Dave66

Glad to see those spinnerbaits working for you Hodgie, makes a bloke a little homesick seeing all those cod pics. Did you manage to lose many in the skinny water? Did that secret orange colour catch a fish? I have to agree with Moro Mou, with some of the reports I am already getting from Victoria, the fishing down there will be good for a while to come. Heard one reliable report from Eildon of a mixed bag of 70 redfin and yellas on the same homemade vibe in 2 days until the lure was lost. Cheers Dave.

Hey guys, I have used down riggers for years chasing trout and only found that if it started to trail too far behind it would be a speed or drag issue as in too much resistance at the bomb. Some of the attractors on the market are a little big and would pull the bomb back further. This may not be relevant to your setup, but the size of bait or lure could give the same result. The only problem I have had with bombs, especially some of the ball type, is that if the rudder is to small, they can spin under water and cause problems with the release as well. Once you have your setup fine tuned to your trolling speed vs bomb weight and size of lure you will find the down rigger to be a very versatile tool that will sometimes catch you fish on days when other methods fail. Good luck with it and I hope some of this helps. Dave.

While drifting across the Wagonga flats casting surface lures to the ever willing bream, tailor and whiting on our Narooma holiday, my wife suddenly blurts out " I could live here!!". To say I nearly dropped my rod in sudden amazement was maybe a bit of an understatement. Maybe it was because she was 8 to 4 up at that stage and feeling good about kicking my butt I'm not really sure, but she still felt the same way when we pulled into our driveway a few days later. Telling a fisherman who lives in northern Victoria some 9 hour drive from the NSW south coast that he has the green light to make a sea change is a once in a lifetime opportunity so I set about finding a job. It looks like I may have found work in Bega so I will now have the little bit of coast between Mallacoota and Tuross Head to explore. Tathra looks like a nice quiet place to live. Exciting times ahead, cheers Dave.

It seems I might be timing my visit in 3 weeks to perfection. Have already heard that the beaches are starting to fire with good salmon and tailor, "on before you could get the bail arm closed" was the exact words. One guy ran out of bait and switched to plastics and the fun continued, I can't wait. Cheers, Dave.

Glad you enjoyed your time in my part of the world Hodgey, I grew up in Cohuna fishing the Wakool, Gunbower Creek and the Murray and yeah it can get bloody hot. Spend most of my time chasing cod and yellas in Lake Mulwala these days (definitely a place you should mark on your to do list when you next come this way) and yes nothing compares to a decent cod hitting a spinnerbait as it rattles through the snags. The blokes over this way take there " shack" building quite seriously at times and some end up more like Bush Hilton's. It is amazing what can be recycled to make a good hut unique. Great story, great pics Cheers, Dave

+1 for the Abu 7000 I have 2 and can't fault them. Great reels for the money.

Wow... I see what you mean about the prices. Do some colors work better than others generally. I liked the look of those Vikings that Hodgey uses but can't seem to source any at the moment. I do have a small selection of Bass poppers and tiny Heddon's torpedo's etc would some of these do for the bream? Is there a fairly good tackle shop in the Narooma area for last minute supplies etc and bait for the kids?

Hey all, Been a while between posts but time is getting away too quickly and this is where I am at, thought I would place it here instead of starting new topics about the same thing. My new setups for the estuary: Slazenger Obsession rods with Pflueger Supreme XT reels. Both have been given a bit of a workout already with the 7' claiming a 56cm Murray Cod and a 44cm Golden Perch on its first outing... so much fun on light gear. Both rods are rigged with Spiderwire Stealth, the 1-3 in 6lb red and the 2-5 in 8lb camo. The reels came with spare spools so should I load 1 with smaller braid or fluorocarbon for finicky bream? This is where the plastics and blade selection is at the moment, all been used on the natives and redfin with good success. We are finding blades to be dynamite on natives when cast to cover. Santa was kind enough to leave some poppers under the tree for me, bless his foresight. Will this be a good start or is there some glaring omissions that need to be added before March? Hodgey, we would love to come up to Tuross for a day and say g'day. Cheers, Dave.

Hey Raiders, Has anyone heard of the Slazenger Obsession rods. My local shop sells them for just under $200 and they seem very well built for the money. They seem very well balanced with good quality components. I can't seem to find any info on the net but the bloke in the store said the sell heaps and everyone is happy with them. I was looking at the 6'4" 1-3 kilo and the 7' 2-5 kilo with the little Pflueger XT reels which seemed to balance everything out quite well. Thanks, Dave.

I was just surprised at how well the bail arm flipped back over with no extra pressure applied, even the Stradic would occasionally hang up. About the same price as the Stradic F1 so that's a bonus. The new XTS does look flash, maybe a little too much bling for this fisho.

At my local tackle store today looking at rods and reels...again. I wanted to try a few different brands of reel to see how smooth the action etc but in the back of my mind I was convinced that I would end up with another Stradic to match my old 1000 that I have now. I was even shown one of the new Stradic C14 but was not convinced. I was then handed a Pflueger Supreme XT and I could not believe how smooth and well balanced it was. Even though the Stradics were on the counter I kept picking up the Supreme. My mate has a few of the baitcasters and he swears by them but I have always been a Shimano man. Anyone have any feedback on the Pflueger reels long term as I could really see myself buying a couple of these. Thanks, Dave.

Hodgey how do you find the grip to cast with as it did seem a little small and short to me, but I do have big gorilla hands. Had a look at these in a local shop today, very sweet rods with a nice fast action. I found the 6'6" to be a little better balanced but that was without reels and all the tags still on. Looked at some really nice rods to compare, Berkley Dropshot, Starlo, Strudwick Sicstiks, Shimano T-curve ( oh for a spare $300) and Wilson live fibre... decisions... decisions.

Hey all, Been reading the posts here for a while and thought I should join. In March next year I am taking a month to explore the SE coast, starting with a week in Narooma and fishing our way to Port Albert in Vic where my wife has family. We will be taking my 435 Hornet Trophy to get around the estuaries.I know it is still a while off, but I will be slowly adding to the tackle box and trying to gain as much info as I can about tackle and tactics etc before we go. I have one 6 foot Sage flick rod with a stradic 1000 that I use for trout which is spooled with light braid ( grey color, sorry can't remember the brand). I am keen to try soft plastics, vibes and the fly rod targeting bream, flathead and whiting in the estuaries. I have read an enormous amount of posts on rod setups etc and note that most of you have 2 rods set differently for bream and other species. Is braid necessary for both outfits or could one be rigged with braid and the other fluorocarbon? I have a spare spool for the Stradic so maybe I could rig this rod with both but is 6lb light enough for fully spooled fluorocarbon? For a second rod would you suggest a 7ft as I notice most of the ultralight one pieces are getting longer these days. I would probably put another Stradic on this rod as well but maybe go up a size. Any suggestions on lure color and size would help as I don't want to become a shareholder of a particular tackle store but hope to get a reasonable range of squidgies, blades and poppers. I am hoping that March is a good time to be fishing the area. Cheers, Dave.