ShimsMan

Hey everyone,Thought we could do with some more good info threads on S&H, so it's time to post one! I'll be focusing on smaller, tastier, land based species: Tommies, Mullet, Salmon Trout and Garfish mainly. This is a guide for Land based fishing from wharves, jetties and breakwalls etc. and is mostly for the newbies, but hopefully some of our forum members can get something out of it too!Let's get it started!It all starts with the rigs, it pays to keep things simple but versatile if possible, So I use 2 hook paternoster rigs; made from quality terminal tackle:Attention to detail helps a lot in rigging for smaller or spooky species in clear water, in this case; good quality fluorocarbon and very sharp hooks are the main areas I spend money on. I use mono for main line and terminate it with a small snap swivel so rigs can be changed without any tying.To make my rigs, I tie a surgeon's loop in the line and 2 dropper loops using a dropper loop pegboard (pictured in the video.)The rig is a regular double paternoster except that I cut one of the “legs” off each dropper so that it's no longer a loop, then tie on the hooks with a blood knot.At the sinker end I leave about 50cm and tie on a snap swivel so that sinkers can be changed as needed. When you're fishing over rough ground, you can take the sinker off and use a clip on float; but I fish the bottom for these species 95% of the time, so the float is an afterthought.The sinkers pictured are 1/4oz(7g), 3/8oz(10.5g) and 3/4oz(21g) with 3/8 being the most often used; I wouldn't recommend anything heavier than 3/4oz, as this style of fishing seldom requires much of a cast, if at all. Hooks are Daiichi suicide size 10, short shank; any smaller and you're going to end up with more gut-hooked fish!http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5sLQH_N3BM Bait is maggots most of the time for me, I've noticed long life ones are often a bit more lively and worth the extra dollar or so over the bran packaged ones. with the maggots, I thread on enough so that I can only see the barb of the hook, they last ages this way and you can fish for longer without re-baiting.Worms are a bit too expensive for me and I personally only use them when chasing whiting, though you can harvest your own if you're time rich and can get the technique down.Pilchards are a great universal bait, but as far as smaller species go, I use fresh frozen (not brined) pilchard cubes unweighted on a fluoro trace and 4/0 suicide hook for Salmon Trout and it works very well for me.Mince is a great bait for mullet, regular beef mince thickened very slightly with wheat bran or breadcrumbs and some curry powder, garlic, aniseed or 5 spice mix added in works well; squash it into a ball shape on the hook and gently cast or drop it in and you're good to go.Lots of other baits can be used for these species: cockles, prawn, squid etc but these are my “go to” baits and they get me good results.Burley is a must for these smaller species and can make the difference between going hungry and home made fish 'n' chips on most days. A mix of pellets and small burley log in a plastic burley bucket just below the surface of the water works very well for me and the fish normally show up within the hour, depending on the tide. Arguably the best burley I've used is from Arthur at betta price tackle, so that's where I get mine!First thing I do when I get to a jetty, breakwall etc is always to get the burley bucket in the water and tied off; then set up and get some bait in the water within about 15 metres downdrift of the burley bucket. Most of the time I'm aiming for tommies, sometimes gar if there's weedbeds around; occasionally I'll drift out the unweighted pilchard cube for salmon trout instead of the maggots. Tommies are my main target a lot of the time as they're not size restricted, so they're great for use as bait and burley and make good live baits.As soon as the first usable fish is pulled up, it goes either on a squid jag or is used as a livebait (depending on what jetty I'm at.)Tommies make decent livebaits but squid love them, so if I'm at a squidding jetty it goes onto the squid jig instead. I rig my livebaits using this technique:4/0 hooks are used and the mouth hook is only threaded on the line instead of tied, the end hook snelled; this ensures that the fish can swim freely and can be adjusted for any size fish. until recently I was using a single lip hook, but I missed out on a lot of good Snook as a result (they seem to love striking at the belly of livebaits instead of the head.)For chasing landbased snapper or big salmon, I kill the first fish and use it whole on a pulley rig with the same 2 hook config as above, using up to 6/0 circle hooks if the bait is big enough.So that's my usual game plan for a day's fishing. I hope there were some helpful bits in there!Thanks for reading,Shimsman.

