Cameron

Jethro, I will certainly keep you in the loop, although Allen may well reply here if he reads our posts. I am regularly doing up old glass rods, but I was a bit hesitant about touching a split cane one for fear of ruining the finish of the cane. I have no runners for mine, so I will have trouble keeping it original. From what I have read, collectors pay quite hefty sums for restored original cane rods. However mine will finish up hanging on the wall! My grandfather was a pretty keen fisho too, but never owned a rod in his life. His father actually named him "Berty", after his fishing boat! I was left his old plywood fishing box, containing all his handlines wrapped around beautifully shaped corks, plus pewter hook tins with the hook sizes inscribed on the side of each tin. A real work of art. Stay in touch Cameron

I have been given an old split cane trout rod, three piece, with cork grip. There is no sign of a makers name on it and it is minus most of the runners, but the cane is still in good nick. It will most likely finish up hanging on the wall when finished, but I would like to make a good job of it. Have any of you guys attempted a split cane reno before and can pass some tips on to me? I have emailed AG and I am confident that he will reply to me when he gets time, but I thought that some of you elder statesmen out there might be old enough like me to remember split cane rods and may have some ideas on how to make them like new again.

I have an old yellow Sportex rock blackfish rod that I built back in about 1976 that would have to have the softest action of any rod I have ever encountered. It bends all the way down to the butt, but is still a very effective luderick rod and gets some use from time to time when I am in a nostalgic mood. It has been rebound three times over the years and probably needs another rebind at the moment. It gives a whole new meaning to the expression "sloppy action".

Allen, Have not had time to go trouble shooting at this stage as I have had two fishing trips since then (beach and rock), but suspect perhaps a solenoid, fuse or maybe just a dirty contact somewhere. After Friday night, anyone knocking the Water Police will qualify for an argument with me. Their service was outstanding. They even sent a squad car to keep an eye on us from North Whale headland. Hope to see on May 7. Cam

Dan, How robust would it be? If you dropped it or got it wet , would you be up for a new computer? I imagine the price will drop as the sales volume gets up and somebody comes out with a competitor. I would love something like that for hurling big lures off rock ledges. My language would improve overnight.

Guys, You have convinced me. Back to Tortue for sure. I am generally happy to try something new, but having caught so many blackfish over the years using Tortue traces, what was I thinking? There might be a case for using fluoro in the estuary where the blackfish are smaller and more finicky, but on the rocks where they come big, mean and mixed up with drummer, why muck around with something that has not done the hard yards in that sort of territory Thanks everyone

Ken, The fluoro in question is a brand called Nitlon DFC (made in Japan). I have noticed in the past that sometimes the leader thickness has an influence on how keen the blackfish are at taking the bait, so thought that fluoro might give me an edge in that direction. Having experimented, I think that good old 7lb Tortue will do me for blackfish and something heavier if the drummer are around.

Today I used fluorocarbon leader for the first time while blackfishing off the rocks. We struck drummer in a big way, so every bit of gear copped a real hammering. I was tying my knots in exactly the same way that I would tie a standard mono leader, wetting them properly before pulling them tight and testing them thoroughly, but had an amazing run of knot failure. Should I be using more turns in a fluorocarbon knot, or should I be using a particular type of knot? Fluoro does appear to have a shinier and more slippery surface than regular mono, so is there something that I should be doing differently? My son has been using fluoro for his soft plastic leaders and suggested that I should try it for blackfishing, but after today my old reliable Tortue mono is still looking good.

