yellow door 1

If weather permits this weekend. I’ll give the old Jarvis walker fibreglass nibble tip -a head to head challenge with the daiwa scratchy graphite stick

53 minutes ago, Soobz said:

I'd love some tips on filleting snook. I'm not happy with the way I am doing it myself.

As for eating, fresh snook is on par with KGW IMO. In both cases this of course varies with how they were treated/processed and the size of the fish and where they were caught.

And whilst we're talking snook, why is it some snook fight like hell and some give up after 5s?

Yeah we used to catch 40 pinkies for every snook on lures. The standard snook take was a noticeable single take - no warnings with missed hits - then a bit more weight than normal - then they would come to boat quite easily in a slow arc. Then when you pulled there heads up to the surface, they would shake their heads and slice through 8lb leader and steal your lure.

But occasionally you would get one that put on the after burners and went nuts - usually the bigger than average units.

I watched them getting air bourne while smashing gars, so they do have the ability to generate power - most of them save a bit for when they are in the boat and your fingers are near their mouths

This should shave a few seconds off the braid reversing process
 

3 hours ago, MAH said:

Makes sense to me. If you have only one or two reels it may not be worth it, but I have 6 reels and use 3 different diameter/strength lines. If I save $10 per reel it's worth the effort.

Yeah if I break up a 300m spool - a 100m top shot of 8lb braid currently costs me $3.16.

But when I think of all the extra effort I go to save $6 by not just using the whole 300m of braid per reel - Its bordering on my limits for effort vs money saved

But it all stems back to my bream on plastic days, when I used to buy 120 yard top shots of braid, for up to 10 times the price I pay now.

Using top shots is how Ive always done it - so Ive just continued doing it.

Back in the day - top shotting would save me $60 a reel - so there was really no questions to be asked - but these days there is room for self reflection because the drawn out process only saves me $6 a reel.

17 hours ago, Rybak said:

Alot of tackle shops do the unspooling & spooling for free...Once you've bought the line from them...Well they have for me.

Yeah my braid shopping is all online these days - and I tend to buy bulk spools and break them up into 100m top shots to stretch the dollars a bit further.

So all my spooling is done at home - the lengths Ill go to, to save a few bucks, sometimes doesnt even make sense to me.  

35 minutes ago, Wert said:

I find a pencil float and my toes does the job beautifully for spooling up.

For reversing a few minutes with a couple of old handlines, then getting it back on with the old pencil float and toes is a simple task I actually find relaxing, actually handling the line during this process also has the added advantage of letting you potentially feel any imperfections you might miss doing it mechanically.

Then when the line is dead (which can be many years after purchase with quality braid) the old cut job per above or just pulling it off works fine.

I'd spend less than an hour on this most years, indeed with winter and the bloodworm run I've just sorted my reels in the last couple of weeks as part of my yearly "sort everything out when it's cold and miserable" routine.

Not trying to get down on your work and it is clear that you love your tinkering but now that line, rollers & guides are so good a fresh spool up can last you years even with heavy use if you can avoid mid spool bustoffs, I can't imagine a world where I'd need to go to any more effort than I do.

Like I said this is not a criticism, I actually reckon your crazy problem solving thinking and solutions you come up with along with your obvious passion for doing this is great but sometimes I also reckon keeping things simple is the best way to go.

Yeah if I wasnt a tight arse using 100m top shots of braid - life would be a lot simpler when it comes to respooling - Just slap on a a few hundred metres of straight braid and then the jobs done

But these line spoolers came about because I would often do up to 4 reels at a time - so my fingers would be nearly falling off if I tried to do that manually.

Reel on Braid first, then the mono backing to fill out the spool 
then unspool
then reverse
then respool 

Completing that process once in row is not something I look forward to - but doing it 4 times in a row manually would almost break me I reckon

I admire the strength of a man who can enjoy the process but Im not made of such strong stuff. I view respooling as a necessary evil and I want it done quick and with as little effort as possible.

And until I can match a "2-speed gearbox with a maximum speed of 1800rpm" the time it saves is enough for me to keep doing it

Big jobs like this need a power assist

 

2 hours ago, Soobz said:

though I use a M8x50 machine screw with 2 mudguard washers.

 

Had to google what Mud guard washers were - Nice.

Yeah I wasnt quite sure what Diameter washers I would need for the variety of different spools I had - and the standard washer looked a bit little.

But I do have a shed full of ply offcuts and a hole saw kit - Dodgy mudflap washers of all sizes on tap

Although I use a bottle top with a drill attachment and 2 litre bottle to take old line off.( Stuff that’s going in the bin.) 
 

a guy on face book just mentioned he cuts knife grooves into a spool and then just cuts it off over a bin

so now I have a back up plan if I can’t find my bottle top

20 minutes ago, Soobz said:

 

I'm curious what "freestyle" was.

 

free style was a mix of hand winding - dodgy "knocked up on the spot" drill attachments that kept malfunctioning - and alot of swearing

I kept trying to do the bare minimum to get it to work and it ended up taking forever with all sorts of complications.

Everything was just a smidge out of whack but I only had one reel to do - so I thought Id just try to get it done with the wrong tools - huge mistake

The tension wasnt there - and the spool kept slipping on the drill - I hadnt been that frustrated in a while

2 tennis balls and a stick are another option
 

3 minutes ago, Soobz said:

That's pretty much how I do it, though I use a M8x50 machine screw with 2 mudguard washers.

I'm curious what "freestyle" was.

What I do need to make is a spool holder that keeps light tension.

