Lanes Hunter

Hope this image loads ok. Photo attached.

Hope this image loads ok. Photo attached.

Now that I am on the wrong side of 50, my good wife decided that the days of me hand winching the Northbank onto the trailer, were to come to an end, and bought me a electric winch for Xmas. Bonus! Better than hankies and socks.
 
She got me a Powerwinch 712A which is made in the US and has about a 3400kg pulling capacity. Which is heaps to drag in the 500C.
 
Then I just had to install it. Being Mr Tight A I wanted to do that myself and not pay someone to fit it.
 
The post on the front of the trailer where the hand winch was - I had to measure a point on the post where the new winch would sit, and allow the cable to be level with the boat's draw ring in the bow. Then removed it and cut the top off the post nice and straight with a drop saw at that point and welded on a 6mm plate to the top. (I predrilled the plate to fit the winch mounting bolt holes).
 
Then off to the galvanizers. $33 to get the whole post done. Came up a treat. There is a trick to preparing a closed tube for galvanising - you have to drill the end plates so that the liquid will get in - and flow out - whatever angle it is dipped. Look on the web for that.
 
New marine grade stainless 10mm x 30mm bolts, nylocs and washers  from Universal Fasteners at Wingfield. $10.
 
The cable supplied with the winch wasn't going to be long enough to run under my 4WD. So I had to get 6m of 6mm twin core auto cable. Which I ran under the car using ribbed conduit as required + plenty of zippy ties. I then got 2 Narva Anderson plugs - put one onto the cars 7 pin socket mounting bracket at the rear. Nice and neat. The other I cut the supplied cable to the winch and put it on the end. The cable and plugs were $28.(You will need crimping pliers for the Anderson plug connections).
 
Connecting to the battery / earth was pretty straight forward, and I used a 60A inline fuse to protect everything. No fuse, maybe one day your car burns to the ground. The winch peak draw is 90A - so I wouldn't go higher than 60A. If it blows, it blows. Better than a fire.
 
Bit of stuffing around but it works great. Not sure how much the winch was as it was a gift $300? Plus another $80 of bits.
 
 

Ideally I wouldn't want to pay for a RFL. Its a pain if you are visiting interstate and need a licence to go fishing for like 3-4 hours. Same deal here with interstate tourists.
 
But it wouldn't deter me. My boat cost $35000, insurance is like $400 a year, fuel $25 a modest trip, a service is $500 and so on.
 
A licence would reduce the number of fishers, simple economics, some people would rather spend their $ on something else. So I suppose more fish get to live - for me - which is good. But these guys generally wont be catching much anyway. Compared to the more serious of us, who invest time and money into catching fish. (I keep a log book of what I catch, stick to bag limits - and tallied up it is a bloody great mountain of fish over the years).
 
I have never seen a Fishing Inspector on the water in SA, ever. But I have certainly seen their landcruisers parked out the from of motels and driving around. So your chances of ever getting caught with 50 KGW or 200 crabs are like next to zero - especially if you made some effort not to get caught, sneak back on dark, have the wife at the ramp with a mobile to key an eye out when you came in, do it on a drizzly Tuesday in mid winter.
 
If the licence money went into a bit more enforcement - its not rocket science to work out which locals seem to go fishing every day, week in week out. (If you suspect who they are, their GPS marks are generally very good, and I make a point of getting close to them, take a GPS mark say 100m away, and a compass setting, then going back later and sound the area - bingo). These guys are selling fish for cash - restaurants, pubs, mates, fish & chip shops, doing a deal with a pro whatever. Just one of these illegal "pros" would make a far bigger impact than 100 small guys that couldn't be stuffed buying a licence. I've rang Fishwatch on a certain old mate and guaranteed he will still be out in Moonta Bay after crabs most of this week, and in winter will still be going for KGW most days.  
 
You can debate whether the enforcement should be funded by a licence, or not. But the SA Government is busted A, and the money has to come from somewhere.
 
Unfortunately the SA Government is very inefficient in spending $ and to catch one "pro" they would need 9 Landcruisers, 20x week long training courses and 30 nights in a motel - plus 24 flexi days and sickies.
 
I also think the more the marine parks, in the more remote areas the better. Protecting breeding stocks is super important.

Now that I am on the wrong side of 50, my good wife decided that the days of me hand winching the Northbank onto the trailer, were to come to an end, and bought me a electric winch for Xmas. Bonus! Better than hankies and socks.
 
She got me a Powerwinch 712A which is made in the US and has about a 3400kg pulling capacity. Which is heaps to drag in the 500C.
 
Then I just had to install it. Being Mr Tight A I wanted to do that myself and not pay someone to fit it.
 
The post on the front of the trailer where the hand winch was - I had to measure a point on the post where the new winch would sit, and allow the cable to be level with the boat's draw ring in the bow. Then removed it and cut the top off the post nice and straight with a drop saw at that point and welded on a 6mm plate to the top. (I predrilled the plate to fit the winch mounting bolt holes).
 
