Knackers

On 23/07/2020 at 4:12 PM, doobie said:

Solid machine by the looks.

Costs a bit of   lol. 

Cry ?  due to cost or have you already cut your fingers due to extra sharp knives   

Actually my missus got it for me for Xmas. 

I cut the middle man out and just bought a Nirey. Buy once, cry once.

On my Tassie trip I lost 2 lures to 2 bloody big trout. Both knots broke at the lure on the strike. I was tieing uni knots on 6 or 8 lb line. Anybody got a knot that won't break like this. I haven't unpacked my fishing gear yet but it was good quality Japanese stuff. Maybe because of was using 8 lb braid on the main line - no stretch maybe? Drag was backed off appropriately.

As I always tie bimini knots on the main line I use yucatan, aussie, no name and bristol knots. Never had one fail. But I don't fish all that light and always use a swivel. I can see the benefit if tying leader straight to main line using the thinnest knot possible for casting light stuff.

2 minutes ago, Softy said:

I've heard of people doing that trick with an old pc type fan and works a treat! You might need a bigger model if you keep catching fish that big.   

The trick is to always take less food than you need. Eat as you go.

The first go was not as good as I made some spacers that didn't allow enough airflow into the back of the fan. But my good mate solved that when he jammed the lid down and broke the fan. So then I could use the old fan housing as a spacer and put some holes into it to allow better flow. The fan is just a simple Jaycar one with the most CFM you can buy. 12 volt I just clip it onto the batteries powering the fridge, the only draw 300 milli amps from memory. Even at 40 deg I can put 8 litres of water in there in the afternoon/night after fishing and the whole lot is frozen solid by morning.

This was really important when catching heaps of fish to cool them down quick for freezing and having ice for the next day. Keeps the quality of the fish when frozen quickly. 

With some of my longer trips in WA and NT camping for anything from 2 - 5 weeks keeping ice for esky's on the boat was a pain. Think 40 deg in WA. I was using a 60 litre fridge and a 40 litre engle as a freezer for ice in plastic bottles and to store bait. But if going out on consecutive days the ice would never be frozen. So I had an idea to make a semi-almost blast freezer out of an old Waeco 60 litre that I didn't trust anymore, that coincidentally hasn't let me down now for about 9 years. To get the cold air circulating I thought a small computer fan on the lid would do the job. And it does in spades. It strips away the warm air from the warm stuff you put in there so it can contact the cooling elements. I did a bit of an unscientific trial and it freezes a tray of ice 5 times faster than my fridge. I also cut up a camping closed cell foam mattress for extra insulation to put between the fridge and the bag. The bag is buggered but I tape it together.

On 04/02/2020 at 8:14 AM, MIKECATTS said:

Hi all..

ta for all the input.

I practiced some rigs..

Im happy with tying the hooks/swivels on.... Ill give it a go and see what happens...

I used the snell unit knot to hooks and the uni knot to the swivel..

Ill go FG from leader to braid, then uni knot from leader to swivel...

Mike

Hi Mate. You don't have to use the eye of the hook to snell. You get a much better straight pull on the hook if you don't. Or you can get hooks with an offset eye.

On 28/01/2020 at 5:13 PM, yellow door 1 said:

 Common explanations include:

• When top-heavy ships of earlier eras would sink, precious little other than the bananas they’d carried would be found floating on the surface, thereby leaving some to conclude conveyance of the fruit itself had led to these naval mishaps.
• Spiders, snakes, and other poisonous vermin living among bananas carried in the hold would, on long haul trips, expand their horizons by infesting other parts of the ship.
• Because the speediest sailing ships were used to get bananas to their destinations before they could spoil, those attempting to fish from them never caught anything while trolling.
• Fisherman became ill after eating the fruit.
• Other fruits would spoil more quickly when bananas were being shipped along with them, causing folks to deem bananas “bad luck.” (Actually, it wouldn’t have been ill fate that resulted in the spoilage of other foodstuffs, but instead the ethylene gas emitted by bananas as they ripen.)
• Crew member injured by slipping on discarded banana peels.
• Fisherman misses landing the big one due to a case of “the runs” caused by bananas he’d ingested.
• Banana oil rubs off onto the hands of fisherman, thereby “spooking” the fish.
• Early anglers in Hawaii would embark upon lengthy fishing trips in dugout canoes provisioned with (along with other food items) bananas. The farther they went, the fewer the fish, causing some of them to mistake correlation for causation.

Snopes is good

The banana myth has some historical basis. When bananas were first found by Europeans in the Caribbean they were stocked on ships as provisions. They would cut them at the stem in huge bunches so they didn't over ripen on the voyage. But in the bunches were venomous snakes that would bite and kill sailors. So it started as no bananas on boats and then migrated to fisherman.

I find FG knots too hard/take too long to tie in the boat or land with a bit of wind. I'm a fan of yucatan and no name/aussie knots. Never had one break. Supposedly the strongest leader to braid knot.

I generally crimp anything over 100lb. Knots are too big and they can when not under load unwind. (or I can't tie them that well with thicker line).