I use one of these for light tension

I couldnt find my old braid reversing spools the other day so I tried doing it freestyle - what a nightmare that was.

So it was straight down to the Hardware the next day to make a new set
 

6 hours ago, jackmac said:

Snook have been one of my favourite fish to eat and catch for as long as i can remember.They are second to none as  smoked and as far as freezing them they need to be cleaned and skinned but before you crumb or batter them when defrosted squeeze a little lemon juice on them and season with salt and pepper.I will challenge anyone to pick the difference.Treat any fish you catch with respect ,ice slurry and clean and fillet as soon as possible and even salmon trout are a delicacy.I know so many people who say they wont eat this or that but after i have cooked them a feed they soon change their minds.

Yeah I reckon you're right. Taste is personal and Im a marginally better chef these days - so I reckon I'll revisit some of these species I'd written off in the past

Ive written off a few fish because they didnt compare well, when eaten side by side with others cooked in the exact same way. My expectations of how fish should taste and their texture is based of the ones Ive eaten most often in the past.

Goat fish are another one that some people rave about, that I release.

Snook and Goat dont make up a huge percentage of our overall catch, so its easy enough to just chuck em back and go for the ones I know how to cook.

We used to do alot of catch and release, and fish much more often than now - getting a feed of pinkies was a matter of heading out to the shallow reefs for an hour or 2 and it was exceedingly rare not to get a few.

Any day of the year, the pinkies just used to be stacked up and waiting for your lures. I had to instate a rule that I couldnt take fresh fish, if I still had some in the freezer. So there were alot of weekends where catch and release was the only option. And it was under those circumstances that I made some of my choices of what was worth keeping.

My mind set was  - if im going to kill a fish - I better really enjoy eating it - and ones that werent as good as Pinkies and flathead got a free pass. There were enough of the ones I liked, to not take ones I didnt like quite as much.

But those days are long gone  - so the next goat or snook I get has a right to be very nervous

Ive only ever eaten one snook. It was caught that morning and eaten side by side with pinkie and flathead fillets from the same session.

I didnt enjoy it enough to justify killing another one for myself........ But if someone was swapping them for $20 notes I'd be killing plenty as a revenge for all the bitten off lures

One of our mates dad used to like em, so we would keep a few for him

Some good points made here - cant comment on the lures but....

when bait fishing from a boat with a couple of other blokes - fibreglass is great - dont have to worry about snapping tips and high sticking - can just skull drag the fish into the boat.

You can feel comfortable handing your rod to inexperienced people knowing they are going to have to try very hard to snap the tip

But with lite graphite - instead of just flipping them into the boat with the rod - I'll bend over and grab the leader to bring each fish in. Which complicates things and will make you jealous of the blokes just using fibreglass to just pole them in.

Some of the disadvantages of fibreglass in lure fishing become advantages on the baits
 

2 hours ago, doobie said:

 

 

Not as fast as him though .... yet  

Much closer than I was though

the spot I built them for has a bit of a muddy slope leading to the waters edge

so I stand a bit further back. Rushing in and then bending down to get the rod was not the smoothest draw

4 hours ago, Softy said:

Bit wobbly?  

like a new born giraffes legs

I did want some thing sturdier but I had to be able to push them into dirt by hand - so I had to keep them spindly. The only sturdier steel i had would need a hammer and that would send shock waves through the shallow little pond I made them for.

I stuffed up some strikes and missed some fish last week due to my unco rod removal from the low to the ground holder - the raised holders were a reaction to that.

I used them today and the extra height is great - unfortunately only one eel showed up to annoy me - the lake was teeming with decent reds last week before the rain

 

Zero use on big fish  - but good for the ones I plan to target with these holders
 

2 hours ago, Wert said:

Haha, you're unstoppable. I was kind of thinking of a plug with a wire spike you could thread small ball sinkers (or similar "innovative ideas man" invention) onto which would be able to fit internally, be adjustable and keep the weight down low where you want it.

When you take the tackle world by storm with this all I ask is for a healthy supply of floats

Haha Thanks mate - Yeah the one that's self cocking, had 3 split shot embedded into the glue end cap as it dried. I like the idea of self cocking floats.  Less chance for tangles. And I looooove the way an unweighted bait  drifts slowly to the bottom in still or lightly flowing water. They can also be jerked back to the surface so they slowly fall again which Ive found is good for triggering hits. So they suit my style

With the end plugs and a pair of scissors, I can change the buoyancy by cutting the straw a bit shorter - or the more traditional way of adding split shot to the line.

So your suggestion of end caps make them a much more versatile float

Now also available in “rubber float stop friendly” set up

Job done on the inserts - could not get a snugger fit - thanks for the tip Wert - that opens up a few more doors - went with hot glue for its strength and speed of drying

9 minutes ago, yellow door 1 said:

I have made one with internal ballast - so its self cocking - but I havent looked into end caps you can remove before.

And suggestions on what those caps should be made from would be welcome

Just googled up these silicon inserts which would do it if I could find a diametre match for my straws

 

I spose I could just fill up a straw with silicone - let it set - then cut it open and use them for plugs.

Or cut a point, so a small segment of silicon filled straw can be inserted and act as ballast and a plug

12 hours ago, Wert said:

Just thinking you could make the end removable with an internal ballast system, that could be handy and keep you busy for a while.

I have made one with internal ballast - so its self cocking - but I havent looked into end caps you can remove before.

And suggestions on what those caps should be made from would be welcome

Just googled up these silicon inserts which would do it if I could find a diametre match for my straws