JDP

Just tried my first thermal cooking chicken curry. Much the same as using an electric slow cooker, only this is cooked for 10-15mins then dropped into a thermal pot and left to cook on its own heat for several hours. My plan is to use the cook pot in the mornings while away from home and have a hot meal each evening without having to spend time cooking when feeling tired after big drives, hikes or days offshore. I’ve been watching some of the YouTube videos of people doing smaller meals in thermos flasks by just adding boiling water and the ingredients for some healthy nutritious meals.

More floods along the coast with whole towns being evacuated. Strong winds also on the way for the weekend, so thought I would leave the boat at home and go for a drive to check the conditions. While the swell isn’t to bad the chop is picking up and given I’m still feeling the effects of Sunday’s sharking I decided to give today a miss. Predictions of 5m + for the weekend so my daughter’s headed inland with her rifle and I have house to myself for the weekend.

Seemed a fair sized vessel for just you guys. Did you privately book it just for yourselves or wasn't there much demand on that day when other crew members saw Jon's hair. Just jealous not having any hair 😕

Looks like that helium filed tope is having the better of you for the photo. As for bumpy out there!!!!!...were these pictures from a different day or what, its flat as a millpond.

It wasn't my outfit, I was skippering someone else's boat. Another weekend my boat gets to stay at home resting!!! For a 26ftt centre console boat it doesn't have much room to move about when you have a big fish on, the T top over the console is a bit annoying. The owner just bought a new American F truck to tow it, which didn't realise until I checked this evening that my vehicle licence doesn't cover me to drive it, truck and boat over 8,tons, lucky I only drove around the ramp and car parking area. It's a beast of a truck to drive and Ive had the invite to take the rig up north during winter which will be around 9000km of towing there and back, so need to upgrade my licence.

Took out a fellow pom today and his son who were keen on a bit of sharking. With plenty of bronze whalers and hammerheads about it didn't take may minutes to get hooked into the first shark. The first was a small whaler of of around 20kg, which was perfect as they wanted a small one to take home to eat. From then on another 8 sharks including a brief hook up on a small great white, which snipped though the mono rig intended for hammerheads. Highlight was an hour battle with a very large whaler shark which put up a very good fight on a heavy Tiagra outfit. During the fight the constant high sticking had us cringing, why people seem to think a rod needs to go vertical on every pump is beyond me ( a pom thing) . At one point he managed to high stick a Stella outfit out of the rod holders above the bimini and send it into the sea. Headache, back ache and neck ache now, feel like Im getting to old for this style of angling, even though Im mostly just driving and tracing fish.

Yes he certainly is, he's now checking out YouTube videos of people finding mother loads of gold and gems!!!!!

Quality dropped a fair amount posting from the phone

Left my young fella in a creek while I walked the dog and checked out the fantastic fungi . 30mins later when I returned he had panned a nice little nugget. Not sure if it’s enough to fill his car with fuel but he’s keen on heading back for a bit more panning. Headed back to see if the fungi were the glow in the dark ones a short time ago.

Ever had any corrosion issues ? Ive only had issues from engines not flushed with it, also keeps the trailer in good condition.

The 140 suzuki I had which had been flushed off the flushing port was totally blocked in the cooling chamber which was because of not flushing using the muffs with the engine running according to the suzuki mechanic I used. Maybe they have changed with newer models but as far I was aware it was only newer mercury engines that did this. Ive had three Suzukis now on used boats Ive ownedt but wouldn't choose one to put on a boat from new.

Just remember with those engine flush connections where the engine is flushed without run ing the engine that these don't do a full flush on most engines and you can't use these with the engine running either with most makes of outboard. To flush the full cooling system the engine has to warm to a certain temperature before the thermostat opens to allow water to pump through the entire cooling system. There are flushing systems for both petrol and diesel engines where the boats can be flushed with the likes of salt-away without the need for freshwater connecting.

Ive got one for my centre console and did consider getting one for the rib when I had it, problem was when I anchor its normally to get in the water.

That was a big part of why I sold mine, the memory comes back when I head out in my daughters rib and she makes me pull the anchor.

Rotten transom and stringers is another hard to find thing when buying. Ive had boats that seem rock solid but when you drill a hole for a transducer and find black wet wood and water trickling out you know you have a mighty bill ahead. Makes you appreciate the simple life of beach fishing!!!!

