Do$tylz

TwinPowers used to be 1 step below a Stella. Not sure if shimano has brought anything in between in the last few years. Maybe the vanquish? Ive only got a 1000 twingpower mg and rarely use it since its meant to be freshwater only and ive got it spooled with that silly 2lb flouro. Unfortunately, if i was going to buy new, i would just buy a stella. But if a bargain new or 2nd hand twinpower turned up, i would buy it.

Yeah mate. Honestly, that 2lb flouro was just the best way to fish in most of the NPD waters. I did end up tieing on 10lb leader to stop getting bitten/rubbed off when the bass would swallow the hook. The 2lb was not ideal however around some of the fads and underwater logs etc. Got dusted a few times but it was honestly super enjoyable. The bigger fish were a great fight and put the rod and reel to the test.

Yep. So no matter what size you get them at or how many you get, the only thing you can do is take them home and add butter and garlic to a saucepan and eat them :D Doing it for nature. All selfless I swear.

They're about due for a new stella.

We picked up a few Tandans, bass and yella's throughout the day. I think the tally ended up around 80-something fish landed. We were off the water at around 1:15pm and hit Strathpine KFC by 1:45pm. It's like a ritual for my brother and I to have KFC after a fishing session. Overall a great day. The fish were on, the views were amazing and the company was top notch and entertaining. Thank you again Ray for the deckie spots. I hope I get another chance soon to get on the water with you mate. Sometime before another decade passes

The fad shutdown so we moved our way to the fishing water limits. Taking in the sights on the way there.

a few small bass were picked up and then Ray stepped up with a whopper Ray will have a better pic, but you can see it hit the 50 mark.

So with the shrimp collected, we moved our way to the first spot which was a fad and we were quickly on. I think it was the 2nd fish boated and I was onto a fat yella. You can see the shrimp still inside its gob. and it went a good 43cm. So not one of those epic footballs but went hard on 2lb flouro all the way through :)

First up - get the deckies to earn their keep Collecting shrimp and re-baiting for Rays next trip back. For anyone keen to make these very successful shrimp traps, don't forget there's a post from Ray on how to. This pot hadn't been checked in a while and had some pre-cooked shrimp in there. Lucky they didn't stink too bad. Hai was having a laugh warning us about the smells of a dead water rat that you occasionally get in a red claw trap Speaking of redclaw - we got a few little ones in amongst the shrimp. Even though they were small, you can't chuck them back. So my brother kept them to make an entree But we ended up with a fair amount of shrimp. Probably somewhere between 100-150 once we had done our round. Here's 1 net load of a few being transferred from the collection bucket to the keeper esky.

When Ray posted up that he needed a laptop to keep him busy while he's laid up post knee surgery, it was a no brainer to rebuild an old laptop of mine to give him for his browsing needs. While Ray and I were discussing logistics of getting the laptop to him, I thought I'd be cheeky and offer him a swap of the laptop for a seat on a trip to one of the dams. It has been ages since I've been on the water with Ray. So yesterday it was a trip to NPD. One of Rays planned deckies wasn't able to make it and so he kindly offered it to my brother who was super excited to say yes. Up at 3:40am, picked up my brother and headed off to meat Ray and Hai at the gates at 5:20. A quick chat and Ray reminded me that it may have been almost 10 years since I was last at NPD with him. Sheesh... where does time go? How good is the classic BFO shirt? We made our way along the waters taking in the beautiful sights. It really is magical being on the water with no sounds of a petrol engine in earshot. For a man who sees this 2-3 times a week, you can tell he's happy to be on the water.

Good pickup benno. I totally misunderstood the question too.

I think that generation of Daiwa is the best aesthetically. The reel four can get a bit loud but man... they look the good and the drag clicker is LOUD.

Haha. I was thinking that Luvi box would be wanted by someone.

Jaz44 - depending on your outboard, there may be some things available to you to increase its HP. I have a Merc SeaPro 25, but by changing a flange thingy (so technical) on the carby, it takes it up to 30hp. Not saying that's a valid thing for your outboard, but there may be a small hack as well.

