been awol for 40 years!

[LucasV]

Hi all, 

Been absent from fishing for about 40 years! ... life got in the way.

Anyway, retired now and doing the big lap ... bought myself a surf rod and reel and hope to put it to good use.

[mangajack]

Enjoy your travels Lucas.

Look forward to seeing regular reports from around the island.

[LucasV]

3 minutes ago, mangajack said:

Enjoy your travels Lucas.

Look forward to seeing regular reports from around the island.

Gotta say, my interest in fishing was recently revived by a family we met on our travels (currently in Tasmania).

Things have become a bit more scientific since I last wet a line, with braid, flurocarbon, lures etc... new knots for combining lines ... so much to learn ... good thing is, back then, there were no resources like the internet.  Now I can pick the brains of experts all over the country!

Thoroughly looking forward to enjoying the journey ahead!

[Bob9863]

I'd get yourself a s lmaller rod too, you can match it to your reel and then you can fish the beaches and rocks as well as around the estuaries, rivers and lakes.

[LucasV]

Yes ... I have plans to do so, but I need to walk before I run ... also, I need to justify it to the minister of war and finance!

[ellicat]

Welcome to the forum @LucasV. There's plenty of helpful members here that thrive on being able to assist, so never be embarrassed to ask a question.

I recently did a road trip from Brisbane through NSW, Vic and SA, getting as far as Ceduna before heading back, so I have the bug and would love to hear about some of your trip as you go.

[Bob9863]

2 hours ago, LucasV said:

Yes ... I have plans to do so, but I need to walk before I run ... also, I need to justify it to the minister of war and finance!

You need to use my trick, when the wife asks is that new I say no, I bought it "a while ago" and now I've decided to try it out.  

Another little trick, buy it, "give it to a mate" then have them pop over and say "hey I thought you could use this"

It definitely keeps the peace, just remember to pay cash.

 

[ellicat]

Just now, Bob9863 said:

You need to use my trick, when the wife asks is that new I say no, I bought it "a while ago" and now I've decided to try it out.  

 

We must have graduated from the same man school. haha

[mangajack]

It is a man's equivalent to the woman's hairdresser visits.....that makes them think.

My wife never questions a new rod anymore.

[Junky]

Stuff that. 

You're retired. 

An estuary outfit will last you for years, it will supply food for your epic voyage, gives you another rod to look after and fiddle with , she can join you and no doubt, catch more than you, and most of all, you're going to enjoy your time using it. 

 

Just buy it and cop the silent treatment, and loud dish placements on the bench, the rattling of knives and forks as the sink is filled for washing up etc. 

The minute she sits down and sinks her laughing gear into a delicious fish fillet, it'll all be history. 

Then you can get yourself an offshore setup and perhaps do a few charters, or get on board someone's rig as a decky, around this fine continent. 

 

 

A wise old salt once told me, "it's easier to ask for forgiveness, than it is to ask for permission", so true. 

 

Good luck, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of your situation. 

[LucasV]

9 hours ago, ellicat said:

Welcome to the forum @LucasV. 

I recently did a road trip from Brisbane through NSW, Vic and SA, getting as far as Ceduna before heading back, so I have the bug and would love to hear about some of your trip as you go.

My wife is doing a wonderful job of blogging our travels on fb and YouTube.

Checkout @jabindajoey on YouTube 

[LucasV]

9 hours ago, Bob9863 said:

You need to use my trick, when the wife asks is that new I say no, I bought it "a while ago" and now I've decided to try it out.  

Another little trick, buy it, "give it to a mate" then have them pop over and say "hey I thought you could use this"

It definitely keeps the peace, just remember to pay cash.

 

You sir are wise beyond your years!

[Bob9863]

2 hours ago, LucasV said:

You sir are wise beyond your years!

Nah, just married a woman with a temper, so I had to learn to adapt in order to avoid head trauma.

A wise man does not, now that I know this, upon being berated for leaving a few coffee mugs in the sink take a photo of a disaster left when the wife cooks breakfast and goes to work take a photo of it and put it on Facebook under the heading "Double standards much?"

Funny yes, potentially fatal, definitely.

[Angry51]

Welcome to the forum LucasV.

Post some pics up of your fish sessions, we love pics.

Oops, don't think you can post pics at the moment.

[Ed.]

On 08/09/2023 at 7:46 PM, LucasV said:

Hi all, 

Been absent from fishing for about 40 years! ... life got in the way.

