SZ1

Hi Steze, I just came back from Hamilton island the fishing was pretty exciting, I didn’t go on any charter but I did hire a Dinghy from the marina for a day, we didn’t get much to write home about but the constant action sure made up for it. At times we had a large travelly which looked like Golden or GT at the back around 10kg that won’t take anything, I threw some poppers/pencils and stick baits around for a few strikes from mackerels. But be sure to book early as they do book out pretty fast. I fished the local ferry wharf next to the airport every night, the place is a really good fishing spot, we got spooled 2, one night we caught 26 squids all around the 30cm mark. You get heaps of finger mark there but normally not very big. Saw a 100kg plus grouper cruise by. But there is a local etiquette where the last person/group leaves the wharf have to clean it up and give it a spray with the fire hose. It would be good to bring your own gear and you can fish anytime you wish. Also I forgot to mention, make sure you get down to the marina out the front of the Dinghy hire place at 5pm in the after noon for when the charter boats comes back, there is always a swarm of GT 20kg plus waiting for free feed, as the charter boats feeds them they off cuts etc. cheers, Sz1

HI Hotttyscott, I have gone throuh this excercise, with some of my reels which included a Saltist 40, the best i could get out of the Drag trhough a 6foot jigging rod was 9+ kilos, this rating was straight out of the box brand new reel with the star drag as tight as i can physcially get. Cheers, Sz1

That's Gold!!!!! Great stuff love every moment of reading your report.

Hi Slinky, the reel in question Saltiga 6500exp, i upgarded the drag from Day one when i purchased the reel brand new, the tackle shop i go too did the upgrade for me and he also advised me that with the Eskine upgrade, to watch out when dialing up the drag to becarefull as a slight increase means a higher increment then the standard washer. I spoke to my friend who also has a saltiga 6500 exp and had the same upgrade and he also noticed the difference. Both reels was tested out in Perth on Sambo's during January and both had incredible smooth drags. I am not worried that it is a problem as this seems normal with the Saltiga's when upgrading to carbontex, but just interested to see if you had the same experience with the smaller shimanos. Cheers, Sz1

Hi Slinky, with the Carbontex upgrade on the smaller sized reels have you noticed any differences in the increment of drag pressure when dialing up the drag? The reason I ask is that I have noticed when i upgraded my daiwa 6500 that a slight increase when dailing up the drag equated to huge increase in actual drag, takes a bit to get used too but definalty makes up with the increased performance. Cheers, sha

Hi Greg, that is a cracker Tailor you got there, hats off to you that is a beast of a east coast tailor!!!

As stated above Sol is a great little reel or you can look at Stradic 2500 which is also very nice reel.

Nice, love the look on the T-Bar. Hope u get to try it out soon. What rod is that Saragosa mounted on, looks like the new Jig-Wrex? Cheers, sha

Sorry bud I am not sure how much they are. I don't think they will be that expensive. Is there something wrong with yours or are u just wanting a spare? Because u might able to get one under warranty if urs is failed. They are open Monday to Friday so give them a call their service is pretty good.

Give shimano spare parts a call, they are located at Taren point Syd. Their number is on their website www.shimanofishing.com.au Or you can ask your local tackle shop to order one in for you. cheers, Sz1

Good report your smashing them up there. I was up there on Tuesday and the place was packed, but did manage a few bonnies as well, there sure is plenty of the with hook up everywhere. The fish only stayed on the chew till about 9.30am and went of the bite and shortly after we left due the heat, i was dying out there hahahaha. Cheers, Sz1

Look forward to your review, I was going to say the SW has only been out for a brief period and a new one is comming out already that was fast!!! I have heard rumours of a new Saltiga that maye be on the card sometime this year as well. Cheers, SZ1

HI Cantab, I am not sure what lb backing i used it was just what ever I had at that moment i think it was 14lb or 20lb it doesn't really matter as the backing is only used for preventing line slippage. Pe6 80 would be more then ample and won't be over kill for Syd fishing when you get back. Have fun mate and look forward to you report when you get back. Cheers, Sz1

The thing main to worry about here is the tension needs to be right or you will find when running high drag the line on the spool will cut into each other which will result with line breakages. Do it righ the first time will save you plenty of trouble later on. What line rating you plan on using Cantab, for GT's I would go around PE8 this will be safe to a certain extent, but you may still get bricked. But that is all part of the fun!!!

