spog61

On fishing trips longer than one day, I believe it's bad luck for your fishing clothes to see a washing machine, you can shower in them or hose them off, just don't let the missus chuck them in the machine, disgusted my missus initially but it didn't take long for her to realize us fishermen can be a little eccentric sometimes & she's quite happy not to have to deal with them herself, just gives me that "poor simple fool" look when she sees me doing the stomp on my clobber on the shower floor.cheers, Spog

the thumb rules I use for fish are as follows; drop a raw spud in your water & mix in salt until it starts to float, keep a couple of fish heads to drop into the brine once the eyes have turned white brining process is complete, air dry fish until skin is tacky then smoke, of course smoking times vary depending on smoker design & fish size. I also add about 1/2 a cup of that real thick "ABC" soy sauce to every 10 lt of brine, it adds a subtle flavour & enhances the colour.Strips of meat you do the same way, althoug you can experiment with other additives to the brine or rub in spices before the drying process.Larger pieces like whole chickens, hams etc, you'll need a brine pump & needle or a large syringe to pump the meat before immersing it in the brine for a couple of days (5 days min for leg ham or similar), the brine container should be kept refrigerated during this time, smoking time is not as long as you would think, again it depend s on the smoker & size of product, I'd start with an hour. Once smoking complete bring a stock pot of water to just under the boil, you'll be able to notice the convection currents bulging on the surface but not see any bubbles, drop in your your meat (no the smoked piece) and maintain this temp for 1 hr for small chicken up to 4 or more for a large ham.Like most you'll think that the boiling will dilute the smoke flavour, but it actually helps it to migrate through the entire piece.There are a lot of variables so it'll take a bit of fine tuning, it pays to make notes on each piece for future reference.I learnt this method from an old butcher who plied his trade before the days of chemical enhancement & smoking.Hope this helpsCheers Spog

Hey Big Ian,Been almost a month now any updates on the Tyrnos, thinking about getting one myself, looks really good value on paper. I'm probably gonna go with a 7 foot live fibre for versatility i.e boat & land as I've already got a 15 kg 5'6" roller tip backbone. Roughly how much 50 lb did you get on it? I'm considering braid with mono topshot.cheers, Spog

I'd check out Baudin beach 11 k's out of peneshaw on the main drag towards Island beach, good reef structures everywhere within 500 m of the ramp, snapper, trevers, whiting, gummies, bronzies, blue morwong, squid etc. etc. plus if you don't mind diving there's scollops & the odd cray. Also not too far from the Chapman river which can hold some good bream. I've been heading over there every year around xmas time for the past 8 years, excellent people, dissapointed I won't be able to make it this year, but I'm hoping to get back there for a winter trip next year to sample the legendary whiting fishing. Always had an excellent feed at the Peneshaw pub which also has one of the best views of any pub I've been to.Best of luck, Spog

Hey Rob, the best advice I can offer is to head to any inshore reefs or structure adjacent deeper water or channels straight after a severe onshore blow especially from about now onwards, this tends to bring schooling snapper in close for a brief period while the water is still a bit stirred up, any of the rocky points on our gulfs should fire up i.e. Point Riley, Cape Elizabeth, Bird reef, areas around Pt vicoria & the foot of Yorkes, further away you have Coffin bay with snapper spots within spitting distance of the boat ramp plus you may encounter a kingy from mid to late October onwards, I've also heard there have been some snapper mixed in with the kingies at Augusta pwr house, dirty water combined with the stealth of a yak should provide good results in the shallower waters of inshore structure.My ultimate destination though would be KI nth coast early to mid summer too many locations to mention plus plenty of species, god I love that place.Cheers, spog

hey fellas just thought I'd share a site that can be handy for identifying a fishcheck outhttp://www.australianmuseum.net.au/fishes/index.cfmIf you S&H administrators are happy with it perhaps you could add it to "Links"Cheers, Spog

Here's the system I use which enables the quick instalation/removal of pencil floats [file name=tisJxN5n__float.doc size=37888]http://www.fishyorkepeninsula.com/images/attachments/tisJxN5n__float.doc[/file]

Normally when you use this system, you're fishing within an area that has consistent depths & conditions you only have to tie off at the first anchoring and then leave it tied off, I used to keep a fish tub behind the helm station & just coil the rope into it then flip the rope up so it sits on the bow coaming pull it tight & tie it off on a gunwhale rail or canopy upright to keep it there while under way, then she's all ready to just drop over the side & circle hard once it's close to bottom so the the anchors set in the right direction, if you fish alone for whiting on anchor & are constantly shifting to find them this system is a real effort saver.cheers, Spog

Yea! I've used that system myself in the past, it's also handy if you want hang a bit more beam to current or wind to open up the leeward beam to enable more room to fish if you're a bit crowded fishing out the back, just pull up on the running bridle until the stern comes around to where you want it and tie off on the stern quartercheers, Spog

Can't find any humour in that, not a fan of unnecessary cruelty, kill only what you intend to use be it either for food, bait or burly and do it as humanely as possible.

