Ed.

Apart from that, It's also the fact that when the tide changes, the water rips through there, if you jumped or fell in on a outgoing tide you would end up miles from the shore and with the ingoing, you would end up in between Urangan and Fraser Island, with no chance of swimming back to shore, it is very strong. There actually is an emergency ladder about 3/4's of the way out to the end of the jetty on the right hand side which goes onto on the sand, just on where outer sand bar starts, but if you ended up in the water you would not be able to make it to even climb up.
You can see where the current rips through and has left the sand bars.
 
 

Apart from that, It's also the fact that when the tide changes, the water rips through there, if you jumped or fell in on a outgoing tide you would end up miles from the shore and with the ingoing, you would end up in between Urangan and Fraser Island, with no chance of swimming back to shore, it is very strong. There actually is an emergency ladder about 3/4's of the way out to the end of the jetty on the right hand side which goes onto on the sand, just on where outer sand bar starts, but if you ended up in the water you would not be able to make it to even climb up.
You can see where the current rips through and has left the sand bars.
 
 

Apart from that, It's also the fact that when the tide changes, the water rips through there, if you jumped or fell in on a outgoing tide you would end up miles from the shore and with the ingoing, you would end up in between Urangan and Fraser Island, with no chance of swimming back to shore, it is very strong. There actually is an emergency ladder about 3/4's of the way out to the end of the jetty on the right hand side which goes onto on the sand, just on where outer sand bar starts, but if you ended up in the water you would not be able to make it to even climb up.
You can see where the current rips through and has left the sand bars.
 
 

Apart from that, It's also the fact that when the tide changes, the water rips through there, if you jumped or fell in on a outgoing tide you would end up miles from the shore and with the ingoing, you would end up in between Urangan and Fraser Island, with no chance of swimming back to shore, it is very strong. There actually is an emergency ladder about 3/4's of the way out to the end of the jetty on the right hand side which goes onto on the sand, just on where outer sand bar starts, but if you ended up in the water you would not be able to make it to even climb up.
You can see where the current rips through and has left the sand bars.
 
 

Haven't heard of any large Tigers here before, but no reason they shouldn't be here, quite a few bronzies here, I saw one when I was on the jetty that morning, much smaller version, I didn't get a good look at it but from what I saw it wasn't all that big, still it would have been doable on smaller gear.
 

Yesterday I had to wait for my car to be fixed at Urangan Hervey bay, and had some time to kill so went for a walk to the jetty as I haven't been there for a while. Talking to the locals near the end, and apparently there has been a very large Tiger shark hanging around there for a couple of days. One of the locals saw it relatively close up and said it was about 4m long and about 1m wide across. It was going for a mackerel he had in the water and had to yank it up quickly.
My first thought was I should get my 50W out and have a go later that night but then reality set in, what would I do if I was even managed to hook it? The Urangan jetty isn't really set up to release big fish, there is a lot of height under the jetty and trying to maneuver such a large shark to the start of the jetty and onto the sand would be next to impossible as it is over 1km away.  So gave up on that idea as it would be too futile.
No doubt plenty of guys will try to target it but don't think anybody will succeed, they will need a very large reel and the biggest I saw there was a TLD25 so not even in the running, even a 50W is probably way too small especially from the a jetty, will keep my ears open if it hits the news 😁.

Haven't heard of any large Tigers here before, but no reason they shouldn't be here, quite a few bronzies here, I saw one when I was on the jetty that morning, much smaller version, I didn't get a good look at it but from what I saw it wasn't all that big, still it would have been doable on smaller gear.
 

Haven't heard of any large Tigers here before, but no reason they shouldn't be here, quite a few bronzies here, I saw one when I was on the jetty that morning, much smaller version, I didn't get a good look at it but from what I saw it wasn't all that big, still it would have been doable on smaller gear.
 

Yesterday I had to wait for my car to be fixed at Urangan Hervey bay, and had some time to kill so went for a walk to the jetty as I haven't been there for a while. Talking to the locals near the end, and apparently there has been a very large Tiger shark hanging around there for a couple of days. One of the locals saw it relatively close up and said it was about 4m long and about 1m wide across. It was going for a mackerel he had in the water and had to yank it up quickly.
My first thought was I should get my 50W out and have a go later that night but then reality set in, what would I do if I was even managed to hook it? The Urangan jetty isn't really set up to release big fish, there is a lot of height under the jetty and trying to maneuver such a large shark to the start of the jetty and onto the sand would be next to impossible as it is over 1km away.  So gave up on that idea as it would be too futile.
No doubt plenty of guys will try to target it but don't think anybody will succeed, they will need a very large reel and the biggest I saw there was a TLD25 so not even in the running, even a 50W is probably way too small especially from the a jetty, will keep my ears open if it hits the news 😁.

