monch

Slinky, are you sure you're not a sales rep for ABU in disguise? You sure have exposed the FR community to these great soron STX's, even I am thinking of an excuse/use to buy one.

Search for Blue Mackerel in google.

Same deal with me, millions of follows but not nearly enough strikes. Only from the odd tailor. Can't wait for summer to see how I have improved.

Awesome footage mate and great results Would love to be flicking plastics on the flats at the moment but too caught up with work. Nice to see that the investment in the Yak has paid off, do you bother using your tinny anymore? And that turtleback worm on the sleeper rod works again =P. Keep it up Monch

Its always better to learn from your mistakes earlier and on cheaper gear Reading this section of the forum will definitely get your knowledge up to scratch, Slinky and Alan Tani know just about everything there is to know about reel maintenance. Whether you actually perform the maintenance is another issue, the one which I am struggling with. Btw I have a sedona and i think its due for a service as well, would it be possible for you to tell me how much shimano charged you for it? It would be wonderful if you could PM me your reply

Topwater fishing is the best, don't you just love it when you see a big black torpedo follow your lure and smack it on the surface with explosive force. Great catch btw

Good catch mate, congrats @SAfisho: wow, great info there. Thanks for sharing it

Lucky seeing yakkas let alone slimies there, couldn't see any around yesterday, although i didn't even bother bringing bread. And i'm pretty sure we get the shit end of the stick trying to get slimies landbased. They just seem so much more finicky than out at sea with the boaties pulling in string loads on sabiki jigs. I swear we are being much more stealthy with light line, no weight, tiny hooks and slow wafting baits into a nice trickle of bread berley. I have had more luck in the past with getting small slimies than larger ones though.. guess they are less wary and shy at a young age like most. And again, no squid, i swear i was pulling in at least 1 large squid every squid session this time last year.

Any requirement to bring your own lures?

Hi Kram, to fishraider and there is no problem with starting with a question, in fact it is enjoyed as you can see from the wealth of information being immediately poured into this topic. You will find that more specfic questions such as yours will have more responses and more useful information than a generic question that requires a textbook to answer... so your on the right track I started off with 6lb fireline which is a fused braid that is thicker in comparison to the 'true' woven braids. As mentioned earlier, your braid being 8lb and fused will be stiffer and hold more memory than other braids. This will cause more problems on your 1000 sized reel than say a 2500 sized reel due to the spool size. Your plan seems good, use the braid abit more to wear it in like you do with shoes. Metals will help to wear the braid in because of the extra weight and faster retrieve, leading to less loose line on your retrieves. Make sure after each cast you check that the line is on the line roller and i usually hold the line between my fingers to ensure the 1st few wraps are tight on the reel after the cast. With all lures i usually do my usual retrieves and once in a while i will do a straight retrieve with some speed so as to make sure the line gets reset with tension on the spool. If that fails, i suggest you to try another braid, either woven and/or lighter breaking strain (with both leading to a smaller diameter braid) and save the 8lb fused suffix for use on a larger 2000/2500 sized reel. Monch

That is HUGE, look at the girth on that thing Congrats mate

A quick search on google tells me that the RJ one is a rear-drag version of the FJ one. Rear drag meaning the drag is on the bottom of the reel as opposed to on the top of the spool. I was once told that most reels are designed front-drag now because it allows the drag washers to be larger and thus possibly give more drag for the same amount of pressure on the washers, or give the same drag with less pressure. I would go with the normal FJ one. The Symetre whilst being a good value for money reel and highly recommended by most people is inferior to the Stradic. I don't think you get a spare spool with the Symetre but you do with a Stradic. The spare spool alone, accounts for most of the price difference, ie the Stradic without a spare spool would be similar in price to a Symetre. I think the Stradic has bigger drag washers than a Symetre. The Symetre 400g is also significantly heavier than the Stradic 329g. The Stradic also has 1 more bearing than the Symetre. I bought the Stradic over a Symetre for the above reasons, although mine is a size 2500 not a 4000. Just noticed that you haven't listed the Stradic, might be something to consider as the Saros is similar but older than the Stradic. If you start thinking about the Stradic then you should start comparing it against the Tierra as they are similarly priced.

Great stuff Ray, been a while since your last fishing report, good to see you back at the game Great pictures and that's a lovely looking drop-off in that 2nd picture. Monch

Great results mate, and lol sweep.. who was that guy kidding Yeh, pitching decent sized livies on 2-4kg bream gear sure does feel weird, but it gives results lol, got my first king (60cm rat) doing that for fun. Also, what reel were you using which carked it on 1.5kg drag? Monch

If i go for a lure only session, i usually stick to it. Once in a while though i bring a few slices of bread with me and once the bites slow down on the lures, i mash up the bread for burley and also use it as bait to get some live baits. I can then choose to use them live or cut them up to catch more bait or other fish. Although having lure only sessions seems to help you learn faster, Last time i took some bread along "just in case" i stumbled upon a school of garfish and converted it into my first kingy so you never know...