essjay

Ended up taking it down to Sydney to a proper tackle place , thanks all the same.

Its the impulse purchases i fear

Hello I snapped yet another Samurai rod recently, this time by what i claim to be no fault of my own for a change ( the tip) so i need a new tip fitted to it as I like the rod and its too much money to throw away. Can someone PM me me the details of someone local who can replace/refit a correctly sized Fuji tip on my beloved 3-6lb please? Note Erina and Gosford are both close by to me.

I tried to get a bud to get a Saltiga 500 XH this week while he was in Japan and he was told he could not order it from the shop and had to buy online. Also said the 24 5000 XH would be released in March 24. Only the older Saltiga was available from the shop in Tokyo.

That data is very concerning.

A bit off topic but I also struggle doing an FG on light lines so moved to slim beauty for light rigs and only use FG for 15-20lb leaders (or higher). SB is a cracking knot and very easy to tie, its only around 25% less in strength then an FG.

Hi raiders Wondering if anyone knows where I can get frozen burley logs around Gosford area, <Outlets removed> are always sold out and I am not yet set up well enough in my new digs to start making my own. thanks in advance

We tried around there last weekend and only managed one under sized bream, other people I spoke with all said it has been very very quiet of late. Glad you got something for your effort.

nice lizards , well done

46cm black bream in the Hawksbury on a 2.5 inch zman grub.

7-11m I prefer to just float the pillies into the burley trail. Seem to get reefed a lot less that way. Here is another one from the same area a week ago. I let him go as he gave me such a wonderful fight. He is also my current PB.

Took a mate out to box head on Friday to chase some snapper, early morning high, swell under a meter and 2 determined mates chasing dinner for 14. After hooking a monster first bait which then got tangled in my mates line, dropping the fish we found out pace and landed 10 , kept 6 and also snagged a rat king. We got a few customary cod, ras and snags. All in all it was a great session. there are some seriously big fish out there on the reef. Frozen pillies on 6/0 unweighted , floating into our burley trail was the method we used.

For light line I get good results with the slim beauty and for 10lb and up its FG all the way. I struggle to get the FG right on light line and light leader. Probably my sausage fingers and ape fists.

I have been seeing large bait schools and like you, around flint and steel. Nothing feeding on them as far as I can tell. A kid who works at a local tackle ( jew addict) hinted that only small ones were coming in through the heads and the bigger fellas were hanging out much wider still. That was a week ago. We must be patient a while longer i think. A kingie is high on my list of my get this season and with that said, I will happily wait and continue to take my stick bait setup with me each time i go out , just in case

looks under sized to me 😂

Cooks has always been pretty crook, since at least the 70's when lived around there.Sad to see nothing has changed for the better.hopefully the illegal dumping of chemicals has slowed or stopped. that used to be a semi regular event from the industrial zones

what a cracking croc, congrats on the new pb

thanks Larkin I was looking for bait and saw a bit, not a lot. Ended up settled in a spot between reef breaks and pumped a mix of prawn and aniseed pellets mixed with tuna oil and pillie mulch. Then after about 20 minutes of burly trail started casting into it once I had rigged up. Seemed to work ok. I stuffed up with the two larger hits as the drag was too loose on those reels each time & I was too slow to react. Got some new jigs to try this weekend and intend to try the reef system out the front of the Entrance which looks like deeper water. Another change I made recently was to start fishing barbless. I am finding barbless is much better for me and much easier on the fish. No more swearing at snags in the carpet, clothes or any additional trauma on the fish I catch. The other bonus for me was I hooked something big with my bigger setup (PE3 rod, Certate 6000sw and 40lb braid) running a pillie with a sinker off the back. I wasn't able to land it after 20 or so minutes but boy what a fight we had. I snapped it off in the end as it was not giving in, I wasn't getting line back and was growing tired. Plus I didn't want to miss the morning bite window chasing what felt like a a wet angry carpet. Hearing the rod groan was music to my ears along with the reel squealing as line peeled off. Its the first thing that rod reel combo has hooked. Looking forward to next session, that much is certain.

Starting to enjoy this warmer weather and abundance of snapper. Went out Saturday late around 12 as I slept in and it was a bit of a washing machine with swell coming in two directions and more wind then I had hoped for. I didn't mind as I got a new PB with a 48cm model with a pillie floating off the back. Came back around the same area sunday, got up on time this session and was on the water and off at 8am. Hit the spot at 9 and fished to 12.30. Got a few smaller pinkies around 30-35cm which I threw back. Landed some other by catch, some of which I did not recongise. Managed these two lads towards the end of the session using a spj and a pillie, setting a new pb with the 50cm. Jeez these larger models can pull the drag. Awesome fun. Got reefed by two much larger fish, felt like snapper but could have been anything. Truth is I was just to slow to react to the rod going off while i was either rigging another line up or mixing burly. Lesson learned. Also got my butt handed to me but what I suspect was an eagle ray. Great day. Shame I forgot my hat and wore short sleaves. paying the price for that today. Snuck a 45cm flathead in off a sp on the way home in the hawkbury, it was made for a delicious lunch today. take away from the weekend session is burly really helps a lot!

thats awesome! congrats

I have a Shimano Stella (4000FK) and a number of Daiwa Certates (2500, 3000 and 6000). The Certates get used 90% of the time. The Stella is a fine reel, I just seem to prefer the Certates plus they come in significantly cheaper. Recently I dropped my 2500 off the boat, it was submerged for 15 minutes until recovered. I sent it in for a service as it got a bit scratchy, they replaced all the seals and bearings at no charge. Took 4 or 5 days there and back. I don't know much about fishing but I do know a fair bit about customer service. Daiwa has my vote.

I recently discovered how good they come out when crumbed and cooked with coconut oil. Its delicious.

I will take a look at the replacement parts kit and see if i am up for it, if its easy i will take a crack at it. Thanks to all who replied on this thread.

ended up ordering one from the states today, saved me $300. Thanks for the advice guys. Now to find someone to install it. Easier said than done. Does anyone actually work anymore?

not yet, will try over the weekend.