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Go 20lbs and use a 25-30lb leader. Any fish that can take 295 metres of line off a 6000 Saragossa deserves its freedom. Also , people who use white rods look more professional . ha ha ha. Forget the Speedmaster , go the Veritas. Your arms will thank you. A more sensitive all-round rod too.

What brand braid do you recommend? Been tossing up between 20 and 30lbs, but agreed, leaning towards 25lbs. Looking to try some different brands. Talking about being spoiled, a few weeks ago I was spoiled by a monster off Stockton on a tiagra 80.

no mulloway will spool at 6k saragosa on 30lb. id go around 20lb and youll fit even more line on and if you get a quality thin braid youll squeeze even more line on

Thanks guys, much appreciated advice. Now settled on getting 2 different rods. IAs for the lure setup 'm aiming for a 10 ft rod, looking at the Penn allegiance, veritas, and Shimano speed master. Other than the dawia, can you recommend any others? And what weight class should I be aiming for, as I want to cast lures for tailor, salmon, Jew, ECT, and matches the reels below. As for the reel, it's coming down to line capacity, I have been recommended to look at a 5500 slammer which has a line capacity of 380/30lbs. But I want to cut down a bit of the weight. So I'm looking at the Saragosas 6000hg but it only has a line capacity of 295/30lbs. Will that he enough for Jews? Any pointers with ideal line capacity would be much appreciated. As for the bait rod, I'll probably go a prevail 24-37kg or 15kg. I know the 37kg will be a broom stick but I prefer that when handling sharks.

That sounds promising, I'm definitely going to be adding a saragosa to the list to look at. Talking about breakages, I actually managed to strip the main gear of one reel and burn out the drag of a spinfisher 😂. I'm only interested in properly sealed reels, as I know the effects of sand and salt all to well. Is the sphroes a good option or would I be best to spend the extra for a saragosa as this will be used off a kayak as well.

Three of the best!

A good days fishing, a mixture of fish, plenty of fun to be had. Don't think a crab grabbed the yakka, they usually inflict more damage than that. A fish of some sort.

Sounds like double fun ... enjoy the DIY and enjoy the smoked results 🤘 ... glad you found it useful. Cheers Z

I take everything, I got a large tackle box which fits perfectly in the space between the rear drawers and the side of the car. My 3 PCs 15ft sensor surf is perfect for travel and is a really good rod for beaches like Stockton which are quite turbulent and also casting out larger squid and 8oz lead. I’ve had no issues with Diawa rods outside of misuse on my behalf. One sensor surf I’ve had for 5 years now and looks like new. But I do take very good care of my rods. I don’t use lures of the beach but if I did I’d probably use a 9-10ft rod which is whippy. the penn prevail is more of a bait rod. I do recommend the saragosa over the stradic, it’s light and also sealed. On a recent trip near Forster I had a double hook up on mulloway and had the rod holder fold over in the soft sand so I had to stand on the butt off the rod to prevent the rod and reel sliding away while fighting the other fish. One fish was 86cm other was 91 with a pretty bad tangle. Abit of wash from a bottle and the reel was like new

That sounds promising, I'm definitely going to be adding a saragosa to the list to look at. Talking about breakages, I actually managed to strip the main gear of one reel and burn out the drag of a spinfisher 😂. I'm only interested in properly sealed reels, as I know the effects of sand and salt all to well. Is the sphroes a good option or would I be best to spend the extra for a saragosa as this will be used off a kayak as well

The poor man's Stella, the Saragosa has IPX8 water protection. I had no problems with my (at least) annually serviced Shimano Saragosa 5000, tossing mostly 40g lures fishing an average 3 days per week for about 8 years, including a couple of washes in breaking waves after accidentally dropping my rod. Before that, I wore out two unsealed reels in about 12 months (bathed neither of those in surf). To give you some idea how hard I fished, the crank handle on one unsealed reel wore halfway through in six months. Fine sand does a lot of damage! Gears were OK. Bottom line: make sure you get a well sealed reel for serious beach fishing. Shimano offer a lower priced Spheros, at a slightly lower price than Saragosa but has the same sealing and would suit someone who beach fishes less frequently than I did. Unfortunately, the Shimano reel sealing is limited to 5000 and up reels and up and not every Shimano reel has it. The feature to look for is X-shield. X-protect is a lower level of protection for lighter reels. Review from a comprehensive tester: https://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/spswa/ Edit: added review of Saragosa https://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/sgwa.html

Sorry, how are you finding the Saragosas? Are they giving you maintenance trouble? I'm currently looking at the 6000hg as it's very similar weight to the slammer 4500 but has a bit more line capacity. I'm planning on going to a shop and actually having a play with both.