Haven't heard of any large Tigers here before, but no reason they shouldn't be here, quite a few bronzies here, I saw one when I was on the jetty that morning, much smaller version, I didn't get a good look at it but from what I saw it wasn't all that big, still it would have been doable on smaller gear.
 

Yeah, no chance. @Terry H used to target the ones at Moreton on his 80W and epic battles ensued with a few landings on the beach. Wouldn't happen at the jetty, like you said, Ed.
I would have thought they would be more commonly seen there ??

Yesterday I had to wait for my car to be fixed at Urangan Hervey bay, and had some time to kill so went for a walk to the jetty as I haven't been there for a while. Talking to the locals near the end, and apparently there has been a very large Tiger shark hanging around there for a couple of days. One of the locals saw it relatively close up and said it was about 4m long and about 1m wide across. It was going for a mackerel he had in the water and had to yank it up quickly.
My first thought was I should get my 50W out and have a go later that night but then reality set in, what would I do if I was even managed to hook it? The Urangan jetty isn't really set up to release big fish, there is a lot of height under the jetty and trying to maneuver such a large shark to the start of the jetty and onto the sand would be next to impossible as it is over 1km away.  So gave up on that idea as it would be too futile.
No doubt plenty of guys will try to target it but don't think anybody will succeed, they will need a very large reel and the biggest I saw there was a TLD25 so not even in the running, even a 50W is probably way too small especially from the a jetty, will keep my ears open if it hits the news 😁.

Yesterday I had to wait for my car to be fixed at Urangan Hervey bay, and had some time to kill so went for a walk to the jetty as I haven't been there for a while. Talking to the locals near the end, and apparently there has been a very large Tiger shark hanging around there for a couple of days. One of the locals saw it relatively close up and said it was about 4m long and about 1m wide across. It was going for a mackerel he had in the water and had to yank it up quickly.
My first thought was I should get my 50W out and have a go later that night but then reality set in, what would I do if I was even managed to hook it? The Urangan jetty isn't really set up to release big fish, there is a lot of height under the jetty and trying to maneuver such a large shark to the start of the jetty and onto the sand would be next to impossible as it is over 1km away.  So gave up on that idea as it would be too futile.
No doubt plenty of guys will try to target it but don't think anybody will succeed, they will need a very large reel and the biggest I saw there was a TLD25 so not even in the running, even a 50W is probably way too small especially from the a jetty, will keep my ears open if it hits the news 😁.

Yesterday I had to wait for my car to be fixed at Urangan Hervey bay, and had some time to kill so went for a walk to the jetty as I haven't been there for a while. Talking to the locals near the end, and apparently there has been a very large Tiger shark hanging around there for a couple of days. One of the locals saw it relatively close up and said it was about 4m long and about 1m wide across. It was going for a mackerel he had in the water and had to yank it up quickly.
My first thought was I should get my 50W out and have a go later that night but then reality set in, what would I do if I was even managed to hook it? The Urangan jetty isn't really set up to release big fish, there is a lot of height under the jetty and trying to maneuver such a large shark to the start of the jetty and onto the sand would be next to impossible as it is over 1km away.  So gave up on that idea as it would be too futile.
No doubt plenty of guys will try to target it but don't think anybody will succeed, they will need a very large reel and the biggest I saw there was a TLD25 so not even in the running, even a 50W is probably way too small especially from the a jetty, will keep my ears open if it hits the news 😁.

