Brodie_S

3 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Nah, probably not. Good point Steve. But it was only a 20cm breambo so I figured it would just get knocked off soon enough. Lol. (Sorry bro).

That’s alright the last sesh I had and forgot to do a report on I got a 30-33cm bream but the comp hadn’t started then it was props 2 weeks ago now 

21 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

It’s not a suburbs of origin comp, it is an individual comp. or that’s what I thought, so unless everyone wants it to change... 

Oh yeah forgot nah I’m pretty sure its individual I just got used to the last comp we had

45 minutes ago, GregOug said:

And it might even win the whole comp, what with lockdowns, poor weather, season closures etc etc etc

Imagine that southsiders win the bream title for 20cm bream

Was doing some boat maintenance yesterday and had my sienna/aird x combo in a rod holder with some bread and got this undersize 20cm bream it’s a small start for the southsiders 

15 hours ago, Hoffies said:

Man i just got some 8kg for my baitcaster since I love the 4kg on my sienna 1000 so much, and this stuff is snapping way too easily in tests I haven’t tied any weight to it yet to see what kg will snap it but I was gonna so that tomorrow. The line casts amazing otherwise. Maybe they have really bad quality control and we got bad batches? I really wanna like this line; it’s so thin you don’t even need a leader with 8kg “translucent” 

Yeah I don’t think quality control is the best on gliss so far I’m gonna stick to using daiwa j braid x 8 and x 4 I still have a few reels spooled with it the spools I’ve gotten are definitely strong as advertised have done testing my self but over time the line gets weaker and weaker so if you fishing almost every day or muiltple times a week this line will most likely only last 3-4 months before you start getting a lot of issues I’ve found knot strength to be extremely strong if you tie properly and overall a pretty strong line .for the price I think it’s good but I’d rather pay $30 for 150m of daiwa x8 and have it last 3-4 times longer j braid is already a very good casting line very strong and smooth and also has a bit of abrasion resistance . My overall opinion on it is that it’s a good casting decent strength line but gets weak over time and doesn’t have a lot of abrasion resistance.

Nice the comp is on .although I should start using AFO more often again been a bit inactive lately

I found a homemade stainless steel Yabbie pump on council street clean up works a charm only used it a few times but it’s way better then any of the branded ones . After I use the yabbie pump I rinse it with freshwater, dry it then spray the sliding part with silicone spray and it seems to work well and I don’t know what material the washers are but they are in decent condition 

6 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

Evening all, 

I haven't caught a noteworthy fish in quite a while; maybe a month, maybe two. Upon reflection of today's landbased mission targeting flatties which resulted in a pike and longtom it got me thinking: Have I got lazy? I know i used to change lures way too often (spending half the time doing so instead of having a line in the water). But in 4 hours today I used 2 lures. Probably the same yesterday too. I think that is a problem. 

 

I'm curious, how often do you change your lure/bait that isn't working? 

For me it’s around 30 minutes if I don’t get any hits or chases for 30 minutes and I’ve been casting in good spots I’ll change lures sometimes I’ll change lures every 10 minutes depending on the conditions for example when I tried catching sootys for the first time I tried hardbodie divers they didn’t chase em I then tied on a crank bait didn’t chase em either tied on a sugapen didn’t chase that either then I after that I tied on a standard flathead bream plastic 2.5 inch slim swim in opening night matched with a size 1 jighead 1/8 weight I had sooties smashing my lure left right and centre sometimes you just have to keep changing lures until they start biting sometimes they are completely shut down and won’t eat anything and sometimes decent fish aren’t even around but once i find what works well on the day I usually stick with that lure for the whole fishing sesh

On 19/05/2021 at 10:43 AM, Ed. said:

I received a $50 Anaconda gift card a while ago so decided to go and spend it, so off to Anaconda I went and they had a clear out of the Abu Promax reels reduced from about $80 down to $50, so I thought why not, as I couldn't think of anything else to get.  Well that was a mistake.

