slinkymalinky

G'day Matt, The best thing to do is to ask Shimano Australia. They're usually pretty good with service and should be able to find out the bearing dimensions and I'm sure they'd have them or be able to do the service. If you wanted to do the service yourself, I get all my bearings from Boca Bearings or Smooth Drag. (the latter have better prices but a limited range). Cheers, Slinky

Great to see you had such a great trip. Congrats JJ and commiserations Dan. Maybe next time, JJ will get the hit from the big Toga and let you wind it in Dan, you'll just have to come back up and do it again. I have to say that Borumba is a whole lot more fun than Monduran... particularly at the moment with the M fish averaging around 55cm. Great photos... that particular stretch in Yabba creek has me salivating every time I see a pic. Borumba and Clarrie Hall have to go down as 2 of the prettiest places in Australia to fish... and they're both right here on our doorstep. Hopefully next time I can make it along too. Cheers, Slinky

As you might know, I got my car broken into and lost a pile of gear recently. It's all now been replaced... much of it with substituted brands or models because what I lost wasn't available from the tackle shop where I did my replacing. IN a couple of cases, I also kicked in a little extra money over the insurance payout and upgraded. Some of the new gear is fantastic so I just had to have a rave about it in case anyone is looking for similar gear. Berkley Venom Rods: I got 2... a Copperhead and a Cobra. I'm in love with these. I fished with the Copperhead last weekend... it casts like a bullet, is light as a feather and has an awesome taper. A really light tip for throwing light plastics but HEEEAAAPS of grunt down low. It almost fishes like a rod with a 2kg tip and a 6kg butt. It's my new Jack super-weapon. I haven't fished with the Cobra yet but it relaces a T-Curve 10kg spin stick and becomes my new Townsville reef plastic weapon. It's similar in concept to the Copperhead but waaaaay beefier. It will throw relatively light plastics a mile but pull up to 7kg of drag. Look out Nannygai. Shimano Chronarch E5: My stolen Curado E5 has been superseded but the new Curado has been downgraded, so I upgraded to the new Chronarch instead. I LOVED my Curado but the Chronarch is a whole level better again. It casts beautifully, has awesome line control and looks great. A great reel that was blooded last weekend and versatile enough to fish anything from bass to Impoundment Barra. Team Daiwa Tournament MasterZ baitcast rod: I picked up the heavy 7' baitcast rod to replace my stolen Daiwa Cielo. What can I say... beeeeewdiful. Again light in the tip for casting hollowbellies but with big 'cojones' for fishing heavy line for impoundment Barra. And it's sooooooo pretty. Egrell Bear baitcast rod: This is a bit of a stump puller. Much shorter than the Daiwa it's my 'fishing in the timber' heavy baitcaster. Nowhere near as nice as the Daiwa but a great rod for the price. Once again I chose it because of the light tip relative to its overall power.... can you tell how I like my rods? Since moving to QLD nearly all my luring rods have moved to a 'light tip' style... much more versatile and able to deal with fishing heavy but without losing the ability to throw small lures and plastics. Compare that to an old Daiwa Procaster 8kg baitcaster. It's an old style 5 1/2' baitcaster... Like fishing with a broom handle and it won't load up easliy when casting unless you're habit is throwing knife jigs at snags Shimano Torsa 16N: The only reel where I chose not to replace a stolen reel for a like-model. I lost a Shimano Fireblood 4000 but since I have a couple of other good reels in that size, I decided to get a new weapon for chasing Kings, Ambers and Sambos wide of the Tweed. I'm hoping to give it its first run this weekend but its a whole world of toughness above the Daiwa Saltist 40H I'd been using. Bling Bling! Sebile magic-swimmer soft baits: I lost (and have now replaced) a huge number of lures but this is one I had to mention. Used them last weekend for the first time and rigged properly, I'd challenge anyone to find a lure that looks more lifelike in the water... and they're weedless. Look out Jacks in the Tweed 'Christmas Tree' (the ugliest, most lure strewn snag you'll ever come across) And last but not least... Nitro Undertaker baitcaster. This one isn't an insurance replacement but an all new toy. I picked it up specifically for luring Saratoga in Lake Borumba. I'll let you know how it goes. I hope if anyone is thinking of buying similar gear some of this info helps. Cheers, Slinky

