allen glover

same fish, differnet name. Also known as a black spine foot , pearl spotted spine foot, dream fish and a fuscous rabbitfish no matter what the name though it always spells TROUBLE

sounds like a great day Andy I went xtra wide for a big bag of donughts(0,0,0). Not a reel turned in anger all day, but thats fishing eh. Glad to see someone got amongst them. A

... they're only impractical if you like short handles. Slightly longer handles are far better than short handles when fighting a fish. A shorter handler means you're fighting the fish more with your wrist. For most of the smaller bream we catch this is fine, but when you're trying to persuade a larger bream out of more challenging territory, it's much easier to use you're forearm. Oyster leases are a prime example where a slightly longer handle can give you that extra little bit of leverage needed to turn a big bream's head. The handle on the HL-Z Saegake is about as short as I like to go for a rod of this type and length. I think there has been a move toward shorter and shorter handles which is fine for some people but not always necessarily the right thing to do. Joe 29035[/snapback] I know this is going to start a heated debate and it all ultimately comes down to what you are used to using, as anglers train themselves to get as much as is possible out of whatever they have purchased. BUT short handles are far better for casting especially in cork. They over come whats known as butt inertia where you're loosing energy and speed trying to get the big assed heavy butt moving in the opposite direction to the tip. Short butts give you quicker tip speed a vital factor when casting ultra light weights. they also make for more accurate presentations as your able to stop the tip quicker. On a side note here sports fishing especially when it gets to a compeditive level shouldnt neccessarily be about whats comfy it should be about optimizing your performance. 29043[/snapback] Hi Allen I can't agree about the 'butt inertia' theory. We're talking about around 6 inches of difference in length here not a foot or more. Any extra weight created by the addition in length would be minimal, therefore any inertia would be minimal. This is a little off my point though. What I'm saying is, there is a general trend which has been going for a while now, to put a short handle on every style of rod and in any length. I think it's important to make people aware that having a shorter handle isn't some 'rule of thumb' to look for, and certainly doesn't apply to every spinning rod on the market. Joe 29049[/snapback] Pukk Its not just the addition of weight its both the distribution and distance from the pivot point. This is one of the reasons fly rods have no rear butt at all. To prove my point get your hands on a double handed caster and have a few false casts single handed. then think how it would throw a 1/32. Its an extreme example but it still equates to butt length as a casting hinderance and proves the inertia "theory" (also known as butt drag or butt lag). Your exactly right though in that short butts dont equate or optimise every spinning rod there are plenty of applications where even marginally longer butts have a distinct advantage. particularly when your casting heavier weights as lure weight overcomes it. but for my money ultra light lure casting for small fish like bream is far from an ideal use for longer butts. Im sure your fine and comfortable with a slightly longer butt esp if your fishing longer rods and I'm just as sure you have used a lot of short butt rods and have simply found a persoanl prefference for a bit of a longer butt. but the body of professional and user experience shows that there is a distinct advantage to shorter butts for this application. BTW Ive deliberatly not discussed how balancing or action damping relates to this issue as it would just make both our heads explode.

... they're only impractical if you like short handles. Slightly longer handles are far better than short handles when fighting a fish. A shorter handler means you're fighting the fish more with your wrist. For most of the smaller bream we catch this is fine, but when you're trying to persuade a larger bream out of more challenging territory, it's much easier to use you're forearm. Oyster leases are a prime example where a slightly longer handle can give you that extra little bit of leverage needed to turn a big bream's head. The handle on the HL-Z Saegake is about as short as I like to go for a rod of this type and length. I think there has been a move toward shorter and shorter handles which is fine for some people but not always necessarily the right thing to do. Joe 29035[/snapback] I know this is going to start a heated debate and it all ultimately comes down to what you are used to using, as anglers train themselves to get as much as is possible out of whatever they have purchased. BUT short handles are far better for casting especially in cork. They over come whats known as butt inertia where you're loosing energy and speed trying to get the big assed heavy butt moving in the opposite direction to the tip. Short butts give you quicker tip speed a vital factor when casting ultra light weights. they also make for more accurate presentations as your able to stop the tip quicker. On a side note here sports fishing especially when it gets to a compeditive level shouldnt neccessarily be about whats comfy it should be about optimizing your performance.

