TAZ

Now that's what I call a birthday present. 👍

Two of his others. Alpha Wobbler and a small propeller spinner. He swore by those gold wobbler's.

My Dads old Devon lures. You guys who know them, you put a left spinning one on for several casts then a right spinning one on for the same amount to counteract line twist. My Dad had good success using those in the Goulborn River for trout. Back then as a kid though all I was intetested in was trying to catch the big freshwater crays I'd see on the banks just below the water line.

Yeah mate that knife cut countless baits up and was used to clean who knows how many fish. She's pretty worn down. Just sits on my mantle these days. Id kick myself if I lost it. Too many good memories. They were awesome reels in their day mate. My Dad caught heaps of trout on that reel. I got all his old fishing gear when he died, some was given to him from my Grandfather. Have my Gradads old cane creel from, gee, the 40's I think my Mum told me. I'll fish out some of the old lures tommorow. Have them somewhere. Should see some of the old rods, some with just 3 old wire guides. Far cry from the gear we have now.

Hi old Japanese fishing knife.

My Dads old Mitchel. I used to think it was amazing when I was a kid. I replaced the drag washer in it and it actually has a really good drag.

Here is a link to info about it. I cant recall the program I watched. https://www.google.com/amp/amp.abc.net.au/article/10943826

Great catch. Love those non stop action sessions.

No, not trivial info at all mate, didnt know that it wasn't a true algae. I reckon it's more dangerous than people realise. They reckon if they can nail what it is in particular in it with the cause of Motor Neurone disease then they can come closer to fighting MN and hopefully find a cure. I hope they do its a terrible disease. I'm a volunteer in a hospital with people that suffer things like that and it's heartbreaking to see the deteriation. Cheers mate.

Hi fellas. Took a drive to one of our trout lakes yesterday here in Vic. Tullaroop. Over the last 3 mths we have had our coldest wettest long spell in decades. 3 months of cold cloudy, rainy weather. But at Tullaroop there is actually a big Blue Green Algae outbreak, with signs up warning of it and its visible too. I've never seen that in winter before. I dread to go near it when the weather warms up. They reckon when I enquired that if fertiliser levels are at higher than normal levels (whats normal?) in the catchment area then it can cause an outbreak even in cold weather. Looking grim for that lake in summer, wont waste my time travelling to it. I steer clear of Blue Green Algae areas these days after I watched a show and some Drs believe there is a link, not the only cause but one of, to Motor Neurone disease. Would take a flood to flush that out. Anyone ever seen that in winter?

Terrific! Never seen those before. Look like a cross between a Couta and a Mackerel. The fish look nice too. Obviously good eating.

Hi mate. So here is my fishing history. Im 56 and fished from the age 5 with my now gone father. I've never been one to spend a wage packet on one bit of gear, but was taught to by my dad to shop wise. I have not got 1 rod that cost more than $120 in my kit. I have some finesse trout gear as well as some that I would back to pull in 200ld toothies. One did no issues. And yeah, I know I'm not in the league of the big bruiser fishos, but I know that what I go for, my gear is good. So my rods. The first thing I go for is in line guides, second is not badly angled guides leaning left or right. Next is that they are lined up straight in line with the reel seat. Backbone, I do this. Best on a solid surface like lino, wood, concrete, just solid. Place the rod bottom, butt, against your shoe (shop for rods then wear boots or solid hard soles) now next, hold the rod near the reel seat within your index finger and thumb in a kind of ring circle shape. Grab the tip or near the tip with your other hands index/thumb. Now gently pull directly away from the butt. If it twists like a corkscrew reject it. Especially if its a 2 peice. Under load extended fight the top will work loose and scew from the base. Now, you may not always get one perfect on that backbone. There can be a couple of spots that it doesn't scew/twist bad that is almost negligible. I would accept those if I could not get a perfect one. As long as the guides were in line and the reel seat. All my rods have guides in perfect line as well as the reel seat. Worst backbone twist might be 10%. I have on occasions looked at 300 400 $ rods and seen fails in those requirements. I have a $60 rod that met them all, I just went through 10 rods to get it. Its 2 piece and I swapped the bottom of one onto the top of another and it is 100% perfect guides, reel seat and backbone. Just use your head when you shop. Like I said, I've seen total fails in some expensive rods, and once it was a Shimano backbone rod (what a joke that was). That's why I'd never buy a rod online.

