recurve

I have had this on the boat. 1 hour of slimies hitting 5" Gulps on a 3/8 Jig Head. Have also caught them on 7". If they are in the mood they will hit anything hard.

Nothing wrong with it. Good product.

We're going shallow tomorrow.Very very dirty water at the moment but will see what happens, I am very optimistic. Looking forward to getting on to some Reds, been two weeks without a rod bending over.

I purchased a Stradic Ci4+ 4000 today for $199. They are on clearance at BCF stores. I went to Taren Point to get mine but also rang Warrawong and they are doing it as well. That's a bloody good deal. Apparently they are end of lining this model and releasing a new model. So if your in the market for a Stradic go to BCF.

I have a Bait Runner 4000 and 6000. When forced due to reel failure failing I used the 4000 as a Soft plastic and Microjigging reel and it was great. Very reliable reels. Ok for casting but not great. Very good at running baits.

I did this once on my 140 V4 Yamaha 2 Stroke. I was bricking myself but I managed to take it apart and put it together with no drama. I had issues with the throttle and was told I had water in my Carb. Turned out that was not the issue and I had 3 hours of stress taking it apart cleaning it and re-assembling it .. However a good learning experience. One thing I could not do was tune it nicely once I had taken it apart. I thought I had but after it went to a Marine Mechanic and he tuned it, it was a different motor.

Snapper Bug is a great condition to have. Is easy to become obsessive about them though. Good work.

That's awesome. Phenomenally good fishing ,I would love to have an experience like that. Well done and awesome report.

Confidence is the key. You need to be confident and sure of the decisions you make. If you ever feel like conditions are maybe too advanced for you then get out. I think I will be ok can be the undoing of you. I think you need to fully understand your boat and your trim. Incorrect trimming of a boat in a large following sea can create a scary and even dangerous ride. Be wary of anchoring in large swells. If you do make sure you have plenty of line out to manage the surprising amount of line that can be consumed. If your not confident anchoring or understand the principles of it then don't. Be wary of anything close to reef or swell less than 10m deep unless you know the area as larger swells can break or steep in under 10m of water. Don't push the weather. If it says it goes to pot at 9.30am then make sure you plan to be in by then. Don't always trust the forecasts. We have a tough as nails hardtop plate boat made for off shore. generally we try our trips for 10knots or less and under 2m swell. Or if one is very low we can tolerate a larger of the other. i.e. .8 swell we will go out with 15knots. We go harder sometimes and it is safe as we know what we are doing but you generally get someone being sick or ill and it is generally not worth it. What is safe is not always comfy. Went out once in 4m swell. No wind was long gaps between swells. Surprisingly very gentle. However was a 20 min trip as we were going up and down long ups and long downs. 15min after launch two people on the boat started chucking up. Trim your boat wrong or go to fast with 4m swell behind you and things can go wrong or give you a fright. If I was you I would wait for swell to be under 1.2m and wind under 10knots. The earlier the better as it is generally calmer. Also note that Swells from the South seem to pack more punch and are sloppier. Going out is not dangerous. Just pick a nice day and take it easy. Make sure you fully understand the effects of trim on your boat before you go out.

I had a Yamaha V4 Salt Water Series 140 2 Stroke. It was a beast, Used a heap of fuel was noisy and stank. It was in premium working order. Upgraded to a Suzuki DF115. Oh my lord what a difference. Love the new motor. It seems to have more power than the V4 or maybe it is the way it delivers it? Hole shot is excellent. I was going to go Yamaha but liked the Suziki dealer. My research proved to me that all the Jap brands are a winner. Best thing is to pick the most competent dealer or one you want to be a customer of. Was a big decision when I did it and a lot of umming etc and wife was upset about me wanting to spend so much money on the boat.....again. But even she is happy we did it. Go 4 Stroke and leave the stink behind.

Nice work. What is the long ladder for?

We find that the Tip Top Bread is good as nice and squishy. The super cheap stuff does not squish up and sit on hooks as well.

This is a serious problem.

Thanks Mark. Shallow is 12m - 15m. Very finicky though. Going out on Sunday to try and repeat. Should be good after all the reefs are smashed up with this weather.

Super effort. Epic day, well done.

Holy Moly, Your wife helps you make the Burley.....and wants to go out as often as you can....Your a lucky chap. Most of us I believe have the opposite problem. Wife restricts us from fishing as much as she can, wife does what she can to stop Burley production from home. You have a keeper.

Well done. Sessions like that are hard to pull off. Nice to do it as Father and son

I have found that Swell is your best friend when slow jigging. Some movement in the boat combined with slow retrieve seems to be effective. Best results I have had with slow jigs is leaving them in the rod holder while i fish other rods. I just love hooking up with these rods so use them for all sorts. My crew look at me sideways when they see me casting plastics with it but hey, it works. I too am pretty rough with my gear and not broken my Gomoku. When I purchased it the guy at the Tackle Shop warned me to pick one with no manufacturing defects or blemishes as they can cause weakness. Best to only buy a perfect blank. They are very well priced but maybe the QA is not great so be picky.

I have a Shimano NANO Soft Plastic Rod. Not very impressed. I would go the T Curve Range.

We have had a lot of fish in the house lately....well as usual We tried the below with Snapper Day one. Cornflakes crushed up. Not bad Not bad, but not as good as Bread Crumbs Day two. Crushed up Salt and Vinegar chips. All round thumbs down. Even the kids were not impressed, We used Smiths Salt and Vinegar. A lot of the flavour disappears Day three. Plain bread crumbs. Very very good. All agreed that from now on we will not mess with a good thing.