Got home, put it on a rod and started to spool it up, the reel is supposed to do about 6Kg drag and I probably had it set on about 2-3Kg whilst spooling some braid on to it.  Noticed that the body of the reel was twisting about 10-15 degrees from side to side each time the handle turned when winding the line on the spool. Obviously Abu Garcia seemed to have skimped on the build materials and the stem was way too weak in my opinion, not enough graphite in the stem to resist twisting. There was nothing wrong with the drag and that worked well however the flimsy stem was a deal breaker for me and so I returned it and received another replacement gift card. Very disappointed with it, I would expect that from a cheapo chinese model but not in the Abu brand. 

Left Anaconda and went off to Outback Adventures down the road in Caboolture and picked up another Penn Spinfisher SSVI 2500LL Live liner as Anaconda does not stock that model size, seeing that as I was now in a reel buying mood, at least that one has a metal frame and body (no twist) and water resistant, although it was 3 times the price of the Abu. I also looked at the Quantum Smoke Inshore S3 30 SSM30XPT there which seemed like quite a nice reel with 5 more bearings than the Penn plus a Titanium wire guide (so can resist bangs and dents which flexes back),  it was a hard choice as it is a quite impressive reel but the Smoke Inshore didn't have the bait feeder.  So in the end I decided the Penn with the bait feeder and being water resistant (IPX5) would suit me better.

Cheers

Ed.

Yes abu spin reels are horrible they are cheaply made they have so much flex and free play everywhere in the reel and the gears get rough very quickly . Both abu and penn are both under the same company pure fishing but their products differ a bit penn tends to be better then abu 

I’m in to .although I don’t know if I’m gonna manage to get much fishing time in as the closest decent fishing spot for me is 40-50 minute drive as the floods wrecked all my local spots damaged wharfs and jetties ruined water quality and many more issues basically ruined my whole river system  for at least a few months . Hopefully I can manage to get a fishing sesh in at the spot where I did my last report at

Sounds good to me

I rekon a shovel nose shark or a big ray but who knows sometimes when You pull up something big up it’s not always what you expect . But more then likely that sounds like a ray to me

I know of a town just outside of Townsville called Bluewater. If you know zero to nothing about fishing buy a shimano sienna 2500 spool it with thin clear 6lb mono and later if you want you can spool it with 12lb braid and get some bigger fish .and match it with a daiwa RZ 2-4kg this setup will cost $100-$110 but will last awhile after this buy some size 8 short shank hooks and some line cutters and also some bread for bait . Learn how to tie the uni knot and you’ll be set to catch tilapia .Bluewater creek is full of them mold the bread whites on to the hook and cast out and you’ll be easily be able to land a few tilapia . Although you have to kill tilapia and dispose of them they make good practice especially for beginners and are excellent sport with light line . After catching a few tilapia you might be able to catch some whiting using the same techniques just with different bait such as prawns or blood worms

7 hours ago, Another Wazza said:

If they aren’t too far gone, pop them off and soak them in white vinegar for a couple of hours

This sounds like a good idea and it definitely works but this can make the hooks weaker as white vinegar can break down or cause hooks to rust 

24 minutes ago, bulldogs195461 said:

G'day all 

Some of my trebles on my lures have rust, should I change them? Cheers john

 

If the hooks are decent quality and are still strong just give them a soak in WD40 overnight and that should get rid of the surface rust if you don’t have enough WD40 to soak them with then just give them a good spray with WD40 and let them dry for few hours or over night after they are done drying just get a tissue and rub the rusty parts of the hook and the surface rust should just come off easy the hooks will smell like WD40 after so I usually dip the hooks in freshwater and dry them then rub a tiny bit of S factor on the hooks to mask the WD40 smell you could use other fish scents like pro cure or berkley to . I’ve done it without scent before and haven’t had any issues with the fish and the WD40 smell I think as long as you dip them in freshwater after and dry them that gets rid of most of the smell it’s still there but isn’t as strong so feel free to use scent at the end or not it’s your call and props doesn’t make much difference . If the hooks are still rusty after doing that or they bend easily just chuck them out and replace them with decent hooks . Hope that helps 

Daiwa j braid x8 coated in silicone spray is the best light braid I’ve tried spraying the line with silicone spray reduces wind knots and increases casting distance by 30-90cm . J braid x8 is pretty wind knot resistant anyway but with silicone spray it’s unbeatable for the price I’ve heard tasline and daiwa j braid tournament evo is pretty good to but is more pricey 

2 hours ago, BrettJ said:

Thank you very much. Great information. I will study up on jacks, lizards, bream and GT fishing i like casting so will be lure fishing in the estuaries. I can certainly cover gear used. Would a 2500 size reel suffice on all applications? 

