Dezmo

I dont know much about jigging, but i thought you wanted a reel with a high ratio and fast retrieve to crank the jig up quickly?

Maybe its the sort of trip that if you have to ask "how much?" you can't afford it.

I have not had good experieces with OKUMA. They look good, have great features for the price but unfortunately I have found they just dont last the distance. The lifetime warranty is worthless. It doesnt carry corrosion with is usually the killer.

Namesay, Again, that is a problem i think i could handle having... If you ever get too worried about your drag washers being worn out i know a keen bloke who has some in very good condition....

Wow, nailed it again! I had long considered Craig the guru of Sydney harbour kings... You must have it well sorted if he was following you. Spare a thought for those who were working today... Life cant be bad if your worrying about your reel drags from overuse.. Top work

Nice work. Wish i had got onto as many kings. I was fishing out of south head this morning and managed two rats about 55cm while trolling (obviously released). There was a big school feeding on the surface on someting small and i assumed they were salmon. There were quite spooky and i had troubles casting to the school (very light jig) and i gave up. I am thinking now they may have been kings too? in which case i should have persisted!

Gee you do well on the kings!. I will be out and about on the harbour tomorrow and would be happy to get just one legal.

To be frank i think it would be difficult to find a boat that would do bassin and offshore work WELL. But i supose the size you are looking at would be a reasonable compromise. A deepish v hull 4.55 wont have problems going out the heads in reasonable weather and for this purpose a centre console would balance better. But you probably wont be comfortable going a long way out (for my money the FAD would be the absolute furthest i would go in very good weather). A 4.5 will be ok in larger rivers but if a deeper boat may blow around a bit and not be the easiest to manouvre. You may also find it hard to launch in some areas. If it were me get the 4.55 in centre console (or better still something a little bigger...) for open water work and get an old 10ft punt with an electric on it for the bassing (it wouldnt cost much and could easily go on the roof racks).

Top effort, excellent detailed report. It seems like down rigging for kings in sydney has gone ballistic over the last 12-24 months. This summer I wont be surprised to hear of lines of boats 10 accross slowing downrigging the moorings before the spit etc!! Well done on the catch and release also. With people constantly getting better at catching these fish and more people choosing the mighty king as their pinnacle inshore/harbour fishing target i think there will be a real need to encourage sustainable fishing into the future. That said my mouth is watering for my first summer king... Also what's going to be the next gun technique on kings???

I am sitting in London at the moment reports like this make the fact i have not been out in the boat for over a month very difficult to deal with.BUT i will be back on the water next weekend and your report has me VERY excited. Top effort- your persistance clearly paid dividends.

I have a 78 9.9 evinrude in the garage and a 10ft car topper round the side of the house. Good little combo for two people and gets along reasonably well with one or two as well.

Here is one a bit cheaper, reckon MO's would do better still. http://www.gotyatackle.com/store/product.asp?ID=960 I agree the TLD 25 would not cope with 24kg line fished hard.

At $170 or so the TLD is very hard to beat for the money. Better reels around, but not for similar coin. As for rods, really depends on what you want to do. Both my TLD's are on 24kg roller tip strokers one is a backbone 5'6 the other is a steve starling series 5'3. These rods are quite powerful and are an easy length to store in my boat. I bought these mostly with a view to getting some bigger kings. They have performed well on 65-70cm models but have yet to be tested on some big hoods. Anyway if i was buying now i would probably go for something a little longer and softer in the tip on at least one of them. Maybe a 6fter or so. As for casting- the TLD's and theshort rods are pretty hopeless. There is too much weight in the spool to slow down efficiently with your thumb.

1) Big King from my boat hopefully 85cm plus model 2) A marlin (if an opportunity arises..) 3) 5 new species into my boat. 4) Get my tinny decked out with live bait tank, more storage, casting deck and canopy. First Marlin or yellowfin would be great too!

Make sure you also have a look the marlin on a handline clip and the big black marlin from ultimate lady clip.

Pretty sure you can hire tinnies from the marina at soldiers point. There are plenty of small fish (bream, whiting snapper) around this area, but i have never done very well in the area. Still great fun however. My advice would be to keep an eye out for the oyster racks.

Sammy, that looks great mate. I had heard of people putting the handles from the tyrnos on the TLD's but heard the cost was about $80 or something crazy. For $25- i would probably do both reels. Where did you pick them up?

I have a couple of TLD 25's, and while they are yet to be tested on a serious fish (hopefully soon!) they have performed well on kings etc. With the prices they are at these days you could get two for the price of the others you were listing- and another lure in the water has to double your chances! I understand the TLD 20/30/50 2 Speeds have better quality internals than the single speeds. Unfortunately the ergonomics of the all TLD handles dont compare to any of the new shimano offerings. Anyhow I am curious to hear how often those people who game fish utilise the 2 speed functions of their reels? Is it a bit of a gymic- or something you use and find handy??

Thats fantastic, to think yellofin had become a rare catch not all that long ago.

Nah mate $Au, its in WA. Check the freight though- it will probably be $15- To be honest i have never bought from there, I usually just use Campbells/Gotya/MO to keep my local shops competetive.

Just found this for a price on the symetre- looks ok. http://www.gotyatackle.com/store/product.asp?ID=1595

Been canyoning out at Kanangra a few times and I know all too well the walk in and out.... Top work on getting a few fish, would have been a great couple of days even if you didnt get a bite.

It was a good day. I called it for a squid for sure and did try the jig. Also tried the squid spike through the yakka and it was at this point we had a hit from the eel (a similar take to the earlier ones killing the livies).

I think most of the tinny manufacturers (quintrex/stacer, brooker, allycraft etc) will all so the extended side decks on their basic open tinnies as an option.

Hey All, Headed out early sat AM with a mate in the tinny. Tried to pick up some livies at the wedding cakes just prior to sun up to no avail. Just on first light trolled along south head. Within about 1 minute had a hook up on a bonito. We didnt end up getting far down the coast as we were having a great time getting bonnie after bonnie on that first stretch. Probably ended up with 15 or so probably 40-45cm ish in length in an hour plus a lone pike.. After this headed a km or two out between the heads and did a bottom bash drift. Leatheries were a nuisance here but managed to pick up a nice flathead. Put down the live pike whole but i suspect the leatheries got to it too. The wind picked up a bit so anchored out of the southerly in south head an burlyed hard. Had a mix of reefies especially rockcod and also a big PJ. Got plenty of live yakkas, however when i put them out as baits something kept hitting the back of the head and killing them. Initially i got excited and assumed it was a good size squid.. But when i put a yakka on a squid jig I ended up with a damn eel. Do you think the eel could have been doing the damage?? Anway next put a few yakkas on the 15kg outfits and did quite a bit of slow trolling around south head and the harbour markers. Not a take here- but very relaxing. Anyway all in all a good day out. Better than i would expect do to this time of year.