My first live fibre

[GregOug]

So finally bought my first live fibre rod. Hopefully it will serve me well. And hopefully it’s the right one for catching grassies, snapper etc. The identifiers on it are RLF 42/2 10’ 6 spin, cast 25g, sinker 1-40g, braid 8-15 lb

[Old Scaley]

Congratulations @GregOug.  The weight is fine for your target species for your average Bay snap or dinner size reefie. Probably a bit longer than you would normally go if you are on a boat but still manageable. Would make a great spin stick off the shore for lizards or chopper tailor.

seems like we need to set up a live fibre owners group because they are getting lots of coverage around here lately.

[GregOug]

1 minute ago, Old Scaley said:

Congratulations @GregOug.  The weight is fine for your target species for your average Bay snap or dinner size reefie. Probably a bit longer than you would normally go if you are on a boat but still manageable. Would make a great spin stick off the shore for lizards or chopper tailor.

seems like we need to set up a live fibre owners group because they are getting lots of coverage around here lately.

Yeah. I wonder if they’ll sponsor us and give us freebies?

The length of rod was the one recommended to me by my mate from BCF when he first showed me the spot and method for catching grassies and it certainly works. Can’t wait to try the new rod out on them.

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, GregOug said:

Yeah. I wonder if they’ll sponsor us and give us freebies?

The length of rod was the one recommended to me by my mate from BCF when he first showed me the spot and method for catching grassies and it certainly works. Can’t wait to try the new rod out on them.

Congrats @GregOug their tough as nails , I have never had one of mine fail on a fish in the 25 years I have been using them . Even the guide at png has switched to the venoms now,  I still get the odd email from him raving about the black bass his clients are landing . I hope it serves you well and provides many feeds.

[benno573]

I think I have 4... maybe 5 of them. Can’t fault any of them.

[Junky]

Nice rod. 

Firstly, I am in no way critical of the rod. They are a fantastic piece of kit well built and will give you years of service, however I am critical of the advise given with regards to rod selection.

I am assuming you told the lad you were fishing from a boat? 

A 10'6 rod in a boat will be a dead set pain in the proverbial, especially if if the boat is not an open boat, which I believe your raft has a bimini of some description. 

Mate I hope you prove me wrong but I've tried a surf rod in my boat with no success. Nearly threw it overboard tbh. Lucky it was a 2 piece. 

 

If I can give you any sage advise then it is to go for the 7ft 4-8kg rod range for boat fishing, up to 7'6. I have a 7'6 silstar that is a very nice bait fishing snapper rod but I wouldn't go any longer. 

 

 

Good luck and I'm sure you will let us know how you go. Like I said, I hope you prove me wrong. 

 

Cheers. 

 

[Kat]

Hey Greg.  It was a pain in the proverbial having a long rod on the boat.  I am wondering why your mate said to buy such a long one?  Has he explained to you?

Cheers Kat

[Drop Bear]

17 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

seems like we need to set up a live fibre owners group

im in

 

[Drop Bear]

HI mate,

Welcome to the club. They are a great rod. Enjoy. 

[GregOug]

3 hours ago, Kat said:

Hey Greg.  It was a pain in the proverbial having a long rod on the boat.  I am wondering why your mate said to buy such a long one?  Has he explained to you?

Cheers Kat

Hi Kat and Junky,

He did explain it to me. The use of a 10’ 6” rod is for a specific type of fishing from a boat. It is not for general everyday use. It is only for fishing in shallow water, for specific species of fish.

cheers

Greg

[Kat]

Cool.  Well despite it being annoying it certainly worked on the Sweetlip!

[GregOug]

51 minutes ago, Kat said:

Cool.  Well despite it being annoying it certainly worked on the Sweetlip!

Yes. It certainly did!

[GregOug]

10 hours ago, Kat said:

Hey Greg.  It was a pain in the proverbial having a long rod on the boat.  I am wondering why your mate said to buy such a long one?  Has he explained to you?

Cheers Kat

Hey Kat. He didn’t tell me to buy any rod. He just said a 10’ 6” rod is ideal for the type of fishing he was showing me. I already had an old 10’ 6” Wilson Bream Reaper which is my favourite rod ever. I just decided to buy a second rod for other people to use on my boat. I bought the live fibre because of the recommendations of others on here. 
 

10 hours ago, Junky said:

Nice rod. 