Hey everyone,Thought we could do with some more good info threads on S&H, so it's time to post one! I'll be focusing on smaller, tastier, land based species: Tommies, Mullet, Salmon Trout and Garfish mainly. This is a guide for Land based fishing from wharves, jetties and breakwalls etc. and is mostly for the newbies, but hopefully some of our forum members can get something out of it too!Let's get it started!It all starts with the rigs, it pays to keep things simple but versatile if possible, So I use 2 hook paternoster rigs; made from quality terminal tackle:Attention to detail helps a lot in rigging for smaller or spooky species in clear water, in this case; good quality fluorocarbon and very sharp hooks are the main areas I spend money on. I use mono for main line and terminate it with a small snap swivel so rigs can be changed without any tying.To make my rigs, I tie a surgeon's loop in the line and 2 dropper loops using a dropper loop pegboard (pictured in the video.)The rig is a regular double paternoster except that I cut one of the “legs” off each dropper so that it's no longer a loop, then tie on the hooks with a blood knot.At the sinker end I leave about 50cm and tie on a snap swivel so that sinkers can be changed as needed. When you're fishing over rough ground, you can take the sinker off and use a clip on float; but I fish the bottom for these species 95% of the time, so the float is an afterthought.The sinkers pictured are 1/4oz(7g), 3/8oz(10.5g) and 3/4oz(21g) with 3/8 being the most often used; I wouldn't recommend anything heavier than 3/4oz, as this style of fishing seldom requires much of a cast, if at all. Hooks are Daiichi suicide size 10, short shank; any smaller and you're going to end up with more gut-hooked fish!http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5sLQH_N3BM Bait is maggots most of the time for me, I've noticed long life ones are often a bit more lively and worth the extra dollar or so over the bran packaged ones. with the maggots, I thread on enough so that I can only see the barb of the hook, they last ages this way and you can fish for longer without re-baiting.Worms are a bit too expensive for me and I personally only use them when chasing whiting, though you can harvest your own if you're time rich and can get the technique down.Pilchards are a great universal bait, but as far as smaller species go, I use fresh frozen (not brined) pilchard cubes unweighted on a fluoro trace and 4/0 suicide hook for Salmon Trout and it works very well for me.Mince is a great bait for mullet, regular beef mince thickened very slightly with wheat bran or breadcrumbs and some curry powder, garlic, aniseed or 5 spice mix added in works well; squash it into a ball shape on the hook and gently cast or drop it in and you're good to go.Lots of other baits can be used for these species: cockles, prawn, squid etc but these are my “go to” baits and they get me good results.Burley is a must for these smaller species and can make the difference between going hungry and home made fish 'n' chips on most days. A mix of pellets and small burley log in a plastic burley bucket just below the surface of the water works very well for me and the fish normally show up within the hour, depending on the tide. Arguably the best burley I've used is from Arthur at betta price tackle, so that's where I get mine!First thing I do when I get to a jetty, breakwall etc is always to get the burley bucket in the water and tied off; then set up and get some bait in the water within about 15 metres downdrift of the burley bucket. Most of the time I'm aiming for tommies, sometimes gar if there's weedbeds around; occasionally I'll drift out the unweighted pilchard cube for salmon trout instead of the maggots. Tommies are my main target a lot of the time as they're not size restricted, so they're great for use as bait and burley and make good live baits.As soon as the first usable fish is pulled up, it goes either on a squid jag or is used as a livebait (depending on what jetty I'm at.)Tommies make decent livebaits but squid love them, so if I'm at a squidding jetty it goes onto the squid jig instead. I rig my livebaits using this technique:4/0 hooks are used and the mouth hook is only threaded on the line instead of tied, the end hook snelled; this ensures that the fish can swim freely and can be adjusted for any size fish. until recently I was using a single lip hook, but I missed out on a lot of good Snook as a result (they seem to love striking at the belly of livebaits instead of the head.)For chasing landbased snapper or big salmon, I kill the first fish and use it whole on a pulley rig with the same 2 hook config as above, using up to 6/0 circle hooks if the bait is big enough.So that's my usual game plan for a day's fishing. I hope there were some helpful bits in there!Thanks for reading,Shimsman.

