MAH

The washers on the plunger of bait pumps deteriorate pretty quickly. But no need to rush off to the tackle shop, just pull out that old pair of thongs you kept for DIY projects. Put the thong on the ground and place the end of the bait pump on top, then twist back and forth while pushing down. It will soon cut a perfectly sized circle, which you can use as a replacement washer.

I rigged it like I do for live nippers. With a nipper I always hook the tail first. When a nipper is trying to flee they swim backwards.

Tried the new softy plastic this morning. Not a success, but also not a failure. I'm certainly not BJSlick and fishing the morning tide off the beach for YFW on metro beaches is new to me. I normally fish for YFW in the afternoon on shallow areas with the rising tide flooding over the sand. Metro, my normal patch is Kingston Park, using nippers. I also fish the YP quite a bit for YFW, Moonta Bay between Simms Cove and Rossiters Point, or the sand spit at Black Point. So this is new territory for me. Also, I don't usually use soft plastics, on metro beaches I use nippers and on the YP

I did a quick test of the buoyancy. Although it floats, it's not enough to get the ned rig to stand up, so I'm going to use the worm hook with a sliding sinker, much like my standard YFW rig when using live nippers. I'm also going to buy a pack of the Zman TRD Crawz in bloodworm to use with the ned rig and try both side by side. I'll report back how I go. Looks like Thursday will be my first chance. Plan is to start in front of the Broadway kiosk and start moving south. Will try and get there at 5.30am for first light, with high tide at 7am.

I bought a pack of Savage Gear Manic Creature soft plastics in bloodworm UV. They look a lot like a nipper/bass yabby and I'm going to try them on the metro beaches to see if YFW will take them. I've got a couple of choices to make about rigging them. I could ned rig it. Or I could use a fairly standard sliding sinker YFW rig (which seems to be what Americans call a Carolina rig). If I go with he standard YFW rig, do I use a standard long shank hook and thread it on like I would a live nipper. Or do I use an offset worm hook and a semi-weedless rig with the hook

This sort of thing really pushes my buttons. I fish Glenelg jetty quite a bit and see similar things happening. There is a bloke that is seen as a local garfish guru, but I see him regularly slip small fish into his white bucket of shame. He knows what he's doing, he doesn't measure them and just slyly slips them into the bucket. Just from my own observations, at Glenelg, most people are doing the right thing measuring crabs. But some "old timers" are taking the mickey with the fish they are keeping.

What are they doing with all these crabs? Are they selling them? And good on you for having the courage to step in and release some undersized crabs.

No, the Platypus definitely feels thicker and the Duel feels the thinnest. The Duel feels more like some 6lb line I have that is listed as 0.07mm. I'm with you, I just want to know the true breaking strain, so I can use the thinnest line I need, rather than underrating the braking strain and ending up with heavier line. My Emeraldas reel supposedly can fit 200m of 0.6 PE. The Platypus braid I have it spooled with is supposedly 0.6, but there is no way I can fit 200m.

Last night I was tying a few hooks ready for the warmer weather and had out my box of lines. I looked at the braids I had; J-Braid 8 - 8lb Shimano Kairiki 4 - 10lb Platypus P8 - 10lb Duel Hardcore Pro X4 - 12lb All nice braided line and all bought specifically for different purpose. But when I look closely, they are basically the same diameter (either 0.13mm or 0.14mm).

I've been using Platypus P8 and quite like it. But it's certainly confusing, it lists the breaking strain, equivalent mono diameter and the actual unknotted breaking strain. Its a PITA not knowing what the real strength of the line is. If they published the proper data, I'm sure I could go down in size/lighter line and not risk bust-offs. This is what I think is really happening, by under promising the performance of the line, we say to ourselves this line is great, I never break-off, but it's not really the quality of the line, but that it's over rated to begin with.

I've posted a couple of reports of local land based squid fishing and thought I'd give a run down of the rig I use. So lets get the obvious out of the way, you don't need anything fancy to catch squid, and a handline with a jig will catch you squid. However, if you are land based fishing from popular metro spots, there are some upgrades that will increase your chances. Rod Number one item I would suggest is a long rod capable of flinging a jig a long distance. Every man and his dog will be covering the same area with their casts, but if you can cast further and search an area ot

Amazon. We have Amazon Prime for eBooks, video streaming service, etc. As part of the Prime package you can order many products from the overseas stores and not pay postage if the order is $49 and over. Order a few SP and ned rigs and it doesn't take much to get to $49. You can also pick up some of the SPs for a pretty good price. I got the 3 packs $23.37.

