dirvin21

look at the lure weight rating for the rod and check it against the lures you intend to use

answer your first question the handles are fixed and can't be changed try and buy the best quality reel you can afford the cheaper ones just don't perform or last long I use a shimano curado K for most of my cod fishing and also doubles for snag bashing jacks get a really good quality reel for the price

When I lose a fish I generally say something along the lines of "OH DEAR THAT'S A REAL PICKLE"! apparently Amy and the kids only hear a weird mixture of expletives

Most likely the main bearing has seized, you can get a replacement bearing or find a tackle shop that can do it

bit of a belated post, caught weeks ago with all the goings on forgot to post it After 25+ years of bass fishing finally cracked the 50 went 52cm on a jig spinner and a 2.5 inch grub

Divers are probably matching what they're eating, as the weather cools they'll be less likely to hit surface I've never had success with skirted spinnerbaits for bass but attaching a jigspinner to a grub style plastic doesn't fail me very often

Good stuff mate, i occasinally use lip grips on bigger bass in the kayak if I'm using a lure with trebles, don't forget with bigger fish to support their belly Can't wait to read your report when you hook a 40+ I'm sure it won't be long

A basic bream type set-up, 1-3 kg or 2-4kg rod 1000 or 2500 reel with some 6lb braid Shimano catana rods are decent for the price reel wise you could go a sienna or cazna or if you want a bit better drag quality a nasci isn't bad value for $

Awesome write up mate and cracking fish

Thanks Donna.... bit of a shock

Maccks should still be around but no guarantee, usually pretty good time of year for fishing in general

It may have been condition change, the wind suddenly stopped right around the time I got the first fish, I often find with cod fishing you can put in hours for nothing and all of a sudden start catching fish that seem to disappear as quickly as they came on

If you're traveling from Mudgee it'll be quite a bit more than 13 hours

It's been almost a year since I last went cod fishing been trying hard to get out there the last few weeks finally this week everything aligned bar a fishing buddy in the end I decided to head solo, it's a remote location so I always take a PLB and plenty of first aid gear. After the long drive the national park entry was a welcome sight, never seen it so green the river was a bit lower and dirtier than usual upstream was not fishable from the kayak headed downstream to the bigger section of river long story short I casted for over hours for 1 hit, alternated between a weedless plastic and a spinnerbait, it's funny with cod fishing you start full of confidence and they have a way of teaching humility. My mood was going downhill fast I actually started thinking of alternate places to fish or just packing up and driving home All hope gone tried flicking a rediculous cast into some sticks it went nowhere near it's intended target............ the hit scared me that much I knocked the reel out of gear in a sickening display of fishing skill managed to get some hurt on the fish and finally in the net relief being the understatement of 2020, a nice 60cm cod, a good quality fish for the section of river, with the doughnut avoided deicided to focus my efforts with soft plactics, after 3 1/2 hours for 1 fish, 4 casts later another nice fish from some nasty timber, the hits started to come regulary and got another low 50's that jumped out of the yak before I could get a photo With the light fading and some distance back to camp with some nasty portage started making my way back not before I tied on a surface lure cruising along put a cast about 2m short of it's intended target slowing down to try again, surface lure gets smashed scared the life out of me, the fish missed it, so put another cast in scared me as much the second time but this time came up tight not a big one but my first cod on surface, won't be forgetting that one in a hurry had another fish in the morning walking upriver had a couple of follows but no fish, still went home happy with my cod fix cheers for reading Dave

mate you missed a quality night of constant wake-ups from fighting possums........... gotta love the bush