First day having some fun on Thursday Island resulted in this bad boy!. Was having a flick on the ferry jetty and had myself a braid birds nest. Whilst I was doing the detangle my lure went to the bottom and this is the result..... Not quite what I was looking for but having a go none the less. No fish to report of so far. 

I'm heading to Margs in a fortnight and have never put a line in the water down there and hoping for some tips on fishing there in Jan. I've scoped out a few spots and have come up with the following ideas of what to target so am I onto the right path:

Gnarabup Jetty - squid, herring, skippy, whiting

Gas Bay - tailor

Marg Rivermouth - yellowfin whiting, mullas

Alexandra Bridge - bream, crabs and further upriver for reddies

Cow Town - squid, herring, skippy, whiting

Augusta Marina - herring, small pinkies, monster sambo (already tangled with this big boy and lost)

Cheers JF

 Couple off trips last week and jumped in on a nice little lump on the way home for a feed of crays.

 Hey All, 

Looking for any advice to land more herring..... Got a couple of spots where I go on both boat and landbased and throw little twistys for herring. Hook up rate is through the roof but I reckon I drop over 80% of fish either near the boat or shore when the herring jump. Its a real pain in the a$$!! 

Anybody changed out the trebles for any other hooks with more success or is this just the nature of herring fishing with metal lures? 

Cheers, 

 Coming back from fishing outside passage to pull our cray pots and some guy drifting over our pots. Called out to ask please move his response "sorry was googling to see if you can keep tar spot crays yet" WTF. Response was no then saw a few crays get turfed overboard.

 Caught in close off white water. Great fun on light gear and fresh tailor for dinner.

 I've heard about a reef not far off Wonnerup in Busselton they call the pine tree Reef apparently it's about 1 mile offshore just struggling to find it wondering if anyone had any more info

 Hi all,

Will be down in Dunsborough.

Where abouts can I get abalone? Does bunker bay or eagle bay offer this?

Is there greenlip and brownlip nearby?

Thank you

Hey guys,

I'm keen to hear if people are able to refine their marks using a computer, instead of poking around pressing buttons out in the garage in their boat, after a session.

I'm finding that when on the water, there's a lot of stuff going on with rods, sounder images, bites, radio crackling away etc.  It's hard enough just remembering to press the "Mark" button when you find something decent on the sounder, let alone futzing around trying to name it properly.  I'd like to review the marks the next day, to throw away the bad ones and highlight the good ones, in the comfort of my office.  

Does anyone else do this?

I have a Garmin Echomap Chirp 95SV if that helps.  I'm open to changing sounder if that would make a big difference.

Hi

Looking at taking my 6m plate boat to Sandy point later in the year. Has anyone launched a boat that size down there? I was down at Maggie's October last year and seen some 5m boats launching at Sandy and the sand looked firm. Towing the boat with 79 series dual cab (photo attached). Canopy comes off so that should lighted the load.

I guessing the option 2 is to launch at Coral Bay.

Also any pointers for heading in out of the passage just north of Sandy Point?

Thanks

 Good run out yesterday saw us near Direction bank and scoping out some new ground. lovely day on the water ,happy with the results and not getting smacked about in a chop for once. 

Few Crays still about, so happy for that to top the bag off. 

 Thursday Island is looking to be pretty damn good only one negative, the boat ramp ( it's actually really good if you don't have a 28ft flybridge catamaran) Pulled up yesterday to have a bo peep and suss out what's on offer only to read a sign saying " 5ton gross load on ramp" and the worlds lowest power line hanging across the access road to the ramp complete with dangly spinny watch the fuck out things hanging off it left me wanting to curl up into a ball and cry like a small child. Well that's well and truly gone and fucked me on a grand scale. Boat comes in at a shade under five ton loaded, add a trailer 1.5 ton and a truck at five ton puts me at double the doable weight and an over height load at 4.5m.

Upon losing my shit and feeling dejected for the rest of the day and wanting to move to anywhere with a decent boat ramp I spent the afternoon drinking beer and contemplating life in general with a dim view on everything. This morning my wife said to me " Why don't you leave the boat in a pen in Cairns and we can use it when we're down there?. " My dim view on life has just gotten a little brighter.....:D Turns out we will be living down that neck of the woods when this contract is over. She will be travelling down there for work on a regular basis and we can use the big duck from time to time when we're there or I can fly down for a week at a time when the weather gods are smiling. Freight to TI from Cairns was going to be $20k each way on the barge and I was a little skeptical in burning that much loot to have a boat on the Island. We did the sums and five years pen fees in Marlin Marina in Cairns works out to be five grand cheaper than return freight costs and you've got all of the amenities on hand one would need ( fuel dock, safe pen etc etc ).

Seeing that most of the local boats are big assed open dingies I'm looking at either 6.7m Southwind with a Zook 140 or a little Stessco side console with a merc 60 on the back at the moment as my daily banger for the next five years. Looks like the big girl was never going to be a practical boat for a daily runner up here. All I can say is I'm grateful for having a wife who sees the situation from a different angle to me. On a positive note I get to go boat shopping again!.