No tips, but I have bought some SPs, ned rigs and cheb rigs to try this summer for KGW, flatties and YFW. No idea if will work but I'm going to have a go. The SPs I've bought are TRD Crawz, TRD Ticklerz and TRD Tube.

Or if anyone would like a longer rod I have brand new 8'9" Daiwa Emeraldas S 89MH-AF. Asking $180.

Did anyone receive a fishing related Fathers Day Gift? My son (9 years old) gave me a selection of squid jigs. Amazingly they are all jigs I would have selected . My wife knows I'm a hard person to buy gifts for, so we have a simple arrangement; I buy what I want and store items away in a cupboard, then whether its my birthday, Christmas, etc,. and people ask her what to buy me, she can just go to the cupboard and grab an item. It's a win win, she doesn't have to shop for me and I get what I really want . The jigs are a mix of rattle, UV, and different weights for different sink ra

I've got several jigs with a rattle. Can't say for certain if they make a difference. I normally put a rattle jig on at the start of a session and on several occasions I had a hit on the first couple of casts, then nothing else for the whole session. This suggests to me, if a squid is about the rattle jig gets their attention. I like the rattle jigs by Duel and Daiwa. I have one by Rui that I'm yet to try. I've noticed that jigs are getting a little scarce. The place in Japan I normally buy jigs from has run out of most popular jigs.

Snap! I have an Emeraldas I'm just about to re-spool with 12lb Duel Hardcore Pro X4 And I have a new Sephia BB C3000SDH that I'm going to spool with 10lb Platypus P8

I don't think there is any specific benefit, but nor do I think there is any specific negative. It's just a matter of preference. I think that preference stems from a preference for style of fishing. It's something that people who fish small reels, in a finesse fashion, or squid fishos may prefer. I'm never going to lose a big fish by being spooled, because I rarely fish those situations. If I am throwing soft plastics or hard bodies that might get picked up by something bigger, I'm using a different reel with a standard depth spool. Just as I don't have just one rod, I don't have one

I like shallow spool reels, but most of my fishing is finese or squid. Even with a shallow spool reel I fit 150m to 200m of braid, as it's mainly 6lb or maybe 8lb, except for 12lb for squid. I just prefer not to have backing line. And I'm not worried that YFW is going to spool me.

Certainly worth it if you buy some braid and some lures, plus maybe a cheap reel. Last order I did I picked up a double handle Shimano Sephia reel for $176 vs the $300 in Australia.

Depends on exchange rate and which jigs you want. Last lot I bought were just Daiwa and YoZuri and they ranged from $8.91 to $10.70. Other times it might be about $12. It works out to be around the same price as the Rui jigs, but you get the higher quality jigs.

The jigs I've posted are all pretty pricey in Australia and I wouldn't buy them if I couldn't get a really good price from Japanese online stores. Problem is you need to buy in bulk to get the shipping free, normally about US$100/AUD$135. It's a lot of money upfront but OK if you have mates or if you are buying a few squid jigs, a couple of poppers, some minnows, vibes and some soft plastics. This is what I do, stock up on a range of items, buying doubles of a few favourites as you know you will lose some to snags. Then when I need to replace some jigs one or two at a time, I buy Rui jigs, unt

Last one is a Yamashita jig. This is from the OH K range. It's an excellent quality jig. Really nice fine cloth which supposedly holds heat better and is more attractive to squid. It doesn't show up in the photo but it has a reflective lateral line, much a fish. At the rear you can see a small clear plastic "keel" or hydro-fin as YoZuri call it. Supposedly this helps stabilise the fall and point the jig into any current. Other subtle elements are the additional balance weights at the top of the barbs and the holes in the keel weight which give additional points for attaching sinkers and allow

The jigs below are Diawa jigs and they are superb. The attention to detail is probably the best in the jigs I own. The quality of the cloth, the excellent paint jobs underneath, the variation in colour of the feathers and flush set eyes all add up to a high quality jig. Both of these jigs are rattle jigs. The green jig is a glow in the dark jig, but its a bit muted compared to the Rui red head. The Daiwa jigs have their tow point set horizontally compared to vertically for most jigs and I find it's a bit harder to put on and take of a snap like a Breaden snap. The jigs have a really nice fall

When compared to other brands higher end models, the Rui jigs are not to the same standard. Below is a YoZuri jig. I think the basic YoZuri jigs are very overpriced, but some of the other jigs like the one below are excellent. It doesn't show in the photo, but this jig has a very sparkly shimmer that I haven't seen in the Rui jigs I've bought. It also has a rattle. There is a wire that goes around the sinker, which YoZuri calls a snagless sinker. Unlike most jigs it doesn't have feather like fins, but rather solid rubber like fins that glow in the dark. This particular jig is phosphorescent (g