Matt76

Most Jap egi rods are primarily designed as a SHORE CASTING rod. When fishing jetties or off a boat, a handline will work just as well, but when you need to cast out a 24gm jig out 70~80 metres from shore to reach the weed beds your typical 7ft bream rod (usually with a 12grm cast rating) will not be able to cast out nearly as far. They are parabolic in action but quite stiff as they are designed to work the jigs back in a very agressive manner. As for using a egi rod for fish, they are pretty crap... not half as sensitive in the tip as normal rods and to be honest they just don't feel right when working plastics or hardbods. If you are looking for a rods to do it all, look at some Jap seabass rods. Similar length to the egi rods so great for casting but a more sensitive tip.

Hey bud, I use a Wilson FSU5120 and a custom made Kilwell FSU 5120 for casting out an 8oz sinker and a whole fish bait (30cm tailor size) off the rocks and beach for snapper and jews here in WA in heavy swells. Does the job very nicely. 7ft rods are better when fighting fish but can't really chuck out a big bait in the surf or when you need some casting distance.

Far out the kings really are huge over there, awesome story and effort landing em!!

thats probably about as big as yellowfin whitings get really.. well done!

Hey all, Just wondering if any of you fellas might know if sending bait interstate is allowed. Reason being I moved to Perth from Sydney and would like to be able to have some live blood worms sent here to catch some fat whiting. For some reason tackle stores cannot stock live bait here and the frozen ones are quiet bad and expensive. Also does anyone know a tackle shop that sells the large bags of it, I remember a mate once got a larger than sandwich bag with atleast 30 odd 6 inch worms for around $30?? Was a while ago tho.. Any help would be appreciated, cheers!

Well done buddy, I'm sure your mum was stoked. Next time bleed them straight away and dont freeze them, tastes much better fresh.

I guess it mostly depends on where your fishing mate. Here in Perth WA when chasing landbased snapper off rockwalls we like to use 11/12/13 foot rods with a fair bit of backbone like a 9 wrap, FSU5120 or similar as we usually fish with 25+ NW winds right in our face and need to use 8oz ~ 10oz sinkers to cast against the wind and lob out a big bait. However the areas we fish dont require a far cast as the snapper tend to feed quite close in during and after a big storm so we usually load a large spin reel like a Spheros, Spinfisher etc, Alvey or OH with 12 ~ 15kg mono. The snapper we usually get here are around 5 ~ 10kg and we usually get them on whole fish baits or a whole fresh/live calamari.

Cheers mate, I've gone with the certate btw and it's a very sweet reel. The new shimanos are great too, have 3 of the new stradic and your right, hassle free braid fishing Only thing with the new stellas Im concerned about is the magnesium frame for saltwater use..

Hey guys, Was wondering if anyone here has any opinions of the above reel. Tossing up between the stella or a certate 3500HD custom to order from the states. Warranty wise, would it be much of a hassle servicing either of the reels? Cheers

Hey mate, should try one of those whitings for a livey.. In perth, the river whitings are one of the best livies to use for river jews. Cheers

lol I use tennis grip over the cork on my shiny new rod. Feels great

Thanks for all the replies fellas Will head into wetheril park and pick one up Saturday,

Tried Freddy's, only had the 4500 in stock and they couldnt order a 6500 in for some reason Thanks for the suggestion anyway

I've been to 2 in Auburn, 1 in ryde and another one near strathfield and none had them in stock Was thinking about buying one from ebay but I'd rather have the assurance of buying it from a shop as I've been told of fake imitations floating around on ebay.

G'day Fishraiders, I've been hearing some great things about the Shimano Baitrunners series and have been looking around for the 6500B model. Problem is, most of the local fishing stores around sydney do not seem to stock them. Does anyone know any stores around Sydney that sell these reels at a reasonable price? Also, any suggestions on which rod to complement the reel? I will be using it mostly for rock/beach fishing going for salmon, kings and jews. I have been looking at some 10ft ugly stick rods but I've found that there are 2 versions, gold and platinum, one of them are meant to be the older series which were apparently better quality. Anyone shed some light on this? Cheers