yellow door 1

Bit over 3kg from Victoria PPB

p.s. extremely unsafe testing methods were used

Snapped my testing rig and punched myself in the face - but it got to about 18kg before the wire testing rig snapped -

The fishing hook glued into the jighead did not budge
 

If you want to add a tow point to a jighead. Just cut a hook - drill a hole and super glue it in

gives a surprisingly strong hold. I couldn’t pull it out with 2 sets of pliers 

I've started chucking 1/28th's in 9m of water, when conditions allow me to get them down to where the sounder says the fish are.

The same plastic will remain untouched (Almost) on 1/4er's or 1/8th's - but a plastic that doesnt plummet, will get smashed on the drop by the unstoppables that make this technique a bit ridiculous on my current tiny jigheads.

Sure you can grub heavy heads along the bottom and get hits and land the smaller dumber fish. But on the 1/28th's you barely need any skill at all. Just spot the fish on the sounder and count to 40 as the 1/28th sinks - then hang on until you get smoked by the bigger fish

Thanks you just reminded me to fix a guide I busted last week

a mate busted one of his in the same incident - I said its an easy 8 min fix - he said he was just going to buy a new rod.

This aint pretty - but based on previous experience - it doesnt have to be pretty to last

How does your system work?

Beautiful scenery and Fish Adrian

Ive only recently become a true convert to the spinning blade.

I always thought fish had to be fired up to hit them.

I actually ran a test last night on a small lake - I walked the length of it casting a 2 inch paddle tail for a few hits - then walked my way back with the jig spinner and they were whacking the hell out of it.

They were tiny reddies -too small to fit the big hook in their mouth but the increase in hits was very noticeable.

Ive had sessions where the reverse is true - but I used to assume if they were not hitting subtle lures - they would ignore loud spinning blades aswell

Googled earthed a possible redfin hole today - it wasnt smooth sailing trying to find an access point - and that theme continued for the short session.

Forgot the Mirage drive - Got my balls wet getting in and discovered I have no idea how to use my new sounder. (Not completely my fault - the stupid thing has a feature where it turns the transducer off for some reason - and I could fix it on the water no matter how many random buttons I pressed)

On 20/07/2023 at 10:33 AM, Plectropomus said:

are you selling some of those shiny metal jigs? 

Nah Mate Ive only got enough for personal use

I bought a heap ages ago and I dont really use blades that often anymore - but Ill hang on to the ones I have left

55 minutes ago, dmck said:

Gee... you got some good stuff at the dump !! 

I was told more than once we were there to dump stuff - not to pick stuff up

Mate invited me down to check out the new joint he just moved into. Sounded great. We were going to have a BBQ, Go watch local footy and have a few beers.

That translates to - a few trips to the tip - few loads of furniture from the old place and spending the rest of the day building over head storage in his new car-port

Nice one MAH - Handy skill to have the old DIY Tackle making.

It can get you out of alot of last minute jams, where if you dont make it yourself, there is no immediate alternative.

And in your case, you have to option to choose High Quality components and make something better than store bought - thats mm perfect to your specfications. Hats off

Plus all the money you save can be spent  cheap power tools to make stuff for “free”

I say cheap - but the prices for individually purchased “dremel bits” make some of the rip off merchants in the tackle game seem like saints

11 hours ago, Wert said:

Honestly I generally prefer to pay up for quality (but not necessarily super expensive) stuff, I've found that long term you win, quality gear, lures and accessories may look similar to cheaper stuff but they just function better (no weird sinking lures for example) and last so much longer.

That all said cheap makes complete sense for a lot of your tinkering and that net looks the goods, for sure longer inserts would help but I don't see binding doing much and it may also be counterproductive due to potentially holding moisture and helping corrosion.

Another solution you might consider is if the pole can handle it you could drill a couple of holes and bend the ends of the inserts out then grind down to size so the net head clips into place, get that right and it won't be going anywhere.

Nice one Wert - thanks for the tips. I love the drilling hole and bending tines so they clip in, suggestion.

If I need to build a tougher net that method will 100% get a run

I used to fish for Bream on Lures  - So Im well versed in how to throw cash at a problem - A loomis/certate combo was as crazy as I got - but that didnt fix anything - I still sucked - If you offered me 10 x $20 ecogear blades or 10 my favorite little $1.40 blades I found while gambling on Ali Express (and I couldnt resell them) - I'll let you guess which ones Id pick.

Gambling on cheap lures is very low stakes with possibly huge rewards - And I fish alot and go through alot of tackle - Losing 5 eco gears in a session used to cost me $100 - Losing 5 cheapies, I catch more fish on, Would cost me $7.  That adds up when you fish 4 to 7 sessions a week

 

Just noticed how I could have made the neck stronger by lengthening the steel inserts - I was also going to bind rope around the insertion point for extra support - but its only for little fish and it just withstood me popping veins in my neck to straighten the steel - so it should be right

The $10 replacement net was a lie - cheeky advertising by a shonky Ali Express shop

So I ended up with a $17 one from ebay

Ground some grooves in the steel, so the glue had something to grip on to

I also originally built it, so was weighted such a way, that it would have a slight lean toward the fish for left handed netting 

That was a mistake

It had a heavy lean

So I ditched those plans and got angry - I was stepping on  - getting it in head locks - but finally the vice gave me the opportunity to unleash enough fury to get it into perfect balance

The steel ring is a bit out of whack now but it balances just the way I want it to for left or right handed netting

Far out Nothing better when something unexpected and big take the hooks - top effort

not sure how either of these will go but.....

These thin worms are a pain to rig - so I cut up some shrink tube to protect them from the thread - then lashed them on - with a dab of super glue on the securing knots

Just waiting to see if there is a reaction and the different plastic causes the "Zman Style" plastic to melt.

Also -  I was looking up Kayak nets and they are pretty exxy.  I can get a $10 replacement rubber net off ali expres - and I had the steel rod and pvc in the garage - just heated it up - and put a pencil in the middle of the wires and stepped on it - a bit of araldite will lock them in place - and bang - cheap net for little stuff.

What an awesome fish - Love the colours - Great pics - congrats on the PB and getting it from such beautiful surrounds is the icing on the cake

1 hour ago, Soobz said:

I've only got a couple of sinking minnows, neither are bum first, I assume they weighted yours for better casting at the cost of sinking weird. What bent the hook? Surely not that fish...

Thanks for the details on your sinking minnows.

Nah the fish spazzed out while I was removing hooks with pliers - They are pretty light gauge though - not quite Owner St-ll light-wire - but closer to the 11's than the 36ers

Took 2 casts to pass the micro perch test. Then 2 more to pass it again.……..
 

on the down side the trebs don’t like rough treatment and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the brisk arse first sink on the pause. 
 

I haven’t used sinking bibbed minnows before. Is the arse first sink pretty standard?

After the toothies put a dint in my light weight metal collection - I figured Id grab a few 30 grammers - and I also found myself wanting some sinking bibbed minnows to chuck off the top of bridges - ali express order came through today - not sure how any any of them will swim - but I like the look of them

just coloured in the t-track in with a grey lead pencil - then transferred it onto a bit of paper - to save me some mucking around when choosing fittings