Ed.

You could always sell it off and put the money towards another one with more drag which would suit you more, but having said that, your sentimental attachment to this reel would prevent you from doing that.

The only other thing would be to sand down the washers and try the carbonite ones but I think that it might be a loosing battle for all that work, you may gain some added drag but not sure if and how much. Give Pure fishing a call and ask to speak to their technical department or their parts department and explain what you are trying to do and see what they say.

I think their number is 02 43517740. Hope this helps.

Regards

Ed.

HT-100 drag washers are among the best and a change to carbonite washers most likely won't be worth the bother and probably will not give too much or any increase in drag. Changing to a new reel with decent drag to start off with is probably the  easiest way to get extra drag, I know what you mean about keeping and using a reel for sentimental value. I think most of us have that issue and keep and old reel or two for that reason, but it is a bit harder for you as that one is a small casting reel, if it was just for reef fishing and a little bit of casting then there are heaps out there.  Have a look at the Penn Fathom  FTH15LD or FTH15LD2 they do 9Kg and the FTH25LD2 has 15Kg  drag and all are lever drag and ally body and under the $270 mark.

A few years ago I picked up an Okuma Solterra SLR-10CS for not much money, mine was the lever drag, open top version and had the magnetic casting control on it, and did about 22lb drag, it had a graphite body, the new ones (SLX) don't have the magnetic cast control on them though, but for boat fishing I prefer the compact Fathom 2 speeds.

Come on, you know you want a new reel!

I haven't fished that area before apart from one time when I went up with out a boat and just fished the inlet side of the rocks, I was hoping to go to the Lady Musgrave area ( bottom end of the group) but that will depend on the weather and sea conditions which last time  I checked was not all that favourable after the first couple of days. So might have stick to the inlet or close to shore, but you know how weather predictions can be so will decide on the morning and fish accordingly.

9 hours ago, Nirvana said:

Ah well you cant get them all the time. Muds usually fished fairly hard this time of year. Sure Looks like a fun day out, i have to work 14 days on so im a bit jealous! Hopefully this fishing and weather will be good for your 1770 trip. 

P.S Is the outboard holding up?

Regards,

It seems to be.Touch wood!

Thank you, two more sleeps and off to 1770, so hope the fishing is better there.

Pics all good now.

Nope, can't see them either, just code.

Yep, it was one of the nicest (calmest) days I have had out there for many years.

I made a typo, it was the Eastern side not the western side that I was fishing.

Mostly the eastern side, after that headed over to the Tangalooma area, and we were intending to go over the Hutchinsons Reef so the missus could look for whales but the wind was picking up so decided against it . I was regretting not bringing the snorkeling gear with me as the water around Cowan Cowan was really clean and would have liked to have gone for a swim.

Hi Swampie, welcome to the forum.

Ed.

7 hours ago, GregOug said:

Thanks ED, but I’ve already caught a metre tailor and a two metre Jew. And I haven’t even got to the island yet. Didn’t you see the photos?

Nah missed those, sorry must have been asleep, no, wait that was you!

Have a great trip, remember no photo's and it didn't happen.

Cheers

Ed.

If I can talk the missus into it, we will hopefully be heading south around 8ish  from Bribie Island  to the Mud Island area on Monday. Seems that the weather may be playing ball again and coincides with the first day of holidays for the missus. I want to take the boat for a trial spin as we will be heading up to Agnes Waters the following week, so just want to make sure that there are no more gremlins lurking in my boat before heading North.

Are there any areas around there that are worth fishing for for snapper, macks, tuna etc. I have never fished that area before so don't know what to expect.

Anyone else going there on Monday?

I would be considering the option to upgrade to a spot lock version, admittedly I haven't used one but from what I have seen on their use they would be brilliant. In my opinion they would be worth the extra dollars. Also would be worth checking out the thrust capacity of the one offered as with most "deals" they offer the cheapest options but  not necessarily  good options.

However if it is a used package then you won't get any upgrade options. So weigh up the cost of upgrades to get a functional good working boat  compared to a more expensive one with more bells and whistles. The cheapest one is not always the best in the long run, especially if you think it may require an engine replacement in the near future.

Thank you, definitely haven't had time for fishing, still have to do maintenance on the house before we go ( we live on two acres ) so cutting the grass, clearing, etc., does takes its toll in time and effort, I was hoping to take the boat out for a test drive before we head up north but due to my wife's work commitments and the windy weather, it doesn't look like I will be able to.

Anyway it should be good, looking forward to going up there, last time I towed my 26ft  boat to Rosyln Bay it died the next morning on the way out to get fuel to go fishing, faulty computer chip, had to come back without fishing as it would take 6 weeks for a replacement to arrive.

So hoping there will be no more jinxes to worry about apart from the weather that is and aim to put some fish on ice to take back home.

I just hope the wind dies down by the time we get there, as that will put a real dampener on  fishing if we can't get out, because that will restrict us to the inlet.

Been doing a lot of work to the boat getting it ready, got the motor fixed, put a new extra  battery in and wired it up to a two way switch, made some extra heavy battery cables for both, added an extra bilge pump in at the front of the boat, made an extra fuel tank. Redid the bottom of the seats and lastly replaced the live bait tank pickup pump and added a float switch, replaced one wheel bearing and checked the others, replaced two of my  canopy cover fittings as they had cracked. Built a Burley tube and now just need to get my fishing gear together.

So pretty much did all the maintenance, and hopefully the boat won't play up otherwise I will not be a happy chappy, but at the end of the day can't do anything about the weather!

So looking at these restrictions, they  shouldn't affect GregOug going to Frazer or myself going to Agnes Water then. Or have I missed something?

I haven't heard anything about them, what are the new restrictions?

GregOug, PM sent

Hi Greg, if you have a castable  overhead reel, I have an 2 piece 13 foot 10-15kg 85-225gram casting weight overhead surf rod you can borrow when you go on your trip up to Frazer.

Cheers

Ed.

The Covid-19 test is a swab up the nose and when they did mine it sort of tickled so no biggie, when my wife got hers done it hurt a little bit, so I guess it just depends on the person and their experience with giving you the test.