Firstly, I am in no way critical of the rod. They are a fantastic piece of kit well built and will give you years of service, however I am critical of the advise given with regards to rod selection.

I am assuming you told the lad you were fishing from a boat? 

 

Hi Junky,

My mate is not a ‘lad’. He is in his forties. And he knew I was fishing from a boat because I followed him out in my boat to the spot he showed me. He is also a very experienced fisherman who gives fishing talks at boat shows, fishing club meetings etc. And after five minutes of advice on rod, reels, tackle, bait, method etc to use I caught more grassies in an hour or two than I have in the rest of my life!

Anyway, no biggie. Thanks for the input. It is much appreciated.

cheers

Greg 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Good news Greg, I’m sure it would be good for fishing the surf as well as the shallow water type fishing too! 
Cheers Hamish 

[GregOug]

1 hour ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Good news Greg, I’m sure it would be good for fishing the surf as well as the shallow water type fishing too! 
Cheers Hamish 

The surf? But you have to stand up then!

[Junky]

On 13/12/2020 at 10:51 PM, GregOug said:

The surf? But you have to stand up then!

And get sand on your feet. 

 

Have you bent that rod yet? 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

14 minutes ago, Junky said:

And get sand on your feet. 

 

Have you bent that rod yet? 

Hello Junky

I believe this report is when Greg used the rod.

Cheers Hamish 

[GregOug]

4 hours ago, Junky said:

And get sand on your feet. 

 

Have you bent that rod yet? 

No unfortunately. Still waiting for a good weather day. They are few and far between at the moment and off to Mackay and Hamilton Island for Christmas/New Year next week so it will have to be next year now.

[Junky]

52 minutes ago, GregOug said:

No unfortunately. Still waiting for a good weather day. They are few and far between at the moment and off to Mackay and Hamilton Island for Christmas/New Year next week so it will have to be next year now.

Geez, doing it tough. 

Let's hope the new year brings on the weather. 

This rain will be good for it. 

[Drop Bear]

13 hours ago, GregOug said:

off to Mackay and Hamilton Island for Christmas/New Year

I hope you are taking the boat? 

[GregOug]

6 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

I hope you are taking the boat? 

No. Unfortunately. Thought about it but it’s a long way to tow a boat when the weather could well be crap when you get there. Lol.

[ellicat]

3 minutes ago, GregOug said:

No. Unfortunately. Thought about it but it’s a long way to tow a boat when the weather could well be crap when you get there. Lol.

It's a long way back to get the boat if the weather is good.

[Drop Bear]

21 hours ago, ellicat said:

It's a long way back to get the boat if the weather is good.

Gold. My boat tows really well so it never bothers me. It is a lot lighter than a glass one though. 

We did have problems with Quampi Pear the other day when stupid drop bear decided to do a u turn and bend 2 wheels........ WE had about 1 ton of oyster shell in her at the time that didn't help. 

[GregOug]

2 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Gold. My boat tows really well so it never bothers me. It is a lot lighter than a glass one though. 

We did have problems with Quampi Pear the other day when stupid drop bear decided to do a u turn and bend 2 wheels........ WE had about 1 ton of oyster shell in her at the time that didn't help. 

Mine tows very well too but I think I’d want to have a stone guard installed before towing it on a 2000 odd km round trip.

[GregOug]

Well. I’m in trouble. Got the live fibre bug! Bought my second live fibre today. Went into Tackle World Mackay and noticed a Live Fibre Trophy there. It is maroon in colour and is apparently a discontinued line. Will be great for whiting and flathead. It doesn’t have any rating on it but the Tackle World guys told me it’s 4-6kg. It is a rlf 32/2, whatever that means. Almost bought a Shimano Thunnus 4000 to go on it but realised I hadn’t done any homework on how much you can get one for. From memory theirs was $296. 

[GregOug]

And if anyone is interested Anaconda have 20% off all rods and reels today. On a live fibre that is a fair bit of money. Unfortunately they didn’t have any Thunnuses.

[ellicat]

Thunnusi are roughly $305 at BCF with club discount, so $296 is a good price. I haven't looked, but i suspect somewhere like Freddy's online store will be cheaper again.

[ellicat]

The sensitive tip on the live fibres is great. I remember catching small flathead on my 15 - 24kg one in 60 metres of water when on a dodgy charter with the BFO boys back in the day. They couldn't believe I was feeling the bites.

