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Some people use the reverse when vertical jigging - generally for bass. Kim Bain did an article in Barra Bass and Bream a few issues back about it. Jewgaffer - if you read the thread you'll see that the handle is indeed reversible and varos1911 has solved his problem. Good advice to try lefty though - Australia seem to be the only place where the majority of people use righty spin reels. Ben.

Nope - Riptide bowmounts don't have a reverse (nor does the Maxxum) - AFAIK none of the foot pedal models do. The later models of Riptide have 3x faster servos for turning the motor. If you are worried about it, get a cable steer Maxxum or equivalent, you can spin it 180 degrees very quickly - or don't drift so close to the leases! Personally, I prefer Riptides though, the cable steer requires you to have your foot too high up in the air on the pedal. As for davemmm's original question as to their usefulness - I can't fish without one! Absolutely indispensable! Ben.

Its worth mentioning that if you do use PVC pipe to make a rod travel tube, make sure it is NOT airtight. I was reading recently about a guy who lost a bunch of rods due to a broken tube, but realised that the tube wasn't broken by chuckers (baggage handlers), but by air pressure in the cargo hold during the flight.

Hi Evil, Lever brake reels are for a very specialised form of rock fishing in Japan using very long soft rods ("Iso" fishing). I don't think you will find many people here in Australia who have used them or who have an application for them - I haven't used one myself. Cheers, Ben

Hmm, very interesting Tuffy, can you please tell one of my customers who jumped his Poly off the trailer (hit a gutter while towing, no tie down strap), put a deep gouge in the hull, and got a poly welder to repair it for $70, that his hull hasn't been repaired? And my hull where I used a heatgun to fill in screwholes when I changed some rodholders over - it LOOKS like they are filled in, but they are not? I have been reliably informed by the manufacturer of the polyethylene used in Polycraft's that it will retain approx. 90% of its strength when welded/repaired (ie stronger than an alloy weld). Anyway, this is probably all just "dealer bullshit" eh? Ben.

Hard luck David. It is great fun tangling with the smaller models on bream gear. I was getting into a few last October and having a ball till I hooked up to a biggun and got comprehensively done over. Ever since then, I only target them on my 4-7kg rod with 8kg Fireline XDS. Maybe you can keep trying on your bream rod and hope to hook a soapie to get it out of your system, then move to the heavier stuff. It's heartbreaking to bust off on the bigguns. Seems the jew are on at the moment, I got two yesterday afternoon myself, and kept my first one ever for the table, which may turn out to be a bad thing for the local jew population, as it was bloody beautiful! Keep trying mate, once you've hooked one it gets easier and easier. Ben.

Congrats Red, great stuff, but I'm cursing you for getting it so easy!!! I only have one question, and it's no worries if you don't want to answer, but what lure did ya get him on? I have had some success with plastics, but would love to get one on a HB (ideally on a big topwater, but that might be pushing it!). My guess would be to use deep diving barra lures? Cheers, Ben

Codszilla, Suzuki now only sell a 9.9, 15, 30 and 40 in two stroke, everything else is four strokes. They will be phasing out all two strokes over the coming few years, as are some of the other manufacturers. Basically, traditional two strokes (excluding the cleaner, more efficient DIs) won't be around for much longer as they can no longer pass the ever more stringent emmissions laws. Mondo, could you please point me to some hard stats that show that DI 2-strokes are " Faster, more powerful, less emissions, better fuel efficiency, much more effective at low-speed, just as quiet as a 4-stroke and heaps less servicing."? All the stats and serious "apples for apples" shootouts between the various manufacturers 4-strokes and DI 2-strokes that I have read have shown this is not the case, and of course, every individual motor has different specs, and pros and cons in different performance areas (the Suzuki DF140 for instance is the lightest 140HP on the market, 4 OR 2 stroke). Take a look at some of the "Bass & Walleye Boats" magazine or PowerBoat magazine shootouts to see what I mean, or look at this thread for example on 150HPs - http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/thread-...mode=2#M1044899 Cheers, Ben.

