JET01

Thanks for the feedback mate, I know the new spinfisher is probably the heaviest reel for the size out there, but I'm going with this particular because on paper it seems to be the closest thing you could get to fishing with an alvey in terms of durability and value for money. I'm fishing with a 6000bcvrrt which weighs in at 712g where as the 4500SSV is around 400g. I wasn't a big fan of the penn prevail 5-9kg so I'm going to get a Lox Iridium surf 10628 6-10kg. So to save weight i'm going from a 6"Alvey reel and 600 Alvey Estuary/Surf rod to a Lox and a spinfisher. It might not be the lightest possible, but it should be the best in terms of durability and value for money.

10-20lb would be ok.

Did you end up getting one mate? Im thinking about getting a 4500-5500 to use with 15lb line and a 5-9kg 10'6-12' rod for drummer. They sound like a a great option for rock and beach fishing.

thanks for the comments. popped into a local tackle shop this arvo... the Daiwa Lateo Pirates 10'6 is now on the radar... just got to get the bikkies together.

mate have a look at the shimano Terez 10-20lb and 15-30lb SG.... great rods for the price.

I thought about getting one of those just before comp, but with an alvey shoulder bag and an alvey bait belt and lifejacket,there is just too much hanging off me. In this day and age where there are options out there with equal strength and greater sensitivity, im finding it hard to come up with a good reason (apart from low maintenance) to keep this old cluncky piece of $&@?. The best thing is, the mrs just gave me the green light to get a new rod... F&$k she's awesome.

I just fished a 24 hour rock and beach comp with both these set ups. Im now loooking for a replacement rod for the heavier setup. Those low mount rods are not my cup of tea, very awkard to use for long periods, and not to mention heavy. Im going to look for a much light set up. Penn prevail 5-9kg and a stradic fj 5000 is looking the goods at the moment.

I hate the stuff in 6lb. Ive got two tcurve flights one 661 and a 702. Both with ci4 1000. One spooled with power pro 5lb and the other with 6lb PE. the sunline pe Always seems to get caught in between the rings in my recoil guides on my tcurve flight. Ive loat count of the jig heds and sp lures ive lot due to tangles during casting. Id steer clear of it if you have recoil guides especially.

Cockie!!!!

mate i've got a nitro viper with a 4000 ci4 stradic on it which I think is a little too light for the rod. I reckon the 4000 Ci4 would be great for the baby viper. If I were to get a reel for the nitro viper tomorrow i'd be looking at the stradic FJ 5000 which I have a on a terez 15-30lb... better size reel for the rod I reckon.

She went 79cm... That's an Alvey ruler that she's on... ruler only goes to 80cm.

After picking up my new PA12 on the 23rd Dec, I'd fished twice in the Hacking with the Thunderbird crew for donuts. Being pretty keen to blood the new yak, I'd decided to get back to my roots and flick plastics for flatties around Towra in the bay. When I started fishing a few years ago, I bought a boat and would almost be 100% sure of getting a flattie every time I fished these waters. I pushed off late, around 9am, the Mrs planned to fish the flats at Kurnell for some whiting while I was out in the Yak. I fished the rocky area near the sanctuary zone and all along the mangrove edges for zip... I moved into deeper waters (2-4m) half way between Bonna Point and Towra point, once again for zip. This was starting to look like another donut session. It was getting close to midday and I'd promised the mrs a ride on the back of the new PA12. So I paddled towards the boat ramp. The tide was really starting to move across a sand bar a few hundred meters from the Sanctuary Zone. As I couldn't see the mrs on the beach I figured "I'll give it a couple of casts". Second cast and wack... I'm on... As I haven't caught a legal fish since the day I picked up my first legal Jewie, I was pretty excited. It took a few big runs early. Then just didn't want to move. With only 6lb leader on I was praying that I'd hooked the fish in the lip. The fight lasted quite a while, and was tricky because as soon as I hooked up the Southerly buster came through, which blew me and my pig PA12 around a bit. After netting what I knew straight away was my PB, I headed back to silver beach as fast as I could, pushing into the wind was tough. Finally found some shelter on the beach for a few pics and a very satisfying release. For all you tackle junkies Gear used: 1-4kg 66 Shimano T-curve flight Shimano Stradic CI4 1000 6lb Sunline Super PE 6lb Fluorocarbon leader 1/4oz 2/0 Jig head Medium Squidgy Pro Lobby in Wasabi colour. Jet's youtube channel there is a clip of the release on my youtube channel aswell as a poor clip of the fight.

Been trying to find a good blackfish spot in botany bay for ages, any chance of a hint? I fish from a yak or landbased.

I've caught a few rays in gunnamatta bay... if you were fishing in the deeper section down towards the channel it may have been a king or a jew... But i reckon it was a ray too.

Cheers mate!

Mate i'm headin up there for the long weekend... how far offshore are you? I've only got a Stacer Nomad 469 so can only go out when its really flat. Are there any spots inside the estuary where i can livebait/ jig for kings?

