woodch0p

Hey chuppa (hope I spelt it correctly from memory!) If you want to flick small soft plastics and light lures around i'd be going for a 1-3kg stick. I had a 2-4kg flicker and yes it did have the ability to throw small vibes and plastics around but it did not have anywhere near the distance and finnesse for my 1-3kg. The 1-3kg rod gives you greater ability to throw around smaller lures with better control of their action due to the responsive lighter tip. And they still have enough grunt to tame a decent bream or flattie. Daniel

With LD's applying drag it pushes the spool away from the frame and can cause a gap in some models, so its possibly not watertight unless in freespool mode. Locking the drag will prevent/reduce water absorbing in the drag but allow it to access the rest of the reel internals.

Just an added note in regards to lever drags, its also important to give the added protection to it while on the boat. When trolling or travelling with them in your boats rear rod holders they can cop a fair bit of spray from the wake. I have pulled apart one of my avets after a long day on the water to find a fair amount of water sitting in the gear box. Some reels have drainage points in the bottom of the gear box(jigging master for instance) but either way water has still come into contact with the internals. Unless trolling remove LD reels from the rear holders or cover with neoprene covers. After a long days fishing I like to pull apart my LD's to make sure nothing has gotten inside. IMO lever drag reels are by far the easiest to strip down, and at the end of the day id rather spend 20mins stripping one down then spending dollars in new parts. I also have since drilled a small hole in the lower part of the gear box of all my LD reels to allow drainage. (Note: don't drill the hole when the reel is together! You don't need a hole in the gear also!)

Hey haven't jigged with this reel before, but my thumb is pretty well trained to lay the line, I actually need to respool the reel with 50lb braid, I get between 350-400m on it from last memory. What braid do you run for jigging on your setups? That reminds me I need a new set of gloves to save the thumb!

Would be fantastic to head out and give it a tester, haven't tried the new handle either so it would be great to put it through its paces. Send me a pm on your return. Daniel

Yeah it is a fair bit of over but couldn't resist! Might order a new style paddle handle when I get the wiffle spool for it, as the old one has had its day.

Doesn't seem to wobble, hopefully going to give it a test soon, just as soon as I get the mates organised as they are hopeless. If worst comes to worst ill have to wait to nz next year

Have had an Abu 5500c in my possession for some time, and since I have gotten myself into reel servicing I decided to give it a full rebirthing. Here is an image of the starting product. Fully functional but all original, over 25years old so time for a modern change. First I removed the old handle, star drag and spool tension knob. Removed the casing and opened her up. New bearings installed - ceramic abec7's. Also gave the lot a good coat with new grease. Installed a new drag while it was open - carbonex Put it all back together, got rid of the old star drag and spool tension knob. Installed new ones sent from pure fishing. Fantastic service I must say, 2 day turn around in parts. Installed a new handle, power knob...bit of overkill but couldn't resist. And that's it. 20mins work and have a brand new reel. Daniel

Photos of the weapon Daniel

In the test photos they show the rod dead lifting 16.8kgs so thought that was different to drag settings. The reel is doing 8kgs flat off the reel so wouldn't that change the final pull kg at the end of the rod seeing as the rod is acting as a fulcrum? When testing it I put the line around the tow bar of my car, walk back around 20m, and slowly lift back until the drag starts slipping. At 8kgs the rod was pretty much bent over itself, I think at 16kgs it would be buckled. I can crank the reel to 10kgs but I'm running 50lb so 8kg is amples...and 16kgs of drag stand up would be painful, and I'm a small bloke so the fish would probably win! Thanks for the feedback.

Paid a tad over 500 for it, probably could have shopped around more and got a better price but had the spare cash and have been wanting one for a while. Is 16.8kgs the amount of drag that can be put through the rod or its dead lift, or are they the same? At 8kgs the line just touched the blank between the first and second guides, would hate to see even 12kgs on it.

Just thought I'd gloat a bit.. Been searching for a while for a new rod to compliment my avet bmx. Currently I have been running it on a ugly stick bluewater pe5, which is a powerful rod but a bit like a broomstick for my reel. Been eyeing off jigging master rods for a while now but tough to source in oz. Finally came across one in a tackle store yesterday and was too good to refuse. So I'm now the proud new owner of a powerspell 200g. Put my reel on it and pumped out 8kg of drag over the new beast, and I must admit it is quite scary how much they bend. Can't wait to take it to NZ and tame a king or two. Photos will be put up later tonight.

How'd you convince rick to get his mug in the photo? You must be a very convincing man! Hopefully next time you go fishing with rick I will be able to join and meet you. Daniel

Can I borrow your wallet one day? Too many toys for you! Daniel

The ones what you need are the winning ones in the set. All the others are very common to get. That's how they control the winnings. For instance there are plenty of mayfair tickets (I have gotten one every day), but only 2 park lane ones as their ar only 2 cars to give away. The best way to win IMO is to enter the 2nd chance draw, as plenty of papers are never brought and people not interested in the comp throwing away their tickets can possibly have those winning tickets. Good luck and hope your a winner! Daniel.