Anyway, retired now and doing the big lap ... bought myself a surf rod and reel and hope to put it to good use.

My 2 cents worth is that if you are going to the great lap and intend to go fishing during the trip, you should get two or three rod/reel setups as one setup isn't going to be ideal. You are going to come across different locations with different fishing requirements. ie; it is going to be hard to cast a surf setup if you are in an area with overhead trees and low branches, conversely a small rod will not be ideal on a surf beach. Whilst most rods can do double duty in several different settings, it helps to have a bigger spread to better suit the location/fish types.

Lastly welcome to the forum and enjoy your retirement.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Welcome to the forum @LucasV

[LucasV]

3 hours ago, Ed. said:

My 2 cents worth ...

I'm tending to agree with you.  I figure what I have should cover me for most surf and rock fishing situations.

Any suggestions about a good setup for other situations ... a good compromise rod/reel combo perhaps?

[Ed.]

It would depend on what type or style of fishing you prefer to do. Surf is the least important to me and unfortunately to my wifes annoyment, whenever we travel on holidays near the coast I pack about 4 to 6  setups. My preference is towards overheads such as baitcasters and overheads. But those aren't every ones favourites, having said that I usually pack a 400 sized bait caster or small 2500 sized spin setup ( or both). Several overheads ranging from 15 to 30 sized, these will cover most of the general fishing I may come across.

Currently I am getting organized to go up to Port Douglas in November to do a couple of fishing trips on charter boats out to the reef and I am leaving my larger game reels behind, as the ones I'm taking will cover most of the fishing that I will encounter doing the bottom bashing that these charters do. Hopefully the car won't break down like it did last year!

I was planning to do the same as you a while ago and do the lap, but instead we ended up building a house instead, so the caravan idea is on the back burner, If I end up doing the lap, I would be taking at least half of the gear I own as you just can't go and get something you left at home if you are thousands of Kilometres away.

As a basic collection, a 2500 sized spin setup, a 4500 spin and a 6500+ setup would cover most bases if you don't like overheads or baitcasters, as you haven't fished for a long time I wouldn't go out and get crazy buying gear, get a decent 2500 and a 4500 setup, and that would cover most of the fish you will come across, you can also get a smaller spin rod to suit the 4500 reel for estuary/rock fishing or put it on the surf road when you hit beach or big rock fishing. You can always buy more gear if you are on the road and are getting smoked regularly.

[ellicat]

Adding to what Ed said, I'd go 12lb line on a 2500 size spinning reel coupled with a 7 foot rod in the 8lb-14lb category, and maybe 20lb line on a 4000 spinning reel on your surf rod.

 

 

[LucasV]

1 hour ago, Ed. said:

 "get a decent 2500 and a 4500 setup and that would cover most of the fish you will come across, you can also get a smaller spin rod to suit the 4500"

Wow! Many thanks for the comprehensive response!

You're going to have to explain what a 2500 and 4500 setup is ...  please? (Remember, it's been a long time for me )

I see the numbers on some reels, but they don't seem to explain much.

[ellicat]

The numbers we're talking about refer to the size of the reel. 2500 is a smaller reel and a 4000 is a medium reel.

[LucasV]

Ok, so I guess it's related to the number of mtrs of line you can get on them ... ok.

[ellicat]

Yep, that's it.

[Bob9863]

For 90% of my fishing I find a 2500 size reel perfect with a 5000 as a heavier fish or more line/casting distance option.

IMO high quality second hand reels are better then medium quality new reels, but that being said there are some great new mid range quality reels out there.

As to rods I like travel rods myself, but good ones are expensive and if you have a caravan then you can definitely get away with cheaper one or two piece rods that won't let you down. It's the reels where I put my money.

It also wouldn't hurt to get a spare spool for each reel so you can have line on them ready to go for different situations.

One poin of note, not all manufacturers reels are the same size even if they are the same number. One company might make a 2500 size reel and another company's 2500 size could be size of the 1st company's 4000 size reel. 

Confusing then try this on, the same company might make two 2500 size reels that are physically very different in size, figure that one out, oh and if you do can you let me know the reason because it makes no sense to me.

So use the recommended sizes not as a number guide, instead look at the majority of 2500 size reels for example and buy any number reel that matches the general dimensions of the average 2500 size.

If you find that Confusing then DO NOT ask about PE ratings and line strength, or PE ratings and rod strength, that's even more messed up.

 

Back on topic are you going to mostly do bait or lure fishing? I'm a huge fan of bait runner type reels for bait fishing, but I do hate them for serious lure or plastic fishing.