I have been on Swaines Reef charters a couple of times. The gear to take depends on what you intend to do once you get there. On both occasions for me it was bottom bashing for such stuff as coral trout, sweetlip, trevally, turrum, red emperor etc. There was certainly plenty of surface activity which would have been a lot of fun, but I was amongst a majority of bottom bashers, so it was not possible. A lot of the charters only cater for that style of fishing, so if you are into something different, find out more about the charter operator and how he is fitted out and how he fishes. Some of them carry dories with outboards that enable you to get out away from the mother ship and spin/troll for surface fish. First time around, I just used big handlines (40lb and 70lb), fishing big running barrel sinkers sitting on top of a 7/0 hook, combined with bike innner tube finger stalls (you need them, believe me!). Not very sophisticated, but highly effective, if you are into that sort of thing. At times we also fished with handlines in the shallow water adjacent to the reef from a dinghy using smaller ball leads, for coral trout. Next time I took along my trusty Alvey snapper winch, on a rod with slightly more flex than your average broom handle. For more sport I had my 15kg game/trolling outfit (Daiwa overhead & self made roller tipped rod based on one of those old Ironglass blanks (showing my age here). Even if you are bottom bashing, it is possible to troll between spots, with shark mackerel being a frequent catch. Night time fishing can be pretty spectacular, particularly if you can drop down a livie. I was dragged around the back of the rear deck on a couple of occasions by huge cod on my 70 lb handline. No chance of stopping them , but plenty of fun none the less. Even two or three of us on the line made no difference! Lots of sharks too. You should have a great time. Its a long way to the nearest bottleshop out there, so stock up well before you go . Can get rough on the way out and back, so take the Quells. I was thrown out of my bunk (top) onto the floor on the way back in a stiff south easterly.

Tim's point re line twist is very pertinent with Alveys. With the swivels, make sure they are of a size consistent with the breaking strain of the line ie do not use huge ones for light lines. Also make sure that one of the swivels is above the rig, not part of the rig. I have also found that a sinker attached to a seperate trace attached to a brass ring running on the main line down to the swivel works well and allows the bottom swivel to turn properly.

Rob, Just a thought, but remembering back to my son's first catch at age 5, I sent the photo off to the magazine "Fishing World" back in 1990 and it was published in their kid's section. Even more excitement ensued when he saw his face in a fishing magazine! He is now 195cm tall and outfishes me two to one, on my good days.

Tim, I just had another thought. Before you go buying paint, I have some low sheen oil based paving paint left over from the new house. You might care to give that a try, but you may need to put some sand or other additive in it to make it less slippery. The colour is not too bad either; a light grey. Cam

Tim, I cannot help you with the screen but you appear to have that covered. In relation to ply, it comes in a number of grades. Marine ply is very expensive, but there is a cheaper grade that is rated waterproof. If you were to seal that properly, I believe that it would do the job for you. You can obtain a product known as "Bote Cote" that you can use on the ply to proof it and it is then possible to paint over it. If you cannot obtain Bote Cote from a boat supply outlet, let me know and I will ask my builder where he bought it for our house. I used it on the framed ply fascia of our new house in exactly that fashion. An oil base paint over Bote Cote would probably be the better option Cam

From time to time in Brisbane Waters there are outbreaks of theft from moored boats. I do not have one there myself, but know people who do. Some of the owners do get pretty touchy about people approaching their boats for that reason. Still no reason to be rude and objectionable though, particularly to blokes who are clearly there to fish!

Many rock fishing spots that I have encountered generally only tend to fish well at change of light, unless you are after blackfish or drummer. Being able to blackfish off the rocks will often enable you to take home a feed when other species are absent. You also do not have to be there at the crack of dawn to catch them either! You will have to fish down low, so safety becomes a major issue, but if you are careful, the rewards can be pretty good, particularly at this time of the year. Another suggestion is to look for spots that can be fished from high rocks or even cliffs. Such spots often fish well after a big blow, using pilchards or gars fished under big bobby corks. A big Alvey is the only way to fish such spots, but they can sometimes produce great results

Such spots sometimes have the added advantage of allowing you to fish off the rocks and being able to throw onto sand. If you can find yourself a safe location on the rocks, this is often worth trying, particularly at tide change time. You can often fish such spots in a southerly if you go looking for southern corners, when otherwise beach fishing would be wiped out.

I have had fishing holidays in both Narooma & Jervis Bay. Narooma has some great estuary fishing around the oyster racks and elsewhere, plus rock & beach. Heading offshore is not a good idea unless you are very experienced at crossing bars, because the Narooma bar is notorious. If you can afford a charter trip, better to do it that way with an experienced local in a big boat. Jervis Bay is also good value, with the bay itself providing plenty of opportunities by boat and off the shore. It is not a good spot to get caught in a strong wind in a small boat though! Getting offshore also is not a drama. The beach and rock fishing in the nearby national park is also pretty good, but be prepared to walk.