Interesting you say that komodo, there's been some interesting research done into hemp/glass composites, I'd love to see that research done with carbon and graphite, could make for some very unique rod actions!Some reading here, if that's your thing:Mechanical Properties of Hemp Fibre Composites

Interesting you say that komodo, there's been some interesting research done into hemp/glass composites, I'd love to see that research done with carbon and graphite, could make for some very unique rod actions!Some reading here, if that's your thing:Mechanical Properties of Hemp Fibre Composites

Interesting you say that komodo, there's been some interesting research done into hemp/glass composites, I'd love to see that research done with carbon and graphite, could make for some very unique rod actions!Some reading here, if that's your thing:Mechanical Properties of Hemp Fibre Composites

Kelvin's pretty well on the money there.If I wanna cast longer from beach or rock I use a pulley rig, you need to get yourself an impact sinker or breakaway imp to make one, but it's well worth the trouble for the casting distance!As far as i know, got one stepney sells the imps and most tackle stores should stock or be able to source impact grapnel sinkers, which are the norm in pulley rig making.General idea of the rig is that it "packages" the bait and sinker together for better aerodynamics, instead of having droppers that "helicopter" and flap about, costing you distance... Here's a short vid explaining their use:
Sorry I can't embed it here, site won't let me.

Had flatties chase and nip my jigs, also seen a guy bring up a decent snook on one too.

Plankton and crusher are right on the money waspy, even the lower end shimano reels are a class act, beautifully balanced and super smooth winding and drag mechanisms.any of the reels they suggested are great, but for smaller species the sienna would be a mighty fine reel at a fine price ($60.)Only thing i've found with the lower end shimano reels is that you can't let them take a salt bath, and you have to be diligent about rinsing them, i know this from having seized one after using it as a kayak fishing reel in the summer! :c

Plankton and crusher are right on the money waspy, even the lower end shimano reels are a class act, beautifully balanced and super smooth winding and drag mechanisms.any of the reels they suggested are great, but for smaller species the sienna would be a mighty fine reel at a fine price ($60.)Only thing i've found with the lower end shimano reels is that you can't let them take a salt bath, and you have to be diligent about rinsing them, i know this from having seized one after using it as a kayak fishing reel in the summer! :c

Plankton and crusher are right on the money waspy, even the lower end shimano reels are a class act, beautifully balanced and super smooth winding and drag mechanisms.any of the reels they suggested are great, but for smaller species the sienna would be a mighty fine reel at a fine price ($60.)Only thing i've found with the lower end shimano reels is that you can't let them take a salt bath, and you have to be diligent about rinsing them, i know this from having seized one after using it as a kayak fishing reel in the summer! :c