Red, I pray that Daiwa don't ever release their high-end blanks or components cause it would send me bankrupt! A cutom rod built on a SVF Compile-X blank would be absolute killer. Mind you, the replacement for the Battlers, the Steez line has put my finger on the trigger, thank goodness it's so expensive to have rods freighted from Japan! Ben.

Hi Pete, Just saw your post on the Poly site, where Eric has answered your question aswell, I'm from the same Sydney dealership as him. Just to clarify, the Suzuki has the biggest displacement at 1950cc, whereas the Honda is 1590cc, the Merc and Yammy 4-strokes (same powerhead) are 1596cc and the ETEC is 1296cc. So when I say a 90HP is great on this hull, I am specifically talking about the Suzuki which has significantly greater displacement - I haven't tried any of the other motor brands I have mentioned on the Poly 5.3, or the Tohatsu 90HP 2-stroke mentioned in F&B magazine as being underpowered. As the old saying goes - there is no replacement for displacement... Cheers, Ben.

I have run the 5.3 in the bowrider style with a Suzuki four stroke 90 and a 5.3 center console with a Suzuki four stroke 115, both went very well. I was very pleasantly suprised by the performance of the 90 (we suspected it may be undergunned before we ran it), we ran it 5 up and it ran beatifully, very quick onto the plane and plenty through the mid range. I have read the articles mentioned and can't comment on how those other brands of motors performed, but I can assure you the Suzuki 90HP on the 5.3 CC is plenty. Cheers, Ben. PS Mods, hope this is not out of line, just trying to provide helpful information only, since I am in a position to know exactly how these boats go (and I'm guessing Pirate Pete is in Tassie anyways).

My collection includes a beautiful emerald green G&L (Leo Fenders company after he sold Fender to CBS) Legacy Special, an Ibanez Talman (with Roland midi pickup), Roland GR-77 midi synth, 1976 Fender Bassman 100W head, Roland Jazz Chorus 100W head, a 2x12" and a 4x10" boxes, a cheapy bass, a cheapy classical guitar, an Aria Pro electro-acoustic, a bunch of assorted pedals (the one use most is my Morley Wah), and some electronic stuff - midi keyboard, Yamaha RM1X, Akai MPC2000, and a computer recording setup which includes my latest toy, an Alesis Firewire mixer. Nice JEM by the way Milts! Ben

Hi Berlez, Take a look at the thread that rzep linked to, lotsa good info there. as I said in that thread, I have a Pentax Optio WPi, which is waterproof, easy to use, light, compact and has taken a beating with no probs so far. Takes a pretty decent picture too. I killed my old Canon (amd a mobile too) from just exposing it to salty air too often, so for fishing photos I reccomend a waterproof or resistant model of some sort. HTH, Ben

I would go for the Twinpower myself, I think it is better value for money than the Sol. I own a Twinpower 2000S and have been very impressed with it, I also own a Certate which I love though, so I'm not Shimano biased. I wasn't overly impressed with the Kix which I believe is very similar to the SOL, which I haven't ever used. The Twinpower is very similar to the top of the line Stella, and great bang for buck IMO. HTH, Ben.

I'm a fan of the 3" hawgs, don't like the 2" ones as much though. I rig them on anything from a 1/24 to 1/6 oz. jighead (TT or Nitro). I've found them particularly good on big trevally. I usually like to fish them around bridge pylons or breakwalls in deeper water. Fave colours are pearl watermelon and pearl blue. Occassionally I will cut off the two chunky "claws" for a slimmer profile on spooky fish, but most of the time I fish them as is. As for the BrettOs original question, top five plastics for bream for me are: Pearl Watermelon 3" bass minnow Pumpkinseed 3" bass minnow 3" Gulp Fry 2" Gulp curl tail minnow 6" Gulp sandworm In fact any of the Gulp range is very effective (I call them the "cheaters lure"!). Aside from the Berkley range which I use 90% of the time, I also like Ecogear Tank-S and Pad-Tue. But if I were to only have 5 plastics the above list would be it. HTH, Ben.

