shane87

As close to a good general purpose rod for the beach would be a good quality mt7144. You could go a touch heavier or lighter but the 7144 and 20lb line is a good starting point. Wilson or Snyder glass do great aussie made versions although now that Snyder no longer produces rods they are becoming a harder to get. Wilsons are currently in negotiations with snyder to buy the old mandrils so we could see the original Snyder blanks available again.. Cheers Shane.

The tld25 will handle marlin out of sydney but i would put 15kg on it. I don't think its designed to handle the drag pressures your after for long periods of time. If you wait another month or 2 then you should be able to pick up one of shimano's xmas specials. From memory they were doing tld50's on rods for 499 last year and this would be a much better option for running 24kg.

Live fibre blaid n tails in an ultralight or a light. They may be a tad more than 200 but when it comes to pulling power in a light rod nothing comes close. They are made here is oz with all fuji componentry and correct recipes and the dual helix blanks are just awesome. Cheers Shane.

Find the biggest collection of snags and work back from there. The fish will still be there but they might be a bit harder to tempt in colder water. This time of year your best bet would be a livie fished hard against a snag or rock wall and when the water heats up a bit and the fish get more aggresive then look at chasing them on lures. Cheers Shane.

thanks mate

I have a 3.9 sea jay nomad and want to have a full floor and casting deck put in and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as to where i can have it done. I have previously had a crack at doing this in another old tinny and it went pear shaped so i would like to have this one done properly. Cheers Shane.

Frost fish or ribbon fish i think.

Don't sell yourself short on a rod as it will do all the work. Reels especially for beach fishing are pretty much just there to hold the line for you. A good 12ft 7144 for 20lb line and up to 3-4oz casts weights or an 8144 for 25-30lb line and up to 6oz casts weights will set you back around the 175-200 mark.

Endeavour or blue tail prawns. Can't beet em for pigs. Cheers Shane

As bream mad suggested ( windy's) are caused by small spooled reels being choked by small stripper guides on rods. If you are using a 1000 size reel then a size 20 stripper guide will do but 2000 or 2500 size reels require a 25 and at least 650mm-700mm from the reel seat too the first guide. Hence the reason a lot of loomis rods are being re-built these days as they are usually way out on guide spacings with stripper guides being as close as 550mm. Cheers Shane.

Its fairly quiet out the front at the moment mate however they a belting the albacore and fin around bermi so hopefully the southern current pushes up this way over the next few weeks and away we go. I'm sure you will get a bum on a seat when they show up its just that not many people are burning the fuel and pillies at the moment for the odd fish. Cheers Shane.

I love this time of year. For the last 2 years i have enjoyed playing with a great run of yellowfin offshore however they are a bit late in getting here this year due to that warmish water we still have out the front so i have gone back to one of my favourite types of fishing. Knock em down drag em out fishing for groper and drummer of the rocks. Having not done it for a couple of years i forgot just how hard these fish pull and how much fun it can be. Cheers Shane.

Live firbre rods are available in quite a few models that might suit you. 6'6 10-15kg 7' 8-15kg 7' 15-24kg. The 7ft 8-15 was the rod used in the jewfish dvd with greg joice in the hawkesbury and they never missed a beat. Aussie made built tough.

I have an 8144 low mount matched with an Alvey 650E5 and loaded with 25lb for my heavy pig outfit and as long as i remember to take my rod bucket its no problem to hang onto the outfit for long periods. The MT8144 blank is a true 10-12kg stick with the graph butt versions being able to handle 15kg comfortably.

Depending on your line class the fsu4120 spin for 10kg or the fsu5120 spin for 15kg. Both rods are made here in aus by Wilson. There are also models in the live fibre range but they are a little more than your budget. Cheers Shane.