any recommendations for a marine electrician and boat enthusiast.

need some help with the electronics on our boat .. lowrance setup ... having troubles with batteries (optima blue tops x3)

happy for any advice or help as pulling hair out after several auto electricians cant find the fault.

the batteries continue to drain .. and we are getting low votage warning signs popping up even after putting in new batteries.

Have checked all the wiring that we can and also auto electicians have and cant find what is draining the batteries

thanks guys 

 Oh well back at work for another two weeks now. But made the most of the weather while I was on break. After flying home on Wednesday arvo and getting a well needed sleep in on Thursday went shopping and finally got the new light jigging combo I have been dreaming of for a while. The blue Gomoku Kaiten with a 5k Stradic FJ spooled up with some 20lb (PE 2.5) blue Nitilon braid. 

Friday was an early start at my mates house then launched the 7.3m Surtees from Mangles Bay at 6:00 out to the 40s for some action, after copping it from the boys about the herring I was gona catch on my new combo, we sounded out some ground and got started. Was a slow day with the dirty baito's on board only getting a couple of Breaksea cod and a Skippy. The skipper remained dedicated to the artificials but wasn't rewarded with any prizes. I hooked a 65cm Sambo on a 7" Nuclear chicken jerk shad early on and proceded to show what my "herring rod" was capable of lol. After trying a couple of metal jigs with no interest I went back to the plastics and was rewarded with a 55cm Dhuie on a 6" Chartruce/Pearl paddle tail. The rest of the day was uneventfull despite searching a few more new & known spots.

Saturday the weather was even better so it was another early start launching my tinny from Bent St at 5:00 then out to one of my inshore spots to get the burly running for sunrise. On cue as the sun started to ease it's way over the horizon we got a couple of bumps on the plastics dangling in the rod holder but no hook ups, so I started casting a 7" jerk shad out into the trail and on the second cast got smashed on the drop and proceded to battle it out with a nice 75cm pinky on my 15lb plastics set up.

Was all quiet after that so called it a day and went to pull the anchor but it was stuck hard and regretfully had to be cut off after marking the exact spot on the GPS.the anchor was found and a few squid landed. 

Once home again a call to a mate who is a mad keen diver I had organised to go back the next day for a search and rescue mission followed by a bit of squiding. 

I posted a topic about kayaking not long ago and we will most likely be getting one.
I have heard about the 3 mile reef being a good spot and was wondering whether it is accessible from kayak. If so where would you launch?

Also if anyone could suggest other places for kayak fishing it would be much appreciated.
Thnx

Ive just put a new GME 600 VHF radio on the boat to replace the old 27 meg radio that died and have a new 27 meg GME aerial on boat as well so heres  question 1.   Can I use a bandsplitter to attach the GR200 to the 27 meg aerial (cos its just sitting there now not being used) or do i have to attach it to the VHF aerial with a band splitter? or do I gotta go get an AM/FM areial as well (dont really want 3 aerials).   

2. I dont really wanna hear the VHF signals through the GR200 AM/FM/VHF receiver - I just wana listen to uninterupted FM music from say 92.9FM or 96FM radio stations so does it have the option to turn VHF receiver off on the GR200 unit

3. If I do have to use a bandsplitterr and attach GR200 to thee VHF radio/antenna can that result in loss of reception/transmission to the VHF radio?  

\

Cheers for any advice

Hi

Has anyone used a downrigger for bottom bashing - to get your bait down on a release clip without using a direct attached weight ?.

Interested to hear any opinions on this

Thanks

Eric

 I've recently bought a 3 piece 21 foot busted fishing gaff, which i recommend to anyone wanting a long gaff for places like quobba. Better than any gaff i have bought from bcf and the like. 

I was just wondering if there are any rust prevention sprays or oils that any of you guys use to keep your gaffs in good condition. I try to wash it down with fresh water after every use, but i'de still like to know if there's anything extra i can do to keep it corrosion free

Cheers for your help!

 So a while ago I bought a 2 piece uglystick 8ft rod mainly for soaking bigger baits while fishing on the beach for bread and butter species.. Anyway, have used it maybe 10 times and last time I went to pack up i couldn't get the the 2 pieces apart. Have struggled away trying to twist and pull but no luck. Even tried ice on the join after some advice from Campbells but no joy.. Any one have any handy hints?? Btw somehow when initially trying to get it out I did twist it slightly so the guides don't match up.. So can't even use it as a 1 piece :(

cheers,

Brett

http://www.fishingstore.co.za/spinning-reels/?sort=featured&page=6

check out the prices on sustains and stradics

I m always told that we pay more for gear due to our smaller market than the US -this is an even smaller market than here in Aus at almost half the price

even halco lures are cheaper than what we pay????

