Old Scaley

You can get them from Bunnings @Kat. Just remember to give them a rinse after your fishing session and a quick spray of WD40 or similar every now and again to keep the rust at bay. Now you have a filleting knife you can become as obsessed as I am with getting and keeping the perfect edge. I am still on that particular journey after many years of trying different sharpening tools and techniques. No matter how sharp I get knives I always think they could be sharper. I think it is a sickness.

Great to see you posting again, Callum. I love those beautiful little creeks and rapids up that way. Seeing Jungle Perch swimming around in that crystal clear water is so special.

Some suggestions for you @Kat: Knives: I would never take my filleting knives out fishing. Any cheap knife will do for cutting up bait. Berkeley do a reasonable knife with a scabbard and sharpener for around $20. Good filleting knives are a lot more and you don’t want to risk the edge by using it for other purposes in my opinion. Pliers: Any reasonable pair of long nose pliers will do most of what you want, but there are specialist fishing pliers if you are going to be opening split rings on lures, or crimping bits on homemade wire traces. Scaler if you don’t like skinning fillets. Those round ones on a wooden handle are cheap and popular or you could just use a desert spoon. Tackle boxes: Since you are land based or on someone else’s boat, I recommend having a bulk store at home in any sort of container that has compartments and then having a small box that is easy to transport and doesn’t take up much room. Before you go fishing think about the type of fishing you will be doing and pack the small box accordingly. Leader: over time you can build up a stash of spools of different weight leaders. Start with 6, 10 and 20 lb. Most people use fluorocarbon but nylon is ok if the budget is tight. Fluorocarbon is expensive but a spool should last you ages. Braid: You will get lots of opinions on the best braid, but I think most of the mid-range brands are fine. Just avoid the really cheap stuff as it doesn’t cast well and is just not nice to use. I have Daiwa X8 J braid on a couple of reels and I have been happy with it, but don’t buy the blue colour as it is almost impossible to see in a lot of situations. Next time I will be going back to fluoro yellow or the multicolour. Braid scissors: You will need these to trim your braid to mono knots nice and neatly. Daiwa make some well priced ones that do the job. Hooks: Keep a selection of different sizes and styles. For your yabbies you need long shank hooks in sizes 2, 4 or 6. A packet of suicide pattern in 1/0 and 2/0 and some octopus circle hooks in size 4/0 and 5/0. That should cover most types of estuary fishing. If you are going on someone’s boat chasing mackerel with pilchards, get a packet of 4/0 gang hooks. Sinkers: A selection of ball and bean sinkers in sizes 1, 2, 3 and 4 will get you started. Swivels: I just go by sight with the sizes so can’t be too specific but keep them small and go barrel style for most uses. Soft plastics, jig heads and hard body lures are a whole different topic. Sing out when you are ready to dive into that vortex. There are plenty of people with great knowledge on here that will help. I hope that helps you Kat. It is amazing how much you can spend setting up and topping up your tackle box. Even if you spend up big initially, you will always find that you need to visit the tackle shop for more and you will be surprised when you get to the cash register how much you are spending. I like to support the local tackle store rather than the big name store and find the prices are not too different. Good luck!

+1

Know where your bait comes from and if there are any biosecurity risks.

Good luck with the meet and greet, @Dinodadog.

Holy snapping fin fish, @tugger. What a great trip. You and the family are going to grow gills and scales soon Mark. Thanks for sharing.

I am not an outboard mechanic, but I would be looking at how it has been maintained and looked after. Does it look clean, or does it look like it has had a hard life? I would be looking for a service history - at least once a year. The service report should give you the compression ratios of all cylinders and they should all be pretty close. Are there any comments on the service report indicating that things need to be done. Are all the recent reports available? Are they all from the same place? I would be asking for a test drive on water to see if it starts and performs well. Lastly, I would pay for a professional assessment by an outboard mechanic if you or someone you know isn’t very experienced with outboard motors. It might save you a lot of money in the long run. No, you won’t find much difference between launching a 4.2 and a 4.5. Good luck! PS. Don’t forget that you will need a recreational vessel licence.

Nice Report @Drop Bear. Funny how everyone in the individual photo has an OzFish cap on, but in the group photo they all have different headwear??? @Kat, that is a funny looking boy in the red tough toad t shirt.

Your persistence and dedication has paid off again, Haimish.

Even though the shark would have been exhausted after the long fight I would be standing on the beach and cutting the line and waving it goodbye. Then again, I have never deliberately caught a shark and never accidentally one close to that big, so maybe with more experience comes more confidence. Still NO!

Well done @Sneaky1. I used to troll hard bodies around those shallow reefs years ago and caught quite a few trout, but usually in the 30s. Managed a 40cm model one day and was stoked, so 45 and 47 on the same day would have made me delirious. Same with the grassies - usually in the 20s and 30s so I reckon a 47 is a top catch. Congrats. The ramp there is a big improvement on that old one that was almost impossible on any sort of northerly.

The biggest one I have caught was in Hervey Bay. I didn’t measure it but probably around the 20cm mark. Those are not the worms I was thinking of so lucky Andrew picked up on the right ones. I haven’t seen them before. Not everyone will agree with me here, but if you are getting pickered or only catching small fish, try upsizing your bait or going to a hardier bait like mullet flesh. It might last long enough for a bigger model to get into the feeding frenzy. Big baits, big fish works sometimes. Good luck.

