Hello everyone,

This is Deb’s report.

Yesterday Ben and l thought we’d go for a fish inside Westernport bay for a change.
To see  if we can get some elusive snapper and chase some King George whining.

For once we didn’t go out at the crack of dawn we actually left home about 10 o’clock in the morning.
The tide was running out.

We had decided we weren’t really going to worry about Fishing much on this trip for once .

We were there to try and get my HDS sounder set up again and working.
I bought this Lowrance HDS 12 probably five years ago and I have never been able to operate the unit to my satisfaction since the day that I bought it.

Before the last trip ,
i had really had enough of the unit and I wanted to disconnect it out at sea and toss it overboard.
So i had fully cracked the shits with it and I took it down to my local BCF store in Wonthaggi asking them to send it away to factory reset by Lowrance.

They kept the unit and after a few weeks I went in to the  shop to see what the outcome was and to my disappointment they didn’t even bother to send it as Lawrence had said they weren’t interested at all in looking at the unit as it was too old.

Great customer service.

I contacted and I gave Lawrence the how fors  about their lack of customer support and that I would smash the unit and advertise the video online.
They didn’t care .

So Ben jumped in then to the rescue and he started to read through the book and watch videos and he managed to connect the unit to the Internet and download another two upgrades onto the machine.

Our topic of discussion regarding fishing often was about the faulty HDS unit and how to try and get it to work.

Honestly if i could have afforded to i would have just bought myself a new comparable unit from another leading brand .

But by now I had already completely lost all faith in Lowrance as a company and in the HDS 12 unit in my boat that was a lemon out of the box from day one and that didn’t ever seem to work properly on either of its two main functions,
depth sounding or gps. 
I already was thinking of replacing the unit even with a two hundred dollar unit that would  at least tell me the depth that I’m in.
It would be something that would be more suitable for me and at least tell me the depth as my unit wouldn’t.

I had chosen that particular HDS12 unit for its functionality and its internal design adaptability in its capabilities of combining its main screen overlay with a compatible radar  unit and also for its ship to shore capabilitys .

Ben was keen to have a red hot crack at getting it going.
Bloody technology,
I expect things to function from new when you buy it.
But It doesn’t seem to work that way .

The HDS was now able to pair up on my phones Bluetooth,
and to his credit Ben methodically went about the  complex task of assessing  resetting ,
Re  programming and operating the unit.

He told me even sort of dreamt and thought about it all on the night before and when he got to mine .
He quickly Factory reset the unit and rebooted it.
Excitedly ,
Ben yelled out to me that he thinks now its actually finally fixed as he had a bottom depth reading on the screen from the long grass in the yard belowAnd its never had one.

I didn’t show much enthusiasm , as to me I’ve lost all interest completely in that particular unit so I was quite pessimistic and we would see about that when we hit the water.

We discussed the options of also paying someone to come out on the boat with us to particularly to set up the sounder ,
and after further investigation that service would cost around $500.
But its an option.

So we have both decided a plan for today to go for a snapper fish and to also try for a whiting  ,
on the way home.

Mostly we’re going to try driving slowly for once to Rhyll from Newhaven , and play with the sounder and the GPS all the way over.
So when we got to the Newhaven boat ramp and were preparing the boat Ben said no music dad, we’re just concentrating on the sounder for a start arn’t we.
So i complied with Bens request and turned the Bluetooth off in my hearing aids,

Looking up at the water there were quite a lot of lazy pelicans waiting there for a free feed.
And a completely chock a block car park
It must be snapper season again.

So the boat is now ready to launch and its backed down on the ramp .
I have a special boat catch that I brought a few years ago to make it easy for me to launch and retrieve and especially to be able to do that so I can get to go out easily on my own.

I discovered once the hard way ,
that you set the catch on my boat on the bottom of the ramp and not up at  the top , while you are waiting in line incase it disengages if you brake and the boat rolls forward.
Then you just watch your precious boat in the rearview mirror ,
sliding noisily down the concrete ramp without your permission.
Oops

Expensive .