From some of the reviews I have read in reviews on Amazon, a lot of the reels and other products that buyers have received have been damaged/faulty in some way or else the box has been been opened, bits missing, possibly as in someone has sent the product back for having had a problem, and the seller has resold it again as is. Not so much as Amazons fault but the sellers that sell through Amazon.
Check out the seller and the reviews for that reel and see what the comments are like. That might give you an insight on good or bad. Generally speaking,  I also generally don't buy any high value items from Aliexpress, very little comeback if you have an issue with the products, cannot talk to or reach anyone to remedy the problem and bloody hard to deal with. ie; bought a baitcaster from one of the sellers there (supposed to be the manufacturer of it) and also 3 spare reels for it.   It arrived and each of the 3 spare reels was different from each other.  Go figure!
Bought an expensive underwater LED torch and I when received it, it didn't work properly, so after being stalled for several weeks ie, send us a video of it not working ect., do the repair of the damaged wiring and send pics of it being done, I ended up having to do a full charge back on the credit card successfully via my bank.
Not saying all the sellers on all these platforms are all bad but I have had the most problems with Aliexpress and Amazon, hence I stick mainly with E-Bay and pay via paypal, at least you have a few more chances of getting your money back to some degree and/or talking to someone to resolve any issue. I have got some real good deals on the US E-Bay site. Best one was a genuine Daiwa game reel,  SLT-50W, BNIB, I think that it cost me about AU$350 inc delivery ? (that was via auction)  and other places were charging over a Grand outright to buy it. So you win some and take your chances on the rest.

From some of the reviews I have read in reviews on Amazon, a lot of the reels and other products that buyers have received have been damaged/faulty in some way or else the box has been been opened, bits missing, possibly as in someone has sent the product back for having had a problem, and the seller has resold it again as is. Not so much as Amazons fault but the sellers that sell through Amazon.
Check out the seller and the reviews for that reel and see what the comments are like. That might give you an insight on good or bad. Generally speaking,  I also generally don't buy any high value items from Aliexpress, very little comeback if you have an issue with the products, cannot talk to or reach anyone to remedy the problem and bloody hard to deal with. ie; bought a baitcaster from one of the sellers there (supposed to be the manufacturer of it) and also 3 spare reels for it.   It arrived and each of the 3 spare reels was different from each other.  Go figure!
Bought an expensive underwater LED torch and I when received it, it didn't work properly, so after being stalled for several weeks ie, send us a video of it not working ect., do the repair of the damaged wiring and send pics of it being done, I ended up having to do a full charge back on the credit card successfully via my bank.
Not saying all the sellers on all these platforms are all bad but I have had the most problems with Aliexpress and Amazon, hence I stick mainly with E-Bay and pay via paypal, at least you have a few more chances of getting your money back to some degree and/or talking to someone to resolve any issue. I have got some real good deals on the US E-Bay site. Best one was a genuine Daiwa game reel,  SLT-50W, BNIB, I think that it cost me about AU$350 inc delivery ? (that was via auction)  and other places were charging over a Grand outright to buy it. So you win some and take your chances on the rest.

From some of the reviews I have read in reviews on Amazon, a lot of the reels and other products that buyers have received have been damaged/faulty in some way or else the box has been been opened, bits missing, possibly as in someone has sent the product back for having had a problem, and the seller has resold it again as is. Not so much as Amazons fault but the sellers that sell through Amazon.
Check out the seller and the reviews for that reel and see what the comments are like. That might give you an insight on good or bad. Generally speaking,  I also generally don't buy any high value items from Aliexpress, very little comeback if you have an issue with the products, cannot talk to or reach anyone to remedy the problem and bloody hard to deal with. ie; bought a baitcaster from one of the sellers there (supposed to be the manufacturer of it) and also 3 spare reels for it.   It arrived and each of the 3 spare reels was different from each other.  Go figure!
Bought an expensive underwater LED torch and I when received it, it didn't work properly, so after being stalled for several weeks ie, send us a video of it not working ect., do the repair of the damaged wiring and send pics of it being done, I ended up having to do a full charge back on the credit card successfully via my bank.
Not saying all the sellers on all these platforms are all bad but I have had the most problems with Aliexpress and Amazon, hence I stick mainly with E-Bay and pay via paypal, at least you have a few more chances of getting your money back to some degree and/or talking to someone to resolve any issue. I have got some real good deals on the US E-Bay site. Best one was a genuine Daiwa game reel,  SLT-50W, BNIB, I think that it cost me about AU$350 inc delivery ? (that was via auction)  and other places were charging over a Grand outright to buy it. So you win some and take your chances on the rest.

