gone_wishin

I've got the Okuma Inspira in a 30 size with 6lb Hercules braid. very smooth great little real probably my favorite to date. I also have a Salina 80 with 50lb Finns braid on a Shimano deep jig 200, (it's fairly new have'nt caught a King yet, then again I've only been out once since I got it).

Gee, I would have put an 8/0 hook in that Pike and tried to convert it into Jewfish! I've never eaten a Pike but I've heard Starlo rave on about them. I think their smell puts me off.

One more difference between the 2, you are meant to have a licence to operate a VHF. Just like the one you will get if you attend the Raiders Marine operators Proficiency Course in Oct. (and pass the exam).

Who says people are going bigger to match the line diameter? I think they may be the minority. I use the best line (breaking strain) for the application and braid gives me the smaller line diameter for less resistance. eg: for Sp's I use 6lb braid, bottom bashing 20lb braid, my kingie outfit 50lb braid. These line classes (not diameter) are usually in the middle range of the reels I'm using.

Good advice from rzep, the most common fault is a bad earth. Alot of people check for power on the +ve side then asume the fault is with the unit when it is just a bad earth connection, you must have a complete circuit.

Can I use it in my whipper Snipper? It's the only 2 stroke I've got. It's a ryobi 35cc job it came with 100mls of fully synthetic oil but I haven't been able to find anything other than TCW3 oil.

Guy's, Do you think it's exposure to salt water or UV rays? would it last longer if after use the reel was washed down and then placed in bag or cupboard out of the light?. With mono line it is the exposure to UV that eventually breaks it down.

Hi guys, I'm currently in the US for work in Virginia near Chesapeake Bay so I had the opprtunity to check out the marina at the resort I'm staying at. I was dissappointed that I didn't find a boat with quad outboard installations. Twin 275 verado's was the best I saw, It's bloody hot about 39 degrees and very humid. Any how, here are some photo's, I head to New York on Thursday (our Friday) hopefully the weather is a bit cooler. One more

Jewgaffer, What model phone do you have? It shouldn't be as complicated as you have experienced. I have a Nokia 6233, to take photo's, store them and retrieve has nothing to do with the carrier (ie Optus, Telstra Vodaphone etc). My phone has a button on the side with a picture of camera embedded, when I press this the phone goes into camera mode I look at the screen, when the image is what I want I press the button that says 'capture'. The phone then asks do you want to save and where, I save it to the memory card. To retrieve I just remove the card from the phone and place it in a 'card reader' (you can get these from Harris Technology for $40) which is attached to my PC. I then copy the photo's to the hard drive and print or post them on Fishraider.

Yeah but you fish in a yak I have no excuse with a half cab, but I guess the car is still better than home.

Thanks Frank, We were drifting ((left the downrigger at home) on purpose) but we were hardly moving, we rigged up same as in the DVD Kingfish Secrets. Two hook rig, small sinker dropped to bottom then wound up about 15 feet. As for the picture, it might look ok but you can really tell the difference between a 1.3 megapixel camera phone and 16.7 megapixel real camera.

Hi Dan, Yes we went yesterday, the ramp was blocked in the moring but was cleared when we returned, about 2:30pm.

What a great winters day it was, not too cold virtually no wind and the Harbour looked clean and clear. We arrived at Tunks Park at 5:15am to find the ramp blocked by a small mountain of soil and large back hoe.....What the!!!, but there was a temporary (very narrow) ramp to the right of the original. So in the dark we launch hoping not to hit anything. We started chasing squid at the spit bridge where we got 1 squid and small cuttle, lesson No1 cuttle fish hold about 10x more ink than squid, after 15min of cleaning the inside of the boat we continue for zip. I saw a Noble super V heading which I was sure was Kelvin, his is blue with a Honda? We move to south head in search of more squid and catch another which went 40cm, whilst at South Head we notice the ocean is dead flat, so Gordo starts with I know a spot that I guarantee we will catch fish blah blah blah. So to keep him quiet we head offshore, there were no promised Flatties around but we did get a 42cm snapper, 5 sweep and mix of rubbish reef fish. It's now 11am and we decided to go back to original plan of chasing kingies in MH, we get to Fishraider spot X (I tell ya this web site owns MH) out goes the smaller squid and the cuttle, the suns out, no wind, no other boats around we were in heaven, then a demon of the deep hits the cuttle and tries to take it hell, ten minutes later a 75cm King is in the boat. Sorry for the photo quality I'm a bit embarassed as I work for major camera manufacter, I have half a dozen digital cameras at home and the only camera I had with me was in my mobile. Anyway we had a great day and ended up with a 75cm King, 42cm snapper 5 sweep (pet food) 45cm flattie 2 squid and a cuttle.

