macca02

For a general combo that will cover bonnies, salmon, tailor and kings (to some extent) a 9ft rod that is capable of casting up to 65g at least. Matched to a 4000-5000 sized reel with 20lb-30lb braid. If you want something more targeting towards kings then i'd be looking at something like a daiwa demon blood 962, 50lb braid and a 6000-8000 sized reel, though this would be overkill for everything else. I find 9ft the perfect length for spinning off the rocks.

Yep they perform amazing for the money. I've got the older model and it outcasts all my other 9ft spin sticks(T-Curve offshore). 65 and 85g raiders it pelts with ease and has alot of power to handle a good fish off the rocks. If i'm going to be doing any sort of lure work off the rocks/beach it is my goto rod.

Thanks Xerotao exactly the info i was after. What brand swivels do you use? And also are you using the straight shank or offset gamakatsu gangsters. Think i'm going to try them as i have bought pre-made mustad ones before and they're definitely not as sharp as gama's. I'm going to experiment with some rigged without swivels, one rigged with swivels linking each one, and another rigged with just a swivel on the last one/connecting to the line. I do think the swivels would allow for extra bait movement and prevent fish throwing the hooks/dehooking themselves.

JonD you definitely get what you pay for, its like comparing a $50 jarvis walker kmart combo to a $200 shimano/daiwa combo. At the end of the day they both catch fish, its just ones nicer to use. The watersnakes are good value for money and a good entry level motor to begin with, i started off with one and was happy with it (this was a non GPS model), though it did have a problem with the head unit circuit board which i ended up sending it back for (their service department are really good, they organised a courier to pick up and return it and i had it back within a week or two from memory). When i got the money after a couple of years I eventually upgraded to a motorguide xi5 and could not be happier with the decision, part of it is the GPS abilities (which i'm sure watersnake also have now), but the other part is the quality (from the unit to the remotes), quietness, reliability and responsiveness which IMO were much better than the watersnake. With all that being said i'm sure they've improved and gained more features in the past 5 years since owning one.

Pillies for bait mainly, though haven't tried spinning gars so would love to give that a go aswell!

Looking to target some tailor off the beaches with Gang hooks, just wondering if anyone here makes up their own and links them with swivels? if so what hooks e.g. (Gamakatsu Gangsters, Mustad 4202d etc) and swivel brand/size do you use? i feel like it might be a bit of trial an error getting the right hook and swivel combination.

Also own a 55l 12 volt Motorguide Xi5, though my boat is rather small and light (3.9m old style tinny) - very happy with it. I owned a Waternsake prior to this which for the money was good though its nowhere near as good as the motorguide IMO. Motorguide is built better, quieter, more responsive, better features, better battery consumption etc. Only issue i've had is corrosion on the lower unit (paint bubbling), it hasn't affected anything other than looks, though i'll get it fixed under warranty before the 2 years is up (got a few more months to go). Personally if i was to get one for a 4.6m boat i'd get a 80lb 24v system regardless of brand.

Looking at going to Darwin mid April for a week, hoping to get away for a half-full day charter. After a small charter (e.g. tinny, not a huge boat with 15 people) to go on with my girlfriend to chase barramundi inshore. Tarpon and other species would also be awesome, though i'm not sure what to expect up there in April. Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations or experiences? Understand if specific charter operators can't be named, if so please just PM Me. Cheers!

For Flatty's - Squidgy fish Black & Gold 70mm is pretty much the only plastic i use, its my goto confidence lure.

What lb braid and leader were you using? I find double Uni is fine up until 20lb leader. (You need to make sure you trim the tags really close on the fluoro). I run it through the guides and don't have any issues, unless the rod has micro guides or am using 20lb> leader. For anything over 20lb FG is the go!

An 8ft wouldn't be a bad compromise - though a bit on the short side for beach work. I personally reckon you'd be better off suited to 2 rods - something around that 7ft mark for estuary fishing, and if you want a crossover rock/beach rod then something in that 9-9'6 mark is perfect. Obviously for beach the longer the better - 12ft is my go to length if i'm just bait fishing as it gives you a bit more clearance with the breaking waves when the swell is up. But if you want a really versatile rod the 9-9'6 is long enough for bait fishing from the beach and its the perfect size for spinning metals & lures off the beach and rocks, i find anything longer starts to get a bit more awkward to use lures with. What sort of fish do you intend on targeting in the river and on the beach?

Hey mate, I don't believe any sites have predictions for kincumber/besnville/empire bay part of the estuary. Your best bet would be to use the tide times for Woy Woy Railway bridge or maybe even East gosford as a basis (as these are similar distance up the estuary - east gosford is a bit further up, but the estuary is much wider in these parts compared to kincumber so might take the tide a similar time to reach). Then when you're out there take note and see if the times line up around the tide changes. Using one of these as a basis should put you pretty close to the tide times in Kincumber.

If you're going off the beach i'd just try both! make sure you have a couple of good rod holders/spikes for the beach and bait one up with beach worm and another with squid.

