Leon C

They certainly fight hard for their size.

Yep, such a nice spot. Just have to pick the tide to be able to use the boat ramp.

Why do you open the bream up that way?

That's a solid bream, I've read that ones that size might be decades old.

I had a productive session on the water this afternoon. Fishing from my rowing skiff as well as a bit of wading, I went looking for some bream and flathead with a fat crankbait and a soft plastic grub. Despite covering a fairly wide area of sea-grass, sand flats and channel, I got nothing. As the light faded, something was stirring up the baitfish on the surface. While rowing up the creek in the direction of the disturbance, the first tailor hit the grub I had trailing in the water. This was a bit of unintentional trolling, 1 metre from the boat. This one spat the hook after a brief fight, but I was quickly onto another. I landed the small tailor, which was only significant in that it is my second ever fish on a soft plastic lure. Seeing some frantic surface action, I switched to a 70mm Sugapen. This picked up two tailor in as many casts, before I was bitten off while fighting another. I think a fish other than the one I had hooked must have chomped the line, since I lost the whole leader. Switching to a second rod, I clipped on a 90mm Sugapen and landed a few more. All the tailor were between 30 and 40cm. The action stopped fairly abruptly with the last bit of light. The whole situation was pretty nerve-wracking, since I had only a 6lb leader. Once I was finished with the tailor, the tide had turned and I decided to try some bait fishing. I rowed to the creek mouth and started drifting back in with the first movement of the incoming tide. Some bits of tailor fillet, unweighted, provided me two bream in half an hour. The largest was 30cm. I could see there were plenty more around, but by that point I had plenty of fish. My little family is going to be eating quite a few fishy meals in the next couple of days.

Some amazing looking fish there.

Sounds like a good approach. The key seems to be to fish beaches without many people and their dogs, so you don't have to keep everything about your person.

I was a bit suspicious of the stuff, since it often seems to be in the bargain bin at tackle shops. So far, so good though.

Nice catch. Here's a question I've been pondering lately. Do you take an esky or cooler bag when walking the beach like this, with the intent of catching a feed?

That's an interesting point. The Gliss line I am using now claims to be some sort of hybrid material. Could just be marketing but I will investigate. I must say it has been working really well the last few days.

Ok, I might pick some up. Do you have any preferences for brand? I've been using 8kg braid - would that be about right for mono? I wonder if I could get away with lighter line. I'm realistically only looking at tailor/salmon with lures and maybe bait fishing for bream/whiting/flathead with this setup.

I am fishing for a feed most times, just the undersize ones I need to release. Would you attach a single hook directly to the split ring or use an assist cord? I don't suppose there is any reason to use singles with inline eyes on a lure like this? The BG is on a lighter setup I was just using for the small soft plastic this afternoon. With the metals, I'm using a 3m rod, 5-8kg rated. It has a 40 size reel. When I bought this setup a couple of years ago, I spooled it with 15lb Platypus braid. I had no end of trouble with casting knots. I thought I was winning if I had half a dozen casts in a row without some sort of hang-up. About a month ago, I changed over to Gliss line. It has a similar strength rating but is a much smaller diameter and seems way smoother. I also switched from the Alberto knot to the FG for my leader. Since these changes, my use of this combo has been totally transformed. The tangle today was maybe the second or third in several sessions. It has made spinning from the beach or rocks actually enjoyable! A spare spool would be a good idea, although this reel has a mechanical defect so is not worth getting another spool for unless I repair it.

I hit my nearest sandy beach before dawn this morning. Swell was up a bit, just coming up to the top of the tide. There was a bit of a shore dump and I was not sure where the gutters were, if any. I had a few casts with two Berkely sandworms (50mm) on a paternoster, but got no bites. This is the first time I have tried this approach after reading that some people consider these plastics a fair substitute for live worms. Once there was enough light, I moved down the beach a bit and switched to a Halco Twisty 30g in gold. 3rd cast got a nice tailor. After a few more casts I lost the lure, its leader and a bit of braid right out behind the break, when a knot formed and hung up on a line guide as I cast. That was pretty annoying. I don't like losing gear and particularly hate leaving line in the water. I re-tied my leader and switched to another metal and kept spinning, until the dog walkers and swimmers brought the session to a close. This afternoon, the wind was still quite calm so I went and had a go off the rocks in Ulladulla harbour. I cast a couple of different metal lures for a while, before switching to another gold Twisty. I hooked a small tailor and released it. I also flicked a soft plastic grub around the rocks with no result. I had to leave my spot before I was cut off by the rising tide. Flicking the grub in from the sandy beach in the harbour resulted in a tiny flathead - my first ever fish on a soft plastic. All in all, a pretty good outcome for a work day. I'm keen to keep after the tailor, I'm very new to spinning for them but have come home with a feed more often than not over the last few sessions. The Halco lure seems to work, but I am finding the treble is a bit destructive for releasing fish. Does anyone have any advice on this? Should I just de-barb or would it be better to change to single or assist hooks? Any other lures I should consider?

I'm no expert, but silver trevally are definitely in 2-4m deep water in south coast estuaries.

Wow, this thread took off! Perhaps I should have thought about it a bit longer, but I ordered the Nasci 1000 for $130 on Wednesday night and had it turn up this morning. Seems like there is a fair bit of support for the cheaper reels in these small sizes, with a few people favouring the higher end stuff. A recent experience made me shy away from the cheapies. I bought a Fin Nor LT40 last year, and after only a few sessions, the main gear assembly failed - the zinc gear broke free from the steel shaft around which is is cast. Seems like I was just unlucky. My logic for not spending more, is that the Daiwa BG I have seems extremely well made, so I assumed that a Shimano offering at the same price range would be comparable quality. The next Shimano up the food chain that I looked at, the Stradic, was a fair bit more expensive. Anyway, the reel seems smooth and light in my hands and I'm happy it has the seals to protect it from some incidental splashes. I'll get it spooled up with line and hopefully get out on the water next week some time, when this westerly dies down. Thanks to everyone for the considered input, there is plenty of knowledge and experience around here.

Hi everyone thanks for the input. I'd like to keep it under $150 unless there is a compelling reason to stretch a bit more.

Just a thought - what sort of hooks are you using? Barbed trebles are pretty difficult at the best of times. De-barbed singles would help a lot. Edit: ^what he said.

I'm trying to decide on a reel to match my 1-3kg Samaki Archer rod. I currently have a Daiwa BG 2000 on it, which is the nicest reel I've owned. It just feels a bit heavy for this rod, and would be a better match for my 2-4kg rod, which currently shares a crusty old reel with another rod I use for squid. These two oufits are what I will take with me to fish estuaries from my rowing skiff, which sometimes involves sand-flat wading. It's basically a kayak fishing situation, with much less chance of saltwater dunking. I am mostly throwing small hard-bodies and will probably go for 0.06mm/6lb braid. Is there anything better than the Shimano Nasci 1000 for similar money?

I can tell you from experience that hooking a gannet is a bad time for everyone involved.