From some of the reviews I have read in reviews on Amazon, a lot of the reels and other products that buyers have received have been damaged/faulty in some way or else the box has been been opened, bits missing, possibly as in someone has sent the product back for having had a problem, and the seller has resold it again as is. Not so much as Amazons fault but the sellers that sell through Amazon.
Check out the seller and the reviews for that reel and see what the comments are like. That might give you an insight on good or bad. Generally speaking,  I also generally don't buy any high value items from Aliexpress, very little comeback if you have an issue with the products, cannot talk to or reach anyone to remedy the problem and bloody hard to deal with. ie; bought a baitcaster from one of the sellers there (supposed to be the manufacturer of it) and also 3 spare reels for it.   It arrived and each of the 3 spare reels was different from each other.  Go figure!
Bought an expensive underwater LED torch and I when received it, it didn't work properly, so after being stalled for several weeks ie, send us a video of it not working ect., do the repair of the damaged wiring and send pics of it being done, I ended up having to do a full charge back on the credit card successfully via my bank.
Not saying all the sellers on all these platforms are all bad but I have had the most problems with Aliexpress and Amazon, hence I stick mainly with E-Bay and pay via paypal, at least you have a few more chances of getting your money back to some degree and/or talking to someone to resolve any issue. I have got some real good deals on the US E-Bay site. Best one was a genuine Daiwa game reel,  SLT-50W, BNIB, I think that it cost me about AU$350 inc delivery ? (that was via auction)  and other places were charging over a Grand outright to buy it. So you win some and take your chances on the rest.

From some of the reviews I have read in reviews on Amazon, a lot of the reels and other products that buyers have received have been damaged/faulty in some way or else the box has been been opened, bits missing, possibly as in someone has sent the product back for having had a problem, and the seller has resold it again as is. Not so much as Amazons fault but the sellers that sell through Amazon.
Check out the seller and the reviews for that reel and see what the comments are like. That might give you an insight on good or bad. Generally speaking,  I also generally don't buy any high value items from Aliexpress, very little comeback if you have an issue with the products, cannot talk to or reach anyone to remedy the problem and bloody hard to deal with. ie; bought a baitcaster from one of the sellers there (supposed to be the manufacturer of it) and also 3 spare reels for it.   It arrived and each of the 3 spare reels was different from each other.  Go figure!
Bought an expensive underwater LED torch and I when received it, it didn't work properly, so after being stalled for several weeks ie, send us a video of it not working ect., do the repair of the damaged wiring and send pics of it being done, I ended up having to do a full charge back on the credit card successfully via my bank.
Not saying all the sellers on all these platforms are all bad but I have had the most problems with Aliexpress and Amazon, hence I stick mainly with E-Bay and pay via paypal, at least you have a few more chances of getting your money back to some degree and/or talking to someone to resolve any issue. I have got some real good deals on the US E-Bay site. Best one was a genuine Daiwa game reel,  SLT-50W, BNIB, I think that it cost me about AU$350 inc delivery ? (that was via auction)  and other places were charging over a Grand outright to buy it. So you win some and take your chances on the rest.

The only advantage I see to thicker line is if a fish wraps it around a snag, but in my experience nothing helps in that situation. 
Thick mono is the best option for situations like that, but it really affects both your casting distance anfmd how a lure performs in the water.

I use Mono all the time. Never had a problem.
If it isn't broke don't try to fix it.
In saying that I have never used braid. Looking at the prices I never will.
I have watched guys using braid & their problems. No thanks.
I go fishing because it is a top sport. Don't need problems with gear.
Cheers.

Most of the manufacturers claims of the capacity of reels and also line in my opinion are bogus, not just Shimano as there doesn't seems to be a legalized standard method of enforcing measurement. Some measure using mono or braid capacity/strength/length however there are huge variations in the actual line strengths for their given diameter, so one mono line might have a diameter of 0.78mm for 80lb line(Platypus Platinum) and another brand will have the 80lb line in 0.92mm(Stren). Then there is the issue of Pretest/IGFA line or general line with the former supposed to break less than but close to the rated strength but no more than, as against the general purpose line which means squat.
Which is where the advertising line comes from ie: "ours is the strongest 20lb line", which generally means it is much thicker than the competition and is mislabeled as 20lb instead of 30  or 40lb line which it should be! The amount of tension when laying the line also effects how much line goes on as the tension thins the line diameter and stretches the line more.
I have a spool of braid which says it is 67kg and a diameter of 0.39mm but when I tested it several times with a micrometer it measured close to 0.5mm and broke at half the stated strength on the spool. Also with braid it depends on the amount of strands and the amount of strand twists per given length in the line, high strands count usually means that the line is rounder and it sometimes means that other lines may flatten out more, so the width is more than its height,  ect. then you have the issue of how you lay the line, if you manage to get the line to lay right next to the line coil that you just laid and move across to edge of the spool and then repeat to the other side, then you will or should have more line as there will be less air gaps between the coils and less cross over in the layers. However in real life how often does that happen when you spool a reel for the first time or especially when you have hooked up a fish and are winding it in.
So when buying a reel assume you will have less capacity then stated and buy the next size up if capacity is important. So its a bit complicated but in the end it's all marketing crap. Just my opinion!
 

