JamoDamo

I'm thinking I may just go with the freams or exceller or legalis

Yeah, as long as they do what they are designed to do and don't cause trouble it should be fine

For sure I used to use abu garcia blackmax reels and still did well

Hahahaha I have no idea what to get man the kix seems like it may be a tad too heavy...

Its the LT (Light and tough Concept) which pretty much means what it says, heaps and heaps of drag for a small finesse "bream reel" . Also i've got $540 to invest in a setup with but i'd like to keep it under $400 as I still have a bunch of lures plastics and a bunch of other stuff that I need to restock with. I am looking to get my first magsealed bream reel so it seems this maybe the one i'm going with

The freams is a lighter reel so maybe better for finesse, however the kix has more grunt to get fish out of structure where I fish. However a 1-3kg rod and a 235 gram reel may not mix...

Hey Raiders! Now is the time to step up in my price range for some new gear!! As of recent I got given a td commander 1-2kg bayonet division FOR FREE so that combo is a work in process but here we are to the good stuff. I've been eyeing off the td hyper for quite some time as it always looked like an awesome rod to use for finesse soft plastics fishing (my all time favourite type of fishing to do as of recent). I've made my decision in getting a 1-3kg td hyper v2 and matching it with either a freams, legalis 2021 lt or a daiwa Kix 2500D. While on lunch break I had a quite little fiddle around with some gear including the freams and Kix and matched it up with the hyper. Now for my first magsealed reel I was a bit jumpy on what the hell should I get and man the freams is nice as for the $220 price point and super light too and with all the features it seemed so good for the price. Then the Kix got presented to me and man what a reel! Matched it up with the td hyper and yeah okay its a tad on the heavier side but it still matches quite nicely along with the rod. With a bit of balancing in the hand it felt "right". Had a fiddle around with the rod trying my usual retrieves such as the single lift, double hop, flicky shroom hop retrieve and the burn and kill retrieve and man it handled really nicely. I still have my heart set on the freams but I honestly have no idea what is the better reel to get. The freams was light as in the hand matched with the rod which was super nice but the Kix to be honest wasn't much different with a few adjustments however I am feeling that it may get a bit heavy in the hand to fish with all day but i've fished plastics with cheaper setups that are heavier and still haven't noticed much strain or fatigue in my hands. Sorry for making this post probably a tad too long but anyways. Cheers guys James Also forgot to put in, the kix is 235 grams and the freams in the same size is 200 grams

daiwa seabass

that is true! Well I meant baits that were once in the sea guess I am dumbfounded! haha

Bait in my opinion is anything that was or is living, plastics on the other hand are artificial baits so ie gulps and don't get me wrong you probably could deadstick a gulp sandworm and still hook up!

I am beyond jealous man! But I couldn't be happier for you! Second landbased jew in the georges and a metery wow! I've got to come next time... I've got to score myself a legal jew.... Well done! James

Cracking bag of fish. I'm keen to finally get into a few this year! The season is looking pretty good so far hopefully it pulls thru!

Good news everyone! I've landed myself a job at a tackle shop about 20-30 minutes drive from my place! So stoked! My first job and of all things a job at a tackle shop! Can't wait to start working there I start next week on Sunday from 9-5!

This is also my target species on plastics for this winter. I'm going to try land a few!

Yessir, I've tried them before they are quite good very strong and the action is great!

The new range have the same material as bio tough so pretty much as similar to zman as you can get. I suppose you've gotta use them to see if they work or not! I'm sure they will

Hey everyone! Just in case you guys didn't know squidgy have now brought out a new range! The squidgy duratechs, they pretty much have the same sort of elaztechy sort of material similar to zman and the "new" daiwa baitjunkie range. They still produce all the classic squidgy profiles such as the fish, the prawn and the wriggler replacing the pro ranges of said models. Looks like they could be the next big contender in the plastics markets and bring squidgy back to its former glory. I've tried them before when my mate bought a pack of the 65mm prawn wriggler in "cloud 9" (my favourite pro range colour) and wow! They work super well! He got a stonkin' 50cm plus flatty on em. They come in pretty much the same packet as the usual bio tough plastics and aren't too hard to rig on the jighead easily and they have a great action, looks like they'll be an absolute killer on EP, Bream, Flathead and all other sorts of estuary species. When I get some coin I may have to pick up a few packs for myself to give them a bash with some light lines and some light jigheads. Cheers guys, James

