JDP

Took my youngest daughter and her boyfriend out for a marlin session after they had finished their morning fish on the beach catching salmon today. The water temp was too hot for our normal target species of striped marlin but was good for both blacks and blue marlin. Striped tuna were in good numbers, a favourite of most marlin to eat, even though most were in the 6-8kg size. It was so much fun catching these tuna on 10lb spin gear we almost forgot about chasing marlin. Set up a teaser and dropped two live baits out the back at the slowest speed the boat will troll at. Literally under one minute and we were hooked into an estimated 200lb lively black marlin. This fish was extremely stubborn and had the young fella soon loosing a few beads of sweat!!!!! The fight went on for around 1.30 mins before we had it traced alongside the boat and released. Most likely fish inshore around the headlands tomorrow if the weather gods allow targeting a few hammerheads etc.

The silver goldfish looking fish are like the holy grail of beach fishing here, often called ghosts and can reach up around 75kg. When they get over 20kg they are very strong fighters. Being a very cautious fish when it comes to baits and tackle presentation means those who do catch them have normally put in considerable effort to do so.

Ok jobs all finished so time for a fish. Raining and windy meant for an evening session on the beach. Plenty of bluefish and salmon for bait, with a nice mullaway taking the first bait followed by a variety of rays. Hopefully tomorrow will back off enough to get the boat out among the marlin.

Have you got it advertised elsewhere or hoping to sell it on here ?

There are a few different styles of boats with them over here, not just rhib's.

Without photos it either doesn't exist or never happened, learnt that from JonC. Have the rear nuts puled slightly into the glass on the inside of the transom ? often a sign of a rotten transom.

Neighbours must think you have a new young bride!!!!.......https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3594253/Foreign-tourist-killed-bangs-head-wall-having-vigorous-sex-transsexual-escort-Thailand.html

Depending on budget, outboard jacking plates as well as transducer sliding brackets are an option.

Just picked up another ute, this one is for my youngest daughter. Like all hilux’s, greatly lacking power but will be ok for her not towing boats etc.

Oh yes, forgot to mention that the utes I mention are considered 3.5ton tow utes but this obviously depends on what load is in or or on the vehicle itself. A group known as grey nomads tow their monster caravans from the southern parts of the country at the start of winter to the top of the country where they can then enjoy year round temps of around 30'c. Some of the grey nomad forums are worth looking at in regards to what people are using as tow vehicles, however this can also be a bit misleading as most grey nomads are self funded retirees who tend to replace their vehicles when the warranty's run out, which is often around 5-6yrs. Also most people will upgrade from the standard stock suspension because of towing either big caravans or boats close to the 3.5ton limit. Electronic brakes are also compulsory over a certain weight. Landcruisers, f250 and dodge trucks are often used for the bigger tow loads. This site has some interesting info which might be of use to you, it also has a forum much like the fishing forums where people help and share info. https://www.thegreynomads.com.au

Owned a fair few and use various models with work. My toyota pre dpf didn't reached 179,000km before needing new engine, turbo, injectors etc etc, which seems common. 12-14lt per 100km. Work Hilux's, 2.8 diesels, constant dpf issues, poor economy and lacking power. 12lt per 100k My Mazda bt50 3.2 diesel (built in same factory as Ford rangers), poor economy like Toyota, constant dpf issues, shit loads of power and torque, drives and handles superbly after full suspension upgrade but was also good before that. economy 11-12.5lt per 100k. VW not owned, not as popular here due to long distances between towns and reliability. Isuzu Dmax 3lt manual, older pre dpf. Not as powerful but still enough for towing boats, extremely reliable (never failed) best economy 8lt per 100km. Recently bought another Isuzu pre dpf as I believe them to be the most reliable vehicle on the road. Latest is a 3lt auto space cab which was giving me 8lt per 100km but the engine lacked grunt, so had it dyno tuned last week for better towing. Now Im getting 6.5lt per 100km but with far more torque. Isuzu Dmax's are popular as council and other large industry business. I prefer the space cabs as these allow me enough room to sleep on the rear tray. I also get rid of the rear tub and replace with the tray’s for better storage.

I have a marine light bar but to be honest rarely use it as the light picks up on the slightest of mist making it quite difficult to see far ahead. Like the legendary JonC mentions, less light is often better, as your eyes will adjust to the darkness. Most plotter sounders have night mode, which turn the screen to a lower red light which also allows your eyes to stay adjusted to the darkness. On our rescue boat we have total deck and cab lights red for night searching situations. This is the one I have but only occasionally use in certain situations.

I'm planning heading out on the next weekend. Marlin are the main target now.

This section is for upcoming weekend fishing trips, can you please get back course.

Thank you, at least I didn't mention midweek trips!!!!

I was going to do that but thought going off the previous posts that this had turned into a general chat thread!!!!.....I also thought I could slip it under Jons radar without having to get pictures off my camera, down load to the computer and resize just to make an official catch report. If we had caught the chosen target and gotten decent pictures I may of gone to a bit of effort, however this was a last minute decision to "head out on the weekend"

Last minute idea this afternoon to head out after hearing a hot bite was on with marlin. Striped, blacks and even a blue had been hooked before we reached the continental shelf, some boats with triple hookups. Bait was scarce but we eventually had around 10 mackerel in the live well which we soon set back out at a slow troll speed of 2kn. Didn't take long for one to hook up to a solid fish, which unfortunately turned out to be a large hammerhead. After 20 mins we had this one boat side where a good pull on the leader parted the mono just above the hook. Another two decent sized sharks soon followed but unfortunately non of the desired marlin. Fun afternoon, plenty of gannets, albatross, dolphins and free jumping marlin. I believe we may of attracted the sharks due to a very noisy pump supply to the deck wash, bait tank and tuna tubes.

A good fall too, not just a sprinkle https://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/snowfall

Middle of summer here, not that you would thinks so. 25mm of snow fell a short distance inland from me which is expected to be around until later through the week. I might have to head into the mountains for a bit of trout fishing.

Ive got fusion speakers in the sides of my centre console which get covered in saltwater every trip then washed off with a pressure hose at the end of the day. They've been in the boat since 2006 which is a pretty good testament for them.

He just likes all the scaffolding around it.

I was told by Lowrance etc support that transducers connections and the likes of point one were ok between simrad and lowrance, so I was quite surprised to find the point one also worked with Garmin. The airmar 175 H-W did need a different connecter though to be used with Garmin now that Ive gone only with them.

I had a gen 3 12 which was comparable with an evo 3 7, though I did get rid of both and moved over to Garmin. I kept the lowrance point 1 which is of course is nmea 2000 so simply networks into the Garmin as does the seperate lowrance fuel nmea 2000.

Fighting.

They have great patterns, or should I say battle scars. The dorsal fin looks like it has a small quarter moon and dolphin tattoo.