Ed.

Sorry Drop Bear, just read the first post and didn't realize it is not a charter company that you are going with but with friends, so nothing to go by as to what to expect. Either way any of the gear mentioned will still do the job. Incidentally are you providing any of your gear for others to use or is everyone bringing their own gear? If you aren't targeting any of the jumbo sized fish then the 30 sized and under reels should be suitable. I would still recommend getting the kidney harness and gimble setup. For example: https://www.wellsystackle.com.au/_products//Accessories/FishingGIMBALBELTSHARNESSES/AftcoFishingHarness-MAXFORCEXH1-8110-21288-.aspx https://www.wellsystackle.com.au/_products//Accessories/FishingGIMBALBELTSHARNESSES/AftcoFishingGimbal-CLARIONFightingBelt-8110-21290-.aspx or https://www.wellsystackle.com.au/_products//Accessories/FishingGIMBALBELTSHARNESSES/BlackMagicFishingEqualiserGIMBALBELTHARNESSSET-8110-1214-.aspx Personally I got the Aftco Maxforce XH1 for myself as I liked it better than the Black Magic one and made a Gimbal rod belt to suit, but there are other options out there as well. I already had a full harness but didn't like using it as it placed way to much pressure on the back where as using the stand up kidney one, puts the pressure on your hips and legs so you don't feel the strain nearly as much and is much more relaxing.

Depends on what type of fish you are chasing, and also it would depend if you want to play with them or just skull drag them in. 50-80-100lb braid with a mono top shot of 80-200lb. The 30 is a reasonably largish reel so the heavier braid would be fine. Mackerel can be caught virtually on most line. I knew a guy who fished for 25kg Spanish on 4lb mono, but it used to take him ages to land it, and that would cheese everyone off on a charter boat. My preference would be 30-50lb plus heavier mono and a wire trace. Small bill fish could be used on the same setup excluding the wire. Large Billfish would be better on a larger reel, ie; 50w to 80. Giant Marlin you are looking at 80-130 class reels. So at the end of the day, I would just ring up the charter company and ask them what type of fish they will probably encounter and what gear you should bring. If it was me , I would be bringing my Okuma 15T, 30 and 50w, and a spare Fathom 30 all in 2 speed. If I wanted to play with the fish as well, then my Fathom 15. Once you get to 30lb and above, I would get a decent rod gimbal and 50 and above, a stand up kidney reel harness will make your fishing much easier on your back, Black Magic or the Aftco brand harness.

And a rainy one at that too, I was in bed by 10:30pm myself. Been a very hectic month or else I am just getting old and can't hack the pace.

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Yep, thought you might like them better!

Hey @GregOug, now that you have the Tyrnos reels, how do you like using them compared to the TLD's that you had? Cheers Ed.

Hi Drop Bear, I used to have both the Tyrnos 20 and the 30, from memory, the main difference is that the 30 is a wide version of the 20, so it just has more line capacity, all the rest of the spec's such as retrieve rate, drag power are the same. So it would really depend on what you are chasing and if the boat can run down the fish should you hook a big one. Having said that, both of these reels hold a decent amount of line. You know the old saying " bigger is better"! although I did end up selling my 30 first. When you come back and if you are into "Ballooning", then the 30 would be better, as you would let out 100-200+ meters of line just to get the bait out to the right area and still have lots of line in reserve. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers Ed.

Found a nice acreage block near Bundaberg, going to try to go up there for a visit in this week or so, hope they don't sell it in the meantime, only 12 minutes to beach, even the missus likes it! Have to suss out the builders in the area and see how long it will take to build there, depending on the Missus's work, we will either rent down here or up there till it is built. Not too far from Bargara, Elliot and Burnett heads and 1.5 hrs to Hervey Bay, so fairly close to most places.

Same as others have said, would not be my idea of fun, we just came back from Woorim just now, the water was pleasantly warm, it was a little bit windy(probably 10-15kts) and the chop would be worse the further out you got as there was a storm coming in.

Thanks for that Tracker

Tracker: What are the Sandflies/mozzies like there?

It is, but now will have to do some research on where to go, Hervey Bay would be nice as it has good fishing and close to Fraser Island, the Bundaberg area has bigger acreage not too far from the coast and at more affordable prices. The missus also likes 1770, Cairns is closer to the reef but gets too hot and humid for a large part of the year, unless we go to the Tablelands, the further north we go, the beaches get less and less swimmable due to various bities and muddy coastal water does not appeal. At this stage the Hervey Bay area seems like a good compromise, we really haven't given it much thought as we weren't expecting such a quick sale and were planning to start doing the research in a few months when I finished renovating, this has just accelerated everything. Too many choices but at least it is a start.

Thanks Brian, we sold much, much quicker than expected. So now the hunt begins for an area we would like to live in. At least the new year will start on a positive note and the good thing is, I don't have to finish the renovation which gives me more time to relax! Yay.

Well it finally happened, looks like I will be looking for new fishing areas. Signed a contract to sell our house this afternoon, only spoke to a real estate agent 2 days ago about getting a valuation. Turns out one of my neighbours wanted it for his kids and as one of our fences shares a common boundary, couldn't get much closer. So now have 75 days to move out, so I very little work to do to fix it up, mainly rubbish removal and emptying/selling off my sheds of machinery and gear. New house roof and solar panels were just finished 2 days ago as well. So it's all coming together for us, thinking we will go further north, maybe Hervey Bay or Bundaberg way, buy or build, and then buy a caravan to do the great lap of Oz. So looking forward to travelling and checking out new areas to fish. Anyway, Happy X'mas to everyone, hope you have a great one.

That is one big cat, are they edible?

Thanks, I had a quick read and it seems that it is a good thing, just surprised that it hadn't had that much publicity till now.

I don't have a problem with that, but it would be nice to have all the details released as well as this is the first I have heard about it.

Looks like the Australian Government is proposing to make 2 new massive marine parks around the Cocos Keeling and Christmas Islands, total area about 740000 sqkm, which is twice the size of the Great Barrier reef. Haven't found any details about what type of restrictions they plan to put on them so don't know how I feel about it yet. I would have thought that as they are so far away from anywhere, that there would be no need to cover that much area! Anybody here know more about it?

Also bungs (once).

Thanks Brian for organizing it, a nice morning out. Cheers Ed.

What is the exact address for the get together, as I don't know that area very well. Cheers Ed.

Don't know if there will be any fish with the amount of almost non stop rainfall we have had lately, where I am, we have had just under 350mm. Just in case anyone missed it, it is still raining !

So is anybody going to be fishing there as well or is it just a social "barby" and get together?

Hi zzviper, How about this one to ponder over: https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/whitsundays/motorboats-powerboats/stacer-boat-6m/1282005076 Cheers Ed.

If my memory is correct, it was also bad luck to have women on board a boat as well, so sorry Kat, you will have to stay home whilst your BF takes your boat out and goes fishing.....! and you can wait for him to return. Yeah, right! Like that is going to happen?