Ed.

Since no one else is curious or too polite to ask,.... how did you manage to "spill" 10L of petrol?

And these people are allowed to drive cars and boats...Hmmm!

If you wanted to go heavier, have a look at the Ugly Stiks USBW-SP 701H 10-20kg 18-115g USBW-SP 701XH 15-24kg 25-120g You would be very, very hard pressed to break these rods, and still they are fairly flexible in the tips and high sticking them should not cause any problems, despite them being about 7ft long they get most of their power in the lower half of the rod so leverage won't be against you.

Depends on the rod you get, provided the guides are suitably sized and spaced. That Daiwa 6500 reel isn't a huge reel as spinning reels go but it is a reasonable sized one and it holds an adequate amount of line with enough drag so should be able to do the job. Seeing as you will be in a Yak you should be able to chase down the fish if you need to, but most likely a very large fish will just tow you around in the yak for a little while, so line capacity shouldn't be an issue. If you had a huge reel on a smaller rod it will feel mismatched so just take your reel into a store and try to match it with a suitable rod, you will soon see and feel it if it is matched properly.

If it was me I would be looking at a 10-15kg instead of the 27-38kg rod as it will be more flexible, most 24-37kg rods are broomsticks. Fishing from a kayak you are not going to benefit from using such a stiff rod, you would not be able to put the full amount of hurt on the fish. From a boat yes, but not from a kayak. Your reel will only output 15kg max drag anyway before it starts to slip and the longer the rod the more hurt will go on you. Best solution is to get a 30kg weight, connect it to your setup and try to lift it up, then imagine sitting in the kayak with that much pressure on the side or in front, chances are you will be doing a fair imitation of kayak surfing not to mention the risk of flipping it. That will you give you an idea of what type of rod to get. There are a few kayak fishermen on this forum so they may provide different answers.

This is probably a setup video but still you have to wonder, nothing would surprise me nowadays.

Just when you think you have seen it all, peoples stupidity knows no bounds and this person raises it to a whole new level. Her brain cells were obviously not working that day. https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/hmt-forum/washing_a_car_with_gasoline.mp4

If you are going to get a reel, and you want to get an overhead/baitcaster, just make sure that the rod is suited for that style of reel. Chances are that the rod your son got for a pressie is probably or most likely a spinning reel type of rod, rods are built different to suit each type of reel.

And here I was thinking about getting cataract surgery...Not any more!

At least our house build got started on Monday, it was constantly raining but the tradies were still working and they put up all the wall frames, hopefully the roof trusses will be up by the weekend. So looking forward to more sunshine. I went out fishing on the jetty just before the rain started for a total amount of zilch fish. Not even any nibbles, the baits were in the water for over two hours and not even picked at. So eventually I got the hint and went back home. All I caught was dose of sunburn.

Hey Angy51, if you do run low due to excessive demand, come over to our place, we have plenty to spare!.

There you go! Hope it helps.

That's a decent size!

Were you disappointed when you turned up with a shovel and large trailer just to check it out??

Thanks Angry51, not looking forward to doing that sort of stuff in the summer heat but it has to be finished in 4 months, so will have to force myself. Cheers Ed.

What, just 'cause my avatar doesn't fit in the area allotted? As for the exercise, I will have plenty from the first week in Jan, the house slab was poured 2 weeks ago and once the power gets connected, I then have to start making the slab for the shed and weld it up. So I get to lose all those Kg's I have recently put on pre and post X'Mas! That's the plan, but we will see if that happens, anyway Happy X'mas to all.

Only kidding, I am several hundred kilometers away and I also wouldn't do it out of honesty!

I could use some gravel!

I think that the steel channels for the drawbar were probably strong enough but most likely the welds to the body were done poorly/incorrectly as the channels have ripped off,or maybe rusted away from the body as well, as it looks like it is an old trailer. Either way it isn't going anywhere in a hurry. Should have put on more duct tape!

Hi Thorbjörn, as you are hoping to catch 2.5m+ sharks, you are starting to get up there in the heavier tackle requirements for serious sized fish, (read expensive to do properly) but as you also have a lowish budget for that purpose, in my opinion probably the best value reel for that purpose "that might do" the job would be the Penn Squall SQL60LD. They are about the $200 mark, have about 15kg max drag and hold a reasonable amount of braid. Personally I would use a much stronger reel for those sized sharks but as you have to work within your budget it is probably the cheapest option I could find for you. Bear in mind that I would advise you to get a good rod bucket gimbal belt (get a largish one)., especially if you want to have kids at a later stage! , and a standup fighting kidney harness preferably with a bum strap but you won't get all those with that budget of yours so at least get the Ginbal rod belt at a minimum. You will still need to add braid and mono top shot and or S/S steel cable leader. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363719950297?epid=7011037906&hash=item54af65ffd9:g:P58AAOSwQ39iNnxO&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoDH3rExVL0n2pxdOg3PNn2ilKwHd7s40ZyUG4VziTvMr54yzoRJvPn5G%2Fc6uLCoGOk4Afo5u31UOjEliuw2zbvt1VuvoDjwCoFntLVtRBnNRIhmCHhAnzVouuaTMibE5XO7HiUDFOu1sQcJ6Mvuf2c9636%2BfT7AJmXeuE%2F1KWCkxj%2F68uJRNiWRajJ8eTrGVU8SG5Of5qnG402PTRs5UfL0%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR87b1qqYYQ This will save your back especially when the fight drags on for a long time, this is the one I have. There are others brands as well. https://www.wellsystackle.com.au/_products//Accessories/FishingGIMBALBELTSHARNESSES/AftcoFishingHarness-MAXFORCEXH1-8110-21288-.aspx As for the rod gimbal belt I made my own, probably cost me about $60 for the parts to make. Here is one about the size you are wanting to catch, might give you an idea of the size. https://7news.com.au/news/sharks/massive-25-metre-bull-shark-caught-in-sydney-harbour-thrashes-in-inner-west-shallows-c-5612168 Generally for this sort of sized shark, I strongly recommend that you do not fish alone because of the safety aspect during the release part of things. Good luck in your fishing and keep us posted as to what you decide. Cheers Ed.

