Spring cleaning

Well it's that time of the year when the garage needs a clean, so everything comes out, gets sorted through then the garage is swept out (Our garage isn't exactly what you'd call weatherproof) and put back in, hopefully neater and more accessible. This year when it call came out it was a nice day so I decided to wash the kayaks, with a little help from my son:


This is "Pops" kayak, and despite him not being the greatest squid angler of all time, somehow his Kingfisher was covered in ink so we scrubbed it clean. Ben also found that he fits neatly into the front hatch so is looking forward to his first trip.

I have also just ordered a couple of 300yd spools of Power Pro braid for the upcoming season - 3lb in white for the Stradic Ci4 1000FML and some 10lb yellow for the spare spool on the Stradic 2500FI so I can target snapper on it again. They are coming in from the USA (AUD$52.95 for both including postage) as one spool is close to $70 from Australian stores!

The garage is now clean, the lawn mowed and the deck has been stained so we just need a decent, wind-free day and it's back on the water!

The best snapper season ever?

As a precursor to snapper season some people like to look at weather patterns, some look for the blooming of the ti-tree, some look at water temperature and some even get out on the bay with a depth sounder and motor around for 5 hours at walking pace to sound up some schools of the red fish. My best indicator came yesterday when I arrived home from work to find this:



My wife had gotten sick of the "feral dog dropping his hair everywhere" so took to him with a brush outside. In the image you can clearly see massive clumps of hair all over the yard. Although this has only begun to scratch the surface of his moult, it is definitely an indicator that it's warming up and Big Red is just around the corner!

Handyman at work

As our son approaches moving into another room to accommodate child #2, I have been conscripted to get a bed, mattress and paint his new room. My wife came home the other day with 6 spice racks from Ikea that she decided could be mounted on the wall to use as bookshelves for him. Today I was sent to Bunnings to get some screws and wall anchors to put them up. Here is the result:



I may have "accidently" misunderstood her and now he has inherited the "best of the best" of my fishing magazine collection, just to make sure he is indoctrinated early!

I also managed to pick up about 1m length of 1" PVC, a joiner and some gaffer tape to knock up this for my kayak light:


I just had to fit the joiner to the bottom and used a hacksaw to cut out a groove at the top for the light to fit in. It stayed together well, but used some tape for added security. The reason I added the joiner at the bottom is that it now fits perfectly into a vertical rod holder that is located just behind where I sit in the yak. It has 4 LEDs and I think you'll be able to see me for miles this snapper season!