The old blue Shakespeares are legendary reels. I have the smaller version to yours that is still going strong and I reckon that I will wear out before it does. Have you inquired anywhere for spares, or are you just ready for a new reel? If they made them new today, I would buy another one! I also have a Penn Spinfisher of a similar age that is also a great reel , but I have heard good things about the Penn that Allen Glover suggested too.

Markus, What sort of gear do you have? Beach fishing covers quite a wide range and gear can vary quite a bit according to what you are chasing. If you want to throw pilchards on ganged hooks, then you need gear capable of handling say 6-9 kg line; however if you are after whiting then you can fish quite a bit lighter than that; say 3-5kg. A six inch Alvey on a 6144 rod is not a bad bit of general purpose gear for the beach, but then I am an Alvey fan! Get yourself a rod bucket and belt bait container; a plastic milk bottle can be cut to size if you wish to improvise on the bait container. Beachworming is also a skill you should try and master. It can be pretty frustrating at first but is well worth the effort in the long run. They will catch just about everything you can find on the beach, except maybe tailer. I will look up a couple of articles that I have in old fishing magazines about reading the beach.

As a former owner of a 445F, I can only go along with everything said to date about them. I sold mine 4 years ago for $10,000 with a 60hp Merc on the back My only reason for selling was my advancing age and the need for a little more comfort. Now well into my 50's, I found that getting wet and sunburnt every time I went out was getting me down, so I got myself an Allison 189. Great for you gung ho young guys though. It was a wonderful platform for throwing lures at surface fish. Mine was bought new in 1981 for just over $7000 and was on its second engine.

I would go for mono if you intend to use it predominantly off the rocks; in particular something good and tough like Tortue. On the beach I think that the advantages of braid make it the best bet. You can go smaller in diameter, thus less resistance to the wash and you are also able to get away with smaller sinkers. It makes bites so much easier to feel, often a problem on the beach with mono when fishing out wide in a busy surf. Just use mono for the casting end as braid can do nasty things to your casting finger!

I have always used a reef anchor at the Flint & Steel and have yet to lose one there. I rarely have any trouble holding the bottom, but then I have 2 -3 metres of chain attached that would anchor the Queen Mary. My experience with anchors over the years has been that the length and weight of chain attached has a big bearing on the ability of the anchor to hold bottom. On one occasion I managed to lose an anchor down off Bangally Head, but retrieved it with another anchor 3 months later!

Martin, I was looking at them a few years ago with the idea of buying one new. Then the company making them hit some problems ( or so I heard) and I went off the idea. I do have some old reviews that I can post you if you like. From memory, the main negatives were to do with the ride in chop. Because of the hull shape, they are inclined to bang around a bit. On the positive side, they do make an incredible stable fishing platform at rest. Are you looking at the one with the cabin or the open version?

Having just had to sit in the gutter outside a garage fixing my submersible lights after having the trailer fail a rego check, I am fast coming around to the idea of a removeable light board myself. My submersible lights were held together with standard steel screws and small bolts that were totally rusted up, making what should have been a five minute job, take at least an hour. You could accept that submersibles are not entirely fool proof if it were possible to fix them quickly, but using non stainless components in them is a joke

When my son was quite young and learning to fish, he said to me one day "Dad, when you die, will I get all your fishing gear"? That was a pretty fair question to ask, given that I still have gear that my grandfather, father and uncle used! Let's face it, how could you possibly throw out stuff such as a magnificent timber case containing pewter hook and sinker containers, each individually inscribed with the contents, plus a separate section for turned cork handlines! My grandfather's old cane basket still performs great service as a means of carrying the cat to the vet. It must have so many fishy smells still in it that the cat actually jumps into it of its own accord, rather than having to be chased. Now my son, nearly 2 metres tall, has gear that is better than mine and he uses it to better effect that I do. The accumulation and upkeep of fishing gear is part of the fun of fishing, and long shall it remain so.