Hill373737

I reckon buy the best braid you can afford and that is suitable for your needs - along with a fishing diary, I keep a spreadsheet with details of all my reels including line brand, breaking strain and when I spooled it. I have 2 Stradic 2500s that get get used a lot and were spooled in mid 2019 with my favourite braid, Fins Evolve X8. Its not the cheapest braid but since they were spooled, I've fished close to 200 times and they would have featured heavily and I don't have any plans to respool them any time soon.

Some sessions are just meant to be casting practice - this one was like casting practice over an obstacle course!! Dave, it was great to meet up with you and Georgia and the look of surprise on your face when you got smashed by the '58 almost at your feet was worth the effort. Look forward to catching up for another session again soon!! steve

Congratulations Dave and Amy - all the best for many more shared memories and great fishing sessions!!

Neil, I didn't realise there was such a big difference across Murray Cod. Here is a photo of the one I caught last week, also from the Namoi River and similar colouring to Dave's. If you look closely, there is an ulcer near its ahole with a hook hanging out of it. I've seen fish with hooks in the mouth previously but never one like this. It was in good condition and smashed my spinnerbait so didn't seem to be suffering from it. I had it in a rockpool and tried to get the hook out but decided my efforts to remove the hook would be worse than leaving it in.

Great report Dave, looks like it was worth the drive and the walk in. My wife and I moved to Tamworth in January to retire and be closer to my daughter and grandkids and I've started fishing some of the local water. Coming from a mostly saltwater background living on the coast except for trips to Glenbawn, its a big learning curve but I caught my first ever cod last week, probably at the other end of the NP you were in and I'm definitely hooked. Let me know if you're coming up this way again, would be good to catch up for a fish. steve

I only use it as a baitcaster with a little Abu Promax on it.

I've got a Native Specialist, great baitcaster rod but a few years old now. I haven't seen a Bream Specialist , are they the spin version?

I use the Link app to mirror my main sounder (Elite Ti 9) which is mounted on the side console to an iPad whenever fishing deeper water where I care about structure or bait - I can place the iPad on the casting deck and it works well for me. If you do this, its worth attaching a power pack to the iPad as I found I can only get about 2 hours before it goes flat with it permanently on and brightness turned up. I also have a separate smaller sounder on the casting deck with the transducer mounted on the electric motor - its purpose is to give me water depth when fishing on flats where it can sometimes be hard to guage water depth when its gin clear!! I find this set up works for me and gives me good options for shallows and deeper water. If you already have a tablet, then Link is a no cost option to try it and see how it works for you. steve steve

Looks like a nice session Dave and good to see the river is fishing OK again after the floods! That is one hell of a fat bass!!

It looks similar to the bung in my Renegade - if your boat is a Quintrex, they use a proprietary bung that is only available at Qunitrex dealers. I haven't tried but you may also be able to get it froma Stacer dealer.

Well done, great report and I'm sure you're now chasing another. I've been fishing Lake Mac twice a week since May chasing an elusive jew on lures and have come up blank so far. It hasn't all been bad as I've caught plenty of quality bycatch including an 88cm flatty.

In the history of commercial fishing in Tuggerah Lakes which was written by one of the commercial fishos, there is mention of snapper as well as jewfish at times when the entrance was open and deep. You can find it at http://www.clw.csiro.au/publications/technical98/tr1-98.pdf When the lake was almost closed last year there were plenty of big flathead and large tailor around, it will be interesting to see how it fishes this winter with the entrance being opened up earlier this year.

I ended up going the simple u-bolt route to put a spare on my trailer - works well although the rim traps some water and needs a repaint every now and then to stop rust.

Here is my 420 when I'm fishing solo which is about 90% of the time - I take the 2nd seat out to make extra room and its easy to move between the front and rear casting decks. Its also easier to net fish while standing on the floor so frees up space for that.

... and if there are no tailor around, throwing plastics on light gear can be productive off the beach, just gets expensive when there are choppers intent on removing plastic tails.

No worries, good luck with the birth of your first, just PM when you're ready and we'll work something out. I bought my 420 2nd hand and it came with a braked trailer with a walkway, makes it a lot easier to retrieve the boat being able to walk down the trailer. You'd have to weigh up the extra cost of rerating and more $$ for the motor against the benefit - in good conditions in estuaries, mine is fairly happy at 20 knots and if I'm in a hurry, can get a bit more if I want to push it harder. I run a 4 blade prop as well so have lost a bit of top end speed but it gets out of the hole easier and onto the plane.

I have a 420 side console with Mercury 50hp and MotorGuide - I only fish lures and mostly fish solo at least twice a week in Tuggerah lakes, Lake Macquarie or estuaries up the mid north coast. I do occasionally launch at Patonga and fish Pittwater, Broken Bay as well as Glenbawn. I don't fish offshore but the boat has comfortably handled some shocking conditions on large waterways. It also has a quite a shallow draught for the hull type and I can put it onto to some shallow water when fishing flats. If I was purchasing another boat, I'd probably go tiller steer just because it provides more usable space compared to the side console. Its by no means a perfect boat but must be pretty good when my biggest gripe is that I wish it didn't have an anchor well so the front casting deck was bigger. I doubt if there would be a noticeable difference when launching/retrieving a 420 or a 440 so its more about the size you need - if you fish mostly solo, the 420 is fine. Lure fishing with 2 works well but the few times I've been out with 3 in the boat, available space isn't great. Looks like you're on the coast, PM me if you'd like to chat more or if you'd like to go for a run in it, I'm sure we could work out a time for a quick fish.

Great story - I reckon we all have them, I call them my Mr Bean moments.

If I had my time over, I would buy a lighter action rod as it would have worked better for the 60 gram chromies so I reckon the 10ft heavy action would be a good rod for what you are looking for.

I don't think it would have any issues, it handles 60 grams comfortably.

Good rod, nice action in the blank and they're made with reasonable quality fittings for the price. I've got a 10 ft, heavy action, 10-15kg, 30 - 130gm lure weight. I usually tie on 60 gram chromies when I use it, its great for casting them. Probably better suited to spinning off the rocks, for the beach I mostly use smaller chromies and a lighter rod.

Finally got round to taking a photos of my Alvey's. First up, a couple of new reels - they'd be around 20 years old, a 650BC and a 600BC Next, a 650 C5 and 651 C5 - great reels but but very heavy after a long session on the beach Next, 2 timber reels that belonged to my dad, a 650 A3 and 600 C3 My favourite, a rosewood stain 650 A3 which nowadays I use the most out of the reels, perfect for the beach and nice balance mounted on a MT5144 rod with 10lb line 5" Club Trophy Special - this one is definitely in the retired category, I've got great memories using it as a kid on Fraser Island circa 1970 on a cane rod with the reel held on by hose clamps. cheers steve

Great article Niall, you inspired me to tie on a Sugapen this morning and I picked up a couple of nice bream on the surface out of the snags in my local river.

Here's one I caught while spinning for spinning for tailor and salmon with a 10g chromie on Nth Entrance Beach.

Nice find. Hayden's were a sports store in Merrylands that built rods - they were there when I was a kid through the '60s and 70's. I have a spin rod that my dad had built for me when I was about 12 or 13 so 1970 or thereabouts in the garage - it has the red and white Fuji runners on it that were popular around that time. Its unbranded so I don't remember if it came from Haydens or the other rod builder further down Merrylands Rd that was called Deveson's.