Then off to the galvanizers. $33 to get the whole post done. Came up a treat. There is a trick to preparing a closed tube for galvanising - you have to drill the end plates so that the liquid will get in - and flow out - whatever angle it is dipped. Look on the web for that.
 
New marine grade stainless 10mm x 30mm bolts, nylocs and washers  from Universal Fasteners at Wingfield. $10.
 
The cable supplied with the winch wasn't going to be long enough to run under my 4WD. So I had to get 6m of 6mm twin core auto cable. Which I ran under the car using ribbed conduit as required + plenty of zippy ties. I then got 2 Narva Anderson plugs - put one onto the cars 7 pin socket mounting bracket at the rear. Nice and neat. The other I cut the supplied cable to the winch and put it on the end. The cable and plugs were $28.(You will need crimping pliers for the Anderson plug connections).
 
Connecting to the battery / earth was pretty straight forward, and I used a 60A inline fuse to protect everything. No fuse, maybe one day your car burns to the ground. The winch peak draw is 90A - so I wouldn't go higher than 60A. If it blows, it blows. Better than a fire.
 
Bit of stuffing around but it works great. Not sure how much the winch was as it was a gift $300? Plus another $80 of bits.
 
 

Now that I am on the wrong side of 50, my good wife decided that the days of me hand winching the Northbank onto the trailer, were to come to an end, and bought me a electric winch for Xmas. Bonus! Better than hankies and socks.
 
She got me a Powerwinch 712A which is made in the US and has about a 3400kg pulling capacity. Which is heaps to drag in the 500C.
 
Then I just had to install it. Being Mr Tight A I wanted to do that myself and not pay someone to fit it.
 
The post on the front of the trailer where the hand winch was - I had to measure a point on the post where the new winch would sit, and allow the cable to be level with the boat's draw ring in the bow. Then removed it and cut the top off the post nice and straight with a drop saw at that point and welded on a 6mm plate to the top. (I predrilled the plate to fit the winch mounting bolt holes).
 
Then off to the galvanizers. $33 to get the whole post done. Came up a treat. There is a trick to preparing a closed tube for galvanising - you have to drill the end plates so that the liquid will get in - and flow out - whatever angle it is dipped. Look on the web for that.
 
New marine grade stainless 10mm x 30mm bolts, nylocs and washers  from Universal Fasteners at Wingfield. $10.
 
The cable supplied with the winch wasn't going to be long enough to run under my 4WD. So I had to get 6m of 6mm twin core auto cable. Which I ran under the car using ribbed conduit as required + plenty of zippy ties. I then got 2 Narva Anderson plugs - put one onto the cars 7 pin socket mounting bracket at the rear. Nice and neat. The other I cut the supplied cable to the winch and put it on the end. The cable and plugs were $28.(You will need crimping pliers for the Anderson plug connections).
 
Connecting to the battery / earth was pretty straight forward, and I used a 60A inline fuse to protect everything. No fuse, maybe one day your car burns to the ground. The winch peak draw is 90A - so I wouldn't go higher than 60A. If it blows, it blows. Better than a fire.
 
Bit of stuffing around but it works great. Not sure how much the winch was as it was a gift $300? Plus another $80 of bits.
 
 

Now that I am on the wrong side of 50, my good wife decided that the days of me hand winching the Northbank onto the trailer, were to come to an end, and bought me a electric winch for Xmas. Bonus! Better than hankies and socks.
 
She got me a Powerwinch 712A which is made in the US and has about a 3400kg pulling capacity. Which is heaps to drag in the 500C.
 
Then I just had to install it. Being Mr Tight A I wanted to do that myself and not pay someone to fit it.
 
The post on the front of the trailer where the hand winch was - I had to measure a point on the post where the new winch would sit, and allow the cable to be level with the boat's draw ring in the bow. Then removed it and cut the top off the post nice and straight with a drop saw at that point and welded on a 6mm plate to the top. (I predrilled the plate to fit the winch mounting bolt holes).
 
Then off to the galvanizers. $33 to get the whole post done. Came up a treat. There is a trick to preparing a closed tube for galvanising - you have to drill the end plates so that the liquid will get in - and flow out - whatever angle it is dipped. Look on the web for that.
 
New marine grade stainless 10mm x 30mm bolts, nylocs and washers  from Universal Fasteners at Wingfield. $10.
 
The cable supplied with the winch wasn't going to be long enough to run under my 4WD. So I had to get 6m of 6mm twin core auto cable. Which I ran under the car using ribbed conduit as required + plenty of zippy ties. I then got 2 Narva Anderson plugs - put one onto the cars 7 pin socket mounting bracket at the rear. Nice and neat. The other I cut the supplied cable to the winch and put it on the end. The cable and plugs were $28.(You will need crimping pliers for the Anderson plug connections).
 
Connecting to the battery / earth was pretty straight forward, and I used a 60A inline fuse to protect everything. No fuse, maybe one day your car burns to the ground. The winch peak draw is 90A - so I wouldn't go higher than 60A. If it blows, it blows. Better than a fire.
 
