Ben Collins

Mini Queensland lap – Part 1

Mini Queensland lap

My family loves caravanning and camping holidays, and earlier this year the decision was made to do a four-week adventure around Queensland, starting the week before the June July holidays and finishing a week after. Our partners in crime, or touring buddies, were family friends the Bocks – Nick, Kylie and kids Mason and Mikayla – with whom we have …

Read More »

Testing – Ocean Craft Posi Lift Hull

Ocean Craft Posi

Testing – Ocean Craft Posi Lift Hull – Not all boat tests or in this case boat reviews are the same. The main reason this one is a little different is because I tested the boat with an 18hp Tohatsu, even though the Ocean Craft 5900 is rated to 170hp. Ocean Craft Posi Why, you ask? Well, the new owner …

Read More »

Oceancraft 6000 Extreme Reef Fisher

FINDING the one boat that does it all may feel unachievable. However, the decked-out 6000 Extreme Reef Fisher by Ocean Craft manages to tick most of the boxes, making it a very versatile boat. Unique in design, Ocean Craft boats are constructed to handle almost any condition, inshore and offshore. The large buoyancy chambers – a feature of the boats …

Read More »

Live baiting for Gold Coast black marlin

BEFORE I get started, I wanted to let you know I’m not an expert at catching Gold Coast marlin, however I do want to relay what worked for a couple of friends and myself on a recent trip out from the Gold Coast. The plan was to head out through the Seaway, check out a few of the wave rider …

Read More »

Isuzu D-Max goes bush ‘n beach

SMARTER, tougher and safer is one of the tag lines Isuzu use for the all-new D-Max, and it has proved worthy. The reborn workhorse has an all-new 3-litre turbo-charged engine that produces around 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque. And it doesn’t stop with the engine – the whole car has been re-imagined, re-defined and re-styled to set it …

Read More »

Brisbane snapper trolling and tuna searching

THERE are lots of places to troll for snapper and your best bet is to start looking at maps with contours lines, Beacon to Beacon charts and even your sounder if it has a detailed Navionics card. To give you a few ideas of good places to start trolling for snapper, I would look at Peel Island, Mud Island, Green …

Read More »

Ocean Craft Buccaneer review

ocean craft buccaneer

WHILE probably better known in the commercial dive and fishing segment, Ocean Craft, a Caloundra-based boat builder, is making a few waves in the recreational sector with the Buccaneer. Ocean Craft’s recently redesigned 7.6m Buccaneer   has been purpose-built for recreational anglers who want a vessel that can handle pretty much anything the wind and water can throw at it. I …

Read More »

Sojourn to the Swains – part three

swains

  THIS is the final piece of my three-part series on an epic Swain Reefs fishing trip. If you have missed either of the first two parts, you can find free digital copies of the articles at issuu.com/bnbfishing To give you a brief rundown on the adventure so far, Wilson Fishing compiled a motley crew to test some of their …

Read More »

Isuzu MU-X review

MU-X

AFTER testing the new Isuzu D-MAX several months ago, an opportunity arose to try out the top-of-the-range Isuzu MU-X LS-T 4X4, so I jumped at it. The MU-X comes in three models starting with the base LS-M, moving up to the LS-U and finally the top-spec LS-T, all of which are powered by the ever-reliable three-litre turbo-diesel engine, which is …

Read More »

Sojourn to the Swains – part two

swain

FOR those who missed last month’s part one article, I recently embarked on the trip of a lifetime with a crew put together by Wilson Fishing. We went on a Swain Reef adventure chasing everything from big GTs to awesome-looking coral trout and everything in between. The aim of this trip was to destroy some fishing gear (well, test its …

Read More »