I'm still smarting from the marketing ploy changing the humble shitty to striped perch, fond memories of that fish, only time as a child I could get away with swearing; DAD, " who'd ya go down the jetty son?"SON; " terrible dad! nothing but bloody shitties" DAD; "never mind son keep trying & maybe one day you'll land yourself a nice striped perch:" Excuse me a moment I think I'm going to chunda :(

In an earlier thread I read some discussion/debate on the new standardized common names for some of our species, now I'm not particularly fussed either way although I do like the individuality our local names for some species affords us & will more than likely continue to use the original names until I die, I was just a tad disappointed to learn that "Pipi" is a Maori name according to my old & reliable "Jack Pollard's Australian Fishing" guide for amateur anglers, if we can't have a sth Aussie name lets at least keep it Australian. After all hopefully none of us would approve of renaming our sheep to darling or our eskies to chully buns, thongs to jandles or flipflops etc. :icon_lol: :icon_lol:Not good for the trans Tasman rivalry

Hey pillie, If the same fella owns a Bar crusher, he was on our rig about 3 weeks ago, had a few BS sessions with him, loves his fishing. I've met him a couple of times, he works for Halliburton so he moves around all the rigs as required, carries a 3 piece & overhead with him where ever he goes. I'm pretty sure he was on his way home when he left our rig, so's probably due back shortly.Cheers, Spog

BYO shovel ;D ;D

Sorry it took so long to reply Yobbo, but had trouble posting the pic.I,m on a tender assisted drilling unit, basically we use a 200 ton crane to erect a drilling rig on the clients platform, then supply power, drilling fluids & human resources for drilling operations. http://www.fishyorkepeninsula.com/images/attachments/P0uEaGdg__AIRIAL_PICK__03__T8a.jpg[/img]

Call me old fashioned or untrusting, but I still prefer to physically handle & scrutinize any purchase I'm about to make, plus I like to be able to get face to face with the vendor if anything goes wrong, those benefits alone justify paying a bit more as fas as I'm concerned.

This is one the wife came up with.If your looking for a place to drain & cool your cooked crabs try hanging your crab nets from the old hills close hoist and fill them with cooked crabs to swing in the breeze

Good sh*t that soy sauce, I add some of that real thick "adc" soy sauce to my brine before smoking, gives them an excellent colour & just a hint of extra flavour.

Nice & simple, the only way to cook fish. Funny isn't it - you could pay a squillion dollars for a fillet of fish at a fancy restaurant and still not enjoy it as much as between 2 slices of fresh bread & butter

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here's a few pics of my crab cooker, made from a 18 gal keg & an old round portable barbie, the stainless basket is out of an old auto washing machine. The original cast iron barbi plate fits nicely as a lid and also means when you luck out on the crabs you can still cook the back-up chops & snags. Had a mate borrow it once & he used it as an oven to cook some huge lump of meat, reckoned it worked a treat. http://www.fishyorkepeninsula.com/images/attachments/zF552cjm__DSC03523.JPG[/img]

Checking through my "Sea Fishes of Southern Australia" book I'd say it's a "Southern Red Scorpioncod" (scorpaena papillosus) pge 42 # 177, the gill cover spine pattern is close as is the habitat preference, i.e "coastal & estuarine reef", max size listed as 37 cm, is given 3 stars as a table fish which is pretty good. Although I'd probably get someone else to clean it & cop the spines as the 12 dorsals are poisonous.

Back again! the identity of the fish has been bugging me, the extra long anal & dorsal fins, the tinge of gold & that black spot at the top of the gill cover, things I had never seen before. Finally tracked it down, Caranx Hippos, or Crevalle Jack as it is known in the gulf of mexico, seems it?s an Atlantic trevally, & according to the info 35 lbs just about sees them out. Like all trevers I was impressed with the fight, If they?re back again tonight I?m going to risk a warning letter & have another crack, only need 3 letters to get a window seat home for good.Cheers spog

Hey! fellas, I know it's against company rules, but the big school of trevors that was laying of the platform moved to lay off the barge within casting distance, so under the cover of darkness I retrieved the old rod from it's hiding spot and landed these 2, total of 6 casts, caught 2 dropped 2 last one got the last remaining lure, the rig rod is a silstar 7' med, with silstar 60 series reel, don't know it's origins but it's one of those budget models, got a home made tip guide & crank handle, appears to be loaded with about 30lb line that's as stiff as fencing wire. Hard work as the boat landing handrails are about 4' high and I couldn't get the but down low for leverage had to fight with it under my arm pit. I guess they went about 12 -15 kg each, originally thought they were GT's but now tend to think they may be goldens. These were caught of the coast of Republic of Congo West Africa.Cheers, spog http://www.fishyorkepeninsula.com/images/attachments/kSYWqCAb__GT1.JPG[/img]