macman

I'd have to disagree with this, I think they are probably the easiest reels to maintain. They don't have any hex heads and the clutch mechanism is in one piece. You remove 3 screws and the whole assembly comes off. They even have writing on it to tell you not to lubricate. The only one I've had trouble with is the ci4+ which needs a tiny screwdriver to remove the clicker mechanism, but youtube sorts that in about 2 minutes. Great reels to service, once you've done a couple they are all the same pretty much. Matt

To be honest, I would be reluctant to buy one now. I don't believe for a minute that number of bearings is what should should be the criteria for buying a reel, but my experience of maintaining reels has always been that the reels that last best are the ones that have a bearing on either side of the main gear on the axis of the handle and 2 on the main shaft. At worst 1 on the main shaft and a decent bushing system. Matt

The stradics have 6+1 , I don't think they have lost one. Also depends which stradic you are talking about. THere's a big difference between losing one when you have 7 to start with and losing 2 when you only had 4 to start with

Good reel for the money. Just note though that the new model has 1+1 bearings. ie 1 for the shaft and one for the line roller. The old model had 4! They may not be such good value anymore. Matt

They are brilliant rods for the money, at 40 bucks how can you go too wrong? I've been recommending these as a cheap alternative for years. There is an estuary version as well. Matt

Also flip the bail over by hand, don't use the auto. Some of the problem may start from here. Fused lines are much worse for wind knots I've found, the power pro and cheap no name dyneema seem to have no problems. Matt

Mate, stick to the rules and do as you please. Everyone will have a different opinion on this and for different reasons. Matt

Learn to fillet and skin them, still find this the best way to deal with them. Bleed them and gut them at the fishing spot, do the rest at home, don't bother scaling them. They are easier to fillet and skin with scales on. The black lining is only important to remove if you are keeping them for a while or if you are stuffing and baking. Panko breadcrumbs work well if shallow frying or deep frying. Matt

Well done mate. good effort, be careful out there.

Nice one Royce, I fished on the weekend and got a big fat donut. One down and a dropped fish were all I could connect with. But, nice day for it on Sunday morning. Matt

I've had a couple of keeper nets full of blackfish destroyed by wobbegong. One time I heard a whole lot of thrashing around, went to the keeper net and a wobby had the net with a big hole ripped in it and blackfish fleeing everywhere

I don't like that you can't remove the spool without tools. Otherwise they are a fairly nice reel. No way I would buy one over the okuma Aventa Pro though. Matt

It depends whether you use the alvey as a sidecast or a centrepin. If you use it as a sidecast, you will need to strip 20m of line off occassionally due to line twist over time. Float line aint cheap. If you use is only as a centrepin, just use backing and put the 150m on top. Regards

Its a shame you can't buy the composite rods anymore, really the best of both worlds, tough AND light.

Did you try the rodworks? The other one to try is killer curves custom rods on FB. I saw one he recently made up on that blank. Don't give up on the 3145G- 2 piece, I have used one consistently for the last 10 years, very happy with it. Matt

treat the edges with Norseal, I did the floor in my tinny 10 years ago and its still good as gold. Everyone says plywood. Thickness and type are important though. You can get away with thinner exterior plywood if you build a support down the spine of the tinny. I did this with outdoor treated pine. Also the floor in mine isn't fixed, it sits snugly in place by cutting notches where the ribs are, the carpet helps in this. So, in the tinny you have, you could do it in two pieces, they continue for the full length of the boat and provide a flat area at the back for the fuel tank and your esky to sit on. The join in the two pieces could sit between the front and the rear thwart. I actually have my oars under the floor in case I every need them. I used to have some photos somewhere I'll try to find them. Matt

I haven't tried it on hard bodies or blades, just soft plastics.

My experience is that at least for bream it has made a massive difference to my bite rate. I have only used s-factor as I like the size of the tube etc. Some friends use pro-cure and swear by it. Coupled with light leaders of 4lb and down, It has totally changed my lure fishing for bream. Matt

I think I have the ctek mxs 5. This one is 5amp with recondition function for stratification (happens in batteries that get discharged regularly). They seem to have many different chargers but I suspect that some of them have varying current supply, others have varying functionallity, ie recondition etc. I'm really happy with mine, have had it for a number of years now. Matt

S-factor comes in a 35ml tube. I think it is slightly more expensive than procure per ml, but I just find it more convenient to buy and like the size of the tube. Just apply a smear onto your fingers and rub it into the plastic. I haven't tried it with hard bodies or blades. I actually haven't been fishing much with hardbodies recently as I have been killing it with the z-man grubs and slim swimz. But I know that others use it on their hardbodies when fishing the boat hulls. Matt

I have found that scents have made a huge difference to my soft plastic fishing. I've been using S-factor, because I love the Z-man soft plastics that don't have any added scent. The combination of the two gives you a really hardy re-useable lure. Even when tailor are thick, the z-mans will survive a dozen fish or so. I know people who use Sax, and Procure. They have differing opinions, but most are around how easy it is to apply, and also the relative costs. In some of the areas that I fish, the before and after particularly with bream isn't even close, scent definitely makes the difference. I was being stubborn before, taking the view that it was lure fishing and was all about tricking the fish with movement etc. Well bullcrap to that, I'd rather catch 18 bream than 6 any day, and I think the difference is of that scale. Matt

Any tips on using the vibes or which ones. They are something I have no confidence with yet, I have never had any success with them. Matt

I'm pretty sure I was agreeing with you Neil. But at least we should be getting people to start in the i30 rather than the Lada

Hi, Andrea and Neil, my suggestion on the trion and the stradic was on the basis of Andrea's original budget suggestion. There are Trions on sale today for $100 bucks and on Stradic ci4+ for $200 from two big outlets. I wouldn't recommend a rod of any less quality than the Trion, although there are some OK ones for around the 80 buck mark. but for Andrea's benefit there are plenty of decent quality reels that you could start off with for less than $200. If you do a quick search for Pflueger supreme XT you will find a store that sells them at the moment for $100 and the trion rods also for $100 dollars. Be really sure of the exact models etc before you buy anything. Cheers

Today you could go to several stores and buy a Pflueger Trion Rod, 1 piece, or two piece, 6'6" or 7' ultra light or light for $100 and a Shimano 2500 ci4+ for $200 and have probably the best value for money light spin outfit available. Keep in mind you will need 25 bucks worth of braid and some mono backing and you are in. Really these two bits of kit are very highly rated amongst regular light spin folks chasing bream flatties bass etc. Matt