mike82

Another nice build mate! I have been using a spiral wrap rod when down rigging and trolling for trout for two years now. It's a great style of rod for this application!

I know it's not a good indication of performance on the water however, I loaded one up in the shop and it felt quite good for the money. ($200 i think?) Haven't used one though. Also check out fin-nor offshore jigging rods, a bit longer (may suit your 'style' of jigging) and a little more parabolic in action for around the same sort of money.

You would loose a leg! Nice crab! Congratulations!

Very good of you!!!! You deserve a beer!

Hi raiders! After a chat with hodgey in the chat room last night about COTM and trout, I decided to go find some 'decent' fish to enter. So I set off late (9:30) to Thompson's Creek Dam. I haven't fished there for a while and have heard some good reports coming from there. Got out there and noticed the water level was up a bit and covered some new ground, so I tied on a small rapala shallow diver in rainbow trout colours and cast over the weed beds. Second cast I was on to an excited rainbow of about 30cm. But as he jumped clean out of the water he threw the lure and took off. Started to work the area and had a few half hearted taps but no hook-ups on a tassie. I then walked the bank working the tops of shallow weed beds with a small lure and had heaps of follows but no takers, very frustrating! Some of them were very large rainbows over 60 cm! So I kept casting and walking and HOOK-UP! finally! After a short tussle approximately 60 something cm of lightly coloured rainbow appears! Started to walk him around the bank to get my camera and POP! gone. Had a few more casts in the same spot whilst talking to a passer by and Im on again! After a few fast but short runs had a 50 something cm very dark coloured rainbow at the bank and still no camera! Went to lift him up and POP! Gooone!! I think I need a landing net next time! All in all had a great little 3.5 hr session! Hope I can get some photos next time! Thanks Hodgey for the motivation!

You are not alone. I had the same response/excuse on a certate less than 12 months old that was sent back for "warranty". I too had to wait 8 weeks. At least the tackle shop only charged me what it cost. ( ALL bearings, main gear and pinion gear. Not cheap either). I have other certates that are much older and have a-lot more use and are still sweet. If you do end up having the repair done, ask for the parts back that they replace for piece of mind. So i guess you do get the odd lemon, but it seems to be more and more common these days. Hope you can sort out a solution.

Salmon, tailor and still a few whiting around the last few weeks off the northern beaches. Starting to come into big beach jew time too!

For this application you will need a good quality deep-cycle battery to handle a regular discharge and re-charge. The 'size' will vary on boat size and amount of use you require. Something around 100 Amp hour would be ideal/most bang for your buck and probably give you around 4-5 hrs continuous running at half speed in a small vessel. A standard "wet" deep cycle battery is the basic and cheapest option. AGM (Absorbed Glass Matt) Deep-cycle batteries are the most cost affective maintenance free style battery and will give you a longer service life . Gel batteries will take a more punishment and give you a longer service life than AGM but are more expensive. Some things to keep in mind are: The weight of the battery, the way different battery types "like" to be charged, don't sit them on concrete for any amount of time, any battery shouldn't be Discharged below 30% of it's capacity, warranty, and you generally get what you pay for. Look into buying a charger/maintainer to match the battery you buy, that way when you get home you can just plug in the charger and let it go till next time you go out and know that the battery will be in its most optimum condition. It will extend the life of the battery no end. Hope this helps. Mick.

Very very nice! Love the detail!

I think I know the pool you are talking about, I fished that stream a couple of weeks ago had a few follows but only managed a couple of redfin using small plastics. I don't think you 'need' waders at TCD but they keep you warm and dry! Especially walking through long wet grass.

Yea thats the ones. Think they call them 'trout nuggets' Good luck.

The fish can be from the surface to the bottom! It depends on thermoclines in the water column as to where fish will be lurking, Generally up higher in the morning and lower throughout the day. Tassies are good because you can fish them at any depth, just vary the sink time. I guess this time of year they will be down a bit deeper as the water probably hasn't cooled off a lot yet. A slow constant retrieve to get them 'pulsing' the rod tip will work fine. Power bait should be fished on or near the bottom. just be prepared to move around a bit to find them with lures. Probably would fish the upper end of the lake as previously suggested. But they could be anywhere! Good luck.

Tassie devils with yellow wings are the go to lure for spinning and trolling for trout out there. I find that plain orange or rainbow power bait both work. Small pea size sinker above a swivel, 30cm 6lb leader and a 'trout egg' (or small) hook moulded into it. As for times, any time of morning/day/evening you are in with a shot. I find they come on the bite for an hour or so and then shut down. There are some good size bass there as well but there is a lot of sunken timber out there now since the water level has come up and can be tricky to tempt and find. A lot more water between the fish now! And starting to get REAL cold!

