Thread: Fishing tomorrow!

Originally Posted by rugerman

Nice Cod
I went out yesterday. Sorry no pics as it was first time in more than a year, and since hitting the bar on the way in so I was a bit twitchy to cover all my bases 20 times over.
Left the ramp at 9.30 ( 12pm high) was a bit choppy on the way out but calmed down once out there and the breeze dropped off. Anchored up in 20m and burlyied up a storm. Not even a bite for 1.5hrs and watched as others moved off out into deeper water and puttered around the place. Then the fish came onto the bite just after high. Ended up with 6 Gurnard, a Kahawai and lost a 5lb travelly at the boat ( note to self give my mate a few pointers with the net). Anywho went to come in and oh joy motor wont start, and after a few cranks the battery was flat ( fully charged before I left). Looks like my new big sounder sucks the power big time. I used to leave the little garmin on while I fished but will now be turning off the Raymarine while I'm anchored. Lucky I took a jump start power pack out with me or I would have had to call up a someone to give me a boost.
I'm guessing that although the motor cranked over for a few times, the because the battery was so low I might not have been getting a good spark ?. Despite that it was a good day on the drink and after having a chat to a couple of guys on the ramp, it seems a few were not having any more luck out wide. I will stick with my anchor up and burly technique since it has worked every time so far.

What sort of boat? Might pay to look at a separate house battery with a vsr charging /transfer / parallel switch.
I have this setup, and after leaving sounder, radio, vhf, under water lights, all turned on - the house battery does get down a bit. I don't think it would start the motor actually.
Maybe 400-500$, if you do it yourself

521 Mclay. looks like the sounder sucks 20W which doesn't sound like much. It might be my battery even though I fully charged it, it is 6 years old I've just worked out. Like you say I might end up running another battery but it's a pretty small boat

yea 6 years is good service for any battery and I wouldn't let my boat battery get that old regardless of how reliable it may seem.
To be fair though when I am using my boat you often can't see land for most of the trip so a bit harder to call up a tow.

and a house battery is a good option to consider if you have room,charging capacity etc.
Can have more light,sounds ,whatever without having the concern of running starting battery flat.

FYI, just bought a couple of new batteries for my cruiser from battery cell ,couriered to my door for about 2/3 price from battery shops

Originally Posted by rugerman

521 Mclay. looks like the sounder sucks 20W which doesn't sound like much. It might be my battery even though I fully charged it, it is 6 years old I've just worked out. Like you say I might end up running another battery but it's a pretty small boat

I think I'd get a new battery first, then try again.
6 years is a old battery in a trailer boat.

Mine are nearly 3 years, and I'm going to replace the start battery in the next few months, just as insurance maintenance.
At the same time I'll get both load tested, and maybe put the current start as the house bat, then new one next year.

Yeah Beaker will do. I will also turn off the sounder when the motor is off until I get an auxiliary battery.
All I can say is yay for those Lithium ion jump starter packs

pb trevally 5.5kg on the scales

Nice travers
That is about the size of the one we lost at the boat they make pretty good Sashimi . I remember the day most people thought they were only good for bait.

Bloody good start to 2021

What a beauty , well done

Awesome MB, looks like your gonna need a bigger tape measure
That must have put up quite a fight

Nice going MB.

Trolling lures?

Yeah, full on blue water trolling. We were actually targeting them, albeit in a small trailer boat that isn't really setup for game fishing. Mate and I agreed that we'd rather catch a yellowfin than a marlin, so we pulled some small lures about and got lucky. Fight was insane. We had a double hook-up and chaos ensued. As two novice game anglers, I think we did well to land both fish with no major dramas.

Originally Posted by MB

Yeah, full on blue water trolling. We were actually targeting them, albeit in a small trailer boat that isn't really setup for game fishing. Mate and I agreed that we'd rather catch a yellowfin than a marlin, so we pulled some small lures about and got lucky. Fight was insane. We had a double hook-up and chaos ensued. As two novice game anglers, I think we did well to land both fish with no major dramas.

Awesome well done.

Well done MB!!

Thanks to the good guy @Got-ya, we got the target species and some small by catch