One of the easiest ways is to get a lure crimping kit like this

one. https://www.wellsystackle.com.au/_products//TerminalFishingTackle/RIGGINGToolsMATERIALS(BaitOrLures)/BlackPeteBaitLureTOURNAMENTRIGGINGKIT-667-969-.aspx?gclid=CjwKCAiAjrXxBRAPEiwAiM3DQu0fFRtIDaq5BjbzOZps1L4Xm6bBTS6AUTGyxFyaRQBYQEo0jgUJlBoCrAAQAvD_BwE

I bought my own crimps but you can also get the parts kit for less.

Here is another cheaper one

https://www.rigmastertackle.com.au/product/crimping-kits-2/

On 06/09/2019 at 2:55 PM, peatop said:

there is no use asking other people the best way to prepare to freeze as it's often different for everyone, the best way to freeze would best be found on a food preparation site (authority, such as government health standards) or similar, some cook books (cookery the Australian way) may have this information.

Dude, it ain't rocket science. Whack it in a sealed bag and put it into the freezer.

Just ate some frozen whole crab we caught at Pt Julia in March this year. Some was green and the other was steamed. I'll never boil another crab. The steamed stuff is way better. Flesh really firms up, less gunk in the body. Anyway, frozen was fine, bloody good in fact.

43 minutes ago, Hunter69 said:

Beautiful fish, incredible how deep its so close to shore. 

On one trip the swell dropped right off - it was northerly for 3 days and 40 deg+. I had my fins and mask and went for a look. Some of those holes are 20 ft deep just off the beach. It is really deceptive.

On 26/11/2019 at 7:55 AM, nters123 said:

So how did you go mate let's hear the report

I got an 80lb + fish and we landed 4 over 60lb, plus some smaller ones mixed in.

On 10/11/2019 at 7:41 PM, nters123 said:

Hey mate were heading up to dog fence on the 28th, don't know if you remember, but we met on the fowlers bay jetty one  night couple years back, prior to that you had been feeding me heaps of info for that  particular trip. Hopefully the new moon will bring the fish on, didn't get out to dog fence last trip due to losing my wallet in the dunes near mexican hat( was  a miracle we made it back to adelaide) so pumped this time round might have to have a beer if we cross  paths

No worries. I remember, even though I had probably had a few sherbets by then. We are leaving here Saturday and departing there the next Sunday.

Thanks for the input. Next question is when do you reckon the big ones start coming inshore? I know spots where schoolies (up to 20lb or so) are in winter but no biggies. November? Maybe linked to water temp? Edit, talking about west of Ceduna.

I would be hesitant to buy any unbranded reel. Factories in China pump them out in the thousands.

However, if somebody got a decent sample size to retail here and thoroughly tested it, like flogged it to death, recorded it and was willing to stand by the product I would probably give it a go. But then, if it was cheap, there is no guarantee that QC will be consistent across every reel. And anybody who sells a reel like this needs to be upfront and not claim it was a stella or saltiga equivalent, just an unbranded reel from China that is landed here for $20 and sold for $80 (or whatever). eg like this humdinger for $11 to $12 US

https://winfaith.en.made-in-china.com/product/CXyxpbOJALre/China-Die-Cast-Aluminium-Spool-Front-Drag-Spinning-Reel.html?expoName=spoga-gafa-2019&source=expo_search_list

Rods would be a bit different. As long as they have quality components and good blanks why not? No bearings, seals, gears in rods to break, much less of a risk.

Line and terminal tackle no way. Been burn't before, even with good brands, that turned out to be counterfeit.

I've frozen the whole fresh heaps of times. But I won't boil them. Usually make a curry or chilli crab. Flesh is still firm,

5 hours ago, snafu said:

Back when I lived in Ceduna, a mate and myself targeted the mullies at Bellamore Beach and always on the last couple of hours of a run in tide that would peak just after sunset. Bellamore has huge sandhills where we would park the Hilux on top of the highest one and scan the gutters using binoculars to spot which ones had the fish. We didn't bother with the moon phases and neither did the fish. Bait of choice was whole squid and tommies.

Some evenings were better than others, but never once did we leave the beach without scoring a few fish, not as big as those we caught at the Dog Fence or another secret location that will not be named, but generally they were up around the 15 to 20 kgs. 

Where is Bellamore? Know Tuckamore Beach well.

47 minutes ago, Squid Inc. said:

Going to the FWC end of October to test out the theory. Been twice before & the build up to the new moon has fished better than build up to the full moon, so going the on the new moon again. Not that we got much anyway.

I reckon we'll be there before the new moon on 27 Nov. Fishing Dog Fence and Yalata.  I think, well, guess, that the fish in the port and pat, being estuaries, fish differently to the surf beaches. 

I have always been told new moon leading up to full moon, or more specifically three days leading up to full moon. Also mostly fish west/far west coast.

Seeing as I just fish when I have the time, but would like to target better in the future, what is the consensus? I know they go nuts when the barometer drops quickly.

I've got the black overhead erito model with a little Calcutta 200B on it. Fantastic rod. Use it for whiting and trolling for salmon. Have heard great things about the spinning versions as well.

Our next door neighbor used to breed gents to sell. He would hang a snapper frame in the shed about 5 feet high. Under the frame he would have a large tray of pollard/bran. After a while when the maggots were at the stage when they want to bury themselves they would drop off the frame and fall into the bran. As the frame wasn't sitting in a bucket it and had air circulating around it the flesh tended to dry out and not stink (as much). Not much fish flesh fell into the bran either and was easily picked off the top.