What a day of perfect weather Wednesday was.What better to do than spend the day wading on the sandflats in glorious sunshine. You could not get nicer conditions. Crystal clear water, barely a breath of wind, the water like glass and the warm winter sunshine on your back. So nice it would not matter if I did not catch a thing.Just as well! I could not find any Yellow Fin Whiting. I was surprised as I had seen plenty of feeding marks in the shallows near the mangroves where they were feeding at the top of the tide. No fish yet, but I was having a marvellous day in magnificent conditions. I moved over to another large sandy area and what do I run into but some Yellow Fin Whiting. In these conditions they are seen clearly. You stand perfectly still. Minimise as much movement as possible. You know if you can see fish right on the extremities of your vision, then rest assured, they have seen you long before you saw them! Quality polaroids are a must.First cast a nice 35cm fish came in with the usual tenacious tussle these little fish are capable of. The second fish was caught as I cast back over the school that chased the first one in. They are competitive, chasing the one with the bait and hook in its mouth! In beautiful conditions, Sight fishing Yellow Fin Whiting is such a delight. It goes something like this;You cast out beyond the school and retrieve your bait past them. Tempting them to take it. "Ooops!" I startled them the cast landed right in the middle of them. They scattered! No bite!"Aaaahhh!" perfect cast. You just allowed enough for that light breeze that can drift your light tackle across.It's a slow steady retrieve past the fish ... "Take it, take it, taaaaaake iiitt! " you scream and plead at the fish as you drag the bait past its nose!"Yes! Yes! Yes! Go ooonnnh! Take it a bit harder. Hit it harder now." you coax the fish.You strike. "Yes! gotch ya! Gotch Ya, Ya buggah! Trying to pinch my bait! and get away?"You reel it in. It pulls hard. Some drag comes off. It is feisty. You can see it has got some size to it. It is in close within reach then it darts through your legs. You raise your rod, directing it away from your boots and lift it up, some solid weight to it, as you try to grab it against the belly of your waders and then the lip hook pulls! Damn! I should have used the landing net. The cycle starts all over again, but you are still smiling. You are hooked on this, not the fish.It sounds like and is simple fun in glorious conditions. When the water is crystal clear, sun shining through the water, with perfect visibility, your gear needs adjusting to suit these conditions. I get rid of my heavier running sinker that is usually up the line above the swivel and replace it with a small 0 or 00 ball sinker that slides down against the long shank hook. I always only ever fish for YFW with the 1 hook. A size 4 Gamakatsu long shank at the end of a metre length of Flurocarbon. This now resembles a jig head for soft plastics. Except the weight is removable and adjustable. Very light but all the weight is concentrated near the hook which allows for a good cast with a flicky soft plastic rod. It creates very little splash, so it wont spook the fish. The clearer the water the easier they spook.Well it was a bit of a procession so I tried to mix things up a bit. I got the poppers out! Yup the previous week I went out did the round of stores and bought a collection of poppers. After seeing this video clip;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NWJCxIl1wSkI thought these must be the ants pants. They can out fish bait! The conditions were perfect, weed free. I tried these 4 poppers and managed a fish on each. Yes my first, second, third & fourth Yellow Fin Whiting ever on poppers.Frankly I was not impressed. It took on average, about 12 to 15+ casts per strike. Maybe my technique is no good? I checked to make sure, in case the fish had moved on. After every popper fish I changed back to my bait rig. In every case I had a fish within 3 casts of the bait, at the most! So a nice bit of video editing makes it look like non stop action instead of a tedious 4 hour session. Poppers have certainly caught a lot of fisherman me included.I don't see why you would use your thumbnail to put a screw in the wall, when you can use a screwdriver or a power drill! Just my take on it.However the Gulp soft plastic sandworms in the "bloody" red colour worked well, as always. It took the bigger fish. A 40cm, a 39 and a few 37-38cm were the better fish.The fish I kept are from 33cm to 40cm. I would have released another 20 odd fish in the 29-32 range. there were plenty of YFW about on a heavenly day!Cheers, Des

The Shimano Aernos FA is a different reel from the Aernos advertised. The one advertised is the Aernos XT, a similar budget reel to the Sienna. The Sienna however has more bearings (+1) and is differently shaped. The Sienna has similar shaping to the sedona and cazna, other budget reels.The rods that are available are as follows:1. http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Shimano-Sonic-Pro-Spin-Rod-3-5kg-662SP.aspx?pid=121785&variant=true#Combo - 3-5kg, 6'6" = general combo2. http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Shimano-Sonic-Pro-Spin-Rod-7-2-4kg-2-Piece.aspx?pid=121786&variant=true#Combo - 2-4kg, 7' = bream and whiting3. http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Shimano-Sonic-Pro-Spin-Rod-7-3-6-8kg-2-Piece.aspx?pid=168119&variant=true#Combo - 7'6", 5-8kg = snapper

if your game enough try tying your berley pot onto a rock with some crabbing rope string about 60 meters lentgh as the tides going out remember and wade out and place your berley pot while the tide is in before you start your fishing mind you the rock has to be a fair size and carryable

