Yes, those lures look similar, not sure what the colours are though.
Yes, you should spool up with gelspun or braid for your plastic fishing, and yes this line is good for other types of fishing as well, particularly trolling or casting with lures, and bait fishing for shy biting species like leatherjackets and whiting.
I'm not sure about using those sps for Patto River, from what I've heard it's not an easy spot to fish successfully with sps but you can pull fish from there. I've only ever caught small salmon at the mouth of the Patto using sps.
thanks again jaz! <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' /> well today im going to moggs creek for about 4 days. the weather isnt looking great but it should still be a bit of fun. hoping to have a bit of a fish and maybe spear. oh and the lures i showed in my last post i knew they werent the right colours i just wanted to know if that was the style of lure you were talking about jaz. One more things do line colours make a difference? what colour do you recomend?
Yellow fireline or braid is easier for you to see, and thus it makes it easier to detect subtle bites, or bites "on the drop", but as for the fish, I don't think it matters. I am currently running 8 pound fireline on my two sp rods, one is yellow, one is smoke colour.
moggs was a disaster fishing-wise <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' /> ... i still had a good time though. didn't do any spearfishing <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> but did quite a bit of surfing. for 3 or 4 days we were there only 1 small australian salmon was caught ( 5cm long ). back to the fireline subject, is 8 pound enough for general ppb fishing?? i was gonna buy 12lbs.
Bad luck about Moggs - when you have a trip like that, I like to think of it as 'saving up the fish for next time'.
I reckon 8 pound is enough for general PPB work, unless you are specifically targeting larger snapper in season (4kg+). I have caught some sizeable fish on 8 pound, snapper to 50cm, flathead to 55cm, salmon to 45cm, snook to 65cm and some big banjo sharks. If you take your time and set the drag appropriately, you can land big fish on light line. Comparing 8 pound to 12 pound fireline - the 8 pound will give you better feel for the sp or bait - if it was me I'd go for the 8.
Here are some photos of my kayak fishing adventure on the weekend - chasing elephant fish on Westernport Bay. The tide really rips around there! We launched at Rhyll, and managed to land a few elephants, and other things.
Awesome pics jaz! <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup2.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' /> have only hooked up to 1 elephant in my time it got off though <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> ... i went to K-mart today to have a look at lures, fireline etc. the fireline isnt cheap!!! for 150 yards of 8lb line it was about $22!!! they had no berkley lures whatsoever to my dissapointment. went for a spear today and it was a disaster! see melbourne metro region spearfishing thread...
Great photos jaz, but i can imagine that you would get a fair workout paddling around on that. Great way to get around, I can just imagine the benefits... no noisy engine, decent workout, no launching queues... just almost makes me want to get one <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' />
hey jazman, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using a bait caster rod and reel combo? a few years ago in k-mart they were selling a baitcaster combo with no rod tip for $12 so i thought what the heck i'll buy it. i also bought a pistol grip rod at about that time for $16. the reel is a jarvis walker national II and the rod is from the vector II series i think.
Advantages: you can put in much more accurate casts with a baitcaster - but this is not such an issue unless you are (for example) casting lures tight in to snags. Baitcasters also have a better and smoother drag system than threadline or 'egg beater' reels. They also do not introduce twist into the line, which threadline reels do.
Disadvantages: learning to cast with a baitcaster can be a trying experience! The spool spins freely when you cast, and you have to stop it with your thumb when the bait/lure stops - if you mistime it, you will get a big backlash, which needs to be untangled before you can cast again (I have had some shockers which have taken >30 minutes to undo!). So you need to practice a lot, and 'educate' your thumb so it knows when to stop the spool. I use to practice casting sinkers into an empty icecream punnet from about 20m away Also, you can't cast very light weights with a baitcaster - you'll struggle to cast anything lighter than about 8-10 grams.
Your outfit should be ok for bait fishing in PPB, or for casting heavier lures, although I have to say I don't have much faith in Jarvis Walker reels (they made their name for producing quality fishing RODS, their reels are just rebranded imports) - but you did get it for a good price, so if you look after it it should be ok.
yeah the original price for the baitcaster combo was 69.95, but the top half was missing so it was cheap. i have some cheap and nasty soft plastics that i have been playing around with using my baitcaster. i have just been casting in my pool but yeah if you try and cast yoo hard you get lots of excess line building up in your spool it happend to me twice already!
Hey Jazzman great photos mate... your making me keen for a kyak! You sure youre not trying to sell them?!
One question though.. you mentioned the tide in western port... We've all seen tear through there pretty fast, do ya have any troubles getting back in or do you just pick your times and go for it?
Rohan - no I don't sell kayaks! Kayak fishing is one of those sports which becomes addictive, and the more you do it, the more you want to do it. For example, I used to go flounder spearing a few nights a week - but until last night, I hadn't been at all since I bought my kayak (>6 months ago). The tide in western port created an anchoring problem for pretty much everyone except me - most guys were using 2.5kg dumbells as anchors, which are usually more than adequate for Port Phillip, I was using a 6kg diving weight. Paddling against the tide wasn't too much of a problem, you just don't move that quick.
Poodge, yes it does have a depth sounder, which is playing up at the moment (I need to clean the terminals). It is very useful for fishing around Black Rock and Beaumaris, because you can easily find the reefs and drop offs.
jaz have you been out since the weather has been colder? i havent although today i got back from school camp at lake eildon. yesterday we had a bit of a fish. There were about 40 people from our camp fishing and despite the pieces of crap that the school rods were i stil managed to catch the only fish out of the whole camp. it just goes to show that a bit of experience helps. it was only a small redfin about 15cm long but still it was fun. its funny as how people crowd your fish when they arnt catching anything and as soon as i caught my fish every1 would jump in and take my spot.
Yep, my girlfriend and I (and a few other kayaking mates) went out off Beaumaris yesterday, and were joined by about 100 other boats chasing pinkies. The pinkies weren't cooperating, so the GF and I targetted squid and managed 19 between us, including 2 that were over 1kg - a great size for that area of PPB. Since the weather has started to turn colder I am now wearing a full wetsuit and booties when I go kayak fishing - it's not the greatest fashion statement but yesterday I was as warm as toast <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ink' />
Nice work with the redfin <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/xyxthumbs.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' />
yesterday went for a drive with dad to capacity sports in sandringham. we had a look around for my birthday present and by the looks of it im going to get a escapade by q-kayaks <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thumbsup2:' /> . i will get to have a go before i buy it aswell (like you said i should) because they let you hire one before you buy it and if you end up buying they take the hire costs away from the price you pay for the yak. it retails for $795 brand new but will probably end up costing around $900. im am gonna go halves with my parents as i have been saving my pennies hard <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup2.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thumbsup2:' /> ! here is a pic off the website. (mine wont have a depth sounder though like the pic although maybe in the future it would be worth investing in one).
' /> but did quite a bit of surfing. for 3 or 4 days we were there only 1 small australian salmon was caught ( 5cm long ). back to the fireline subject, is 8 pound enough for general ppb fishing?? i was gonna buy 12lbs. 
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