Hi Rohit, Just a suggestion, but have you ever thought of doing a rod without any foregrip? I have a couple of Kistler rods that have no foregrip, and another custom rod that has a very small 1" foregrip, and I can leave my index finger on the blank itself with those rods. Whether it be a rod with or without a foregrip, I fish with my index finger pointing up the rod, resting on the side of the grip/blank, as described in a post above. From an aesthetic viewpoint, I reckon rods with no foregrips look damn cool, check out these examples: Daiwa baitcasters: http://fishing.daiwa21.com/index.asp?ItemID=3202 or the Kistlers: http://www.kistlerrods.com Cheers, Ben.

I'm not a great expert on BC rods, but I love the high end Daiwa stuff ( I have a Battler Black Lady). I reckon the Pixy rod would be perfect for the Pixy reel, but it is a light setup - I wouldn't be throwing it at rack/tiger country bream. I presume there are some light Loomis rods available, but I don't think they have the refinement and finish that the Daiwa Heartland Z / Battler range has, althought the blanks are just as good. I would go to your nearest Daiwa Tournament dealer (there are seven in Sydney I think, including site sponsor, ABA), most of whom also stock Loomis, and take a look.

It was a pleasure Adam! And it sure does go! Hope your happy with it (I'm jealous, was blown away by the performance, these new 150 and 175s are awesome). Heres your now compulsory Yabbie Marine "cheesy thumbs-up" pic mate - Cheers, Ben.

The Nitro ATJs aren't bad, but fairly expensive (mind you, I use regular Nitros and TTs all the time, and they are relatively expensive too, but more than worth it). I tend to only use weedless jigheads when I am actually fishing in weeds - usually shallow sand/weed flats where regular jigheads foul every cast, and I have found the Owner weedless jigheads to be the easiest to rig and a little cheaper. I think you do miss more hits, particularly on bream, with weedless rigs. I always have the hook point exposed, but lying flat along the top of the plastic, when rigging this way rather than having the hook point still within the plastic. As for losing jigheads - if you aren't snagging and losing them, you're not fishing in the right place! I lose a couple to snags every session. HTH, Ben

I have the Pentax Optio WPi that Whitto mentioned - its a great camera. Lots of easy to use functions, quite good photo quality (my flatmate has an expensive Canon which takes amazing shots, but is big, bulky and isn't waterproof) and lots of peace of mind knowing its waterproof when taking shots of fish with wet hands.

Yep, I have 20lb Fin-S on a number of reels, and find it very good. Tuffline XP is also sposed to be good stuff, but haven't tried it personally. Sharky - XDS is not a "true braid", its fused micro dyneema, but still a good line, I use XDS on my bigger spin outfit. Fin-S is softer and silkier than both fireline or XDS, this is good on baitcasters, but can cause tip wraps on spin gear. Fin-S also thicker than Fireline or XDS for a given line rating. I still use both Fireline and Fin-S in 4lb on my bream reels, still can't decide whether to go one way or the other, they both have pros and cons...

Just read today's Tele and was horrified by a report that a group of 70 pros are lobbying to be allowed back into Botany Bay, since they are temporarily closed out of the Harbour/Parra river. If the powers that be let this happen, I'll tear up my fishing license and burn it! Can anyone suggest who we should talk to/ lobby against on this?

They definately seem to have thinned out/disappeared as far as I am concerned. The spots that were consistently producing in September/October seem to be dead now. I suspect they will come back on in March/April when it gets a little cooler.

Just to clarify there are two different 3" hawgs - power hawgs and bungee hawgs. The bungee hawgs have the little "springy bits", the power hawgs don't. I sometimes cut the fat "claws" of the power hawgs to get a slimmer profile in shallower, clearer water. Ben.

Hardbody lures for bream - SX40 and Attacks, never really target flatties, tend to get them as bycatch when fishing for bream and jews, they'll eat just about anything. Last one I caught was on a Jackall TN60, while test casting a bass rod! For bream on soft plastics, any of the Berkley range, but the most popular is generally the 3" Bass minnow in pumpkinseed, smelt or pearl watermelon. The Berkley Gulp sandworms and minnows are good too. Another old fave for me is the Ecogear Tank. HTH, Ben