Most of the manufacturers claims of the capacity of reels and also line in my opinion are bogus, not just Shimano as there doesn't seems to be a legalized standard method of enforcing measurement. Some measure using mono or braid capacity/strength/length however there are huge variations in the actual line strengths for their given diameter, so one mono line might have a diameter of 0.78mm for 80lb line(Platypus Platinum) and another brand will have the 80lb line in 0.92mm(Stren). Then there is the issue of Pretest/IGFA line or general line with the former supposed to break less than but close to the rated strength but no more than, as against the general purpose line which means squat.
Which is where the advertising line comes from ie: "ours is the strongest 20lb line", which generally means it is much thicker than the competition and is mislabeled as 20lb instead of 30  or 40lb line which it should be! The amount of tension when laying the line also effects how much line goes on as the tension thins the line diameter and stretches the line more.
I have a spool of braid which says it is 67kg and a diameter of 0.39mm but when I tested it several times with a micrometer it measured close to 0.5mm and broke at half the stated strength on the spool. Also with braid it depends on the amount of strands and the amount of strand twists per given length in the line, high strands count usually means that the line is rounder and it sometimes means that other lines may flatten out more, so the width is more than its height,  ect. then you have the issue of how you lay the line, if you manage to get the line to lay right next to the line coil that you just laid and move across to edge of the spool and then repeat to the other side, then you will or should have more line as there will be less air gaps between the coils and less cross over in the layers. However in real life how often does that happen when you spool a reel for the first time or especially when you have hooked up a fish and are winding it in.
So when buying a reel assume you will have less capacity then stated and buy the next size up if capacity is important. So its a bit complicated but in the end it's all marketing crap. Just my opinion!
 

The only time I would lock up a drag would be when you have hooked a largish powerful fish that was heading for structure or was near the bottom when hooked, in which case I figure I have nothing to lose as most likely they will reach a cave/ledge/structure and snag the line and bust you off.
I used to target Mullaway in the Swan river and the only ones I ever lost were the ones that I tried to drag in, due to over excitement and not thinking. Those would turn and swim straight towards me and under the jetty, then it was game over and the line parted due to sharp bits on the pylons, the others I played on lighter drag and they would swim down current usually and towards the center of the river, a bit of back and forth  till they became tired and much easier to handle when close to the jetty or rocks.
So I think it depends on the type of fish and the nearby structure. One of the guys I met up in northern W.A used to fish for up to 30kg mackerel from a boat and used  light line, can't remember if it was 4kg or 4lb line, chased it all over the ocean and the fight would go on for a very long time, the fish was pretty much cactus when brought on board.
For large sharks, I would try to get them in quicker so they can recover quicker and be released without too much trauma on them, downside is they also tend to be a bit more energetic when being de-hooked so more care must be taken. I suppose it's a bit like running flat out for 300m, at the end you are very tired but can recover rapidly VS a marathon race, whereby afterwards you are completely shattered  and have used up all of your reserve energy.

Only time I get to full drag is when chasing big stuff over shallow reefs. We do a lot of stickbaiting over the reef flats and on the odd occasion we'll need to lock the drags up if we connect up to a GT and we're unable to chase it, especially if it's on our smaller rigs. We use Saltiga 23's (6000's) and with 15kg of drag we're pushing something letting go, but there isn't too many other options sometimes. 
Our usual choice of gear for GT's are Satliga 14000's, with 25kg of drag we rarely have to lock it up, but when you do there's very little give and it get's hard to stand up and not get pulled out of the boat.
When chasing the normal reef fish, preference is the least amount of drag possible, pending on the structure we might go heavy to start with then back it off, this doesn't just help to settle the fish down, but also aids in releasing if it's coming from the depth, stops the barotrauma getting too bad and gives us a better release rate. If sharks are around we'll move on, I hate losing fish to them, especially undersize fish when releasing. 
Up the creeks for Barra and Jacks it's pretty much the same, as little as possible. Just enough at the start to pull them out of structure if needed, and then back it off.
We used to muck around in the shed with some beers and pull the scales out to test different knots and line/leader strength, sometimes it's a good learning point to see how much, or how little drag some brands or knots can actually take, and it's an eye opener for anyone who's never done it as to how heavy even 5kg of drag actually is.