Sarca anchor and Lonestar drum winch, tend to use the same setup on all my boats and never had one fail, even have this on my 14ft centre console. I can get away with very light braid anchor lines which have far greater breaking points than your average ropes. I would try a Rocna anchor if I had to buy another, not that Ive ever had issues with what I have but I do like trying different toys!!!

This is the outboard dealer just up the road from me. A fella thought he was onto a good deal when he recently bought this little boat with just 60hrs on the engine. Said it before I would rather buy an outboard that's been used regularly even with very high hours over ones that sit around for years with salt left in the cooling system. I know there are those who don't flush and will argue its not needed but the proof is in the pudding. Ive had a 2014 suzuki that was pretty bad like this, which had had the anodes changed three times in its 240hr life but was totally blocked throughout the cooling chambers and no anodes left apart from the top of the bolts. Not sure if you guys will be able to open it as its on the their Facebook page as a video. https://www.facebook.com/Batemans-Bay-Power-and-Sail-349326758505348/

Now that would be the ultimate, he could try some exotic pot noodles from here.

Its been a while since Ive been able to get away on a decent trip away from home. End of August towing up boat up north and heading to an offshore island (Vanderlin island) for a few weeks. Its one of those islands with all the mod cons of nothing!!!!!...take your own water, food and fuel and hope the crocs and sharks don't eat you when you swim to shore after anchoring the boat. Its one of those drives where you tend to say never again but after a few days back home feel ready to go again. Its about 4400km each way which is a solid 4 days of driving, then 90km offshore to the northern end of the island. The fishing can be hit or miss depending on the weather but remoteness makes up for any lack of fishing. Im pretty excited given the last two were canceled due to covid restrictions. Hopefully get another trip in before that one to the southern end of the Barrier reef around the easter hols. This one is only half the distance but again remote offshore island living where you take all supplies (Lady Musgrave island). Not quite as exciting because other people are able to share the island for camping (maximum of 20) . Sorry to disappoint, there will be no pot noodles coming on either trip.

Frigin bulged disk has popped out again, not sure how the weekend fish will go or the midweek stuff. Its funny though as I consider getting the boat on the water and the species I target offshore far less work than hooking something off the beach. When you've had a bad back you soon realise how hard fighting fish with long beach rods is!!!!

So would any snags on the bottom, they look like 20-30ft divers to me. I find bigger bibbed lures need a often need bit more speed to get them to the designed depths. Look forward to seeing how they work for you. I had heaps of deep divers years ago over here but I found that in our clear water shallower lures work better, the kind that sit closer to the prop wash disturbance.

Don't forget to smack a fish in the face with a spear with those resolutions🙃. When you say virgin place, do you mean a new place to you or a secret spot nobody fishes ? Do you use reveal charts or G3 vision charts ? If so there are very few virgin secrets left beneath the surface these days. Do you ever fish shallow fast tidal run areas where you can burley and allow baits to drift almost unweighted back in the tide with the burley at all. I found this worked very well around the Island. When you start seeing how good the shallow water fishing is when you get into the spearing you might find it opens up a whole new way to target fish on rod and line. The shallow water species I used to see around St Catherines and Chale were pretty amazing. It was because of diving that I shortened my shore casting distance. My own goal is to get my boat on the water!!!!...its been over 3 months now, every time I go to use it I get the offer of going on other boats. Being a tight arse Pom, I do prefer using other peoples fuel rather than burn my own😁

Oops meant 1hr 30!!!!....could only swim it that quick in one direction!!!!! Its still pouring down, bring back the fires. Moved here for the dry hot weather, not to keep thinking Im back in the UK. Shouldn't complain, at least I can now fish from my balcony.

Anyone bought a Penn slammer IV DX ? meant to have a look at one today but the 1.30 min trip to town was longer than normal with roads washed away and deep puddles everywhere!!!!...did'nt get to the tackle store before running out of time🙃 Not that Im saying this would be the perfect spj reel but they look pretty robust enough to do a bit of everything.

I’m sure I couldn’t come close to your pout catching skills or skill of pouring hot water over noodles. To do it all in wearing your new slider’s is something us mortals can only dream of.