Hey BB, If speed is one of the key things for you, in that price range it's worth considering a Daiwa Sealine Bull (NOT the Opus Bull). The ultimate measure of retrieve speed is the amount of line recovered per turn of the handle. This isn't just a factor of gearing but also of spool diameter. The wider the spool, the more line recovered per revolution. The Sealine Bull has a really high line recovery rates. Pretty high gearing (5.8:1 from memory with mine) combined with a massive spool diameter. The only thing I don't like about it is the spool knob which has a molded in chrome plastic 'decorative bit' that potentially could catch line. I replaced mine with a suitable knob from another Daiwa model (can't remember which one but got it through Daiwa). Cheers, Slinky

A cliff gaff isn't easy to use on your own but it will be a whole lot easier than trying to manage an 8m pole gaff. To be honest, that sounds incredibly dangerous. If you're fishing alone on rocks where you need an 8m gaff, then hanging around the edge trying to wrestle a huge gaff, possibly with a heavy fish on the end, while hanging onto your rod, is likely to get you into serious trouble. If you need to gaff fish in that sort of location, use a cliff gaff and fish with a friend. I'd hate to see us lose Raiders on the rocks. Cheers, Slinky

Nitro 007 Viper is worth a look or they have a couple of lighter models like a 5pce version of the 7'6 Magnum Butt. Cheers, Slinky

G'day Sam, Nice work! On the subject of grease... yep, you overdid it a bit. When you're greasing gears, all you really need is just a smear so that when the gears mesh, they get a thin coating protecting them. The attached pic is a drive gear from an ABU 7000 and you can see sort of what I do. The grease in the teeth of this gear will spread out as the gears mesh and lubricate/protect but without clogging up the reel. Cheers, Slinky

Just a quick update. The gear is gooooooone Police forensics had no luck finding any fingerprints. Oh well, live an learn. A HUUUUUUUUGE note of thanks to the raiders who in various ways offered help and condolences. Thankfully, I have so much fishing tackle that it didn't stop me fishing in the short term And a similarly HUUUUUUUUGE vote of thanks to Suncorp who were thorough, professional, empathetic and communicative through the whole thing. And who have just confirmed the settlement with no problems at all. Hopefully my next post might involve actual fishing Cheers, Slinky

Hi all, I got 'mongreled' last night after getting home from fishing at 11pm. A bunch of gear was stolen from inside my car in Pimpama, QLD. I know most of our members aren't up this way but please at least be on the lookout for any of the following going cheap: Samaki Zecton 701SH spin rod TD Daiwa Cielo 701H baitcast rod Shimano T-Curve 6'3" 5-10kg baitcast rod Lox 7225 spin rod Shimano Curado 200E5 reel ABU Soron STX20 reel ABU REVO Inshore reel Shimano Fireblood 4000FA reel Plano Guide Series tackle box full of Barra lures & flies, Bass lures, Barra plastics and hooks. Black Bart braid scissors various leader spools and odds and ends Rayban (prescription so good luck to them) sunnies Shimano polarised sunnies I still haven't gone through the car and boat to see what else might be missing... just waiting for the police to do their thing. All in all a very expensive loss and not the best way to end an already average trip. Cheers, Slinky

Awesome report boys. In about 2 hours I'll be in the car heading up there for my own 3 days of hope and pain. Since Jewhunter has piked out to catch up on work I'll be there fishing with all my friends . Not quite sure what I'll do about getting photos if I manage to do anything like as well as you did. Cheers, Slinky

It was OK, Peter but they sure put up a fuss when we tried to put them on the sticks!! Cheers, Slinky

Definitely bring your fly rod. The top end of Borumba is just made for it. Mine is sitting ready to go once the weather gets a little warmer and I can chase them on the surface. Cheers, Slinky