As Old Scaley posted above, Game reels aren't designed for casting and the bigger the reel the worse it casts. Lever drags are better than star drags fishing wise but don't cast very well. There are some exceptions, eg: Okuma released the Solterra SLR-15CS which had a magnetic cast control which worked reasonably well but the next model (SLX) after didn't have it. There are other brands that also have some sort of cast control but there are a couple of things to consider. 1) It all depends on how big a shark are you chasing, the bigger the shark the more drag you need and more line capacity. Some people consider a 1.5m shark to be a big fish whilst others consider a 4m shark to be big. 2) If you are land based then you need a reasonable amount of line to stop a larger model, in a boat you can chase it down. Don't forget that you may have let out 100-200m+ of line to get the bait where it is supposed to be, and that is even before you start fighting it. 3) Your definition of large shark,ie; if under 1.5m then most medium sized reels can handle them, but once you go up to 2.5m+ you are talking about a serious fish and you will need to go to much larger sized reels with more line capacity and more drag, but castability goes down the drain. With 3m+ sharks and you are into specialised equipment, ie; game reels, rods, fighting harnesses and lots of heavy line. So to answer Hamish's question, yes technically the TLD's can catch sharks depending on the size, but it depends on what size you want to catch, not to mention your budget. There are better reels than the TLD's out there, in Shimano the Tyrnos reels are better, but pricier. Penn make a reasonable larger game reel that shouldn't break the bank, ie; a 50 sized reel in the Penn Squall range, is about the $175 range new and there is a special on them at the moment $155. I would choose that one over an old Senator any day. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304633461755?epid=1267461957&hash=item46ed91bbfb:g:yR8AAOSwsedjKBle:sc:AU_ExpressPostParcelSignature!4655!AU!-1&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwJQ054wPkFkYAOV1tpDGK1G4kz8dB7cM1OChwLj%2FkIrBkv2GPCN3%2FkmwfShCIlYNNnE6LByA8DeRuJlT3rMhe9HFtR5HH1Hn7wePIUA7tM4aqPkek97fYt%2Fn%2BpDowd2mOSwepwaGRLhlHX0QNQIP4%2FEo%2BPyfbiNea2DVRoKjPe9tc4T973oBbSFdvwUZQSRosJsJdzglyCi1tElP%2F60jJUwCHMQSd0OThgJb%2FtclR6gHOrntEvxppudOa5R1OCL%2FVg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABlBMUPaR1-KXYQ. It has a reasonable amount of drag and line capacity, but downside is the body is made out of graphite as are the TLD's. Personally, once I am looking at catching fish that require 30+ sized reels then my preference are the Okuma Makairas, but they are true heavy game reels but also start in the $600+ range. There are also Tiagra's, Internationals, and a stack of compact game reels such as the Fathoms, Talicas etc. Hence I asked about the budget as you wouldn't use them to catch snapper and so forth and mainly used for ballooning and trolling. Just my 2cents worth.

The senator reels are quite dated and there are much better reels out there which are more suitable for that purpose in my opinion. I prefer to use a lever drag reel for that type of fishing, not saying that you can't use a Senator, but I think that you would enjoy a more modern lever drag reel and have better results when fighting a largish shark. What size sharks are you thinking of targeting and what is your budget as that would dictate what type of gear you could use in relation to the target size of shark you want to chase. Lastly, are you wanting to chase them from the land or out in a boat? Cheers Ed.

Congratulations to you, and now the sleepless nights start again!

Hi, can I join the north team please.

Hi JFP, I used to fish the Fremantle area quite extensively when I was younger (about 40 years ago) so can't give you any up to date info, and I never did fish too much south of there. But, if you are in the Fremantle area you could go and fish the North and South Moles, they are a breakwater system of rocks designed to protect the Fremantle harbour. I would go and catch herring on the North and South moles and live bait them out for Mullaway, mainly in the evenings. Some of them went 30Kg plus. You can also use pilchards on a set of ganged hooks. Don't throw the bait out too far as they are mainly in close to the rocks. Also used to fish the wharves there as well, but not sure if it is still allowed or tolerated. Most of these areas produce heaps of Herring and decent sized Gar, as well as the full range of fish such as Trevally, Mullaway, Tailor etc. Heading down south, the Cockburn sound produces (or did) a lot of Snapper, Slimy Mackerel, (for bait), King George Whiting etc., and most jetties are a good bet as well as rocky outposts /headlands. As I said before it has been a very long while since I was there, so you would also need to check on fishing licences, closed off areas etc., to make sure you aren't fishing in a prohibited area or closed season. Further south, you come across large salmon schools which are seasonal and occasionally come in close to shore in bays, but I never had much luck with those. If I lived much closer, I would have targeted them more but the main large species I targeted was Mullaway and the Moles suited me as they were very close to where I lived and worked. Hope this helps. Cheers Ed.