Stippy

If the weather is good why not? I'd take a light outfit so you can pass the time flicking plastics for bream and flatties whilst waiting for the heavy reel to sing Good luck, Adam.

Very nice! That's a jewie worth waiting for.

Can't hurt. Depending on the manufacturer the reels might be a bit light on for grease when you open them up. I'd open up the drag at least and apply some Cal's drag grease (or similar). Cheers, Adam.

Sorry to hear the boat couldn't be saved, glad you got out with your life though. Hope you get back on the water down the track. Cheers, Adam.

I've got a 'new' (Chinese built) 850ssm, loaded with 20lb mono which I use off the beach. It's a nice reel, super simple to maintain, but very heavy.

Nice Sambo. Had a few donuts on the mulloway front myself lately, probably because I'm determined to catch one on a lure. Was that Garie beach? Cheers, Adam.

You're worried about exerting too much energy trolling a lure by paddling and yet think you're going to be able to bring in a tuna or marlin in a kayak? The guys that chase game fish from kayaks have been paddling for years, I wouldn't pedal a kayak any further than I could comfortably paddle it. Mirage drives can and have failed. Hooking up to a fish like that will almost certainly result in being towed kilometres away from shore. Assuming you prove me wrong and hook and land one of these amazing animals you're still left with the problem of getting it to shore. I don't think you're going to want to have it sitting on your lap, even if your kayak could handle the load. Even a ~5 metre kayak is going to feel mighty small when you've got a thrashing marlin yakside. Some of the more serious offshore yak anglers have taken to fibreglass skis (Stealth, Eric etc) which can store sizeable fish in their hulls, and handle big seas. But of course the tradeoff is these require paddling, and I doubt even these craft could store a marlin. Large tuna and marlin from kayaks remain the extreme end of the yak fishing scene, you're really breaking new ground when you target these beasts and few will be able to tell you first hand what exactly is required. Personally I reckon tag and release would be the only feasible option from a kayak, unless you're being followed by someone in a boat. I suppose if you're serious you could look into the Hobie Adventure Island with a tramp, not sure how much weight the tramp's can carry though. If you head over to Akff.net or Kayak Fishing Down Under you might find guys that have done/attempted it, but they'd be few and far between. Best of luck, Adam.

Awesome kingy, whereabouts in Forster did you land that beast? BTW love the boat name

You could certainly attain more distance by swapping over to braided line, although it costs more than mono it is significantly cheaper than buying a new rod. If you decide to get another rod for the purpose I was once told to look at the first runner guide when estimating how effective a rod will cast line. If your first guide is too narrow it will act as a bottleneck and reduce your distance (although it probably assists in accuracy). Although this makes sense to me I won't claim it to be gospel. Good luck in the quest for more distance, Adam.

Awesome fish mate, the big trevs seem to be around at the moment - I wouldn't mind upping my PB Cheers, Adam.

What a monster! Great jewie mate.. THIS thread may help you locating the 'jewels', personally the tasty flesh is the real treasure. Cheers, Adam.

Hardly seems appropriate to complain about Sydney weather given what's happening to our friends up in QLD. All down to the La Niña event gripping the country at the moment.

I wouldn't say no to a nice Megabass rod.

Hey guys, How do I go about removing the roller bearing? Mine isn't spinning smoothly as it should and really affecting my enjoyment of an otherwise smooth reel. I tried to get the bearing out myself but I didn't want to force it and it didn't seem to want to come out after removing the screw on the bail arm. I was hoping to clean and lube it up myself but if I need to I will send it away to Pure Fishing, trying to learn the basics of reel maintenance. Cheers, Adam.

Glad to hear you're on the way to a full recovery, but there'll be no living with Mrs Fezza now that she saved your bacon Great news, Adam.

See here For mine I'm content to use mono off the beach, don't really do much rock fishing but if I ever do I will be confident that the line will withstand the abrasions. Having said that I wonder if braid might better allow me to distinguish bites from the tug of the waves. I know it works out to be an expensive exercise if you fish shortly after a good rain/storm as the amount of debris/weed in the water will surely put knots in braid. Cheers, Adam.

She's stoked! Nice work.

If you're going to deadstick the plastic why not just use real bait?

I'd be there... good initiative.

What were you using for bait? Small children?

The best solution is to be proactive. Regardless of which inconsiderate so and so left the mess, I will bag it and dump it myself and do the rest of the recreational fishing community a favour. Makes me feel a little better for peppering Thirroul beach with lead sinkers and snagged hooks. It's easy to say "not my mess, not my problem" but quite clearly the ramifications don't look good if we want to keep up our favourite pastime. Don't give 'em anything to whinge about, Adam.

Haha I love that you had the presence of mind to keep the flatty hooked while you fished your 4 yo out of the drink.. nice work, the young guy has one up on me for jewie on plastics Cheers, Adam.

I'm very happy with my STX40, super smooth and very solid. Doubles as a beach reel every now and then and doesn't complain about the salt or the sand (provided you clean it properly). Would happily get another when this one dies. I've got an older Exceler 2500 which is also very nice, but doesn't feel as solid. Plus when I had trouble with the spare spool on the Soron Pure Fishing helped me out no questions asked and had a brand new spool out to me in no time. Can't help as to whether you'd be better with the 40 or the 60 - but I reckon either way you'd be hard pressed to stop a determined kingy from dusting you when landbased so I'd go the smaller reel and enjoy the lighter weight. Cheers, Adam.

Another couple to consider are the Daiwa Heartland surf (cast weight 1/2 to 2oz) or the Daiwa Sensor Surf (3/4 to 3oz). Both should come in at around $150-$200 and both are very nice; if only I could justify more surf/rock rods Adam.

I quite enjoy my Penn Spinfisher Big Game Surf rod, I think it's 11ft and rated at 6-15kg. It's very light but with plenty of grunt. The Sealine is a big reel so perhaps test one out to make sure the balance is ok, I use mine off the beach so majority of the time it's sitting in a rod holder. Shouldn't break the bank either at less than $100 if you shop around. Cheers, Adam.