Baz's Blog: 200hp Bream Boats + Kayaking To Lunch + Wild Alloys

Baz's Blog

G’day there boaties,

SPEED FREAKS

Fishing is all about trolling slowly while you offer hungry fish something good to eat, right? Ah, not quite.

Some fishos like to combine fishing, thinking about fishing and talking about fishing, with something else, and of course I mean a healthy dose of insane speed.

American “bass boats", used here to stalk cunning bream, are gaining popularity among tournament fishers who need to move location quickly when fish aren’t biting to find a place where they are. In a fishing tournament, where thousands of dollars can be up for grabs, every second with a lure in the water counts.

And that’s where the speed comes in. Our so-called “bream boats” are sleek, sit low in the water, are fitted with the latest electronic fish-finding gadgetry, not to mention engines in excess of 200hp. They can reach speeds of more than 70mph. Yikes!

Always interested in speed of any kind, I went out with a Skeeter tournament boat recently. You can read about that spectacular craft, and how I lost my beanie, in the next issue of TrailerBoat.

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GET ME THERE NOW

Also in the
this issue of TrailerBoat, a “destination feature” on beautiful Lake Macquarie in the NSW Hunter Valley.

The largest coastal saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere, with a shoreline of more than 170km, “Lake Mac” is about four times larger than Sydney Harbour. No wonder it’s home to just about every fish species you can think of - and hundreds of determined anglers trying anything to hook into at least a few of them.

We interviewed experts about where to find the fish and, for the most satisfying results, what time of year you should visit. There’s a lot more to do on the lake than fish though, as this photograph proves. We found this singularly pretty scene as we explored one of the lake’s quiet backwaters.

You can read our feature, and enjoy more images like this, in the August issue of TB.

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ALL ABOUT KAYAKS

Kayaks too are growing in popularity among recreational fishers, although it has to be said that a kayak is about as opposite as it gets to a 200hp bream boat.

In any event, TrailerBoat contributor Kevin Smith dug into the kayak caper for this issue, coming up with everything you need to know about these sleek, interesting craft, and how to successfully fish from one. Just as well Kevvy Boy did that story; Baz would have fallen out of the Kayak 10 times before dropping his bait in the water.

Anyway, Kev hooked into a Viking Nemo kayak as well during that excursion so you’ll soon be hearing what he thinks of it. And how many fish he caught. And how they were bigger and better than Baz’s fish, and so on and so forth, blah, blah, blah …

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ALLOY SHOOTOUT

We’ve started comparing boats in TrailerBoat and the first of these shootouts runs in the August issue.

Hotshot boat tester John Ford rounded up an Allison Alloy 4.9m Australis, plus an Ally Craft 480 bowrider, then ran them through an arduous assessment routine to find out who did what and who did it better.

Both boats are built for the entry-level market and share common features. Still, Johnno was able to separate them in terms of performance, comfort, and how easy they’ll be to live with. If you’re in the market for a new alloy family/fishing boat, don’t miss this one.
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AND FROM UNCLE JOHN