[Sx 40's]

go for the atomics. cheaper and better than the ecogears in my opinion. slow roll definately works if bream are the target. atomics and chubbies work so well cause they swim well on a super slow retrieve.

hope you do well.

cheers alex

[Popper Love]

GDay Pyoubs

Here is a selection of pencils

The row on the left are NW 52's, the middle row is Zappa 55s, the end row is Sammy 65's and the bottom right hand corner is a stiffy.

In answer to your question, one way to describe the difference between pencils and poppers is shape. A popper has a curved 'cup' face at the front, and is usually tapered in shape.A pencil is more an elongated shape with an angled chin. (This is a very broad description as manufacturers are always modifying designs).

A better way to describe the difference between the two is action. Basically, the cup face of a poppers bites into the water surface, pushing a spray of water in front. A pencil glides across the top of the water in a swaggering side-to-side motion, which is described as 'walking the dog'. (We won't confuse the issue and discuss bevy pops and suga pens that can do both )

As a general rule of thumb, when the water is relatively flat, give the pencils a whirl. When the wind picks up and the water surface is rougher, try your poppers. If there's one thing I have learnt it is that there are very few 'rules' to hang your hat on when it comes to surface luring. As the others have mentioned, have a look through the Lure and Fly reports and you will see some different approaches and philosophies. They all work!

You will learn a hell of a lot by spending just one day on the water with someone who is proficient in surface lures, their action and where to toss them, and there are a heap of people of all ages on our forums that fit that bill nicely. With a bit of luck, one of them is located near you! Fishing with surface lures is a fantastic experience. It is highly visual, extremely rewarding, and will open up locations you couldn't previously fish without getting entangled in weeds and mud. Good luck!

Cheers

Hodgey

i love those lures mate. it has become my favourite form of fishing lately

[Rigs For Casting Gar]

Jewgaffer?

what on earth is that rig supposed to be? how does it work?

hows the back mate? hope it's better after the op.

I am looking for a rig for spinning with gar rather than using them as a live bait

[Rigs For Casting Gar]

what is your favourite rig for casting garfish off the rocks?

[Jumpinpin 101]

tough place to fish, the fish are thin and widely spread down the pin. i think the place has been fairly heavily fished. I'd be looking elsewhere slinky.

lovely place though great for sand crabing.

[Sinking Stickbaits For Large Kingfish]

Make sure you get ones that you can cast. Some of the larger ones weigh a bit so your outfit needs to be up to it. The ones I use range from 80-150grams. Slow twitch them, or wind them in faster so they skip, or use the rod side to side. You will need to practice to see what works with each type. Smith runbohs are awesome looking- scary when throwing them off the rocks at kings as you dont want to lose them. They do work on kings, but at times they will just swim and tail them to have a look. Play around with them and you'll love them.

cheers Caranx,

gonna be using a daiwa mm 8'3 pe 6-8 so casting shouldn't be a problem how much does a runboh retail for roughly? i'm guessing a small fortune. you get what you pay for though.

i have made some of my own sticks and poppers up to about 200 grams so i cant wait to try them also.

how much do the runbohs weigh? are they sinking?

cheers frankie

[Sinking Stickbaits For Large Kingfish]

gonna be fishing off the stones at lord howe so jigs are pretty much out of the question.

i have some 10 inch soft sticks but want to fork out for some quality hard sticks cause i know how effective they are on gt's. kingfish must follow this trend.

hard sticks are the newest way to catch huge fish casting, better than poppers in my opinion. they are expensive jap creations but they catch every species of game fish. casting beats trolling any day of the week in my book. the problem is it's too pricey to test them all so i was hoping someone may have some experience with them to pass on.

thanks to the guys who have replied to this topic!

cheers

[Sinking Stickbaits For Large Kingfish]

what is in your opinion the best sinking stickbait for casting at large kingfish?

I'm interested in hard baits rather that softies.

cheers

[Lord Howe , Charters And Fishingspots]

thanks for the info guys!

[Cricket]

Little Noah'

mate you need your head read. either that or you dont know stuff all about cricket.

all you need to do is look at pontings stats both as a player and as a captain to see that he is the best player by far in Australia and has close to the best captaincy record an australian captain has ever achieved.

[Lord Howe , Charters And Fishingspots]

If you get a chance pop down to Ned's beach in the afternoon. There is a local guy who feeds the fish every afternoon. I think it was 5.30pm when I ws there a few years ago. You will see monster kingies, and other huge fish swim around you feet. Can't fish that beach but it is an awesome experience seeing huge fish been hand fed. Some of the biggest fish that I have ever seen. We are talking kingies a metre long and over.

looking forward to it i've seen you tube footage of it. just need the knowledge to intercept them before or after the feeding in a different spot.

also buying a heavy 8ft popping rod to fish the rocks with my home made "dynamite" poppers. need some spots guys.

[Lord Howe , Charters And Fishingspots]

Way back in 1990, I won a trip to LHI, which included 4 days fishing on Capella. I was quite happy with the experience but I don't know if Capella still operates. (Capella was also a lodge). The trip was in September, just before my wedding (and my last real fishing trip alone ). We caught a lot of kingfish and lost some monsters. I noticed that the boat tended to return close to the reefs and Balls Pyramid, rather than go out wide but I was told that March is the time to go for the tuna and marlin etc.