I do use mono on the lighter gear. Do you suggest using braid instead? If so would a mono leader be required ? 

Thinking to give the local tackle shop a call or email and chew their ear off and purchase a heap of lures line to respool etc to pick up when i land.  

Again thanks for your informative reply.  

Cheers,

Brett. 

A 2500 with 10-12lb braid should handle legal jacks and GT’s alright but if you did get a trophy jack it would be a challenge to land it’s not impossible I’ve seen it before but it’s definitely not a easy battle to land a trophy jacks on such light gear. Mono should be fine for lighter gear but if you are fishing lures on the lighter gear I highly suggest 6-8lb braid as the casting distance and sensitivity will be greatly increased and you generally land more fish on lures because of it . Although braid is expensive I’ve found Diawa j braid x4 to be a great cheaper option. A mono leader should be fine as well but when you start getting over 12lb leader with mono it can effect lure action negativity but not always it should be fine anyway as long as you have braid . Hope that helps

24 minutes ago, Lava said:

Hey guys I’m going up fishing in the Whitsundays in a couple days. I’ll be fishing from a boat salt and fresh water. It’s been a long time since I’ve used only lures. Always been a bait fisherman. I’ve fished heaps before but I’m very novice when it comes to lures. Well over the years I’ve actually got myself a good little collection of lures but don’t really know what ones are best for what fish etc. I know what they do obviously like which ones are best for trolling/shallow divers, floating/sinking etc. Just not which ones are the best and for what fish. I know my golden bombers work great up on the gulf for Barra. But I’m interested if anyone has a keen eye for any of the ones I have that think would work great for around the islands or in the creeks around prosperine and Faust dam. 
 

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/0HSu7d4

 

All of these lures look fine just be sure to upgrade the trebles if they aren’t the best quality . I’m sure you’ll enjoy the Whitsundays it’s great fishing I lost a tone of massive fish up there so be sure to bring some heavy and light spin setups so you can do a wide variety of fishing options to . And just some tips 

1 tie the best the knots . Knots like the clinch knot and double uni won’t cut . A uni knot to connect your lures or AG chain knot with big lures and to connect your leaders knots like the advanced Albright or modified Alberto FG and palomer knot work great

2 use reels with good drag if you have a sticky drag you will likely lose big fish . A few of my reels got hot whenever I hooked into good fish from the line going out so fast even with tight drag well a 7kg GT on 6lb braid with a reel with 4kg max drag isn’t good so no matter how tight I put it the line was still coming off my spool fast . Note don’t use reels with light drags unless your doing light fishing 

3 don’t high stick your rods especially if there graphite or carbon as they can just (POP) and break 

4 use sunscreen even though i tan quite easily I still used sunscreen the sun out there is quite strong and you don’t want to look like a lobster so before fishing just give yourself a few minutes to put sunscreen on before fishing and wash your hands after so you don’t get sunscreen on your fishing gear 

5 there are massive stingrays and sharks everywhere so you might lose a few good fish due to these creatures 

hope that helps 

4 hours ago, BrettJ said:

G'day folks, I am an avid freshwater fisho in country VIC. Will be driving up to Yamba NSW for a 2 week break in July. I plan to go on a fishing charter or two in my time there. So thats covered.  Will hire a tinnie most days for a fish in the Clarence and will be looking to fish the beaches in and around the surrounding areas.  I usually like to take the 4x4 off the road and onto the beach if possible. 

Would anyone be kind enough to give a few hints and tips for the area ? 

As i mentioned travelling around not an issue for me. I will be camping most nights. 

