alluring

That's a beautiful fish! I was in tassie all of last week, not far from the Huon river, and while I had a few flicks down where it turns to salt I didn't get enough time in to justify the fishing license Looks and sounds like the trout down there is amazing though, that was an awesome read

And here are a few pictures

My old man was cleaning out his shed today and stumbled upon his first ever fishing reel.. He's never been a mad keen fisho though, and it's actually the only reel I know of him owning to date hahaha. Not sure when he bought it, I think it would have maybe been in the late 60s or 70s (maybe even more recent, I have no idea) when he would have been in his teens or early 20s. Tiny thing, not much line capacity, think he mentioned using it on trout and probably little stuff growing up out west. Model is a Roddy 650 ( R ). Can't find any information on it online, and I'm not interested in value - I'm pretty sure these old reels are only worth around $25 or so on online shop anyway. As an industrial design student and keen fisher I'm admiring it and think it's great. Planning on pulling it apart and giving it a service and hopefully get it looking all nice again. It'd be cool if anybody familar with the brand or these old school reels could give me any kind of information or pass on a story.. Maybe even share more photos of older reels and tackle.. I know it's no big deal but I'm finding it super interesting I'll grab my phone and upload a picture or two shortly.

Spinning metals is the greatest, I never get bored of it Congrats!!

Oh man that's heartbreaking hahahah. Can't be a worse feeling that not having the gear when there's such a great opportunity in front of you

congrats!! shows the hard work and effort pays off :-)

I don't think I can mention them on the open forum but if you pm me I've heard of some good custom painters who do up old lures. I'm waiting till I have a few more before I send them off but their work looks rad. Cheap too.

Wow great report!! Shame you lost it, but losing a fish makes you even keener to get back out there! I'm heading to vanuatu in January with some mates, I'll die if I don't get on a game fishing charter!

I used an acryllic based car touch up spray, I always use them over enamels as the dry faster and generally have a better finish. Can pick them up from any store like supercheap. Looks like you have a killer setup there. I mounted my transductor on that little square patch you can see at the end of the yak, looks like you've got room for one as well if your motor's on the side.

Nice squid, they're always good fun and I find it's a pretty relaxing way to fish with a mate

Thanks for the the info Roberta!! Alot to think about hahah. At the moment my way of keeping the battery secure is a piece of wire, but Velcro or something similar is a good idea, I'll look into it! Yeah I was definitely thinking about a flag or something as well, safety is a priority of course, so I'll be looking at getting one within my first few trips! Thanks Scratchie! I was at my local BCF eying motors yesterday! Seemed like a little overkill, and the dude told me cause they're electric they don't have a long battery life, even if you wack them onto a car battery.. What size do you have?? And how does it go? I don't have any photos on me at the moment, but I mounted the transductor on the very rear or the yak, screwed into that small flat bit. When I'm sitting in it it sits just underwater and reads fine. But that would probably clash with your motor in that spot.. I was having a squizz online and saw that you can buy adjustable arms that you mount and drop down on the side of the yak.. That might be worth looking into?

Cheers, I've been thinking about what to do with the cables but I think I'll only do it between the transductor (mounted off the back because it was the only place for it) and the screen. I figure my dry bags can hold more important things than a $30 battery, so I'll keep it external, it's near the front so it's out of the way anyway! Tossing up on rigging some small speakers and a cheap old ipod in somewhere, but I think it'd scare the fish

Here's a picture from when I first bought it (pre sounder) paid $400, on impulse. Bloke had wanted $450, but I haggled.. Again, I didn't research, but it seemed like a good buy and I'm happy. It also came with a seat, and the 5th rod holder, not sure of they're post stock, but hey. I'll post some proper pictures when it's on the water

So I impulse bought myself a second hand kayak probably around a month or two ago from a dude on gumtree. I was just sitting at work one day browsing boats and saw it up, so when I finished work I went around, and rocked up home that night with a kayak on the back of the ute (rents weren't impressed) Not sure what the model or brand it was, but it came with a seat and it has five rod holders. I'm pretty happy with it, first thing I did when I got it was fit it out with a sounder, and keen to begin some mods. I've been super busy with uni of late, so since I got it I've only used it once on a brief trip up the clyde river off nelligen (super windy day, didn't get too far ). Sounder and everything on it worked great, but I had the battery randomly floating around, so this has led to my first little project. Today in an hour off between classes I headed down to the workshop and put together a little bracket piece for my battery to sit in! Nothing massive, but it feels good making things from scratch and I mounted it up tonight. It's basically made from 10mm acryllic, sanded and sprayed matt black to match the rest of my setup. It wasn't really needed but I also fixed up some wire underneath it to make a clip to keep the battery in place if I ever go in, but the battery fits it pretty much perfectly. That done, wondering how everybody else sits their batteries, and what other mods are worth looking into?? I'm keen to sneak out to Eucumbene sometime in the next few weeks and give it my first serious run, so I'll post up a few photos of the actual yak when it's in the water and going, and hopefully if I get onto some fish I'll have some material for a report. Other than sessions on trout I'm planning to use it up the clyde for EP, flatties, jew, tailor, bream etc, and definitely around bateman's bay or ulladulla harbour hunting for squid. It's not a big yak, and my first so it's definitely not for offshore like some of the crazies do, but I'm super keen to take it around lakes, rivers and estuaries. If you're still reading.. Here are a few pics of my first project :-)

hahahah oh man that's great

Back luck on the ones lost, but the one you got there has some beautiful colours regardless!!

Got some decent fish there each time, it always feels good coming back with a feed

Great report, and solid catch for the light tackle!!

Oh damn wish I'd seen this post a few months ago!! I've been burning all winter to get on a boat out chasing tuna, need to tick something off other than albacore.. Dunno the odds now we're coming out of winter, but if it's not too late in the season and theres another good run of tuna like the other week drop me a line!! I'd be pretty keen for an excuse to skip uni and head out for a day. Happy to chip in costs. Cheers

Nice fish! How good are solo sessions??

When I've tried live baiting I've floated them out under a balloon (tied to a swivel with floss), and used 1-2m of 60lb leader (I don't use wire like the diagram here though)

If you dont mind the few hours drive yoy could take your car down to the ulladulla wharf, you can park the car within around 5m of the edge. Problem is it's usually pretty packed, especially around peak times..

Top report and quality fish!! Pity about the few lost, but would have put a smile on your face regardless :-) All these reports are killing me, all I wanna do is go out and chase them myself!

Solid jew, congrats!! Sounds like your night was better than mine

This is brilliant, well done and thanks for the great read :-)