Wow! It's been a looooong time since I posted. What with a range of other commitments and a complete lack of fishing, I've barely been in the forums for a while. I finally got to wet a line and run my boat (after at least a 3 month lay off). I took the family up to Borumba Dam, inland from the Sunshine Coast and only about 2 1/2 hours drive from my place, for a couple of days. It was my first look at the dam but after hearing reports from Jewhunter I really wanted to get there. We stayed at Borumba Deer Park... a great little caravan park about 3km from the dam. Plenty for the kids to do with swimming holes, playground, roasting marshmallows over the campfire (and the deer of course). Borumba is a relatively small dam. The run from the dam wall (where the boat ramp is) up to the very upper reaches is only about 7km. The bottom end is open with steep banks and deeper water and was holding a few showings of Bass which school up in the main basin during winter. But we were after Saratoga... my wife in particular wanted to catch one as she's seen me get a few in North Queensland. With Toga in mind we spent our time in the upper reaches of the dam which are full of dead trees and have a lot of weedy, lilly fringed banks. Just the kind of place to find Saratoga. On the first afternoon we only had a couple of hours but after a couple of bumps and half-hearted takes, the eldest Slinky daughter managed a beautiful Saratoga on a gold spinnerbait. Her first and she was over the moon... even more so because now she had also caught one in front of Mrs Slinky. That was our only fish for the session so it was back to base camp. The next day we ended up having a 'family fishing day' (which means we didn't get on the water until 11am and only fished until 2pm). Now Borumba is surrounded by a lot of steep hills so shady pockets can be found a lot later than on most waters, but with the sun straight overhead, I wasn't surprised that we didn't get a touch. We did get to see at least a dozen Toga swimming along the weed fringes but even using the fly rod wouldn't tempt them to eat in the bright light. Oh well. On the last morning, Mrs Slinky was still keen and because we had to be out of the cabin by 10 anyway, I managed to round up the troops and be on the water by a more sensible (for fishing) 9am. We did the run straight up to the top end of the Yabba Creek arm and started fishing the pockets among the lily pads along shady banks. Mrs Slinky was first to hook up with a good Toga snaffling her black and red spinnerbait. It immediately got acrobatic and spat the hooks (Saratoga have very hard bony mouths so razor sharp hooks and good reflexes to jam the hooks home on the strike are pretty well mandatory if you want consistent success). A couple of minutes later and I hooked in solidly and after a brief fight, Mrs Slinky netted a pretty 60cm Toga for me. We could only fish for a short while and again, that was our only landed fish for our hour session, but I jumped off a baby and we had a couple more hits that failed to hook up. I can't wait to get back up there during summer when the surface action turns on!! Mrs Slinky is a little disappointed she didn't get her Toga but seeing a couple caught has just got her keen to get a bit more serious next time. Cheers, Slinky

Can't help with info on the Core but +1 for Curado. After using Jewhunter's E7 I've got myself and E5 and it's bewdiful! The other one I'd really recommend looking at is the ABU Revo Inshore. I adore mine... smooth as butter, casts like a dream, extra powerful drag, and extra line capacity. Cheers, Slinky

2 part epoxy like Araldite. By the way... this isn't the place to chat about it but I'm into scale modeling too. I'll send you a PM. Cheers, Slinky

G'day Duck, The short answer is no... reel parts shouldn't break the way you've described. Unfortunately, bump is spot-on. There's a reason cheap reels are cheap and its usually some combination of poor design, poor engineering, poor quality materials or poor manufacturing. Even so, cheaper end reels from well known brands are still unlikely to fall apart quite like that. They have reputations and brands to protect. If you'd bought the reel locally I'd suggest taking it back and talking about it. As it was bought from the net you could try contacting the seller or whoever the local Banax distributor is but I wouldn't hold out much hope. By the way, I've come across unconfirmed rumours of counterfeit reels being sold over the net so if you choose to buy that way, stick with reputable on-line suppliers too. Cheers, Slinky

