First Time Ever Using An Alvey

[Juzza]

Today was a very nice overcast day with little wind on the parramatta river, further upstream. Time 5:30pm, Wind was <5knots, water was calm and murky, tide was low and rising, sun still up and fishing a patch of weed. A great day to be spending on the water. Set up on a jetty with a great newish setup (3months old!) that i bought TODAY from a fellow fishraider at Auburn Maccas! It was a...

13ft Snyder Glas 'Surf Spin' FS156MT (6w) , With an alvey 6500 BCVRR

Couldnt resist taking it for a flick in the river! But in the end i had no fish, not even a nibble!!!

First time ever, casting with a Alvey too> i made my attempt

Cast 1. Failed

Cast 2. The 30g sinker goes a mile...but somehow some line went inbetween the back piece and the spool couldnt get it untangled...Failed

Cast 3. Rerigged, decided not to belt it out but to, lob it (im learning)... and YES, no dramas when i reel it in. Sucess!!!

Cast 4. Do another lob, rig goes flying away and drops dead midflight...something has stopped line going out!!! I look at my guides and theres a birds nest there. Realised that when i was casting that i did not guide the line back into the spool the cast before. THEREFORE...cast 3+4 FAILED!

Cast 5. Rerigged...learnt from my mistakes. Great lob, turn the reel back and it comes in fine!

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~Cast 10. Tried to put a bit more force into the cast...and my thumb somehow stopped line from coming out of the spool and sinker flies away with a broken trace

~Cast 15. Same thing happens with my thumb...but i lose grip of the rod with the upper hand and almost chuck the rod into the water

~Cast 35. All Good, BUT NO FISH (WHY?!)...Answer: I was using only a sinker and no hook

Overall a great learning experience! but i should of watched the alvey DVD before-hand rather than losing 100m of line . But i couldnt ask for more, using alveys are a new experience and are quite fun and i am wanting to catch a fish next time!

Not sure if you would call this 'fishing' but hope you had a fun read =D

Justin

ps. After watching the DVD it seems like its gone though everything i learnt by myself!

[Dreamtime]

Great read, and by all accounts, great first hand lesson.

A lot in this story sounds familiar to me, but my weapon was the baitcaster.

Same result and a great fealing when it all goes right.

Well done.

Next time go down to your local oval and practice - a lot easier on the pocket too!

Practice makes perfect - better looking for your sinker on the oval rather than - what if??? When the big one gets the better of you when learning - and - "PING"

Cheers

Mariner

[hottyscotty]

instead if using your thumb to hold the line when casting, try using your index finger, so your palm would be on top of the reel seat. that may help your timing. i find the thumb method a bit unco.

to prevent birds nest, the line must be wound back on tight. it must also be wound on evenly.

[mpreston55]

Don't worry Juzza. As they say "we learn by our mistakes" and the best way to learn is by having a go at it. Good looking combo that will catch you a lot of fish in the near future. Keep at it.

Howard

[luderick59]

hi justin call me anytime and we can go to the park to practice i will have you casting 80 to 100 mts in no time with a setup like that

i noticed some green weed growing on the left of the jetty could be worth a go for blackies there

peter

[arpie]

Bad luck, Justin - you'll sort it out pretty soon, I reckon! practise, practise, practise! The Alveys are quite different to fish with after using spinners! Don't forget to use a finger of your rod hand to 'guide' the line onto the rod evenly - making it lay flat & snug on the reel. If just reeling it in, it will pile up in the middle, & cause big messes when casting. If you get a bigger fish on, the line will cut thru the loose stuff underneath & the fish may well bust off.

I reckon you could probably go down a size in the sinker too. Alveys will cast a smaller sinker really well & give you better sensitivity as well!

Lovely looking rig tho! maybe go back to narrabeen & the blackies! Only kidding!

Cheerio

Roberta

[sails]

[Hi Justin,

that was a good read, and reminded me of when I was learning to cast with the overheads. as Pete and Mariner 31 said, get onto the oval or better still, an empty beach and cast along the sand, just with the sinker.

Remember the importance of the swivel to minimise the effect of line twist, which you will get with the Alvey, and as Roberta said, it is important to guide the line onto the reel with your index finger, to give an even distribution across the reel.

Have had some good times of late at the lake; still got the young gun Jackson outfishing me, but I am catching up!! Its great to see so many children learning to float fish.

tight lines

Sails

[trungie]

JUSTIN - your a champion.

Let me part with a few nuggets of info which might save you some head and heart aches.

- As the other fisho's said, you have to use your index finger to guide it onto the reel.

- Especially at night time, be careful not to guide it too far to the handle side, otherwise you'll get a nice ball of line off the reel!

- To avoid line twist the dvd says use two swivels, i found it 'could' of helped, but the best way is to now and then when you retrieve, guide the line using both your index finger and thumb, hopefully this will push all the twist out.

If all this index finger and thumb work starts rubbing ur skin up, use elastoplast u can get at the local chemist and tape up your fingers. My friend uses a golf glove if u want to do that too.

After all this is managed, i find casting with the alvey has so much potential, as the spool diameter is so large and line just drifts off it. I never reached it but!

Cheers mate

[Berleyguts]

Justin,

You will get the casting right. Alveys are great. You can drop them in the sand, wash them off in the surf and keep on fishing. They cast lightly weighted baits well. The main problem I have is if I get lazy and don't watch what I'm doing on the retrieve... you can get the line wrapped around the handles, instead of on the spool. If you try to cast like that you'll find you pilly heading for NZ and you'll get a few tangles too.

Watch the line twist, too. A quality swivel above the sinker helps.

Good luck.

Baz

[humesy]

Great effort and a fine purchase.

Definitely watch out for line tangled around the handles. It would be a painful way to lose a good fish. I did it once on a tailor of the beach and had to run up towards the dunes to keep the pressure on while de-tangling.

For a laugh, check out the scene in the DVD where he "catches" a jewie off the beach. I reckon its as dead as a doornail when it hits the sand. This doesn't curb his enthusiasm though.

[Juzza]

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I have another question, when i cast the upper arm (mainly my wrist) that is holding onto the rod gets whipped. Looks as though i was scratched by a cat!!! Any possible way to avoid that...besides wearing gloves?

Thankyou Peter for the offer, i cant wait! You have a really keen eye...because all along the rocks there, theres loads of stringy (very short though) might be good for burly. But on the jetty theres cabbage growing slowly with alot of brown weed. And its only a walk away!

Roberta, no way am i going to change from the dark side maybe ill just take a little holiday like you and hunt for some flatties/jewys =D

Finally, thanks geekfisherman for the setup, going to make good use of it, wait till i land my first jewy on this!

Justin