Yeah pretty much - I've done it before, thread a plastic on a long shank hook and have a ball sink running down to it. Better even would be to fix the ball sinker down near the hook so it doesn't move up the line. It can be done, I've done it before as a muck around/experiment and got a flathead doing so. That all being said, just get some jigheads - its much easier lol

Generally you want to have the hook point exposed so it can easily penetrate. Through experience you'll find if its buried in the bait you miss a lot more hookups then if the point is exposed. I used to do it when i first started fishing, i'd try and cover the hook completely with the bait, though through my own experimenting is when i soon realised that what i thought would catch me more fish by hiding the hook, was actually catching me less

Having troubles snugging down your knot can be from a variety of things, though usually its the leader material itself, the diameter of the leader material, the knot used and how many turns done in the knot. But simply i find: * The more turns the harder it can sometimes be to snug down (this is amplified with thicker line). * Some lines knot easier than others, usually your harder lines like fluorocarbon and some of the tougher style leaders don't knot as easy as the softer/more limp lines. E.g. mono generally is much easier to knot compared to fluorocarbon. Sounds like you're doing a half-blood knot. If you aren't already, make sure you 'lock' it off in the end - this will prevent it slipping which hateanchors mentions. I also like to leave a little bit of tag end (e.g. don't cut it as close as you can, leave half a cm), this just gives an extra bit of insurance, in if you didn't pull it down tight enough to lock it in (which you should!), if it does slip at all the half cm could save it and allow it to lock down before it unravels. The below picture shows the extra step to lock the blood knot, basically you do as you said, wrap it around your finger, twist it a good 6-8 times (less for thick leader, more for thin leader) put the end back through the loop you created with your finger, then finally to lock it all off you put it back through the circle created whilst doing this (step 4 of the pic) which kind of goes against the direction of the finger loop locking it into place. With all that being said If the wraps aren't sliding down and locking, just use your fingers to slide/wiggle it down, rather than attempting to apply excess force by pulling the line - and of course make sure you lubricate the knot with saliva. I generally use a locked half blood knot for lighter leader (20lb and less), 30lb+ i use a unit knot (3 to 4 turns depending on thickness).

Sweep can be a real pain in some locations when attempting to catch Yakkas for livebaits. If you can't get any Yakkas or Slimies and you're catching sweep then i'd use them for livebait. My thinking is that a more torpedo/slimline shaped fish like a yakka or slimy would be much easier to eat/swallow for a predatory fish, as opposed to something that has a taller body shape & protruding fins. That being said if a fish is hungry its going to eat! i've caught rat kings when retrieving reef fish (angel fish, or something similar) which were hooked on a bait/sabiki jig.

Yeah there really isn't any small tackle stores left on the south end of the central coast, the last one left is as mentioned west gosford bait & tackle - i haven't found anywhere that has good quality/fresh squid (other than up at the entrance). As regan mentioned - fishermans wharf is probably your best bet for fresh bait, i get mullet & blackfish from there for bait all the time. If i'm going to stock up on plastics/jigheads/lures etc i'll go to Freddy's at erina or a shop west gosford. Freddy's is well stocked where a shop can be very hit and miss with their stock replenishment.

I used Evadure to seal a form ply deck which was carpeted in my tinny - this was approx 8 years ago and it is literally the same as when i first did it. The boat has been stored outside for the whole time with a cover (not a very good one mind you) over it. Its expensive from memory and a 2 part product, though worth it!

I too fish Brisbane waters and also have no issue with crab traps being banned. Sure traps make catching crabs pretty damn easy - which is probably one of the reasons they're banned in some estuaries in the first place. Think about it - you have a waterway with a large population residing around it and you allow traps (2 per person) - then you're going to get a shit ton of people doing it (and more people abusing it), i'd imagine it probably wouldn't take very long to smash their population/numbers - which may very well be the case for introducing the ban in some estuaries (banning traps would allow their numbers to build back up and reduce fishing pressure). If you can't trap and you have to catch them by line, = less people targeting them = a greater abundance of crabs in the estuary. To me its simple - the more crabs the better! And if banning trapping helps then i have no issues with that - you just need to change your tactics on targeting them. I agree that witches hats are worse and its stupid allowing them and not the round traps. Either ban both or allow the round traps.

Yep a few times! I've been on the boat when a friend caught a very small one approx 50cm on blackwall side of the rip. Twice I've seen packs of hoodlum kings (absolute monsters easily 1m+/10kg ). Once was near daleys point/killcare in deep water not far from the oyster leases (i was fishing for bream and saw them - followed them around for about an hour). More recently (less than a year ago) was under Woy Woy Railway bridge - had them swim up and investigate the bow mount electric motor whilst i was fishing. Its definitely not a common occurrence or something i think you could ever plan on targeting them, but they do show up in there (some very big ones aswell) and surprisingly go quite far up the system (furthest i've seen was at woy woy bay).

Never fished down there - though i don't think you can go past some 65-85gram raiders and cranking them flat chat. Any decent popper, stickbait and long soft plastics (white and pink are personal favourite colours) is also proven. Rapala XRaps SXR are also dynamite! Gear sounds right, i'd run 60-80lb leader via an FG and run a fair few metres of it - this will give you extra protection for abrasion and if you do get a big king you can grab the leader and pull it up the rocks (if its a high ledge). Are you just taking the one rod & reel? if you can i'd recommend 1 spin rod and 1 livebait rod (i prefer an overhead for this as it much more suited - a Tyrnos 25/30 loaded with 15kg-24kg mono is cheap and perfect for kings).

Hi Tam, I'm no expert but i think you've answered it yourself - I've found that they don't like when its windy and prefer more sandy beaches than coarser rocky/shelly type. Not sure if they're more dormant in the cooler months though?

^ This. If you're fishing out of a boat just keep their head low - I usually bring them up by leading them around the boat in circles it slowly works them up to the top with ease and they're going with you instead of against you. I use 3lb braid and 6lb fluorocarbon leader - only ever been bitten off once and that was because i'd left the rod unattended and the flatty had time to swallow the plastic. That being said they aren't leader shy - i just keep it light as i can chase flathead and bream with the same outfit without changing leaders (and the leader knot passes through the guide with less resistance) When using soft plastics 99% of the time you're going to hook them in the lip/jaw.

Squidgy Fish - 65mm - Black & Gold (Flathead) Zman Grubz - 2.5" - Motor Oil (Bream) Squidgy Lobby (Bream)