davester28

The 5 inch gulp jerk shads have been known to work on schoolies. Also the 3 or 4 inch gulp pogies. Really, any largish shad style plastic with a lot of tail vibration should do the job. As you have already mentioned, the key to fishing plastics for jewies is to maintain contact with the bottom. In 10m of water, you'd probably use a 1/4 oz head (more or less depending on current). (If you're feeling generous with the location, feel free to PM me! )

Agreed - sometimes in life, you just gotta treat yourself to the best ... and fishing gear isn't a bad way to do it!

Wow - I'm surprised we got that many (20%) - Daiwa Australia must be great negotiators. We are a small player on the world stage - probably closer to 2% than 20%. I would've thought the Japs would get something like 50%, the Yanks 40% and the remaining 10% to be shared among the rest of the world. Shows how much I know.

That's ridiculous - you only bid what you're happy to pay! I generally have a maximum bid of about 60% what I would pay at a tackle store. If I win the item, I'm over the moon! Have done really well, for example paying $600 each for two Jap Stellas (that come with a $200 spare spool) worth $1200 each. Try getting a local shop to match that! That is also incorrect - as Dicko says, it is just the new eBay policy.

I don't think they are all that smooth as, due to the Hyper Digigear, the gears are made of insanely hard metal. I had a play with one, as well as a Hyper Certate, at Compleat Angler in the city and they certainly "grind" a little, much like a Saltiga. However, while most reels get rougher as time passes, these (in theory) should get smoother! (Campbells actually put a little message on their Hyper Certate pages, stating something like: Due to extra gear hardness, these are a bit noisier than other reels.) Incredible little reel though - absolutely perfect for pelagic spinning. Good luck with it. Have you seen the Morethan & Morethan Branzino rods? Check them out at plat.co.jp or navybass.com.

Botany Bay has them in plague proportions.

Sorry mate, you got me there - I can't answer that one as I have no idea. Haven't needed to look into it yet. The 8000 reels are generally run on: Tenryu Spike Tuna (8 ft 6 casting / popping), Daiwa Saltist 56S 8/10 (5 ft 6 jigging), Rapala Braid Concept 40lb (general). I generally run these combos with PE4 braid. Very occasionally, when running PE3 braid, they are matched with a Daiwa Saltiga Dorado M-Over 80S (8 ft casting) but this rod is much better balanced with the 5000 reels.

Quite interesting that lure design hasn't changed all that much in 100 years. Look very similar to modern day fizzers. Compare that to cars, or planes, or even rods and reels for that matter.

pic here

Yep, and Shimano proudly displayed the fact on the cover of one of their Japanese catalogues! I have a jpg somewhere. The pic was also in Bluewater magazine about a year ago. I have had no issues with any of my reels. However, I have heard that the drag may lose some power after prolonged use, as the carbon washers gradually wear out (not that I've noticed, as I don't crank it up to sunset). There is no real reason to get the Twin Power 6000 over the 8000 as there is no difference in the bodies. The 8000 just gives you a spool with a slightly wider lip. As Red says, the HG is high speed. The PG will have a slightly bigger gear, which may or may not mean greater strength. The internals of the Jap Twin Powers are very similar to the Stella. The gears are made of the same duralumin material. I also own a Stella SW 8000PG which pulls more drag but as it is heavier and I don't max the drag anyway, I actually prefer to use the TP. One last thing, according to the Shimano website, the Sustain 8000 only puts out 24 lbs of drag, not 33 lb.

With respect, IFS is incorrect on this matter. The Twin Power is a better reel than the Sustain. As Red has already mentioned, the Sustain is aging to the point of being obsolete, and is currently being discounted at most tackle stores. It will likely be phased out soon. The Twin Power HG/PG series that you're looking at is second only to the Stella series in Japan and is superior to the local version (whose internals and spool look suspiciously like a Biomaster). The drag on these things is sensational - full carbontex washers, dual bearing supported - smooth as silk. The 8000PG has successfully landed a 95 kg dogtooth tuna on a charter with Nomad Sport fishing - try doing that with a Sustain! I love the Jap version Twin Power so much I own 4 of them (5000HG/PG & 8000HG/PG). The Japanese domestic market stuff is almost always better than our local equivalent. I would take the Biomaster over the Stradic any day of the week, and the Ultegra over the Symetre.

Here's a comment by "a pony-tailed fishing guide" on sharks in nearby Middle Harbour: "Dolphins come in[to Middle Harbour] as do big sharks. A 3m bull shark was netted by fishermen at Grotto Point in 1999 in only two meters of water and I have no doubt that it was either on its way up or back out of Middle Harbour. Six fatalities have occurred in Middle Harbour, four well upstream near Sugarloaf Bay and two in the shallows near Balmoral. This makes Middle Harbour the shark fatality capital of Australia. If we could tap into local aboriginal history, I'm sure we could add to this list, as most of the local rock carvings above Bantry Bay feature the unnerving combination of very large sharks and very small bark canoes."

mate the snapper raider is a decent rod, but you should be able to do a lot better than $160.