Corrosion X

Platypus has a braid under their PreTest brand that is signed and certified to break under the stated breaking strain. It's hard to find though. Cheers, Slinky

Hi Bananaphobic, Glad you got it sorted... sorry I didn't reply earlier, I've been tied up with some other commitments. Here's a pic of the 2 bearing pullers I use The 'heavy duty' model is an old wrench that came with a Penn reel... it's been bent over at a 90 degree angle with pliers. The lightweight model is really high-tech... its a bent paper clip. It's worth having one of each handy when servicing reels. Cheers, Slinky

While I can't guarantee that this is the problem, there's a common problem with anti reverse bearings that is a very simple fix. There's a very high chance that the bearing is simply over-lubricated. Anti-reverse bearings rely on friction in one direction in order to work. Lubricant is important to them to prevent corrosion but it only needs to be slightly overdone and it overcomes the friction necessary. You can try cleaning your anti-reverse bearing and removing any grease or oil, then to relube the bearing... it just needs a 'fingerprint' film of grease. That is to say after putting the lube on the steel pins in the bearing, you should then wipe it back off with a clean cloth. This should leave a faint trace of lubricant that will show your fingerprint when you touch it. No more than that. I've sometimes had to have a couple of goes at some AR bearings (and Daiwa AR bearings seem particularly sensative) to get it right. See how you go and let us know. Cheers, Slinky

Nice work, Kulch. You get a real sense of satisfaction from servicing your own reels too. Cheers, Slinky

Hi Kulch, Daiwa reel grease is a good option and pretty readily available. For marine grease, I'd recommend sticking with a well known quality brand... Evinrude and Yamaha I've had experience with. The blue Daiwa reel grease is very similar to these 2. There are plenty of brands of reel grease and as long as it's not some no-name brand you should be fine. Cheers, Slinky

Questions is what we're here for, Kulch. To clean all the old lubricant out of a reel you'll need a solvent... soapy water won't do it. I use White Spirit (available in the hardware store in the same place as Metho and Turps). White spirit will dissolve the old lubricants and you can give parts a brush in the spirit with an old toothbrush. To clean bearings using white spirit, ideally you should remove the bearing shields (follow the link for info on how to do it). You don't have to remove them though if you don't want to but you'll need to give them a good soak for at least 5-10 minutes either way in clean white spirit, then give them a spin repeatedly dunking back in the spirit. Each time you spin the bearing, dissolved grease and oil will run out of the bearing. When the bearing is free of grease and oil it will spin totally freely. Put all the parts aside to dry completely before re-lubing. For grease, you'll need to use reel grease or marine grease. They are specifically formulated for working in water/salt-water environments. CHeers, Slinky

G'day Kulch. Short answer is yes... it counts as a dunk. If there is any chance at all that water might have entered the reel, spool, any of the bearings or line roller area then treat it as a dunked reel. Corrosion doesn't happen immediately but it does happen quickly so just because you can't feel any effects right now doesn't mean that your reel isn't being damaged. If any sand, silt or crud entered with any water, it will already be slowly wearing away at the gears in your reel every time you turn the handle... so I'd suggest you stop. Penn Spinfishers are simple and tough but still vulnerable. The best thing to do is to strip and service the reel ASAP. If no water got in then the worst that you'll do is service your reel. If any did get in, then you could potentially save a disaster. The bearings and gears are the most vulnerable parts and need to be most carefully checked but be thorough. Here's a link to the 6500SS tutorial that might help... http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=46299 Cheers, Slinky

Effectively putting a 'runner' that close to your reel will create a stress point in your outfit. Hook up and put the line under pressure at that point and you have the makings of problems. I'm sure that the idea is to flip the line of the little doohicky once you hook up but it could do horrible things to reels under load too... all that vibration works in reverse back to the reel too and if it were under pressure it would significantly increase wear on reels I reckon. I might just stick with the old fashioned way and impart the action through the rod. I'll be interested to hear from anyone who gets one and tries it though? Roberta... is there space in your tackle box for one more gizmo??? Cheers, Slinky