Beautiful fish mate. 👍

If I would add one little bit to this thread it's this. Id only buy a rod these days that before I do I can physically pick up and hold to check all the guides are properly aligned together as well as aligned with the reel seat. And that the blank was straight and either made on the backbone or very close to. I've seen a lot of crapily built rods out there and some not cheap either. You can actually find cheaper rods well built. You just have to go through several in the shop and compare them.

Yeah, cheers, I reckon they'll do the job. Should be near a a shop or a shop next week so plan to grab some.

Very interesting presentation. For some reason I'm imagining hopping a worm type softie along with those.

Good idea mate the bit of split shot, with a dab of the glue. 👍. There used to be several years ago an Aussie jig rig that you pushed a needle type thin wire through (part of the kit) then fed a length of the kit wire through then a hook was attached, trebble type but just 2 barbs. Your weight naturally was up front. I exhausted all searches for it and cannot recall its name so maybe it no longer exists. I remember the info on it though saying how great it was for short strikes. But anyway I reckon that TT head will do the trick with a hook of choice, the split shot and glue. They have an incredible choice of gear in the states dont they. Wish we had that same choice here. Good luck catching something on the new reel mate.

Thanks for the ideas. Im thinking of these. You can take the hook off and put anything you like on it. So I find the hook I want to fit the plastic and use that. Not sure about how well the plastic would stay put just by that knuckle section and hook eye but will get some and try. There are quite a number of long shank jigs in the US, just not here. Freight costs though are ridiculous. One place wanted to charge $40 US. Others would not ship here. Im all googled out. Spent hours searching for them

Thanks. Hi, yeah have tried the stingers but was really wanting just a longer single. May have to look into making my own somehow.

Hi all. Im wondering if anyone knows if there are longer shanked hook jigheads? Sometimes I want to use a larger plastic but the same weight jighead. This brings the hook end closer to the front of the lure naturally. But often the fish hit the back end of the lure so you just get tail hits and no hook ups. Are there any longer shank versions that anybody knows of?

Hi mate. Not heard of them but a search showed this. Is that the one? It said stand up presentation. Which way do they mean, do you have a pic of how?

Nice fish mate. 👍

I have eaten them numbers of times as sashimi. The ones around, just a guess, 1 1/2 lb were best. Bleed them straight away, fillet, cut the dark meat out along the centre then slice into fine thin slices and soak in a mix of lemon juice and soy sauce. Sprinkle with chili if you like it like I do. I think slicing thin is the trick as it doesn't allow the strong flavour to over balance things. Thin like a couple or few mil thick.

Mate I have a number of old lures that amazingly survived many heated battles and just kept hanging in there. When they reach a certain point to me I retire them and keep them in my battle scar lure collection. Im glad I have as I have some that are 40 yrs old from when I was a kid. It's cool to be able to open that box and see what I used to use and caught so many fish on all those years ago. Im thinking of mounting them on a board actually like a mate of mine has. Looks great to be honest.

Hi mate, just saw this thread and interesting you ask. I use Berkley, Mustads and TT's. But, have in the past recent months been testing and weighing them. Most TT's, Berkley and Mustad have been very close to the advertised weight. Nearly all just under but so just that it doesn't matter. By just .2 to .4 of a gram diff. Who cares about that. But the Mustad 5 gram ones were 1 grams or below. The lowest was 3.7 g. Something wrong there because they sell 3.5 gram ones that are that ones weight. Anyway, I recently out of curiosity purchased some Jarvis Walker ones from K Mart. They come in split packs of 6 or 4 with say a 1/4 oz head in 6 with 3 being size 1 hook and 3 size 1/0. All the weights in each hook size were around 7.5 gram. The 10.5 g ones in size 1/0 to size 2 were 11 grams. So I tested them for bend under pressure and they held up just as good as my others. So, $5.50 for a pack of those Jarvis Walker vs $7.99 to $9.99 for the others. Unless I strike a problem with them I know which I will be buying. By the way, the head shape is just like the Berks. Right now to me weight wise and bang for your buck are the Jarvis.