In the next month or so I'm going diving so hopefully I will get some good shots around la parouse of blackies/drummer/grouper to name a few. Once I get my underwater case ill be able to shoot high def footage 40m down... maybe set it up on a downrigger for some action shots. It also has a high speed burst function and will continually take photos while the button is held down till the memory/battery runs out (can hold around 14000 pics at full resolution) which will be good if the fish is fighing hard and better chance of a good shot. Daniel

Camera is just a digital 14.1mp, 10m waterproof (1hr down time) shock proof 2m and-10degrees opertating temp. Search panasonic lumix ft2 in google I just leant off the wharf and put my hand in the water. Am contemplating setting it up on a rod with heavy braid and lowering of the edge in video mode to see what I can shoot. Records video in high def. Cost $600rrp, but I never pay retail..got the camera, 6series 32gig sd and exended warranty for around 1/2 price...what can I say I love to haggle! Daniel

Done!

Hey everyone, Went out fishing on Sunday with Rick. Arrived around 9:30 (gentlemans hours) and was pretty quite. A few downs, a surgeon bust off a dropped fish, then a large Port Security boat showed up doing manouveurs about 10m away and turned the drift into a nightmare. Stopped until the boat left, luckily they didnt shut down the fish. Had my new Panasonic Lumix FT2 with me and was wanting to test its underwater capabilities. Rick was fairly generous when hooking his first fish for the spot to hold it close for me to take a shot with the camera. He lost the fish just after the photo was taken. Photo was reasonably good, but with burley just added in the water before the hookup the camera focused on it instead of the fish! The fish is still visable but was hoping for a clearer shot of the fish. At least it shows the potential of the camera as it is quite a sharp image of the berley, with the fish just out of focus. Hopefully the next shot I get is on the money. Also attached is a test photo of the pylon underneath us. Daniel

Definitely don't grease, it will stop the AR bearings from engaging, like slinky said use the smallest amount of reel oil possible. Also a product which I have used and works pretty well is chain lube. Must be applied in the same manor as skinky suggested as it is quite tacky and if there is to much it will stop the bearings engaging.

Hello everyone, Hope someone can help me solve this issue. I'm wanting to remove the handle off my avet as I've just received a new offset t-bar replacement. The screw which holds the handle stem to the handle arm is one I've never come across before. It looks like a torx bit, yet it had 8 "points" instead of the 6 which a torx bit has. Also they are curved more then the torx bit, which is more of a star shape. Have searched the net high and low for no result, and looked in various tool shops for a similar looking bit with no luck. Avet and black magic will not respond to any of my emails either. I possibly could use a square bit which will grip every second point, but as they are curved I'm afraid of wrecking the point. The other option I had was to carve a slot into it wil my dremel so I can use a screw driver in it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Daniel

Was put onto this product by Tony (slinkymalinky) to polish spool shafts and pinion gear on baitcast reels to further improve freespool performance. As it is a metal polish I decided to try it on a reel body to see if it can cosmetically improve a reel. The reel I am using it on is an Abu Garcia 6500 CS Rocket. The first series of photos are of the reel pre-treatment. You can see on the top of the reel seat there is a slight build up of green rust, and some tarnishing on the reel body. This is the product. It is available at supercheap auto and is around $10 for a 75g tube. Apply a small amount of polish to a clean rag. A polishing cloth is ideal. You do not need a large amount of polish and only work with small amounts at a time. Once applied to the surface buff it off with a clean cloth, exactly how you would polish a car. Here are some photos of the finished product. The photos don’t do it justice. The cloth was black from all the tarnish. As you can see it has removed a fair bit of the green rust, maybe a once over with some fine grit wet & dry followed with a further polish would complete the job 100%. Either way it is a definite improvement. Daniel

Another + on the Soron STX. Even though it is $20-30 more, it is cheap for the quality of reel your getting. I personally believe they are selling themselves short for the reel they are offering at that price. Own one and have stripped it down, so far can't fault it! Daniel

Yeah like I said on the weekend the balsa I had was thinner then the stuff rick uses, I will get some of the thicker stuff and make some up for you and rick to try. But the colours I use are pretty visable which was my main test of those floats. We will definetly try tee something up for the following weekend. Daniel

Rick scored a surgeon and I believe I had a bust of from one. Rick also got hit hard by an unknown which went like the clappers, but never saw any colours so no idea, but he didn't think it was a blackie or a surgeon...who knows?! Hey steve why do you guys need to hire a net boy? If there's money in it I would have showed up earlier ..maybe. But then again with a bite like that even net boy would have needed a net boy! I think next weekend you and rick will need a backup keeper or two. I have bloody work next weekend, so hopefully they keep biting like they in a fortnight. Contemplating going out tomorrow if I feel the backlog of reels needing service can be pushed out one more day.