So to engage the catch I brought for its operation , you unwind the winch strap about 50  mm allowing the catch to engage the weight of the Boat.
You then reach down and simply flick the lever across into the release position.
Release your winch strap and You’re now ready for launch ,
so usually I’ll climb up the trailer winch post and over the bow and onto the front deck of the boat.
Walk down the side and into the cockpit.
Start it up and drive forward  until the catch gate springs open and then releases its hold on me and I’m free to go.

The important thing to remember is to flick the lever on the catch into its retrieve position and its ready to catch TB later on,
when you park and leave your car and trailer in the car park.

Awesome ,
but today was a little different at launch phase.
I need to modify my Boat trailer now before the next trip because every time I climb up onto the nose of the boat at the ramp to launch,
the Boat will move itself and  tilt itself down at the front with my body weight thus changing the catch angle on the post and prematurely releasing the boat.

Yesterday I was 3/4 up onto the deck of the boat when it shifted downwards then the catch released and the gate opened wide ,
the tow steel cable snapped and you guessed it.

It would have looked pretty darn  funny to anyone else if they were watching.

The Boat quickly launched itself with me hanging half off the front, and with it self launching it rolled backwards off the trailer at a reasonably fast pace  straight into the water.

Lucky for me i was alone on the ramp .
I quickly scrambled up aboard the moving boat and i was in a split second in the cockpit and cranking over  the engine ,

My Mercury screamed out in the silence so loudly with it running dry out in the air ,
as it roared instantly into life .
I was at the same time while turning the key also hard down on the trim button putting it down running into the water and hoping like hell in those few split seconds that I wouldn’t slam into something like the wharf, a pylon  or someone elses boat ,
before I could take control.

Theres reverse
Phew.
That was close .

By the time I get back to the jetty and the tied up Boat from parking the car and flicking the catch
Ben was super excited,
it’s actually working now Dad.

We must’ve stayed tied up at the boat ramp for at least 10 minutes with Ben just playing around with the parameters of the unit and setting up lots of different things.
Until he was satisfied.

We then set out with the Conditions being absolutely perfect, ultralight wind and absolutely no chop.

It was surly to be Tiger Bens slowest and quietest trip ever taken around to Rhyll from Newhaven in history ,
Ironically on the way the Dragonfly GPS had some sort of haemorrhage and it stopped working on the way .
Forcing me to use the HDS.

Lucky for me i basically know the way anyway , my phone was hooked up to the  unit therefore giving the unit  direct data transmission and everything was now coming online .

We got to Rhyll and the corals and there our plans  just went completely out the window,
Because we could see that way down in the Cowes channel there was approximately fifty boats fishing in a patch down there ,
so we decided to the uneducated fisherman’s trick and just join them all there and now we make it 51.

The sounder was now surely working so much better than if it would have worked if it were at at the bottom of the ocean in Bass Straight ,
Well thats Bens opinion 

and really thats the first time it has ever really switched on and worked so it was in my mind its the units last chance .

Snapper fishing can be boring and i started with a tangle first up and I thought no ,
not again .
Im not used to anchoring in big groups of boats but with a few tests of the new anchor thrown in on the way there , I was confident of it picking  straight in ,
so I chose a spot amongst the crowd and we anchored .

Then it was fishing time and we got stuck into it and waited for the tide change.
I am just a bit deaf apparently and I could hear the man in a  nearby boat yelling something out at me ,
I kept yelling back what?
I sort of got his message and i asked Ben
What did he say?
He said next time you go fishing it may as well be with him.
I had a brief flash of anger and a giggle inside as he thought that I had anchored too close to him .

He was at least thirty metres away and on my other side there were multiple boats that were all closer to me ,
so i dismissed his gripe.
Ben said now the sounder is done that I can turn on my music,
So I did
Oops
Only sound in one ear .
A scratch of the other ear and oh
No hearing aid .
Bugger .