Nice one. Pilly on a spike underneath a float can be very effective. Very easy way to fish as well.

Get yourself a Micro Jigging Rod like a Gomoku. Put on a 1/2 - 5/8 Jig head. IMO having a light jig head when Jigging for legal Kings makes no difference. I fish with my mate who goes light and we have the same hook up rate and he is a much better plastics/jig fisherman than I am. And he has beautiful Rods and Reels and I am pretty budget when it comes to rods and reels. My boat gets anything it needs however. I put a Squidgy 70ml Flickbait. This seems to also work well on Salmon who are being fussy and only eating whitebait Don't ask me why. All those I have met that knew why, I ate. However, be warned. This set up won't get Bonito as a by-catch but lighter heads and smaller lures will. When you Jig think about what your lure looks like. You want the actions to be fluid like a living creature, have some realistic pulses that are in time with each other. Don't aimlessly jig and wind. Use the force. This is why a micro jigging rod works so well as you always have contact with the line. Some, not all, Soft Plastic rods don't keep in good contact with the line throughout the entire jig movement. You want that flick and pulse to really trigger the GO action in a King. He has to be convinced it's the real deal. Good luck. If you get the right action your catch rate will remarkably improve. Oh, best time is Sparrows Fart. Early early. Or if you see schools follow them and get close enough to cast onto the edges of the school. This is golden if you can find a work up that keeps on the surface. Use variations ii.e. When you cast, cast out in the direction you are heading. Jig Jig Jig until you feel you are 3/4 up then let it drop again and repeat. or Jig all the way to the boat from the bottom, from mid water from the surface etc etc

End of the day you are going to scratch your boat and it is going to get banged up a wee bit. You have an alloy boat so better at taking a beating than a glass boat. I ordered my boat new and I ordered it raw as I did not want to worry about scratching paint. I get compliments on my boat all the time. Now and again people ask me why I did not paint it. End of the day I have had my boat for 4 years now and launch off some pretty nasty ramps on South Coast and I think it looks better with it's scrapes and scratches. Surprised no one has mentioned this. Best two things you can get to dramatically improve your ramp experience are. 1)Pole Gaff. Every boat should have a pole gaff. This is a pole with a rope hook and plug on one end so you can push off things or grap rails and rope. If you are worried about scraping these things are invaluable. Especially when your on your own. You can get 3 foot from the jetty. Stop the movement then stop the motor. Hook onto the jetty and pull your self in. If you have a super roller trailer then spend some money and get a self retrieve launch system installed. You can put the crew member on the bow. Drive straight at the ramp and then have them step off onto the Jetty then reverse. I have a Surtees 5.5 Here is a video of a Surtees Self Latch. You can buy generic ones as well. These things are brilliant. But if you get one make sure you secure the safety chain before driving.

Early launch off Bellambi Ramp and a quick spin out to one of our favorite spots. Southerly Swell of 2m had set in overnight and was a bit of surge at the ramp. Got out to the spot and discovered that it was not so bad once we were out. Anchored up and settled in for what we thought was going to be another epic session on the Reds.... Wait, what.... we were pointing the wrong way. Instead of pointing transom to the South we were pointing transom to the North. This is not the formula. It was dark, 6am and we had to be back by 9am so rather than move to try the other spots we have we went with it. About 15 min later BANG!! Rod buckles over and I have a stonker. WuzzzzWuzzzzzWuzzzzzWuzzzz POP! FARK!!!!!! NO!!!! He cut the Leader (14Pound so not much to cut). Heart racing, shock and realisation of what happened kicks in, head drops, shoulder slumps and a wave of deep dark regret pulls over me then the sadness comes..............Then 3 min later I realise...........there here!!! Head, lets do it again. Then my mates Bait Runner screams. You know that noise rrrrrrrggghhhhhhRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Everything goes in slow mo. I'm looking at his reel screaming, he's not moving. "Mate!! that's you!!". "Oh Oh" fumble fumble. Then comes that heart in mouth moment when he lifts the rod to set the hook. In your minds voice your chanting c'mon c'mon c'mon......he calls out "Yupp" He's on!!. Big fight, big fish. He pulls in a 60cm Red. Great effort. We were only fishing shallow which raises the stakes. Then my rod which i borrowed off a mate as mine needs repair buckles over and I am on like a rodeo. Reel is screaming and I can't stop it. Tried thumbing the reel to get some stoppage but did not seem to make a difference. Then I look at the reel and notice that all the braid is almost gone and I am on the nylon backing but I can see the reel set under that.....I'm almost done and this fish is still going. I tighten the drag and thumb the spool and POP!! Line snaps. I have lost a mighty fish and lost my mates line....what little he had. If that was a Red which i think it was as it was shaking it's head then it is the biggest Red I have hooked. Or it was a Shark or King. Anyway I was at a total loss as to what to do. I can't stop re-living the moment. I feel like I farked up but don't know what else I could have done...... Back to my Gomoku Rod. Set i and again I get a stonker fish but he takes me down and pop. This happened to us 6 times. Decent fish busting us off 10m behind the boat. We must of been anchored over a ledge and they were heading under it . That's the catch 22 when Snapper fishing shallow. Use big gear you won't get them, use light gear you can't always hold em. The terrain you anchor over IMO has a major effect on the outcome. After all that action and emotion we only landed 4 reds and only two were over 50cm. As a by catch we landed 4 Trevally which I personally really enjoy eating and so does the family. A great day with all the emotions we love to experience while Red fishing but unfortunately the Eski did not reflect the session. No pictures to show sorry.