Optima Blue Top 75Ah 900CCA Battery
Words & Images: Kosta Linardos In the world of boating, there’s one absolute truth – you’re only as good as your power system. It doesn’t matter how tricked-up your boat is or how sharp your electronics are, if your battery fails, your whole day is over. For the past 12 months, I’ve been running a pair of Optima Blue Top 75Ah 900CCA batteries in my 6m Edencraft, and I can say with confidence these are the real deal. Reliable, powerful and designed for life on the water, they’ve earned their place in my set-up. My Edencraft is a serious fully loaded rig, powered by a Mercury Verado 300hp and rigged for full-day missions – often in challenging weather, remote locations
Hooked Up 155 April 2025
The April issue of Hooked Up Magazine is live and it’s a cracker. We kick things off with an epic road trip from NSW to QLD, chasing big impoundment barra. It’s a wild ride with big fish, mad sessions, and plenty of kilometres covered. Next up, we break down everything you need to know about poppers—what makes a good one, the different styles, and when to use them. We also take a closer look at the humble bluespot flathead in South Australia and how to catch them on plastics and bait. To wrap things up, there’s a deep dive into the evolution of jigging, and how slow pitch and mechanical jigging have started to blend into a hybrid style that’s
Hooked Up 154 March 2025
The latest issue of Hooked Up Magazine is packed with some epic content for all you anglers out there. This month, we take a close look at soft vibing techniques for reef species in Queensland, offering clear advice to help you get more bites. We also cover how to target Spanish mackerel in New South Wales—timing, tactics and tackle included. For something a bit different, we’ve put together an in-depth guide to fishing around Port Lincoln in South Australia, with everything you need to know to plan a trip. Plus, our news section is full of updates on the latest tackle and boating gear, including the new Simrad NSS4, Daiwa Revelry, Shimano Aerelex and more.
Offshore Soft Vibing
Words & Images: Colby Lesko Soft vibes have long since dominated deep-water scenarios when it comes to estuary and freshwater lure fishing. With soft vibes so effective in these situations it was only a matter of time until we saw tackle companies making bigger and heavier soft vibes than ever for the offshore market. Over recent years offshore soft vibing has really taken off and is extremely effective for a range of fish. I’ve been lucky enough to fish a lot of soft vibes offshore on the Great Barrier Reef over recent years with lots of success. These are my tips to get you into some quality fish even if you have never fished a soft vibe before. It’s the
Fishing Port Lincoln
Words & Images: Jamie Crawford Located on the south-eastern shores of the Eyre Peninsula, Port Lincoln is a beautiful seaside city nestled around the natural harbor of Boston Bay. Famous for bluefin tuna farming, shark cage diving and being the seafood capital of Australia, Port Lincoln is a must-visit destination for food lovers and outdoor adventurers. With a stunning national park located on the southern side of the city, along with nearby surf beaches, sheltered bays and coves, the coastline is as diverse as it is beautiful, and with a light population the region has managed to retain much of its natural beauty. There are some breathtaking four-wheel drive treks in the national park for those who enjoy getting off
Hooked Up 153 feb 2025
The February edition sees Hooked Up publish its first dusky flathead special. We interview 8 gun dusky anglers and provide a buyer’s guide featuring over 120 lures
Simrad Launches the NSS 4
Simrad Yachting has unveiled the all-new NSS 4. The NSS 3 was the choice for thousands of hard core anglers (including Hooked Up staff and many of its contributors) thanks to its efficiency, reliability, outstanding navigation and class leading sonar returns. It seems the NSS 4 is improving on these key elements that fisherman find most crucial. The NSS 4 sports a new sleek design, and boasts ultra-fast performance and more advanced sonar capabilities. Te NSS 4 delivers lightning-fast speed with a powerful Qualcomm 8-core processor which should mean its much faster. Navico. Simard’s parent company claims that switching between sonar, charts, and radar is now seamless, with no lag – just instant, smooth transitions. The new glass-to-edge screen will
Topwater Kingfish
Yellowtail kingfish would have to be one of the hardest-fighting fish along the east coast of Australia and they can be targeted in various ways, from as simple as slow trolling a live bait or throwing a soft plastic in the washes to my personal favourite – throwing stickbaits and poppers around for that epic topwater bite. In this article I am going to talk about some handy tips I use to make finding kingfish easier and the small things I do to fire them up to get those epic bites. Finding the Kingdom Kingfish are a very temperamental fish and working out their patterns can be a challenge. Knowing where kingfish like to hang out is critical as you can