Thanks for the great answer, actually was perfect, because the beach I mainly fish is Stockton. I've been looking at the Penn allegiance as it has a medium-fast action and has a more suitable length for lures. What length would you use for lures on Stockton? I'm strongly considering the 9' allegiance but also open to other rods, I was also looking at the Shimano speed master. I did used to have a heavy surf setup, with a 37kg rod and a 10500 slammer, until the rod gave wave and snapped. That setup stopped everything 😂.

Live poddies or not, your still the flathead master! nice catch Rob!

Nice report Isaac! No kings, but a bit of action 👍 When live baiting for kings with circles you only want to use 1 hook. The hook should be either placed through the inside of the mouth and up through the nose of the live bait. Or sideways through the nostrils. (In through one nostril and out the other) You can also bridle rig if you want to. If you hook it any other way you will impede the circle hooks ability to catch the corner of the kings mouth. With your rig, make sure your snell line is exiting from the inside eye of the hook. You definitely want to snell your circle as it will guide your hook to the corner of the mouth. To test, drop your snelled hook into a glass and pull the line horizontally, you will see the hook catch the edge of the glass every time. You know you have rigged it correctly. Don’t have loose drag - you will loose fish. You need enough drag to provide resistance to set the hook as the fish runs with it. I usually tighten my drag until I can just pull line by hand off the reel. You shouldn’t be able to pull the line off easily. Don’t lift the rod, the fish will hook itself. When trolling live bait, you want to do it at a snails pace. Just in gear. 2-4klm/h. Much much slower than trolling lures. Use a sinker - enough weight to keep the livie down while moving forward. hope this helps cheers chris

Zoran I just saw the link to this old post of yours and I am inspired. I have previously converted an old 4 draw filing cabinet into a full on smoker with its own internal fire pit which was just fabulous for smoking trout/chicken/pork/ beef brisket but had to get rid of it when we moved 4 years ago. With your method I could smoke fish outside usi ng the BBQ for heat. You ahvave just given me my next project!! Cheers Robbo

So bloody jealous. Just a tiny bit more spectacular than European carp !!

Great catch of perfect sized flatties. Best time of year for them I reckon especially if you can get out there mid week. Shame about the rain but you could have got wet AND caught no fish 🤔.

I used a 9 ft Penn Prevail 2 for a while [ or was it 9'6 ] but changed to an Abu Garcia Veritas in the same length. The Abu had a much faster action and could cast a mile. I also have Shimano Aerowaves but the Veritas is my go-to rod on the beach. Nice and light so I can hold it all day but plenty of grunt for larger fish. The Veritas would be better if contemplating lures too. I also use a 12 ft Penn Prevail too for heavier baits for jews. All the rods I mentioned are not hard on the wallet either. Reels are Shimano Stradics in 5000 / Spheros 6000 or Ultegra XR for the heavier rods. And my only Daiwa reel --a 23 TD Sol in 5000 size. And a Big Baitrunner Long cast but that`s a heavy reel to hold for long periods of time.

Just talking to a guy at Stockton and he said weed hard to come by at the moment. He suggested rock platform south of Merewether Beach and also rocks around Susan Gilmore Beach. Apparently some blokes have been removing tons of weed from around the area.. Pretty selfish not to leave some for other fishermen to use. It may take some searching to find the right type but that`s the fun [ ? ] part of the hobby.

... the fuel is an investment .... that's what I keep telling myself 🙄

Thanks Dave it was worth waiting out and good to catch fish ina new spot👌 Get out there Zoran! The water is still warm and you might save on fuel not having to head offshore! Thanks Isaac I didn’t have a rain jacket with me and the Bimini didn’t do a lot to keep me dry as the South easter blew the rain sideways! I saw a couple of boats around Lilli Pilli. One guy in a Stabicraft got a feed of bream on the flats there all caught on cheesy chicken!

Yeah I had a suspicion as I have seen videos of what Jews do to lives. A big jew has been on the bucket list so disappointing. Was rather a funny spot for it though, middle of the day and not in very deep water,

Sounds like a jewie to me. Their pin-like teeth will do that to a livie just to let you know what you missed😢. Would have been a lot more damage to the livie if it was a tailor and kings don't have teeth to speak of, flattie's are rasping teeth , so yeah pretty sure it was a jew. A good session nevertheless and an interesting report to read, thanks for posting.

Other than the dawia sensor, can you please recommend any other brand or rod? I've had a couple of bad experiences with dawia and now don't buy from them anymore. Got 2 saltists, within 4 weeks, a few of the guide inserts fell out while just sitting on the shelf, called dawia and they said I can either send them back and wait 6 weeks for them to make up their mind wether it's a warranty or I can go fix it myself, (they wanted me to pay shipping both ways). Looking to get a heavier rod for baitfishing for Jews, something in the 15kg range. Do you ever target Jews on lure off the beach? What setup would you use?