new rod catches fish

[Tiny Tin]

it was time for work and we had just got ready when the missus said..'you and martin going fishing'? nuff said..off into the yard and got the ship ready. the missus pops her head out and says 'what you two doing'?..'we're going fishing' i replied..not happy is she.. pretty soon i got the look..'i thought you just said..are you two going fishing'? there's a lengthy pause before she says 'i meant after work'..'oh well too late now she's hooked up and we're off to try out martins new rod'..i thought this might work as martin has just finished making his first rod and it would be a bit mean to deny him now eh? :laugh: there's a shake of the head and she disappears behind the door..'see ya later'.. i look at martin and it's thumbs up and we're away. a while later we hit the bay..weather a bit blowy but what the hell. anchor up and i pile in a load of prawn heads from the weekend feed. we start off catching a few undersized snaps ranging from 5cm up to around 33cm. i had taken some fish frames that we had frozen and thawed them enough to make em sink. in they go and the action starts to warm up a bit..still all the fish are undersized and no sweetlip. we've probably caught and released about 12 snaps..a small sole when the brim turn up. we have a few hits and get around five brim around the 30cm mark we put em all back. i look over to martin and enquire about the new outfit he's built. it's a samurai blank around 7 foot and he's paired it to a Calcutta and 15lb braid. he's already caught a few and i've been sneaking a few looks as he pulled in fish after fish. great rod..small fish right up to the 30cm snaps..all on bait thus far. we pull the pick and decide to drift as the wind has dropped and the current is almost non existent. i catch a moses perch 26cm and stick it in the esky. martin goes one better and rigs his new outfit up with an SP..a few casts later the rod bends into another fish. looks like a good fight to start with. the rod tip is quite subtle and lets the tap taps turn into a decent bite. once hooked the fish has no chance the soft tip acting as a shocky whilst there's heaps of grunt lower in the blank (i'm feeling jealous lol)..after a short tussle and a few darting runs a snap hits the deck..it's around the 48cm mark. 'rod's working well then marty..'? nothing but a big smile on his dial. a few seconds later a lizard connects to martys lure and around 50cm of flattie thrashes around the floor before we unhook him and send him back. in the meantime i'm occupying myself catching a few undersize snaps and the odd sweetlip..funny not many around today? marty's changed the rig back to bait and soon has a moses perch of his own..another one for the esky. the wind blew harder.. the current decided to swing the other way and staying connected to an SP or the bottm became a bit too hard. we both decide it's enough for one day so we kick on for home. what a great day..not too flash fishing wise but brilliant to see the young fella turn out this rod and then catch a variety of fish on it. we have some pics i'll get marty to post em up and maybe he can tell ya about the rod blank..guides etc..

[nadders]

good stuff guys and great to see the rod building is working out for you marty. what size calcutta do you have on that bad boy, and what are the specs?

john, i think im having more fun chasing snapper around the river than i did chasing threadies hehe i'd rate a 55-60cm snapper a much harder fight than a 100cm thready. pretty glad to be able to catch both great species in the same river.

and john you're a shocker mate go to work!!!! hahaha

[Tiny Tin]

hi dan..yeah good one..go to work..lol..why :woohoo: yeah the ol snaps have a bit of go in em..they're a bit slow in the bay..plenty undersized but. can't compare em to a theadie still haven't had a go at em yet..i'll have to run a spot past ya..many years ago my mate used to fish for big jewies..i never saw em but he reckons it's a good spot..i'll never get to try it just not my thing..dunno why just not appealing to me..i read ya post bout ya roller..something i'd hate to have happen. i got work tomorrow :laugh: double what i had today..boo boo :S :woohoo:

[Time_Bandit]

As Tiny Tin has told you all in this thread i turned my hand to a bit of rod building, i bought a cheapish lathe from the U.S after i unpacked it i made numerous altercations to it just to get better use outta it. I can now build one from scratch if need be. So after practising wrapping guides to an old rod and giving the expoxy a go too i decided although a fiddly job i could do it, I decided on a SN402 Samurai Blank with a range from 10lb to 20lb, to go along with my calcutta 400 that had been collecting dust in a cupboard. I used fuji sic guides, there expensive little buggers. For anyone wanting to build a rod, dont listen to people in tackle shops that tell you its more expensive to build then to buy, this same rod retails at $550 while the blank and guides etc only cost me $300. To my suprise and dads as well i guess the finished article came out near perfect considering it was a first attempt. So the rod looked the part and all it needed was a fish to test it, so after catching little snaps between 20-30cm it was clear the rod had the required sensitivity in the tip. but i was wanting a bigger test, not long later, flicking plastics the tip bent i struck and drove home the hook and the fish started taking plenty of drag, a decent fish with a good bend in the rod, not knowing the full capabilities of the rod yet i decided to put a bit of hurt on the fish, theres plenty of power lower down and the fish was turned easy as....after a short fight a 48cm Snap (not 42cm haha ) was landed.....the pic will prove it! will try and get some good pics of rod and lathe if people are interested.

[Time_Bandit]

heres the snap and the new rod.

[Tiny Tin]

oops my bad..48cm it was..lol..

[tugger]

nice work fellas good to see the new rod get a work out

mark

[kriso]

that snap is a fat bastard! well done mate new rod sounds the goods too.

[natang]

Great looking Snapper mate Sounds the rod is a great one mate!

[Time_Bandit]

The rod worked a treat, trying to plan what type of rod to build next, i got in contact with gary howard and hes invited me to have a look at some blanks that hes got, a few made by cts and a few from loomis too, would love to get hold of an Egrell S10 blank and put my own spin of things onto it, there are little subtle things that can effect the performance of the blank. I have a feeling im going to end up with a big collection of rods!

[Tiny Tin]

kriso wrote:

that snap is a fat bastard! well done mate new rod sounds the goods too.

he's not so fat now lol. his stomach was empty and we got some pretty big fillets off it. i'm hoping what i'm hearing is right..they (whoever they are) reckon the big snaps are coming on now..not as many fish around but better quality. they should go off in the river as they head for deeper water at the end of september arrys is another place the big uns should be getting to along with peel..seen a few 7kg ones from peel lately..even B&B had some pics of em..so it must be true