most decent camping stores sell mozzie nets that fit over your hat you look like a dork but they work a treat

very low gunwhales so they lack internal freeboard but apart from that excelent boats bloody expensive too

not much to report Took a newbie out wide just to scare the pants off him seas were OK and as he was used to fishing the north sea I couldnt raise an eyebrow so I went marlin trolling to bore him into stupidity. that worked Plenty of slimeys in 40m so worked them for a while for no luck so pushed wider to either find more bait or fish the BB fad. At the fad it was like pitt st and the fish were shut down tighter than a pub at christmas. So left the marlin spread out and headed north to try the terrigal traps. Talking to DJMAC and he was raising a few at the terrigal fad so made a detour to find it just as busy as BB. Temps were up and the odd fish being pulled so we tried but still no luck. Got a call from May Be NOT of some kingie action down at BB wide again so back I go and bump into some traps just short of the mark.Trolled my secret lure past and the newbie finds himself getting stretched by his first dollie. a decent fish for an early season dollie and we work the trap for a few more before it shuts down. start hunting out a few more traps and end up back at a now deserted fisheries FAD. first pass of the secret lure and a lovely 80 cm+ dollie leaps full out of the water in pursuit and the abu6500 starts screaming. In the stiff breeze I suddely find the fad between me and the fish but after a bit of franticly hurried boating Im thankfully reaching for the gaff and handing the newbie the rod( I aint gonna trust him to gaff this bugger) off it goes again and IM now telling him how to work a decent fish ( lift and drop/wind NOOO not that quick!!) well he finally gets it boat side and I sink the gaff in to the head for a neat score. few more passes and a few more smaller though still respectable dollies fall. packed it up and headed home after they shut down. score prolly 10 dollies, 4 kept, one happy newbie, and another marlin day saved by the golden rockets. p.s pic suffers form photographic shrinkage and the fish looks tiny but trust me it was a pretty decent FAD dollie

addendum to this is that I pulled a 7ft hammer off the same spot(pic included) on thursday we must have spotted 6 others on thursday too. the bay has nearly as many noahs in it than talior and its full of those little buggers

addendum to this is that I pulled a 7ft hammer off the same spot(pic included) on thursday we must have spotted 6 others on thursday too. the bay has nearly as many noahs in it than talior and its full of those little buggers

Coulda been lucky. It was about this time of yr wasnt it.

It can be spigotted but will play havoc with the action.ANY repair to a blank esp graphite alters it considerably and no matter what you do or where the break is spigotting produces flat spots. Also its a bugger of a job as it requires careful spiggot sizing selection and sanding to fit perfectly snug to maintain straightness and rigidity. Any play in making the spiggot will result in a dog legged blank that parts first fish. stripping the guide off will be the least of your worries with this job infact it may be beneficial at least you can use it to hide the god awfull break. another alternative is to turn it into a 2 pce with a graphite-to-glass over sleave ferrule ( glass female ferule) they are a bit easier to make but If you ask me Id simply right it off as a lesson on how to not handle graphite I can do all this work but I will never guarantee it as there is to much room for variance

looks like a gummy or schoolie. The victorians would be sending a lynch squad if they heard you put back 4 1M gummies. A

good on ya joe persistance does pay off but nobody said it has to pay the way you intended. btw, lee you just need the right rod to stop getting wasted buddy

flint and steel at dawn with a live bait or a decent LBG spin stick would be the go hereing stories of some nice kings down there ATM

believe the stories! you can find the odd good spot thats been over looked but if you get caught up with the gin palaces its madness. Also wash is incredible so Id take great care in a small tinnie

$280 will go far enough

Ilona is frank lowys new boat but jeez you'd reckon they be able to afford a stern anchor. a ship like that would make quick work of any gum tree gold plated taps can't live without them

What types of reels are they? A

Byron contrary to that one day we had on the dollies they aint normally fussy in what they eat and summer tunas like stripeys and the like can be of the same frame of mind when blind trolling too. So for inshore tunas and dollies pretty well any old "shirt" will do. Your best bet simply based on the big fish will eat small lures philosophy would be all the ultra small stuff like Uzi's mini hollowpoints, mini magoos, jet heads, even chrissy trees etc are all the stuff I run when trolling for these fish. Colour selection by default is anything with pink in it but if your getting thes small lures you should have enough $$ to get a few colour variations. dont waste your money buying pre rigged setups for this size just use some light/medium leader and decent qual light gauge trolling hooks for when that bigger specimen jumps on board.

Geez,who needs pro anglers with support like that Thanks for all the positive feedback fella's its humbling to know my work is so appreciated. Golden monk with that budget there is no probs building you a single stick to suit all your needs that will also leave you with enough change to buy a good reel to match. if your interested drop me a PM here, email at aglover@shearwaterrods.com.au or simply call me on 02 43421829

congratulations first king is always a great milestone. Hope you get to find out soon what a big king can do

Rabaul btw the rawley shoals are a few low lying coral kays 140 km off the coast of Northern WA.

Simply awesome report mate Gotta love those days when everything turns out right

Seems like nows the time. Head wide find the warm water and troll current lines or work the bait schools hard. Any known marlin possies like browns, the bait station, canyons etc will be the place to lurk. Most caught off syd at this time of yr are usually by catch but Im sure if you targeted them it would only take a half dozen trips to snare one never know you might get a measly marlin or two whilst your at it . The big ones that turn up this time of yr are usually loners and can turn up any time or no time around now. Good luck and enjoy the hunt.

Cool any size? early season dollies usually have a bit of beef on em