your berley washing ashore shouldnt be a problem with an outgoing, the only thing you'd have to worry about is the waves receding back far enough that your pot is out of the water. A simple berley pot (can be an orange sack or hessian sack as well) tied to rope would do for the pot. To make sure it doesn't float away put some sinkers or rocks in the bottom and it'll hold on the bottom.Rod holders for the beach don't have to be complicated, I've used pvc pipe for years with success as long as the sand is relatively soft you shouldn't have a problem getting it in the ground. And if you don't have the option of making the pot before going out something as simple as a rock you pick up on your way out will do just fine, just tie a loop around one end of the rope and tie it onto the rock like a noose. Can even do it with your tackle box/bag as long as conditions aren't too rough it'll hold a treat.The wave action will help disperse the berley on an outgoing tide from the waves receding underneath once it hits the shore, it'll take the berley out into the ocean. the occasional tug on the rope will help to break up the contents/create a quick release of your berley as well.What some people do for beach fishing is when the tide is low they'll actually bury fish frames/berley underneath the sand and when the tide comes in it will slowly bring the sand off that and even before that it will be releasing scent into the water.One other tip is to find out which way the berley will be drifting as it wont always go straight out to the sea, more often it will go either to the left or right. to test this simply drop a small piece of bait and watch which way it drifts so you aren't casting on the wrong side of the berley pot, you could have the current going to the right while you fish the left of the berley pot and only pick up the odd fish that goes away from the school whereas on the right you could be getting constant bites

G"day shimsman,get a length of rope ,a piece of pvc[king prawns idea is the go],a star dropper,a big garden stake,anything to anchor it, and put just enough weight in it[snapper sinker ect] so it still rolls around with the waves .Have it in the edge of the wash,not actually sitting in the water but on the sand so the waves go over the top on there way up then back over it on the way out.,The wave action will disperse your berley soon enough out into the area in front of it bringing the fish to you,the idea is getting them scrounging in close so all you have to do is cast out a short distance into the immediate area in front of the berley pot.Cheers

Get some steel 20 mm conduit (from a sparky or wholesaler) or a piece of round metal rod. 200mm from the bottom of the rod holder drill holes either side of the rod holder to suit your conduit or steel, once this is done slide your conduit/steel through holes. You now have a foot peg you stamp with your feet into the sand that will make your rod holder very sturdy,also cut the bottom at a 45 degree angle (makes go into sand heaps easier) Also measure from the top down 100mm, drill a 25mm hole and then get a grinder and cut from the top down each outside edge of hole just cut, this piece will fall out and you will have a spot for your reel to slot into and stay sturdy instead of swinging around on wind or the like. Hope this helps

The little boat that could! it looks like it has some serious keel weight to keep it stable in the surf, very cool.Complete Hobbies & Models and Hobby Habit might be able to help you track down one of these beauties, addresses are as follows:Complete Hobbies1577 Main North RoadSalisbury East SA 5109, Australia+61 8 8281 4748www.worldhobbies.comHobby Habit462 Main North RoadBlair Athol SA 5084, Australia+61 8 8349 6242hobbyhabit.com.auBest of luck T1ppo ‎

I think charters that do a lot of business would be good potential customers,guys like Dan hernandez in the US have awesome live bait setups if you're looking for a bit of inspriation.Check out the first minute or so of this vid fridge!

Hey luke,This is pretty much what i'd buy: LinkIt's got an 8 inch blade, tough as nails and the steel is a nice Sandvik 12C27 stainless.Should be an excellent knife for the price at $37!

Beautiful reel! is that a silky oak spool I see? luxe!That said, how are the bearings?

Hey luke, if you want a tough knife capable of processing larger stuff; have a look in MBL on churchill road; When I was working as a chef I got most of my knives there and they're great value.

Hey ShimsManYou might like to check out this previous thread:http://www.strikehook.com/forum/22-saltwater-fishing/218395-robe-spots?start=15#222376Cheersaf

Looks pretty good there, easy access to the rocks too. I think i might have to make some metal cleats for my old runners to do some rockhopping; looks pretty precarious out there, would bet there's a few savage rips out there too....