Bit of stuffing around but it works great. Not sure how much the winch was as it was a gift $300? Plus another $80 of bits.
 
 

Now that I am on the wrong side of 50, my good wife decided that the days of me hand winching the Northbank onto the trailer, were to come to an end, and bought me a electric winch for Xmas. Bonus! Better than hankies and socks.
 
She got me a Powerwinch 712A which is made in the US and has about a 3400kg pulling capacity. Which is heaps to drag in the 500C.
 
Then I just had to install it. Being Mr Tight A I wanted to do that myself and not pay someone to fit it.
 
The post on the front of the trailer where the hand winch was - I had to measure a point on the post where the new winch would sit, and allow the cable to be level with the boat's draw ring in the bow. Then removed it and cut the top off the post nice and straight with a drop saw at that point and welded on a 6mm plate to the top. (I predrilled the plate to fit the winch mounting bolt holes).
 
Then off to the galvanizers. $33 to get the whole post done. Came up a treat. There is a trick to preparing a closed tube for galvanising - you have to drill the end plates so that the liquid will get in - and flow out - whatever angle it is dipped. Look on the web for that.
 
New marine grade stainless 10mm x 30mm bolts, nylocs and washers  from Universal Fasteners at Wingfield. $10.
 
The cable supplied with the winch wasn't going to be long enough to run under my 4WD. So I had to get 6m of 6mm twin core auto cable. Which I ran under the car using ribbed conduit as required + plenty of zippy ties. I then got 2 Narva Anderson plugs - put one onto the cars 7 pin socket mounting bracket at the rear. Nice and neat. The other I cut the supplied cable to the winch and put it on the end. The cable and plugs were $28.(You will need crimping pliers for the Anderson plug connections).
 
Connecting to the battery / earth was pretty straight forward, and I used a 60A inline fuse to protect everything. No fuse, maybe one day your car burns to the ground. The winch peak draw is 90A - so I wouldn't go higher than 60A. If it blows, it blows. Better than a fire.
 
Bit of stuffing around but it works great. Not sure how much the winch was as it was a gift $300? Plus another $80 of bits.
 
 

Ideally I wouldn't want to pay for a RFL. Its a pain if you are visiting interstate and need a licence to go fishing for like 3-4 hours. Same deal here with interstate tourists.
 
But it wouldn't deter me. My boat cost $35000, insurance is like $400 a year, fuel $25 a modest trip, a service is $500 and so on.
 
A licence would reduce the number of fishers, simple economics, some people would rather spend their $ on something else. So I suppose more fish get to live - for me - which is good. But these guys generally wont be catching much anyway. Compared to the more serious of us, who invest time and money into catching fish. (I keep a log book of what I catch, stick to bag limits - and tallied up it is a bloody great mountain of fish over the years).
 
I have never seen a Fishing Inspector on the water in SA, ever. But I have certainly seen their landcruisers parked out the from of motels and driving around. So your chances of ever getting caught with 50 KGW or 200 crabs are like next to zero - especially if you made some effort not to get caught, sneak back on dark, have the wife at the ramp with a mobile to key an eye out when you came in, do it on a drizzly Tuesday in mid winter.
 
If the licence money went into a bit more enforcement - its not rocket science to work out which locals seem to go fishing every day, week in week out. (If you suspect who they are, their GPS marks are generally very good, and I make a point of getting close to them, take a GPS mark say 100m away, and a compass setting, then going back later and sound the area - bingo). These guys are selling fish for cash - restaurants, pubs, mates, fish & chip shops, doing a deal with a pro whatever. Just one of these illegal "pros" would make a far bigger impact than 100 small guys that couldn't be stuffed buying a licence. I've rang Fishwatch on a certain old mate and guaranteed he will still be out in Moonta Bay after crabs most of this week, and in winter will still be going for KGW most days.  
 
You can debate whether the enforcement should be funded by a licence, or not. But the SA Government is busted A, and the money has to come from somewhere.
 
Unfortunately the SA Government is very inefficient in spending $ and to catch one "pro" they would need 9 Landcruisers, 20x week long training courses and 30 nights in a motel - plus 24 flexi days and sickies.
 
I also think the more the marine parks, in the more remote areas the better. Protecting breeding stocks is super important.

Barra can be hit and miss. I have lived in the NT for 7-8 years, Jabiru, Katherine, Darwin @ various times. Fished all the usual spots and some not so usual - got some good fish. Once I went to this billabong down near Bestwick / Barunga - mate worked with the traditional owners, so we could get in - it looked like Barra uber paradise. Well I flicked a lure off these rocks, into where the billabong drained into a fast flowing creek, for like 4 hours. Then my mates girlfriend chucks the most pathetic first cast into the same spot I had been casting into - 10-15m away - and bags like a 1m barra first go. Went out from Timber Creek once, in a roof top tinny, .357 in the tackle box, crocs bloody everywhere - the other 2 guys nailed barra after barra - I got SFA. Good luck! A reef fishing charter will give you a greater % of success. Hand lining Spanish mackerel and big queenies is pretty cool.