PICKING up where I left off last month on my week-long live-aboard Swain Reefs charter trip with Carlo Fishing Charters, we’d just wrapped up an incredible morning of fishing a glassed-out Great Barrier Reef. This unreal start to the fishing had us salivating, but not for lunch, rather to get back out in the dories and catch more epic fish! …

GOLDEN opportunities don’t come along too often, so when they do, you’re well advised to grab them with both hands. I was lucky enough to find myself in this situation recently when owner and operator of Carlo Fishing Charters Karl Kleimeyer invited me on a seven-day Swain Reefs fishing trip aboard the recently completed Carlo II mother ship. Karl has …

YELLOWFIN Plate is hoping to make a big impression with its recent brand relaunch. You may not be familiar with the Yellowfin Plate name, yet the brand has a 35-year history in Australia. Think of the Yellowfin family tree in a similar vein to the Hemsworth family and you’re on the right track. So you’ve got Quintrex (Chris), Stacer (Liam) …

MARINE industry mover and shaker Formosa Marine certainly ruffled some feathers when it released the X Bowrider in 2017. Not conforming to one single design philosophy, the X Bowrider stands out from the pack with sharp lines above the gunwales and a look somewhere between a bowrider, centre cabin and runabout. I had hotly anticipated taking this boat for a …

A RECENT pristine day on Moreton Bay saw me on the water testing a boat I’ve had a soft spot for since a young age: a Formosa Centre Cabin. Specifically, I was commandeering the 580 Centre Cabin in Tomahawk V2 Offshore hull configuration, as supplied by Australian Marine Centre with a 140hp Suzuki fourstroke outboard. Constructed from 4mm plate aluminium …

WHAT do you look for when browsing the market for a tender? Like most, you probably want something small that will easily hoist onto the back of your larger boat, top of your car or at least tow well behind your boat when under way. And like many Aussies, you’ve probably seen the ubiquitous Polycraft Tuff Tender mounted on the …

UNIQUE design features are a hallmark of Formosa Marine boats, and the recently released Active Transom on the Sea-Rod range is no exception. Active Transom is effectively Formosa’s way of saying: “Set up the back end of your boat how you’d like it.” You’ve got four transom options to choose from: Full Access, Dual Access, Single Access and Closed Access, …

FORMOSA Marine is certainly one of the more innovative boat-building brands operating today. In the 20 years since its inception, the business has gone from strength to strength and the Formosa range has continually expanded, including adding the Sea-Rod sub-brand to its portfolio in 2011, with a plethora of innovations along the way. I recently found myself on the Tweed …

ONE boat to do it all. One boat to capably fish the bays, rivers, creeks and offshore. I didn’t have my ‘one’ picked until I recently tested the Australian Master Marine 5700 Sea Class centre console off the Gold Coast. As far as plate aluminium boat builders go, you’d be hard pressed to find one better than AMM. Customisation and …

EVERY now and then I come across a boat with a fit and finish so fine it’s akin to a luxury car. This was exactly the case when I hit Moreton Bay in the McLay 651 CrossXover Hardtop, which is interesting as this boat is marketed as a hard-core fishing weapon. Leading up to this boat test, McLay’s reputation for …