G'day raiders, Heres another report and god forbid another PB! Went for an early morning fish waking up at the crack of dawn to go for a fish before mothers day celebrations. Met up with @SaltyGreekand walked down to our spot of choice. Man what a cracker of a morning for it I hadn't seen the river this decrepit of wind for a long time so we made good use of it, I couldn't believe the river it looked like a lake! Unfortunately I for some odd reason didn't snap a photo but nonetheless. We were fishing squid baits for jew as there are a fair few getting around in the Georges and pretty much all of the major local waterways of Sydney from small pups to some cracking fish. With no hits on the squid we decided to focus on flicking some soft plastics around and fishing some unweighted strip baits and prawn for some bream. We only got some small tiddler bream however we also hooked up to a biggin that smoked us into a snag... @SaltyGreek flicked the bail arm over and let it run off he waits a bit clicks its over sets the hook and all hell breaks loose. This thing is trying its level best to bury him deep into some snags, wrap him arounds pylons and POP! The leader snaps... Pretty devo as it seemed like it had some power, everytime we hook a big bream there its instantly over as they just steam train you into snags and bust you off. Even 10 lb doesn't cut it! When we were fishing unweighted baits we managed to snag a live herring to toss out as livebait.. we were stoked this was the fish that could bring in either a big flatty, talior or hell a JEW! Chucked it out on a snell rig live to see whatever big fish out there would be keen to scoff down a 15cm herring. Well we continued on fishing prawns and fish strips unweighted and I see my line go straight.. I set the hook hard and boom! I'm on a 43cm flatty, this fish gave a damn good account of itself for flatty! Runs and headshakes this thing went the whole 9 miles to try and chafe the leader as he had woofed down the hook deadset thought he was a nice bream. Unfortunately for the flatty he ended up in my net and with a hook down deep in his gob.. Old mate started bleeding pretty heavily so I ended up having to just brain spike him and turn him into some more flathead nuggets. As the tide change changes from running in to running out about 20 minutes after the change I think to myself, ahhh stuff it lets go have a check on the livie. I pull it in and to my horror my livie has been absolutely shredded in half by god knows what! I was spewing! My once chance at a jew and who knows it could have been one! And with all the jew around it probably was! It wasn't a clean bite it was jagged and torn like what a big predator would be accustomed to.. this was no small flathead or picker fish... Well that was our jewie fishing over and done with so we just switched back to the unweighted fishing for just more small picker bream and the occasional undersize whiting so really not much to write home about apart from the 43cm flatty but hell I was happy its a fish! @SaltyGreekended up leaving at around 8 leaving me to a solo session and I've got to say it panned out pretty bloody well! Flicked around a baitfish profile soft plastic on 8lb leader but then said nahhh.. time to try finesse for bream! I pulled out the trusty old 4lb tied a quick albright and chucked on a hidden weight and rigged up the old faithful watermelon red 2.5" zman grub! They will never ever seem to amaze me with the class of fish these things pull in! Well now I was rigged up and ready to go I was off to the races ready for bream! Had probably about 5-6 casts when I feel weight! And lots of it! I strike and boom! It was exhilarating! My rod gets thrashed with headshakes and my reel is having line shredded off it like no tomorrow! The line zigs and zags through the water.. what the hell could this be? A bream? Hell that was my best guess I had no bloody idea what the hell this thing was! I start to finally lift this fish towards the surface and I see colour! Finally! Looked like a bream at first glance but they I saw the profile of a blackfish and those distinctive stripes! Next thing I see if the blackfish tumble! Swerving side to side in the water sort of similar to how a bream would flap around on land I see the grub tucked neatly under its chin. By this point and I absolutely skitzed out like man a blackfish on plastics?! What the hell?! I coax him over around the wharf and towards the beach, I know how easily these fish can pull hooks for I am skull dragging it with a little pressure as humanely possible so to ensure that I don't lose it. On the way in towards the beach the blackie sees and an oyster encrusted rock and dives for it! Nope not today I coax his head towards me with rod pressure and off we are to the beach. I beach him but onto the sand and boom! Blackfish in my hands! Some ooo's and ahh's from nearby bystanders wow what I catch one of them says to me, so stoked! I run back to the wharf blackfish and rod in hand to get a quick little glory shot.. Again no camera man so heres some more selfie shots with my pb 37cm blackfish. I don't know about you but i'm starting to see a trend, go by myself land a stonka and then have to improvise and get a quick selfie shot! Was keen to try some blackfish again so a quick brain spike and a sliced throat and there we go i've got myself some prime blackfish to eat. I immediately gut and gill the fish and remove the gut lining after a good and proper bleed out so the flesh is as good as I can get it and there we go, theres a quick little feed! Ended up as a mother's day dinner and as usual dad was keen to dig in and try some blackfish and he absolutely loved it! Even more than flathead! (His favourite eating fish). Well thats another report done and dusted. So stoked to finally achieve a blackfish on a plastic and this is giving me a sneaking suspicion that there might be some blackfish coming for a breeding run up the river and i'll be there ready to meet them with my snyder and 475cp stocked with burley and weed ready to give them another crack the traditional way! Its not my best report with all the droning on about the unsuccessful jew fishing but hopefully its good! I just had to post this one its a blackie on plastics and a PB again!!! Stoked, cheers and thanks again hope you all enjoy the report! Cheers, JamoDamo Heres some photos:

Its cleaned up amazingly. After the floods its seemed to have kick started some crazy fishing!

Went hard on 4lb thats for sure!

Donut aye! Not much you can do about that but hey at least its another day out on the water! Nothing better imho!

Wow! Thats awesome i'd love to get into something like that! I'm going to get my L's first and then my boat license just so i've got my bases covered. I'm going to head into work/tafe straight away i'd rather go on that pathway apart from uni but nonetheless! Thanks Donna! Thank you so much for this response! I was stoked to see this pop up on my little thread! I appreciate the kind words so much!!! I'm definitely going to try hard to make this passion into a possible career who knows what could happen! I'll try my best long term i'd love to get out of school finally and get stuck into a career that I enjoy doing! Too good! I honestly wasn't expecting this much positive feedback its almost overwhelming! The mullet sure did go hard on 4lb was so stoked! Thank you so much Little_Flatty! I'd love to get into a fishing based career, i'll sure give it a red hot crack! Could be getting a job in tackle shop soon so that would be pretty awesome!

Cheers mate! Cheers Zoran! Good fun the old bully mullet on light gear! I'm definitely going to go into a couple tackle shops and give it a look! One of the blokes I fish with has recommended me to a fishing tackle shop nearby so who knows with a bit of luck I may land myself a job as a tackle shop employee! Would be stoked! Thank you Rebel! Appreciate the kind words! Persistence is key in fishing you gotta put the hours in to get better at the spot and also expand your knowledge in the sport. I'm going to give it a go and put in a cv to a couple of the local tackle shops in the area! Will do!

Thank you so much Waza! I can't thank you enough Kingie Chaser! One of the blokes I fish with let me know that herecommendedd me for work at a local tackle shop so theres some awesome things to come!

Awesome report! You certainly cleaned up! The river is going fishing very well as of late