Hi all,

I was hoping to go have a look at a new Stacer 6.49m Ocean Ranger and I was hoping to get some people's opinions and views. I do a lot of drift bottom bashing and some diving during cray season when the sharks aren't so friendly. I'm hoping to go further out than what I do with my current boat. I have seen one or two reviews on the hull and they seem to get a good review but just want to know from people that actual fish from them.

From the pictures, it doesn't look like it has much freeboard if that's the correct term. Not too sure if it's a pro or a con to have low sides.

I would like to know how they go in following seas?

How do they go when fishing off of one side of the boat when drift fishing? Do they have a lot of lean or are they pretty stable at rest?

Do they have any build quality issues?

How do they go out wide when it gets a bit lumpy?

Just any infomation on if they are good or bad.

Thanks,

Ken

 Hi everyone. Someone told me that Giblett dam is very productive for redfin. But no matter hw much I search I cannot find it. Does anybody know where it is? If so could you please name a nearby road or something like that.

lachie

 am new, please help what can i catch in woodman jetty and how to catch it ?

We are planning on buying a fishing kayak to go offshore with (preferably a 2 seater), and was wondering what models would be good.
We will be most likely targeting be targeting mid sized fish like skippy and tailor but would love to catch bigger fish like snapper. Although before purchasing a kayak we would like to know if there are any safe spots to launch the kayak where we can get a decent catch.
So any help would be much appreciated and also gear and any kayaking tips would be helpful.

Was surprised to get water temps of 20-21 degrees west of Garden Island on Saturday. Nor'East current and the fish were biting hard aswell, demersals and seriola. 2 trips in a row to the same spot with a northerly current and the fish in a feeding frenzy.
Interested to know what others experienced over the weekend..

Gday All,

Apologies for the long report - its been awhile - So its been a few months since we had been out for a fish, but have been out 2 times in the last 2 weeks to cure the itch, we decided to try a couple of new areas and with assistance from Gunner (FW) member we have found a couple or cracker spots. I FINALLY out fished the decky, after numerous beltings over the last 18 months, bought pints on lost bets im finally on the score boad which is about 25 - 1

First trip out

headed out on Saturday into the 40s with nothing much showing and the weather predicted to be great we headed out wider, it seemed the further we got ou the better it was, was unbelievable how calm it was out there. So after about an hour of searching and time hitting about 9.30am with not even a drop i decided to pass the wheel to Browny (the prk is blessed with arse and 6th sense to find fish), he makes a massive turn and about 2 mins later, bang the sounder lights up with ground you could only dream of (hes done it again, was just shaking my head), now nicknamed the caves, this place was loaded with fish. we went on to find a few more of these and marked about 7 spots.

So first drop the jigs went down, wack they barely hit the bottom and we were both onto big dhuies, trademark couple of runs feeling every move the big tails made, ping i hear browny cursing, then mine pings 2 minutes late, geez we were dark, thought we had done enough to get them about 30 metres of the bottom.

dropped mine back down quickly and i got wacked by a pinky - so first fish landed and beer oclock.

2nd drift - again jigs barely hitting the bottom im onto another decent fish, nothing like the last one but after a good tussle, the line started moving out and up popped a nice 9kg dhuie, great startm hi fives another beer and around we go again....

3rd drift - Wack we are both on double hook up of dhuies - great feeling, up pop a pigeon pair of 6kg dhuies, straight back down, hooked up to a BA, the bite was certaintly on, only problem was we had 1 to many dhuies and with the eyes blown out there was no chance of revival - so instead of wasting the fish we dropped it off to a couple of punters on the way in, was a good feeling as they had caught nothing all day, and saved there skins at home with the mrs :).

We basically bagged out within 3 drifts and was now 11am - so we decided to search around and plug a few more spots in, couple of more drifts past a few spots with double hook up of 6-8kg dhuies we called it time to go, fortunatly they all released well. We left them on the chew and with only half our spots dropped on -  we cant wait to try the rest out next time, we ended up landing over 10 dhues, pinky and BA for the day.

nice school - one of many we drifted over

Fish photos

Little fellah coughed up a bit of feed onto the deck

Report 2

trip out last week, seens im dribbling on il keep this one short, a thanks to Gunner again for given us the general area, found some new ground also full of fish, once we got past the bloody sambos we hooked into a dhuie, BA and KGW on a jig, few pics below, also cant wait to get back out there and see whats below the Sambos....

.

thanks all for reading - sorry again if its a bit long winded.

Cheers

Dan

 Hi guys,

been fishing in Gero for awhile with limited success, just wondering if anyone is nice enough to point me in the right direction for a few decent spots without going to the island as my boat wouldn't be big enough for that trip.

