matt84

i have the 2-4kg 1 pc with a little 2500 reel, 6lb braid goes well, rod has a lot of power down low and still tippy enough to cast small plastics on worm hooks.

i use a berkley diablo 7' 6-10kg ~$160, heaps of power an has landed some very solid fish.

most rod ratings are made to suit the line class. ie limits 12kg rod to 4kg drag max (or 12kg line 1/3 breaking strain), based on effective working curve of the rod. to run 10kg drag you would be looking at least a 24kg rod. not saying you cant run 10kg on the 12kg rod, will just have to hold it below its working curve, ie rod pointed toward the fish at say below 8 o'clock.. running 10kg on a 12kg stick = snapped rod. That said some rods are more forgiving. Go with the 30lb braid 80-100lb leader, 5kg drag and use use thumbs to slow it a little rather then wacking it to sunset.

i have caught a few fish in my time that would have been records, but need to be in a club, have your line tested and all that... too much effort

insane footage, would love to do the poppering thing for GT's

hit your head on the way in and a life jacket ain't gonna help much, still need to swim out from the rocks to avoid getting bashed around. If you think you need a life jacket then obviously its too rough to be fishing that spot, and if you can't swim you shouldn't be fishing off the rocks anyway, a bit of commonsense is needed. I fished the same Catho area were the car was found on sat arvo, swell was up then with a swell direction that was wiping out normally safe rocks, and swell was building, i could of told you it wasn't a smart idea to fish the area of a night time as could most well experienced rock fishos.

had a 20kegger come up an snatch a bonnie 1m off the boat in 8m of water on the weekend... nothing was gonna stop that. as other have said 50lb braid 80lb leader does the trick for me.

on the left at the river mouth, before the high wooden pier, there is a small public floating jetty fish of this, on the left you will normally see a few boat as the tides comes in let you lure/popper/sp run up the side of the boat and work it back. or drift livies around them. was a big cat last time i was there n i let it drift right up n under. managed a small barra, mangrove jacks, trevas and smoked a heap of times. otherwise i have herd you get the occasional good fish off the left break wall of the marina.

depending on the break you might be able to make it a 2 piece by adding a ferule were it snapped. have done it with rods before, will never be the same but.

yep i have a pen big game one also, i treat it like poo, scratches all over it, never washed... still goes fine

It's an odd couple of fish on lures cause you didn't catch either fish on the lure, both look as though they were jagged in the back. They are pretty thick there at the moment i have accidentally jagged a few while chasing frigates.

just watch the marine parks, there are a few spots that are now protected

yep im using the fg knot too, use it on my king outfit with 50lb braid and 80lb leader, have had a locked spheros and didn't falter. but for mono connection i use a double in my main and albright to my leader.

good stuff, might be better to make the extra 1/2hr drive south next week instead of fishing my usual haunts that require extended walking lol.

i never use albrights with braid especially with fluro leader, i have had way too many slip or snap. there are alot better knots out there, recently been using this, easy to tie and have had locked drags with 50lb braid and 80-120lb leader and no problems. also goes through the guides nicely

this is a Watson leaping bonito

nice king this is my biggest 25kg on 15kg gear out of port stephens