HI Cantab, Nice choice on the 18k I am sure you will enjoy every moment of using it. AS for spooling it up what I did with my 20K SW was use about 15-20m or so of mono backing with a uni knot connection to the spool along with a strip of the tape that comes with the Reel, then reel this onto the spool under tight tension then I would connect the backing to the main line via a double uni. With the main line what I did was get the Mrs to let line out whilst I walked back the length of the longest part of the apartment and walk the line back to the Mrs, who is now holding the spool tight. I found by using this process I was able to get the correct tension onto the spool. But I have to say it does take a little bit longer then normal. I was able to get exactly 350m of PE8 onto the spool. Cheers, SZ1

Nice, i wounder if they are bringing out larger models from 5K and above. If they bring out the larger models i don't think the Mrs is going to be happy hehehehehe Cheers, SZ1

I would Say Okuma has one of the best warranty service out their, I have called many time need bearing replacement bearing only to find a bag of bearing turn up the following day. Their service is A1 and as always no questions asked.

As Slinky said the Stella would be my pick builtiful drag system, even at high drag line comes off very smoothly. Also as Stewy said don't leave out the Saltiga Exp 6500, upgrade the drag to carbonTex it will give you a very solid reel, between the Setlla and Salitga there is not much difference. As you are going to NZ jigging i would say go for the best you can afford as the kings will most likely be XOS and tackle murderers. with the list you ave i wuld go exactley as SLinly mentioned: Stella (or Saltiga) Catalina Okuma

Basically the process involve stabbing the ike spike just behind the fishes eye , it take practice to get he right spot and also different fish have a different postion to hit the mark. As slinky said you will still need to bleed the fish as you have brain spiked it. Another was to go about it is get a fish donger and just dong it on the head and this usually just as good method and does need any practice. On my mates boat we use a 40cm fibre glass rod for the harbour sized kings. Cheers, Sz1

Hi Bud, I would go the following: 20K for the 25-37Kg outfit And the 8K SWPG for the other outfit, you may even get away with getting a 6K if you want to go lighter. Cheers, Sz1

Hi Cantab, i am sorry as well but am really interested in what Areo has asked. I am with Aero, if you look around the net for jigging and Popping you will see Stella's and Saltiga's being the norm. Hi Jack, I note you have stated a fin nor off shore, but what other reels are you using currently for your heavy work? Or can you please advice on what is more capable of heavy fishing, as any angler can agree, to go on trip and have gear failure will definatley be a bummer. Aero, I have to say stella 20k SW for bait fishing that is pretty extravegant Cheers, Sz1

Hi There 12mile is about 110m as said above it is not the season for kingy jigging but there should still be some around. 200g-300g will get you to the bottom if the wind is up and the current is strong even 400g will be ok. It is always worth chucking out a skirt when heading out there as you never know what might come along. good luck and look forward to hearing your report.

That pretty interesting, i suppose you can run a diver and troll it behind the boat if you are LB of the rock, i would imagine that would work.

HI There, I am with Greg, i would go for the 18000k over the 10000, the 18k opens up a whole new world with big fish ie cubing for tuna and even for small marlin fishing. It also depends on what your main type of fishing is as the 18k and 10k are a high speed reel which us more designed for the high speed spinning and GT fishing in mind, if you into jigging and enjoy fishing the deep stuff then I would consider a 20k as the low gears on the 20k make crank up fish from the deep much easier. But then there is no saying you can’t use high speed to jig or lowspeed to spin, but it is just that the correct gears just make that form of fishing a little bit easier. Also with the 18k have the option to fish high line rating such as PE8 (100lb) and still get approximately 300m on the reel, where as for the 10K I would not go more then PE6 as you will loose out on the line capacity. Also with the 18k it opens up to the option of getting the yumeya super max spool which can hold 600m of Pe6. Although this are not cheap at around $300+, but if you into chasing big fish then this is some to keep in mind. In regards to Stellas and Saltigas failing, there will always be reel that is going to fail and the Stellas and Saltiga are no exception! However the two metioned reels tend to fail less and have been proven against time to be the bench mark for quality and reliability. With regards to the Diablo reel I would stay clear of these, I recently came back from a week of jigging from Perth and one of the charter I was one had the smaller reels on board, the reel seems to have a real lumpy drag system which resulted a few fish lost. Although as stated this are on the smaller 9000 models so maybe the larger model has improved. I think in the end of the day it comes down choosing a reel that will suit your type of fishing as the outlay on one of these reel are not cheap. If you only chasing the kings in Syd then a 10k will do the job both here and Fiji. However if you into chasing big fish then I would go the 18k or 20K (same body size different gears) and don’t forget you can still use this larger reels on the kings as there are some big kings around.

Can't comment on using either items but i have contemplated on using those sort of jig as my sinker for when i am targeting kings just to spice things up a bit. never tried it yet as i havn't brought but when i do try it i will post on the results. cheers, Sz1