I have a search and locate  button on my phone but it shows no location available ,
So it’s not in the boat.
Its a brand new app that i installed two days ago and stupidly I deleted the old app off my phone .

So back to fishing ,
and not even a bite or one fish caught amongst all the boats . 
Not even a toadie.

So its a bit boring no music and instead I just kick back and drink all of my coffee out of my thermos  .
Bugger .

An hour into the tide change and we call it .
The wind is picking up fast and  starting to blow hard and conditions are fast deteriorating.
The thing is rough conditions inside the bay doesn’t  even  sort of worry us  too much ,
as outside in Bass Straight those sort of rough  choppy conditions are sort of just quite normal.
And out there they come along will swell .

Our  new lead weighted Anchor ,
is working beautifully.
But  now I have a modification to make in my mind to the bow spit set up ,
that will marginally increase my rope capacity at its  next new spool up and  also help lay the rope more evenly on the drum.

So we head back on a trail  we had laid down on the HDS towards home and San Remo and i guess for in the bay its pretty darn rough by now ,
The wind is blowing its ass off and we are still having a go .
It was so bad conditions by now and we were sitting sideways into the wind and fishing hard against the tide.
I was so over it as the forecast was not for this to happen and i hadn’t even thrown in a jumper and it was getting pretty darn chilly.

Through  sheer laziness I dropped two big whiting in succession right at the boat as i didn’t change my rig that morning and the hooks on it were pretty bad , rusty and ordinary.
Ben had already landed a few .

But i had a little spot that was left that i wanted to try now that i had the gps navigation working properly we headed in there .
We anchored ourselves in the middle of the channel there and in reasonably poor conditions we had a bit of a run on the fish and we ended up bagging for our efforts four pinkies and about 10 big Whiting on our own fresh  Venus Bay clams and a few were on  the squid .

So realistically you could say that Ben has now just saved me at least $500 in tuition

Which I think that I wouldn’t do anyway.

So he says he also has also saved me the financial cost  of and the need a new sounder .

He ribbs me now and says that I’m a  big fan of the Lawrence .

Well it will take a  fair bit to convert me from absolutely hating a product and along no help or technical support from a  supposable reputable marine electronics company that their product has driven me absolutely nuts for five years every single time that  i switched it on ,

To loving it .

But I’m optimistic that result can be achieved in the near future ,
I even feel  exactly the same with my pride in my country.

There are a few interesting jobs to do now on
Tiger Ben before its next adventure and I’ll document them as I do them .

First Its time to modify and change my trailer  launch set up before next trip,
This will eliminate
Tiger Bens enthusiasm for hitting the water and it will let me climb up and over her bow at the ramp in peace 

Hmm
Whens the next fishing day ?

I think now its Al’s turn
for a trip out the front that he will probably remember for a long time ,
with him trying to bag out on the big fatties out the front off Killy and us in site of my favourite house.

So I believe the the hearing aid is dead and gone ,
We searched my car the yard and the house.

The new app and their new technology simply failed to stay connected and cost me too much money to replace it, and thats technology for you as Ben would say .
If i hadnt have deleted the old app i could have tracked it.

They dont probably like me at that hearing aid company as i have repeatedly returned them as they had never functioned as advertised.
And even after returning them so many times even as if yesterday
They were faulty.

Im not sure if I’m up with modern technology that is unreliable.

I paid over $5k
For both of theres items and never have i been satisfied once with their failure to operate as advertised.

So the good part about only having one hearing aid is i guess  that in the future if i somehow manage to get myself a romantic date,  you can all tell on the outside if im actually interested in her by the side i have got facing next to her .

One side i can hear everything.
The other side i just make up what i want to hear.

The thing is if they are the same
I figure that
Im laughing 

Cheers xxx