[LucasV]

6 minutes ago, Bob9863 said:

Back on topic are you going to mostly do bait or lure fishing? I'm a huge fan of bait runner type reels for bait fishing, but I do hate them for serious lure or plastic fishing.

Thanks again for your comprehensive response ... I'd be lost without this type of input. 

Yes, there appears to be some confusing naming/numbering conventions out there so your input is very welcome.

I'll start to do some research on products now that I've got a general direction to head on.

I do plan to use mainly baits ... at this point in time lures are a totally new and totally confusing aspect of fishing (geez, Anaconda have walls and gondola space purely dedicated to only lures ... too much for my tiny brain to process at the moment) ... I'll look into it when I get a bit of experience under my belt.

Thanks again

 

[Ed.]

There is no sense in the numbering systems anymore as others have said, they are all over the place from reels to line strengths, generally when I choose a reel I check the capacity in mono and that gives me a general idea on the reels capacity so for a 2500 sized reel I look for about 140yds of 10lb mono which is more than plenty for most fish and if you want to use an equivalent in braid you probably will double the capacity,. A 4500 size would be about 250yds using 10lb mono, same again about double that in braid

These are just rough ball park figures because line diameters vary from brand and formula, you can get 10lb mono that is fairly thick listed as 10lb strength but will break 50 to 100% more, to my mind it is not 10lb line but probably 17 or 20lb line mislabelled as 10lb line., hence the reason a lot of manufactures advertise that theirs is the strongest 10lb line.  Same as Dyneema braided line, I have had braid advertised as thin but extremely strong braid which broke less than half it's rated strength, so brand name is no guarantee of quality.

I use a combo of braid for the bulk of the mainline and a topshot of mono for the stretch factor. Gives me a larger line capacity and enough stretch in the topshot so it acts sort of like a rubber band to keep constant tension on the fish should it jump.

So getting back to reels, just look at the physical size of the reels and the spool on it, you may find two similar sized reels but the spool on one is half the size of the other or the body of one is much smaller than the body of the other but labelled the same 2500 size. Even for people who have bought a lot of reels in their time it is frustrating not to mention very annoying to check everything. That's marketing for you!

[Ed.]

2 hours ago, LucasV said:

I do plan to use mainly baits ... at this point in time lures are a totally new and totally confusing aspect of fishing (geez, Anaconda have walls and gondola space purely dedicated to only lures ... too much for my tiny brain to process at the moment) ..

 

 

Yep, they really good at catching......... the fisherman not the fish.

[LucasV]

Well, my first time fishing was on Bruny Island, Tas. near "The Neck" ... was good practice using the new rod and reel, but not a single kibble... I enjoyed the serenity of standing on the beach though.

Second go was on Ocean Beach near Strahan, Tas.

This time I was a little more scientific ... I was looking for some beach structure (gutters holes etc) and I was prospecting at various intervals along the beach.

Happy to report some success!

I tried to upload a picture but kept getting an unknown server error!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Glad to hear you caught had some success Lucas. Currently the website has an issue with photos and you can't upload them.

The best way to upload them is to upload them to another website and then post a link here to the photo. 

[LucasV]

5 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

The best way to upload them is to upload them to another website and then post a link here to the photo. 

Yep, not a problem ... most of our pics are uploaded to Google photos ... easy!

[LucasV]

Let's try this ...

First fish in Tassie!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Wow, nice work! Is that a Aussie Salmon?

[LucasV]

21 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Wow, nice work! Is that a Aussie Salmon?

Yes mate, was one of three caught in that session.  49cm, 42cm, 32cm.

Sadly, a number of whale carcasses rotting on the beach, but other than that, it was a great session!

[ellicat]

2 hours ago, LucasV said:

Well, my first time fishing was on Bruny Island, Tas. near "The Neck" ... was good practice using the new rod and reel, but not a single kibble... I enjoyed the serenity of standing on the beach though.

That's the first priority of fishing ticked off.

Well done on the salmon. Beautiful part of the world. What bait did the trick ?

 

[LucasV]

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

That's the first priority of fishing ticked off.

Well done on the salmon. Beautiful part of the world. What bait did the trick ?

 

Just used blue bait (not sure what it is, but they look like 1/2 sized pilchards).

One of the youtube videos I've watched suggested the use of a second small hook on the rig. He called it a stinger.

just as well I used it because the 49cm fish was caught with the stinger hook!