I haven’t fished Yamba but I’ve fished a lot of similar places and the surrounding areas of Yamba my best advice would be to target fish on the last 2 hours of the run out tide and last 2 hours of the run in tide near mangroves and creek openings for GT and mangrove jacks . Using baits such as live or dead poddy mullet seem to work well in tight structure also using 3 inch plastics or divers tight against mangroves and creek openings is excellent for GT jacks flathead cod etc . Generally a 2-4kg setup with 8lb braid will do good for bream flathead and whiting a 3-5kg rod with 10-12lb braid is good for flathead average size cod and smaller jacks and GT’s a 4-7kg setup with 15lb or 15lb+ braid will handle jacks and GT’s well . Hope that helps make sure you tie good strong knots to as saltwater fish are very rarely forgiving . Welcome to AFO everyone here is pretty good feel free to ask any questions 

Sorry for the late reply Kat but it seems like you struck the jackpot congratulations on landing the beast of a fish unfortunately I don’t know the proper name for the speices so I don’t know what the actual fish is but great job landing it Im sure it will taste great

4 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi Bro

My apologies, as I said this too, but with a bit of a better search, that species is not a Forktail Catfish, but is a Blue Catfish. Forkies tend to be a lot darker in colour, and do not have those light coloured bands.

Cheers Hamish

 Scientific name? I thought the main saltwater catfish speices of Australia were Forktail catfish ,striped eel tailed catfish and cobbler I’ve heard of blue catfish which are a American speices of catfish and salmon catfish are a freshwater only speices from my knowledge and look a fair bit different then forkys to me. They must have different names up in Queensland or something cause I couldn’t find any speices that sounded like your description darker then forkys and the light bands on the fish’s stomach area

Yeah it’s a fork tail catfish I caught a few big ones up at the Whitsundays before they go hard for their size although I don’t think they are good eating but I’ve never tried eating them before

Yeah I watch his channel every now and then . Congratulations on winning that stuff looks like you’ll put that to good use

4 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

It won’t go through the guides. Did you want the whole 2 metres of leader between your hook and the sinker? If so this is not the set up to use. But if you only need a metre or so for the sinker to run it will be fine although you might have to use more of a lob than a flick, if you get what I mean.

Yeah for my longer leaders I’ll have a bead to stop the sinker hitting the knot but for shorter leaders I’ll be sure to try this out

11 minutes ago, SuperHans said:

Hi BWB,

there's nothing wrong with keeping spots to yourself. A lot of trial and error goes into finding them.

Unfortunately there is no guarantee that those that you trust with your secret wont pass it on to others. In fact it is inevitable. Studies show that he rate at which a secret spreads is the square of the number of people you originally tell. 

If you tell 2 people and each of them tells another 2 (now 6 plus you know) and in turn they tell 2 each (36 plus you know now)  and in turn teach of the 36 tells two (I cant be bothered working out 36 squared  but it will be a big number 

If you tell 3 people and each of them tells another 3, (9 plus you) and each of them tells another 3 .......etc the number in the know grows incredibly fast.

You are right in worrying about telling even 20 people, but if you tell anyone else that you don't completely trust, it will become common knowledge much faster than you realise.

You will come across exponential growth in maths if you haven't already.

All of last year I kept a spot to myself. Friends, neighbours and acquaintances regularly asked me where I caught my poddy mullet. I would smile and say "That would be telling" It is near a popular holiday site and I avoided trapping there during holidays and weekends so that I did not bring attention to it. (I would fish mid week at dusk so weekends weren't a big deal). I had a regular supply of the best possible bait that almost guaranteed me a couple of keepers. I would be silly to let others know and then wonder why I have trouble getting bait there.

The only reason I go elsewhere now because for some reason the mullet have been replaced with juvenile striped trumpeter.

Keep you spots secret.

 

Alright I will yeah I didn’t realise it can spread that fast but when you think of it like that I imagine it would . Yeah the spot has plenty of structure and massive amounts of garfish and yellowtail and I’ve also seen squid and cuttlefish there to .so I kind of want to keep it a secret. Although it isn’t a hidden fishing spot it’s not very popular and I rarely see anyone else there. I suspect it’s a great jewie/kingfish spot because of all the bait and structure hopefully next time I go out there I can get something on a liveie .

1 hour ago, Old Scaley said:

Try tying half an elastic band around the leader to act as a stopper. @tuggershowed me that trick and it works a treat. Easy, cheap and adjustable.

Thanks I’ll have to try that how does it go through the guides though when casting