I m sure either will do what you want. But a general rule with batteries is you get what you pay for. The marine pro is made in australia and also has deep cycling properties for extended running of electronics lights etc, as well as a decent cranking capacity and fibreglass plate separators. Being a standard battery you are also able to check and maintain the fluid level of the battery. Has a 24 month warranty. The seamaster is a maintenance free calcium battery. Im not a big fan of calcium batteries in boats as when they go flat it's some times very hard to recharge them to 100% especially from the relatively small charge output from an outboard. Most small 'general household' chargers will have a hard time charging them to a true 100% as well. Being maintenance free you can't check the fluid or add any, not that you should need to though. Has a 24 month warranty. At the end of the day it is personal choice and monetary restrictions that will deem which battery you buy, Just shop around for each as prices will vary from different suppliers. PM sent.

Box mounts are: smaller in diameter, far easier to mount (only two screws or bolts), can be swivelled to suit a mounting position, can mount vertical / horizontal / diagonal, and require minimal holes, but don,t sound quite as good as good flush mounts. Flush mounts are: larger in diameter, require a large hole to be cut in trim, can only be mounted on a flat surface, you also need space behind the mounting surface to accommodate the depth of the speaker,but they look neater and sound a bit better, and will take up less 'room' in the boat as most of the speaker will be behind a trim of sorts, hence the name.

Im only guessing, but maybe the design of the reel: C= Casting S=spin T=trolling Don't know for sure?

Ditto..

Pretty sure it has a big sign 1/2 way down saying 100m. Not sure how they measure it though. Don't know whether I would want to be much closer when they test their water cannon for fire fighting. I Have seen them doing so and you would get wet! You can get yakers etc all around there just have to find them on the sounder and burley them up. Or just move around and try a few different spots along the wharf.

If you want to try it out I think there is a kayak hire place at the spit. That might be a good way for you to get out and get a feel for it. Not sure on costs or weather they have two seaters. I think 2 cheap single seaters would be a better option if you both want to fish as they would be more monuverable. If you wanted to duck out for a fish by yourself in a two seater they are much heaver and harder to paddle by yourself! If you were going to get two sit on tops you could stack one on top of each other on the roof racks or for sit ins you can buy supports to mount them on their sides. I think one of the big outdoor/camping stores (the one with the same name as a snake) hire them as well so you could try before you buy. As for sounders I have one in my Kayak and it works great. Its just a cheap lowrance (about 100 bucks) but just doesn't read water temp very well as the transducer is mounted in the hull so as to not get damaged by rocks in rapids etc. Hope this helps. Mick.

Yea look at the stuff the guy at boat shows and camping shows is working with. It is all very thin material like cans and thin sheet. My dad and his mate bought some of these (not sure if its the same brand) about 5 yeas ago at a caravan show and it is still a running joke! Not good for construction. Great for patching a hole in an aluminium beer can if the mood strikes! Just my two cents. Mike

Did anything become of getting new fishraider brag mats made? Where/how can I get some Fishraider stickers?

The fireline is 'gelspun' and the sunline is a pe 'braid'. I think the gelspun is a fair bit stiffer and holds its shape while casting into the wind and retrieving slack line better than braid. I also find that not filling the spool quite as much as you normally would with mono or gelspun makes a difference with the pe braid too. I also fish from a kayak and I don't think being low to the water helps the situation. Silly question: Are you wetting your knot down before you pull it tight? Haven't had any issue of the leader breaking with the sunline. I used vanish once and had that exact problem but with fireline crystal as the main line! , now I use a sunline f.c 6lb leader and haven't had a problem with it. Not 100% sure but just my two cents. Mick.

Very unlucky mate. Two and a half years ago ALL of my gear got stolen from my garage, every last bit! except my favourite rod and reel and my kayak! I was SO relived to have that rod and reel left. I had bought the rod with my first pay packet and had recently put a new 2500 certate on and loved it. I didn't really care that they had got the rest. I too thought; those mongrels wouldn't know what to do with half that stuff let alone if they sold it, they wouldn't know what a loomis rod or a downrigger was worth!!!! Luckily insurance covered most of it because I had kept the many receipts,no matter how big or small the purchase was . So at the end of the day I got the last laugh with a fat cheque made out to my local tackle store and got to fuel my habit and update my gear all over again! Pays to keep your receipts, descriptions and detailed photographs of your gear guys and gals, because you don't know just how much you have till you add it all up. Trying to convince an insurance rep that a fishing rod can cost upwards of $700 is a hard task without a receipt.

You defiantly need lots of fresh water, especially if the squid have inked in the tank it seems to suffocate them. I have my live well recirculating all the time with squid to keep the water as clean and air-rated as posable to keep them alive all day. (Hopefully they get put to good use before then) As for rigging a whole live squid I use 2 x #4 circle hooks on a fixed or tight sliding snell rig. I pin the top hook through the very top of the hood about 10 mm down from the point. Then put the bottom hook through the end of the hood to one side. For strip baits I use a single hook rig, I cut a rough triangle of squid and put a few slices about 20 mm long in the wide end (to wave around like tentacles), then pin the hook through the top about 10mm down from the point opposite the cut side. Not sure you are in the right section of the forum but hope this helps. Good luck. Mick.

Congratulations!!! Sounds like a great all round effort. A Jew is a Jew no matter how you caught it! The addiction begins! P.s I still haven't found a cure.