I've got the 6' 6" 10 - 20kg stick. It fishes very well but to be honest, it is NOT a 20kg stick in the traditional sense. As its recommended line rating is for braid, i reckon its equivalent mono rating would be about 6 - 10kg. That said, it will fish 20kg braid at the upper limit. (I base this on rods like the Nitro Godzilla and T-Curve Bluewater range which are much heavier and gutsier, but have 10 - 15 kg mono ratings. These rods will fish 24kg braid, no worries).

These two statements are contradictory. So which is the true story? Not intending to be a smart arse, just curious.

What baits were you using for the kings? Great session, btw.

In the smaller sizes, the FA is an older model. Also, one thing to watch out for when choosing between Shimano and Daiwa is that the numbers and reel sizes don't necessarily correspond. In general: Daiwa 3000 = Shimano 4000 Daiwa 3500 = Shimano 5000 Daiwa 4000 = Shimano 6000 etc However, for some reels like the Daiwa Sol, the above rule does not apply ... it can get confusing! Another thing, I would be hesitant to recommend a 2500 sized reel as your main reel for targetting pelagics (esp schooling kings) and jewies, unless it's a Daiwa Certate Custom. A more appropriate size would probably be a Shimano 4000 - 6000. cheers dave

I've done the Spit to Clontarf walk which skirts Fisher Bay but not found any accessible spots along the walking track. Fisher Bay itself is accessible, but the water looks very shallow. Whereabouts would you recommend around Fisher Bay?

Mate, I'm pretty sure the spool capacities for the Biomaster and Stradic are very similar. In fact, looking at the Shimano website, the Biomaster seems to have a little more spool capacity (Bio: 10lb/150m, Stradic 10lb/120m). If you're spooling up with braid, it shouldn't matter anyway, as you would fit 300m of 10lb on the Biomaster 2500. However, if you are still concerned, upsize to the C3000 (which I did) - the reel body is exactly the same size as the 2000 and 2500, but the spool has a wider lip, which increases the capacity by about 25%. cheers

I would say Biomaster for the following reasons: 1. superior ball-bearing supported drag 2. lighter weight 3. less common! I have two Biomasters (1000 and C3000) and they are fantastic. Smooth as silk. As Matrix says, the drag on these reels is fantastic. My 1000 has performed flawlessly, even on schooling sambos in Sydney Harbour. People rave about the Daiwa Airity's ($400+) light weight at 195g. The Biomaster 1000 is a mere 5g heavier at 200g! In fact, I'd probably even take the Ultegra (one level below the Biomaster) ahead of the Stradic. Just MHO.

I reckon the absolutely perfect reel for casting at kings would be the Daiwa Certate Custom 3500HD (Heavy Duty). David Green a noted fishing writer has been raving about it - he's landed wahoo over 30 kg on it! The problem is, it is very exxy - you would be looking at $650 for it. However, the Shimano equivalent is the Japanese domestic market Twinpower 5000PG (Power Gear). This reel is a beauty - it's specs are virtually identical to the Certate 3500HD (size, weight, spool capacity, gear ratio, drag power - 9 kg!!!) and it is the beefed up version of the local Twinpower with 10/1 ARBs. In Japan, the Twinpower is second only to the Stella in the Shimano range of reels. I have one and I absolutely adore it. Smooth and refined, yet ultra tough. The beauty of it is, it is significantly cheaper than the Certate. You won't be able to get it locally, but eBay may be an option. Alternatively, if you're after a high speed version for chucking poppers and Slug-gos, the Twinpower 5000HG (High Gear) may be the go. (If you're really nice to me, I have a spare lying around ... but I don't really want to part with it!)

Hi fellas Correct me if i'm wrong but i think Kelvin and Squidgie may be talking about very different rods. Squidgie is using the Saltiga 80TN (heavy outfit, weighs 385g), but I suspect Kelvin is using the much lighter 80S (225g). The 80TN will fish PE6 (about 60lb) and match up quite nicely with a Saltiga 6500 Dogfight, but not the 80S, which is designed to fish about 20lb. There is no way in hell you'd put a Dogfight on the 80S. Kelvin's Certate 4000 sounds about perfect. cheers, dave

Haven't used my Twinpower yet, but it will be blooded (with any luck) when I go out this Friday fishing for kingies on a charter with namesay's mentor. Planning to spool it with 30lb and 50lb braid. Will let you know how it performs.

ah, good old Ginrinpeche! how does he do it? my only concern with the Freams is that it does not have CRBBs, which the Capricorn 4500J does. otherwise, they are very similar reels, but for reasons known only to Daiwa Australia, you'd pay over twice as much for the Capricorn. for 50lb braid, you'd probably be best served with a Daiwa Saltist / Saltiga Blast or beefed up Shimano Spheros. alternatively, i have just taken delivery of a Twinpower 8000HG from Ginrin. just over $300 landed (gotta love the strong Aussie $), and it is a beauty. not all that far off from the Stella, for a third the price.

Mate, did you get Sport Fishing magazine (the one edited by Mensforth these days) a year or so back? It's got a few articles on kingy fishing in South Australia, especially near the Port Augusta power station. Lots of great pics of 30-40kg models. I can make you a copy of the articles if you're interested. cheers