I sometimes have contact with an island local through my work. I don't know whether he fishes but he would know everyone on the island, so I can give him a call when I get a chance and see if he knows which operator has the best rep.

Cheers,

Baz

thanks for the info mate! tuna and marlin sounds great

[Lord Howe , Charters And Fishingspots]

can anyone give me any info on their experience with charter operators on lord howe, which is best etc.

also i'm keen to do some rock and beach fishing for kings etc. where is the best spots?

all info and experiences would be appreciated.

cheers Alex

[N.t ,byno Harbour]

You can have the NT!

I lived in Darwin for 3 years ( when I was crazy and young in the Army and got posted there), and never went fishing if you can believe that?.

It is too hot for me there. I hated the heat.

crazy talk!

[A Week Off!]

well done mate.. a few nice fish there.. them cobia sure fight up there....

ive never heard that fish be called a long nose emporer b4? looks like a spangled? or is that the local name up there?

long nose and spangled is a different breed indeed!

[A Couple Of Weeks In Nth Qld]

Wow, those pics just look fan bloody tastic, bet ya couldn't wait to come home from that place. NOT.

Great report, great pics and a great time had by all.

yes cant say i'm too happy to be home, being back to work and all the rest of it.

[Whats Your Favourite Braid?]

tuff line definately for heavy applications. it is round and breaks above it's rated breaking strain and never seems to tangle up. top stuff and affordable too.

[A Couple Of Weeks In Nth Qld]

just got back from a couple of weeks fishing in north qld.

we fished a few places between port douglas and townsville both estuary and reef and had a great time.

the wind was up for most of the holiday but we were foryunate to score the last few days with light winds. this enabled us to get out to the reef and search for our number one target gt's.

the barra and fingermark were caught in the daintree river. the barra was caught on a lipless crankbait and the fingermark on a live herring. the estuary fishing was a little quiet with a long time between bites but still a great place to fish and relax.

here is my mate garth with a nice golden trev that he jiged up next to a fringing reef.

our camp was right in front of the boat just back from the beach

we spent a few days camped on one of the palm islands which was like paradise, we had our own beach and jetty to tie up to and fringing reef with live coral to snorkel in and fish around. unfortunately the wind was up a little so we stayed on the calm side of the islands to fish. the fishing was still fun though and we caught stacks of mac tuna, small gt's ang a heap of assorted cods, wrasse and trout.

the last two days of the trip saw most of the action occur with calm winds allowing us to fish some of the reefs off townsville. we got stuck into some gt's around twenty in two days ranging from 10kg to aroung 20kg we also got a couple of spanish mackeral and all on poppers and stick baits. we had an absolute ball!

this spaniard was caught on one of my home made poppers, it jumped out of the water with it in it's mouthabout sixfoot high and 15ft sideways.

[Best Working Lures. Opinions From Flathead Specialists]

wow 450cms!!!

i still find the squidgy does pretty well. my fave shape is the fish in silver fox, gary glitter or black gold colours

i use 65mm-85mm

same as greg mention, i use the double whip retrieve.

I agree with you absolutely. " squidgy fish" in "black and gold" and" silver fox" and last but not least "gary glitter". put them on a 3/8th jig head. can go heaver or lighter depending on water depth but that is a good starting size.

you can't lose Byron, you just have to kep casting. inbetween and around weed beds you will catch fish

cheers Alex

[Braid Runner Trolling Blades?]

has anyone used the 7" version of this lure? just purchased one for mackeral and wahoo.

havn't used it yet.

whats your verdict?

[Twelve Mile On The 24th.]

top stuff mate!

looks like you had one of those fun fulled days on the water. hopefully with a couple of cold cans of saltwater thrown in for good measure.

just shows how keeping it simple usuall wins the race, and when kings are in the mood you don't need to trick them with finess and the like.

great to see you still having a ball mate.

call you soon.

ratfinks signing off.

[What Knot Do You Use And Why?]

albright works with all line diameters!

albrights still work well even if the leader is way heaver than the main line.

double uni falls short in that situation cause the thinner line tries to slip or cut under the heavier line.

when choosing your leader strength make your choice on where you are fishing, eg what terrian, and what your target species is.

don't always use the same leader sometimes lighter is good and vice versa.

hope that helps a bit.

but just remember it's up to you! making choices is part of the fun.

[Many Questions About Braid.]

put the braid on your jigging or bottom fishing rod i reckon you will be amazed at the extra feel you have.

you probably should leave mono on your heavy bluewater trolling gear. but then again experimenting is all the fun so do whatever you feel like.

cheers Alex

[How Good Are Your Reflexes?]

.2248 bobbing bobcat maybe i should try again.

[Breamin' With Blades And Plastics]

well done,

on the vibes thing, definately give them a go. i've had good success in the brisbane river on them particularly the river to sea baby vibe.

if the water is murky the bream can still easily find them from the rattle.

cheers alex