Wow. Thanks for bringing this back up Robbie. In my 4yr absence from AFO, I didn't get to see this report. What an amazing trip and I'm gutted that I'll never get a chance to talk to Lance about this in person.

If there are big dart around, they'll probably hit the 20gm slug. Chucking metal into the surf targeting whicing and bream isn't something I would usually try but that's not to say it wouldn't work. If you are keen on going the metal route, you could try micro-jigs like Berkley Lolly Drop Jig (currently on special for $5 @motackle). They have them down to 12g so small enough to possibly tempt whiting or bream that are in the surf. Have never tried this but it would be what I would try if I was trying to achieve what you are.

So when I started getting back into fishing a few months ago, I was down to my last pack of skin blues. I went looking to buy them and for the life of me couldn't find them at any of the normal suppliers, but did find 2 on ebay and bought them. So I hit up Rob to find out wth was going on. He had a laugh and told me people stopped buying them 2 or 3 years ago so he stopped bringing them in. Lucky for me he was able to find a few others who were keen to get their hands on some again so Rob was kind enough to do a small batch order for us on his next shipment. I have enough 3inch shad skin blue's to last me a few years now . I should just sell off the rest of the 3" plastics I own... I honestly never use any other.

So I got to squeeze out a quick 3.5 hour fish this morning before work. An old work colleague was kind enough to hit me up for a deckie spot and I couldn't say no We were on the water by 3:50am and our plan was to have a look at the blue beacons past the Brissy river mouth (1mile?) to see if there were any mackies around. Water wasn't as glassed as I expected but we could still motor near WOT. We got there as the sun was just starting to light the sky and found 2 boats at the first beacon where we had about 4 casts before deciding to have a look at the 2nd beacon. Got close to the 2nd beacon and saw 6 boats already on it so decided to give up on the mackies and head to mud. Drifted the south eastern side and chucked 95% placcies with a few casts of a hardbody thrown in. Started off with 1/8th jigheads which is usually heavier than I like in the shallows around mud. Lots of touches but not a lot of hook ups. The fish didn't really convert until I went back to my usual of 1/12 or 1/16 sized jigheads. Most of my fish came on Damiki armour shads and rippers. Long live the Skin Blue colour!!!!! Thank you @Zim man (not that you are on here much anymore). Lots of littlies around and lots of tackle lost to the rubble. I reckon I lost 10/12 jigheads this morning. How good are the colours! and then on the classic "last drift/last cast" finally got a better grassy. All fish went back for a swim and I made it home right on 8am to fire up my laptop and get stuck into my work. Happy Friday everyone Cheers

Hey Ray - I can give you one mate. It will do the job in terms of basic browsing etc and you also get free backup support, in english Now - how do I get it to you? Anyone traveling between the city/inner south and redlands? Depending on how quickly you need it, I might need to give it to you as is, rather than have time to wipe it and give you a clean slate.

Mate thats an awesome trip. How do you guys do that drive home safely? Id be passed out sleeping within a couple of hours. Good to see you and shane still out there smashing the trips and fish.

@Junky mate, oneday im gonna have a shed like that. So good.

Yeah a lot of these ones are ones we used/samples that we tested. Angus had probably another 30 at his house for testing too. There is some normal rods in there too - shimano, daiwa, custom, FC Labo, Ocean Master.

This is an old pic, but nothing fancy for my rod rack. Room is in absolute shambles atm with crap everywhere but will take pics and share. Might be a good excuse to get in a clear up my room a bit.

Yep. Round snaps are available and work well without impacting your fishing. Your line/knot is going to fail before these clips will. The hard part is dealing with the small size of the snaps. If you are buying the smallest ones to use on small lures (sx-40's, 2/3inch plastics on <1/8th jigheads) they can bit a bit fiddly to use and really not a viable option if you are a bit hamfisted. Try these from - https://masterangler.com.au/collections/terminal-tackle/products/damiki-double-lock-snaps Decoy round snaps are also available from other places if you want them in heavier gauge.

So cool to see this has been caught 3 times and has survived the 2 previous captures. Ray - do you think this growth rate that this fish has gone through is about the average?