[Kat]

what does BFO stand for?

[Angry51]

I think it's Brisbane Fishing Online.

Before AFO.

 

[kmcrosby78]

1 minute ago, Angry51 said:

I think it's Brisbane Fishing Online.

Before AFO.

 

Bingo - yep, just a name change. 

Congrats on the second Live Fibre @GregOug and a nice reel to go with it. How long is it?

[GregOug]

42 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Bingo - yep, just a name change. 

Congrats on the second Live Fibre @GregOug and a nice reel to go with it. How long is it?

7 foot

[kmcrosby78]

1 hour ago, GregOug said:

7 foot

I'd take the rod in and try a couple of reels on it to see how it balances in your hand.

[GregOug]

21 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

I'd take the rod in and try a couple of reels on it to see how it balances in your hand.

Yeah. That’s a good idea. I’ll do that.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Sounds like a good new rod, Greg!

[GregOug]

9 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Sounds like a good new rod, Greg!

Yeah. Hopefully I might even get to try it out one of these years.

[GregOug]

On 13/12/2020 at 6:39 AM, Junky said:

Nice rod. 

Firstly, I am in no way critical of the rod. They are a fantastic piece of kit well built and will give you years of service, however I am critical of the advise given with regards to rod selection.

I am assuming you told the lad you were fishing from a boat? 

A 10'6 rod in a boat will be a dead set pain in the proverbial, especially if if the boat is not an open boat, which I believe your raft has a bimini of some description. 

Mate I hope you prove me wrong but I've tried a surf rod in my boat with no success. Nearly threw it overboard tbh. Lucky it was a 2 piece. 

 

If I can give you any sage advise then it is to go for the 7ft 4-8kg rod range for boat fishing, up to 7'6. I have a 7'6 silstar that is a very nice bait fishing snapper rod but I wouldn't go any longer. 

 

 

Good luck and I'm sure you will let us know how you go. Like I said, I hope you prove me wrong. 

 

Cheers. 

 

As a follow up to this, I have now bought a live fibre 7’ 4-6kg and have put a Thunnus 6000 on it. I intend trying both the 10’ 6” and 7’ ones on the grassies the next time I go out, so I let you know how I go. The way the weather is at the moment that will probably be sometime in 2022. 

[kmcrosby78]

12 hours ago, GregOug said:

As a follow up to this, I have now bought a live fibre 7’ 4-6kg and have put a Thunnus 6000 on it. I intend trying both the 10’ 6” and 7’ ones on the grassies the next time I go out, so I let you know how I go. The way the weather is at the moment that will probably be sometime in 2022. 

Without sounding negative or like an 'expert' Greg, I think the 6000 will be too big for a 4-6kg rod. Not sure if the Thunnus has a 4000 size but if they do, and it's not too late, I'd try that and see if it can be swapped. If not, you'll get by but I think you'd get a better balanced combo with a smaller reel and still be able to hold enough line and stop whatever the rod can handle. 

Yes, we wind dropping off would be nice ...... at least this 3 day lockdown has been timed for poor weather ...... .

[GregOug]

2 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Without sounding negative or like an 'expert' Greg, I think the 6000 will be too big for a 4-6kg rod. Not sure if the Thunnus has a 4000 size but if they do, and it's not too late, I'd try that and see if it can be swapped. If not, you'll get by but I think you'd get a better balanced combo with a smaller reel and still be able to hold enough line and stop whatever the rod can handle. 

Yes, we wind dropping off would be nice ...... at least this 3 day lockdown has been timed for poor weather ...... .

Hi KM,

I did try both the Thunnus 4000 and the 6000 on the rod before I bought one, as you suggested. I also took into consideration that I’m an old school mono user through and through. The 4000 takes around 180m of 5kg mono and the 6000 takes around 250m of 6kg mono. The rod is rated 4-6kg and I have put 6kg on the 6000. I started fishing many years ago and in those days I would have only used 6kg for whiting. For everything else you used 30lb or more. So to me 6kg is still like using cotton but I am slowly adapting. I am not a small bloke and have big hands and the 4000 felt like a toy to me. I am happier with the 6000. It is still not a big reel and, in my opinion, suits the rod well. Thanks for your comments though. Much appreciated.

cheers

Greg

[Junky]

You know what they say about big hands. 

 

 

Big gloves.