Mate if you want to fish around that area, fish on the south side of the the cooks river bridge at Kyeemagh. There's a breakwall there and people have caught all species including kings from this breakwall. there's a truck load of parking there too... but the boat traffic through there can get a bit annoying at times because the entrance to the cooks river is quite narrow.

Thanks for digging this thread up Ceph. When i started that thread i only had one 1000 size reel, but had two spools. One spool with 3kg Fireling exceed, and the other with 6lb Sunline. The sunline does cast further, but I dont use is anywhere near as often as i use the fireline exceed because of the wind knots. I have since bought another ci4 1000 which I spooled with 5lb power pro. Haven't used it much, but when i did it was great stuff. If i was to buy a new spool of line tomorrow i'd probably just stick to fireline ranges. anything between around the thickness of 3lb Fireline crystal, but no thinner than Sunline 6lb Super PE.

Thanks for your help everyone. I ended up getting a 45BC to put on my Catana 1062 3-5kg. Spooled it up with 15lb Kokoda GT-R Ultra with 150m of 8lb Dango Wax over the top. I top shotted it because one of my mates in Darwin is going to give me his blackfish alvey. When it gets here i'll move the dango wax across to the black fish alvey. I also ended up getting an Alvey 5kg 10'6 and a 6000BCVRRT. It's got a drag system, rapid retrieve, fish alert, and turbo cast. Spooled it up with 20lb Kokoda GT-R Ultra. Can't wait to get out onto the rocks to give it a crack. I just hope I like these reels... i've gone from having none to three in no time. Suppose i'd better get used to it hey!

Thanks for the kind words gents. Look forward to pulling in more.

I was lucky enough to have the day off after Anzac so made sure we got a fish in. Had a flick around my favourite squid spot which is still recovering from the recent rain and swell. I caught one squid which went straight into the freezer for next weekends fishing comp down at Bawley Point. After a quiet morning me and a mate threw our rods in the boot to head out for my first ever rock fishing sessions. I've been doing a fair bit of reading about blackfishing and have started to get some specific gear for it. Unfortunately i haven't been able to find an Alvey 45BC anywhere in Sydney so had to use my 2500 Ci4 for the session. My mate took me to a spot that he hasn't been to for years. We only had 2 hours to fish so we quickly gathered some weed and mixed it up in the bucket with some sand for burley. The wind was about 15-20knots out of the south east and I ended up getting massive birds nest in my reel. After sorting that out I fished for about 15mins before getting snagged on a submerged rock. As I was re-rigging my mate had a hook up, but the hooks pulled. A good sign the burley was starting to work. As I tied my last knot he was on again, this time landing a health blackfish. I grabbed a handful of burley out of the bucket put my cast in and followed it up with the burley. DOWN! One, two, three, lift! I'm on. After making a host of amateur errors, I somehow managed to land this fish on the rocks. I was so excited I didn't bother having another cast as I had caught enough for dinner and we had to leave. We cleaned up the fish on the rocks. I noticed I'd left my fishruler at home so the drive home felt longer than usual as I really wanted to know how long my new PB was (previously 37cm). 43cm of Luderick.... PUMPED to say the least. It went down a treat with some steamed veges and a little tartare. I was even more surprised to realise that I was only 3.5cm off the fishraider record. Can't wait to get back out on the rocks for some more blackfish action.

Does anyone know of a particular store south of Harbour bridge that has a particularly good range of Alveys? I know there's issues with naming stores, so PM's are welcome.

i wouldn't say that they've all been quiet at all. I've only been squidding for a few months now, but what i have noticed (especially in open water) is that water quality and swell conditions are major factors in the presence of squid. When there's been a lot of rain and the water is full of weed and rubbish. No Squid. I don't think squid are particularly great swimmers. The are sprinters and can move quickly over short distances, but are no good and maintaining position in fast current etc. So is there is a lot of water movement. No squid. At my landbased spot. When the tide is high, there is small or no swell, and clean water with no rubbish in the water. You'll get squid. Wait about 3 days after the rain. I went down to my spot yesterday to test my above theory. The water but churned up, there was a lot of debris (both weed and rubbish), the swell was about 3-4ft. Great for surfing, not good for squidding. Donuts as I expected. If the weather stays clear over the weekend, i'll report back with a squid. Almost guaranteed.

I read a few posts that reckon it's pretty good on alveys off the beach. it's not that expensive so if it doesn't work i'll get something different.

I've already bought 300m of 15lb Kokoda GT-R Ultra (Clear), and a spool of 12lb Dango Wax. Might end up getting 2 smaller reels and then a bigger on for 20lb-30lb Mono. I saw the 45bc for around $50 so buying 2 isn't out of the budget. I'll just keep using the Penn Spinfishing 750ssm I have for now until it dies, then i'll get an alvey to replace it.