Wow, nice catch there. Good to see they are still around in numbers.

For the Shimano and Berkley etc contact the importer direct. I got on their web site and emailed my request, I had the stickers in 2 days.

I would probably bet it's a 95% chance that the rod would get broken on a commercial flight, it would be safer by courier with insurance. If it's a 2 piece rod and you can get it on as cabin luggage you may stand a better chance.

Thanks Owzat, Yeah the bottle threw me, good invention but I just can't go past a Japanese gadget. Its amazing how strong the suction cup is on that thing. I hear the next thing they're working on is a robot that spools all your reels for you, hooks your boat up to the car, launches and retreives it catches the fish for you and then lies about the one that got away.

No I didn't buy anything expensive, just some Yozuri's ($10 ea) some SP's that are a hybrid of hard bodies and soft plastics and a line spool holder that I just found out Watto's has cheaper than what I paid. I'm going th the US in August for work again will be in Virginia and then New York. might try and check out some stores there. Here's another photo at the train station in Kashiwa it's a made place during peak hour they have guys with white gloves whose job it is to physically shove you into the train so it can leave on time. This is the 5th year I've been there and I have never experienced a late train!

Hi Owzat, can you explain what it is and how you use it? I can't figure out what the bottle is for? Claudia, I just got one of those last week when I was in Japan, it cost me more than $12. Just shows our sponsors look after us. How would recommend using it? would you have the line comming off the top of the spool (so it unwinds in an anticlockwise direction) for a baitcaster and the opposite for an egg beater? or have I got it back to front?

Hi Guys, Can anyone help with the correct method to spool a reel? with the aim to reduce line twist. I remember seeing on TV something about a baitcaster winds line from the top of the reel so you should take line from the top of the spool (if that makes sense). What do you do for threadlines? and is line twist a issue if you use braid?

Some more Photo's

I went to Japan last week for work and thought I'd share some photos of a tackle shop I visited. I stay at a town called Kashiwa which is North East of Tokyo, its not close to the ocean so most of the fishing is lake and river. Some items are cheap but you need to know the price before leaving Aust. For example a new 2500 Stella is about $500 - $550 a 4000 is about $600. Check out the electric reel in the photo it costs about $1,900, biggest reel I've ever seen! This store was huge, 2 floors, upstairs was full of SP's and jigging lures. Unless you speak Japanese don't try to ask questions, you need to know exactly what your'e after.

I just returned from Japan yesterday, and yes there are savings to be made but remember no international warranty. As an example you can get a Stella 2500 (new release) for $500 or a 4500 size for $600. I bought some Yozuri squid jigs for $10. I'll add a post with photo's latter.

Are you sure it was botany? The story I read was that it was in Qld, it had just been serviced and being returned to its berth when the electronic controls failed. The crew shut down 1 engine and before they could shut down the other it swerved onto the break wall.

Last time I was in NZ I bought a fishing magazine and was suprised to find the gadgets they sold to recreational fisherman. They had something similar to a Kontiki, but it was a torpedo. Stick with me here... it was similar to what a scuba diver might use to power around under water, this version had floats so it remained on the surface. It came with a massive reel (like lifesavers have) you add your long line (yes that's right rec fisho's can long line) and send it off into the blue yonder. The other item was a mini scallop dredge for trailer boats.