Short

All thermoplastics degrade in the sun, polythelyne (PE) included. Unless you have carbon black added they will all degrade over time. Dont think the amount of time the average fisho's line spends in the sun would be much of a factor though... might be different for commercial/long liners etc. but a few hrs a week of exposure shoudnt do too much harm.

Just playing devils advocate and not condoning what they did, but maybe you did something inadvertently early in the day thay got them offside?

Both shore jigging rods... not many people are in to shore jigging, it is still on the fringe especially in Aus. Palms gear is meant to be pretty good they are one of the market leaders in that scene.

Cheers rick. Swell should taper right off in to the weekend but will keep an eye on it.

G'Day Raiders, Heading to Norah Head staying in the caravan park this weekend, anyone got any local intel on where to fish? I'll be land based and spinning lures off the rocks (maybe put some liveys out) and going for a session off the beach for jew and the other usual suspects at night. Looking for spots within walking distance of the van park so the entrance could be a bit of a stretch. "Jewfish Point" looks appealing but what's in a name hey? Can you get squid around the boat ramp? Any info would be much appreciated. Feel free to PM if you want to keep it quiet. Cheers Sam

Can always take both and see how you go. Pillies are reliable but if you get on to a patch of fish metals can get plenty of hookups quickly.

Yep will pick up straight from the south on Sunday then swing to south east. SE swell will generally cause more grief around inshore headlands, beaches etc. as straight S swells March straight past.

It's absolutely packed at the moment early evenings through to 10 or so. Pines to the opening is near enough shoulder to shoulder. Best go elsewhere til silly season dies down.

It is open and has been for a while now.

Hey mate the penn prevail is a good rod, I've got one and love it. If you're after kings and jew I'd go a bit bigger than 5000 size reel. Penn have plenty of big spin reels that arent too dear.

^^ I think so, I changed the hooks on a 70mm bassday sugapen with a set of pliers/braid cutters I got from a shop.

Hey mate grab a cheapo pair of split ring pliers from the tackle shop. Will make those tasks much easier.

Casting livies is a good way to kill them or pull hooks out. If you're live baiting off the rocks I would usually: - float or balloon them out (gentle drop in to the water and hope wind and livey cooperate and don't come back to the rocks) - go an overhead setup and use mono main line minimum 50lb - slide bait so the yakkas don't swim around everywhere Might get some rats with 30lb braid but if a big one comes along I reckon you would get smoked or reefed. If you're looking at saltist hyper plus 8000 reel plus spool of braid you would probably end up spending less if you went with say overhead/lbg rod, TLD25, 60lb mono main and overhead/lbg rod. There is a few ads up on gumtree in Sydney for LBG rods and reels. One bloke is selling 4 setups for around 200 or 250 each. Why he has 4 different LBG setups is beyond me. I wont post the link but just search gumtree>fishing>sydney + term "LBG".

That's about the same setup I've got for the kayak for the lake. Flatties don't take much convincing so it's enough power. Light enough to throw poppers for whiting/tailor, good for small blades, vibes, plastics up to 120mm or so.

I reckon the test method in the original video is a bit dodgy. Both lines would be getting loaded up in torsion (twisting) as he runs the stick back and forth. If one line can take more twist before it starts to lose traction and slips on the sandpaper (where all the heavy abrasion would happen), that line would most likely last longer. Also I think the line that grips the sandpaper longer before slipping would fare better. Take the twisting out of the equation would make his test more accurate IMHO. Not to say the result is wrong however.

I foul hooked an eagle ray last week off the beach, one of the hooks just caught the tip of his wing right at the end. I couldn't work out what it was until I saw it. 2 x snelled 8/0 gamakatsu octopus hooks with a yakka. Standard jew bycatch. Marginally better than port jacksons. Better than smooth rays that just bunker down on the sand and you cant budge.

Yeah exactly - why would you want to catch them? Plenty of them as bycatch fishing the beach at night for jew.

Try to weld it if you want a good seal. Nothing will bond to LLDPE/HDPE long term.

Yep that reel in the review is the same as my lethal 100. To be honest, that review went a long way to convincing me to buy it. Wasnt an issue with the internals, drag or mount/seat that killed mine, was just that one screw. Guess you get what you pay for sometimes. Mind you I did put a stupid amount of pressure on it. 80lb braid main line and 80 lb leader, near enough to full drag with the rod pointed straight down the line with no bend in it for 45 mins. I was sat in the sand with my feet dug in. Must have been a huge smooth ray i think.

Aside from that failure I really liked the lethal 100. Good smooth drag, construction seems solid. Looks like that screw near the roller bearing may not have been fitted/tightened properly in the factory. Only had the thing a few months when it happened.

Keep an eye on gumtree between now and when you start, a decent rod + reel combo should pop up second hand for well under 100. I reckon you would go close to getting a new starter combo for that. Curly can have all the usual beach suspects - salmon, tailor, bream, flatties, whiting, rays, sharks, jew etc. Usually has really deep water close to shore at the south 1/3 of the beach with a big rip by the pool.

Geez starting to rethink my attraction to OH reels based on Jon D's post! Have burnt straight through a cut proof glove and my thumb slowing down the squall 60 with 350gm sinker sailing away. RE. the recommendation for the LT100 - I had one of these and it failed at the screw next to the roller bearing - fell apart after a 45 min tug of war with what must have been a big ray...

Looks like there are a few other OH fans out there. @kingfishbig im looking at getting one of those reels you've got, an akios shuttle 666 or penn squall 15 with 20lb braid. Ive got a 4-8oz breakaway HDXt rod on the way from the states. The weight isnt just for fighting sharks, i find sometimes it is handy to plunk out a big sinker so you don't get washed down the beach when a bit of swell is running.

Point taken re. fishing being close in, I have gotten my few jewys within 20m of the shorebreak. There are some situations though when distance is needed such as casting out beyond rocky ground to sand or needing to get past the outer bank on low tide. Can always cast short with a long rod if needed. And no I'm not looking to cast big whole baits, live or dead, that's what the slide set up is for. Wing out a 350gm grapnel sinker and slide them out instead. Not too bad throwing a whole yakka plus sinker though. I'm not necessarily saying which approach is right or wrong, better or worse, everything has it's place and virtues. It just really surprises me that OH surf casting gear is so popular elsewhere in the world and is largely unheard of and not possible to buy domestically in Aus Cheers

Gday raiders, Im getting in to overhead (conventional) reels and rods for surf fishing. Ive got a super heavy (9-14oz cast weight) ulua rod and penn squall 60 reel for slide baiting and have a 4-8oz rod on order for throwing bait. Thing i cant understand is these types of setups are virtually unheard of in Australia. No tackle shops stock braked OH reels for distance casting, same goes for rods to match. All the surf gear here is spin gear with max cast weights around 140gm (3-4oz) or so. Only exception might be a few daiwa rods. Elsewhere (US, UK, South Africa) OH reels and rods are the standard for surf fishing. In Australia tackle shops cant even bring the gear in by special order, ive asked quite a few times, its like it is channel blocked or something... What is going on here? I dont get it. We have a huge amount of coastline for good surf fishing, plenty of big beasties just off the sand and yet we are the only country in the world that seems to rely on relatively lightweight spin gear.