               G'Day legends.          I have an old 5m Quintrex ali hull with a fibreglass insert for rear seats, super structure etc.

               I been thinking about getting a Targa bar for it to put nav lights, solar charger, rocket launcher etc on it.

               I am a in 2 minds, aluminium or stainless?  Where would be a good place to have one made on a budget?

               Cheers

 Another abalone day done and dusted 

hit burns island again. Few more boats 

than last trip . Was a bit of surge which

made it bit hard for my dive buddy! I 

managed too secure a good bag of 

nice sized roes . Sad too hear of 

some tradgeys on the water 

today . No fish or abalone is 

worth that price .. cheers pirate 

 It's always a fun session casting lures for Trevally in the shallows!

 About to bite the bullet and fit one of these to my 20 foot Voyager Ghia. Just wondering which motor you guys think is the best motor?

 Just wondering if anyone has one of these and if you could give me some feedback on them . I was considering buying one and then one of Mercury Dealers put me off it saying they are louder uses more fuel and not much difference in performance than the standard model. any help much appreciated.

 Finally made it to Thursday Island. Holy shit, this place is going to be amazing. Check out the view from my balcony looking back towards Horn Island. 

Enjoy

I've never posted a picture before so here goes. My Thursday Island mobile.

I know a few members have properties that are currently in the Watch and Act Zone of the Red Gully fire. Thoughts go out to you and hope you, your family and property are safe.

Have a trip planned to Jurien next week and was initially planning to take the boat. Forecast does not look great with only Thursday and Friday looking potentially fishable... and not overly pleasant for a family trip. Assuming either Indian Ocean drive or Brand Hwy is open, now considering leaving the boat at home and contemplating doing a Charter, or if anyone is looking for a decky my hand is up and happy to pay costs.

Does anyone have any reccomendations for a Charter in Jurien?

 Hi All

Locked in the 150HP on the outbord and thanks for the advice. Next is looking to put another $2000 to $2500 on a new sounder. Looking at the below and looking for feedback or other suggestions.

https://www.whitworths.com.au/raymarine-axiom-9-rv-9-mfd-with-integrated-realvision-3d-600w-sonar-rv-100-transducer

https://www.whitworths.com.au/humminbird-helix-9-chirp-mega-si-gps-g2n-with-navionics-chart

https://www.whitworths.com.au/raymarine-element-12-hv-12-mfd-with-hv-100-all-in-one-transom-mount-transducer

 Hi all, 

I am in the process of swapping my 2 stroke Yamaha 130 with a 140 Suzuki 4 stroke. I don't have access to the boat atm so can't go and measure but was wondering if mounting holes where universal on engines of similar size or am I more than likely going to have to drill some new ones in my transom? 

Also if i do have to drill new ones whats the best thing to do with the old holes? Sikaflex the shit out of them?  

Cheers. 

 Anyone been having any luck out at the fads went out last weekend with no luck 

Is nayone on here an auto sparky, or know one south of the river, (cockburn way)?
i have electric brakes on my trialer.  Ive replaced my battery box (and thus the little circuit board), replaced like for like and my trailer does not want to engage the brakes anymore, pull the emergency pin and it works but not from the car signal.  im sure ive got it all connected the same so its got me stuffed. i would like soemone who knows what htey are doing to come and diagnose it.

thanks in advance

Ladies and Gents

Looking to update our old 2 stroke Mercury to a Mercury 4 stroke and I am settled on the Mercury so don't need ot know how good others are. Currently running an old 135HP mercury and looking to move to either a 150HP or a 200HP due to available stock. It may be a stupid question but if we are currently running a 135HP 2 stroke a 150HP 4 stroke should be fine one would assume? Just don't wantto get the 150 and be underpowered or get the 200 and it doesn't ride right.

Thanks

 Quick little bash with my son this morning, lunch sorted

Hi guys

Any Collie locals or has anyone heard that parts of the Collie River has dried right up? Have been hearing this from a few people but not 100% sure.

Cheers

Pezdog

Phoned many up . ( local ) most bar 1 replied. All others said 4 weak waiting period. One guy who did reply wanted double call out fee ( to squeeze in) for quote . ( wanker ) told him in polite way where to go . Cut long story story short . After many google searches . Someone had same issue as I had. $32.90 all done . Got me thinking how many people has he done over .

After finally diagnosing my fuel leak issue when filling right up I've got my poly fuel tank going in for repair to a small split around the intake.

The tank dimensions are 2145x510x110 and my tank recess dimensions are 2200x530x160 so I effectively have 2154x510x50 to play with so would I be best getting an addition water tank welded on top of my existing one while it's in getting repaired? Looking at no more than 50L just to wash down the kids after a swim etc without adding too much weight.