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Not so New newbie


NickW

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Hi everyone, 

I made a decision to get back into fishing (Not that I was really ever heavily into it).  Last time I went fishing was probably close to 30yrs ago with my Grandfather.  We used to fish in the local canals near home in Brisbane with varying levels of success.  I never knew anything about the differences in rod etc. so I consider myself still a newbie.  Compounded buy the fact that I am sure there as been some great advances in the last 30yrs.  I have no idea where to start with the rod and reel or even where to go near where I live in Sydney.  Hoping to do a bit of a day trip on Sunday and do some creek or river fishing if anyone knows of a decent location between Sydney and Central Coast or Sydney and South Coast.  I would like to find somewhere that I can get my vehicle waterside as well as it is setup for camping/daytrips with fridge, awning etc. and advice on what sort of rod/reel combo for creek/river fishing with potentially the occasional boat trip on the cards.  In the mean time I will hit the search bar up to and thankyou in advance for any advice

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NickW , Welcome to the forum, lots good imfo on here .

Can't help with the NSW scene but you're probably better checking out some tackle

shops near you down there, mostly they are really helpfull.

They should put you on a spot or two with bait/rods/reel for what fish you get down there.

Good luck, other members on here should be along soon with advice.

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Hi Nick

Welcome to the forum. 

I have not done any fishing in Sydney bar a little bit in the harbour so I would not be much help on location. For a light setup, I would recommend a spinning rod around 6'6", and probably rated around 2-4KG or 3-6KG. You won't want to go to light as it can be a bit finicky but if you go much heavier than 3-6KG your setup may not be entirely ideal for small estuary fish (obviously a couple kilos more wouldn't make a significant difference, but a 5-8KG rod wouldn't be ideal, for instance). For a reel, I would recommend to begin with a Shimano Sienna, Sahara, or Sedona. You could also look at a Diawa AirD reel (all spinning reels). I would look at reels in the 1000-3000 size. Ugly Stik Gold, Abu Garcia Veritas, and Atomic Arrowz are all good rods/brands that may be worth a look at.  

As for line, anywhere around 10 pound line would be ideal. You could go lighter or heavier if you wanted but light line is often painful to learn knots with and heavy line isn't really necessary for small stuff. Some longshank, baitholder/suicide, and circle hooks would probably be ideal for most fishing situations. I would not start with anything bigger than a 4/o if you just plan to fish for estuary species, though. I don't know where you will fish and what the current will be like, but generally some size 0, 2, and 6 ball sinkers cover every fishing option suitably. Small barrel swivels would also be ideal for bream, whiting, flathead, etc. Mono or fluorocarbon leader will work, also around the 10 pound mark. It is always worth having a look to see if you can find any tackle packs put together. Normally the hooks are a bit crappy but fine for estuary fish, and it has a coupel handy extras (i.e. red tubing, lumo beads).

Over time, if you want to look at a heavier rod for bait fishing, any cheap fibreglass rod will be ample (they are often quite heavy so not entirely ideal for casting lures for long periods). I would look at a 5-8KG rod at a similar length, maybe slightly longer if you want casting distance. A Penn Spinfisher SSM is a good reel to start out with. They have good line capacity and a smooth drag. 

Tackle stores like BCF and Anaconda are generally good to get started, though if you can find a smaller business near you they are generally better (mainly because the shopkeepers have a better idea of stock and are more trained to fishing specifically). In saying that, you can still get plenty of good advice from workers in chain stores, and they generally have a wider range of items. A couple other bits of gear worth investing in are pliers, knifes (bait knife and filleting knife), fish measurer, braid scissors to cut fishing line, and a couple of small trays (can be bought at K-mart, BigW, etc) so you don't have to take your entire tackle box everywhere. Frozen bait from tackle stores will get you started but it is worth figuring out where and how to catch your own bait. In NSW I think baitjigs are only allowed, but as well as that I think you can still shuffle in the surf for pippies or attempt to catch beach worms (also in the surf, by holding a scented bait and waiting for them to come up).  

Sorry for the long post,

Cheers Hamish

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