyone know who is worthwhile referring people to for ally welding in Bunbury? I've had 4 people in 2 weeks rock up to my shed looking for an Ally welder. I think the guy that leased it off the previous owner before me was a welder. One poor bloke today hit a whale in Exmouth his transom was cracked and keel was bent.