Hi @Kat. The fish is a whiptail. Very pretty and very common. I know the worms you mean, but no idea what they are called. They are too soft to use as bait (in my opinion).

Always happy to be on the water @Kat. We hardly had a sprinkle while we were out there. There was a bit of thunder around when we got back to the ramp but we missed that storm too.

Thanks @ellicat. It was a fun day. Shame there weren’t more keepers but I am looking forward to chowing down on that grassie. @AUS-BNE-FISHO, the bigger one was 40cm and very fat so I got 2 good fillets from it. That Wello spot was insane for the number of bites and how many small fish were willing to commit suicide.

Not sure who to cheer for in the men’s GF. You would have to say the Panthers deserve to go all the way. On the other hand, it would be fitting for Cam Smith to go out a winner. Then again, he has won pretty much everything there is to win. I think I will make up my mind once the game gets a bit of momentum. Watching a final series when your team/s don’t make the 8 is actually quite enjoyable. You can enjoy the game and not get so tense. But I never want to go through that again, so the Qld teams had better extract the digits next season. A knighthood, or possible sainthood, should go to the Man of Golden Feathers (thanks Roy and HG) Peter Vlandys for getting the show back on the road when nobody thought it possible. Bring on State of Origin!

What a great trip @jon. And some excellent photos too! (Except the ones with the dingo in it - they really creep me out).

Here is the Shimano version. A bit more customer friendly, but plenty of do’s and don’ts. The lesson here is, if you think you might want to make a warranty claim at some point in the future, make sure you buy from a Shimano outlet in Australia, register your purchase, and DO NOT attempt any self-servicing that is not specified in the manual. Warranty Information Here at Shimano, we believe that you, our customers deserve more than just quality products. Our warranty on the rods and reels give you added assurance on your investment. This is an extension of our commitment to you. Shimano warrants to the original purchaser that this will be free from defects in material and/or workmanship for the period of ten years for reels and one year for fishing rods. Proof of purchase is a necessity for all Australian warranty claims Warranty Australia Shimano fishing reels and rods are built with 'Unequalled Engineering Excellence', to ensure that you have many satisfying years of dependable performance and enjoyable fishing. In Australia, Shimano Australia Fishing Pty. Ltd and in New Zealand, Shimano New Zealand Limited provide a TEN YEAR WARRANTY on all Shimano fishing reels imported by those two companies into their respective countries, against defects in materials and/or faulty workmanship. They will also offer a ONE YEAR warranty on fishing rods against defects and faulty materials. Our warranties are provided in addition to other rights and remedies that may be available to consumers under applicable law. The warranty is effective from the date of purchase, to the original purchaser, for all rods (for a period of one year) and reels (for a period of ten years) purchased in Australia and New Zealand after July 1, 2003. Shimano Australia Fishing Pty. Ltd. and Shimano New Zealand Limited will perform repairs or effect replacement, at their option, with no costs to you other than shipping charges incurred for sending the reel or rod to and from our Service Centre. This warranty does not cover claims arising from normal wear and tear, improper use or neglect or servicing. To the extent permitted by law, this warranty does not cover claims for any incidental or consequential damage resulting from or in connection to the reel or rod. This warranty will be considered void if it is found that the reel or rod has been subjected to unauthorised alterations, abuse or damage as a result of failure to provide the recommended care and maintenance. If you are a consumer in Australia, our goods come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. You are entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure. To make a claim under this warranty simply send the reel or rod (at your expense) together with your Shimano WARRANTY CARD, proof of purchase and a description of the problem you are experiencing with the reel or rod, along with your name, address and contact phone number to your nearest Shimano dealer or directly to our Service Centre at: Australia Shimano Australia Fishing 2 Wurrook Circuit, Caringbah, NSW 2229, Australia

Good to see you out fishing and reporting again Ted. The food photos are Insta worthy.

I think Daiwa’s midrange reels come with 12 months warranty. You also need to read the fine print on these warranties. For example, I think with Daiwa the reel must have been purchased from a Daiwa stockist, been serviced by a Daiwa accredited service centre etc, etc. Not sure about Shimano but I woul$ be interested to know if anyone has successfully tried a warranty claim on a 9 year old reel.

Forgot to mention that interest rate on our first mortgage was 14.25%. Hope we never go back to that again although a higher interest rate on the super investments would be welcome.

Given that the average wage back then was probably about $80 a week, later generations probably don’t do it too tough in the beer price stakes. My first home was about 5 times my annual salary, and most families were one income back then, so proportionally probably not really any more affordable than today. Just different demands and expectations.

Are you trying to give us nightmares, @Angry51? There were some bad beers coming into Queensland during that strike. Remember Southwark and KB kegs. Tasted like chook feathers. And then there were the price hikes and we all vowed to give up beer if it went to $1 a pot. Dark days indeed.

Thanks Robbie. I have had delicious smoked eel in Holland, chargrilled eel and lemongrass in Vietnam and good eel sushi here, so eating eel is no problem for me. I am a bit older and wiser than I was last time I tried to cook a self caught one, but wondered if the type of eel we get here is different or was it just that I am a crap cook.