Cheers, Ben

hey I am looking at buying 3 new reels for the kids fishing the beach for whiting, must be able to handle a bit of sand and water, get cleaned out and used again. under $100 as I am buying 3. a good example is the fin nor rampage (the daiwa crossfire is not a good example)
any other that I should be checking out??
cheers boys
dan

 whats better out of the saltist 6500 or offshore 9500. i would put 80lb braid and it would be for big game fish like sharks,tuna, mulloway ect. inclueding skull dragging rays. saltist has more line capacity and 15kg drag while the offshore has less line capacity but 30kg drag.

what are your for thoughts?

 hey guys does anyone have a led bar on ther 4wd if so where did you buy it from and do 4wd places install them too?

 hi,

friday i went to eshed and strait awat got a yellow tail, put that out for bait and about 10mins later i caught my first banded sweep, pretty happy with that. then a had tapping on my talica going for mullow way, it took a small run and kept tapping, then it stopped. 1min later it took along run and i missed it when i stiked, later on that night i guy got a small banjo shark, and about a hour later another guy got a big banjo shark. this asian also caught a massive tarwine, 40cm. overall there wasent many fish around, just a few bream, herring, yakkas, and at around 9:00 the scalys started coming in.

Went fishing today with a good mate and he smashed them. One of the biggest School Mackerel I've seen then he gets a monster Shark Mackerel. It was just under a metre and fat, a good 10 kilo fish I reckon. Plus several Spanish, some trout and a lovely Wrasse to boot (released happily after a few quick snaps). Good mixed bag for the day. I christened the new Phenix Titan with some good fish including a solid Saddletail Snapper (Large Mouth Nannygai).

I got to try the new Fish King Clothing as well. It's quality gear and loving the shirts!

Gday all

Going to Exmouth during the next school holidays with young bloke and family and was wondering what soft plastics and colours  anyone would recommend for both deep and shallow water. Bait will be used also but want to give SPs a go.

I am not asking for marks as my son was up there in may and has some for outside Tandabibby. As a family we lived in Exmouth for 5 yrs and have been away for about 25 yrs. In those yrs we used mulies and occy for bait on lumps etc found by eyesight, charts, memory and compass bearings - No GPS or fancy colour sounders - just an FE400 Furuno paper sounder but still managed to outfish most of the locals and tourists who would ask for my spots.

BTW we also used Lizard fish, rigged up properly, to catch spanish mackeral and the odd sailfish. Goes to show that even Lizards are usefull

So much for the drivel. Brings back memories.

Looking at a Night run out from Hillarys or Two rocks ,anyone got any helpful hints apart from the obvious ? Also anyone wishing to accompany us in their boat is welcome.(Safety in numbers for night fish).

 Gedday All

Anyone use the Navionics web app? Its seems a handy thing were you can pick a spot to go for the next day with out firing up you sounder. I did that and travelled 25km offshore (which is a fair old distance in my little boat) to a lump that was supposed to be about 200mtrs round and ranging from 40mtrs to 30mtrs.

When we arrived on the spot i would say that it would be sqfer to there was no lump. Infact all we caught there was sand whiting!! 

My sounder also run Navionics, which now gives me no confidence in heading out to spots on the charts.

Anyone got any thoughts on the accuracy or maybe a better site to look at.

Cheers

 Hi guys,

Heading to Kalbarri with a bunch of mates on Grand final weekend. 

Is it worth taking the tinny up? I have never been and was originally just planning on some beach fishing. 

What species would be best to target so I can prepare myself accordingly. 

Any advice is much appreciated. 

Cheers

Anyone get out ? any fish ? cheers craig

The ID post reminded me off something I wanted to ask.

What has been the experience with these! Would it be a lure options for Yellow fin whiting?

Neels

Have two Platinum Reserve tickets for the Bob Dylan concert tonight unfortunately I cant go so if somone wants them send me a pm there free

FW people,

I'm chasing some big hooks for fishing unweighetd SP's, I want them XXL and as light as possible but strong enough to not have to worry about straightening/snapping.... No Offset...

We used some fine strong hooks on Sails years ago in Broome that were ideal for setting in the beak and strong enough to land Sails to 20kg without problem...

Some of you sail chasers might have an idea,

Mainly Chasing Dhui's, fellas that are rigging 8-10" SP's might have my solution...

Cheers

Boon

Enjoy 

Could someone please explain this??

What,s the story with people calling other people a dog or its a dog act ect. I don,t understand as I think dogs are awesome creatures and you could not get a better companion. They are up there with the best animal. So, how would this be slagging someone???

I have got to know as I think dogs are good things.

Confused!!