kbark

A small overhead would do the trick too. Just don't want it too big. as long as it has a good drag system. 20-30lb braid is as high as I'll go for where I fish. The structure is isolated with clear ground all around. Realize i'll get smoked but a little less than before.

due to the overwhelming response, I'll make my question more specific. I regularly target kings by drifting lightly or unweighted baits in up to 50 ft over structure. I'd currently use a daiwa advantage 3000 on a pflueger president 3-6kg and 20lb braid. The rod is fine but a bit too light. So...I'm thinking of either replacing the pflueger with a 5-8kg rod or going with a whole new outfit for drift baiting. I like the idea of being able to strip line off the baitcaster as it sinks. If I was to go this way would a low profile reel be adequate. I don't need a larger spool and have a heavier outfit as mentioned. Recommendations welcome. Budget around 150-200 for the rod and a bit more for the reel. Cheers, kit

I'm thinking of adding another combo to the rack. It will be used predominantly for drifting baits over wrecks inside the harbour etc. I'm thinking that a baitcasting combo in the 6-8kg/7ft range (6-10kg?) would suit this well. I'll be using ~20lb braid...something like the daiwa coastal inshore which would be $300-350 in total. (I already have a heavier outfit (TLD 15) for trolling/live baiting.) Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated... cheers, Kit

What was the winning number? My only king for the day went 62.5cm. Surely someone beat that! I couldn't stay for the presentation...

Please add myself and Adam to the list. Cheers fellas. see you there.

hi all, had a terrible session this week. only raised 1 squid in 2.5hrs...and then dropped it into/through the net and back in the drink. gave up and went over to my local wreck to try for some yakkas and kings. i had my diawa tierra/starl stix pro in the holder jigging up some yakkas. When I pulled it in to move I rat king followed it up. I quickly put the rod back in the holder and threw another lure at it...now it al hit the fan. i'm not sure if i didn't slot the rod properly in the holder, or if the kingy had a go at the sinker??? same result either way...$400 combo straight over the side in 50feet of water. i thought it was gone for sure. i rigged my snapper raider with a ball sinker and 4/0hook and dragged the bottom. first drift i thought bugger it and started to wind up...hold on...there's some weight!? very slowly lifting and winding my combo appeared attached only by a loose part of the braid wrapped once around the ball sinker. now for my question...i quickly poured a pint of clean water over it, took it home, rinsed it off and let it dry. pulled the spool and handle off and everything seems to be working fine. should I pull the housing off the body of the reel and lube it up or just leave it as is. the bail arm and mechanism (rotor etc) are still very smooth. cheers, kit

hey matt, send me a pm. maybe we can meet out there sometime this summer. i'm heading out in the morning to try my luck on some kings. there are a couple of spots i can divulge which are basically common knowledge and produce a variety of species.

sounded like a fun session....and a great lizard. how big did she go?

The Berkley or the Pflueger are both great rods at a very good price point. Look around and you should fine one for 100 bucks. Depending on where and how your fishing 4lb to 10lb braid would fit the combo.

nice one Sammy! not a bad winter feed

That's a fantastic combo! I have a very similar setup for luring kings....Pflueger President 4-6kg paired with a Daiwa Advantage 3500 (it's the silver version of the Sol). You'll be very pleased with your choice. Kit

the snapper was caught in 8 meters on a 5" gulp and 6kg outfit.

thanks for the responses...fish of a lifetime. T-curve; Turnos 30, 50lb braid, 100lb leader, and what seemed like an eternity.

After seeing some very solid fish posted by a fellow raider in early July, I gave the same outfit a call. I took a day off from a conference in Auckland, borrowed a car, drove 2.5hrs in the dark, fished for 8 hours, drove back and presented a paper the next day. As you can see the effort was well worth it. A pb king of 23kg (beating my previous pb by about 18kg!, and a pb snapper too...about 4kg) There were three of us on the charter and we boated about 4 or 5 solid kings a piece, jigging in 100m. My 23kg was the biggest of the day and I had to take half an hour off cause I couldn't lift the rod again...4 days later and my left bicep is still healing. enjoy the pics kit

Hi everyone, I'm heading to NZ next week and have a spare day or two so I thought I might spend a day on the water. I'd love any suggestions for what species I should target and any charters that you'd recommend (as long as that doesn't contravene site rules?). cheers, Kit

I have a Raytheon L365 that came with my tinny. The DC power point on the back of the sounder has two brass points. One of them has corroded and snapped at the base. Does anyone know where I might find a replacement? I think I'll also need to redrill the hole as the base of the plug will not budge. Any thoughts? Cheers, Kit

we caught a small one about a month ago...about 50cm. saw it take a 3inch gulp 2 meters from the tinny. took of like a rocket.

awesome lizard...welcome to the site. my guess is around 90cm?

I do a "dry run" buy imitating a hook up in the backyard and setting the drag where I feel comfortable with the rod. A little over the rod rating is usually fine, but I don't bother measuring.

the bait ground is just east of flint and steel at the tip of west head. there's a box on the shore which marks the spot. anchor...burley up with a some catfood...float a single size 10 hook with a small piece of prawn or fish flesh or whatever and let it drift. good luck.

speechless...very good work

Just caught a 29cm blackfish on a 4" pumpkinseed minnow and size 1 hook. Fishing on dark across the flats near the edge of the weeds. Pulled a few small to legal flatties too.

You landed a kingie on one of these rods?? I thought my rod was about to shit it self when i caught a slimmie the other day...Cant imagen what a kingie at 76cm would do to it They always take the light rod with the floating strip bait. I think I've caught more on this rod (which doubles for squid) than any of my others. It does take 10-15 minutes to bring them in unless they find some structure... For 300 bucks I would look at the Daiwa Sol rods(bit over 300) Daiwa Team Advantage(bit under), Shimano Starlo Pro Lite (only $200, although this won't cast metal plugs heavier than 5g), Shimano T-curve, Pflueger Medalist (a bit more than 300). Alternatively, check out Tony (one of our sponsers at Fishfinder). He's known to produce very nice custom rods which would go for around that price too. The problem you might have is wanting to do quite a bit with the rod....a very fast action (sensitive tip) is needed to work the sps. This doesn't lend itself to cast much in the way of metal plugs as they are too heavy for the tip. If it were me I'd have a second rod for that and stick to something designed to work sps, but it depends what kind of fishing you do the most. Kit

give us a price range to narrow the choices...although I've landed kings to 76cm on the 7 foot version of your rod. they're plenty tough but your reel probably deserves a crisper partner.

that can be a problem with sps at night...the tailor shred them. I generally stop using them at that point as it gets a little expensive for little result. best to carry some small metal plugs for situations like that.