Luke5600

What you want is a clip down pulley rig with a rotten bottom setup so sinkers can break off without loosing the whole rig. The clip down system makes the sinker and bait one single mass at the end of your line, so no helicoptering baits which means limited entanglements and better casting distance.
 
For my clip down pulley rigs I stay away from the impact shields as I find them too fiddly. I prefer to use a Breakaway Imp clip or my new favourite the Gemini rig clip.
 
For the rotten bottom setup you can use special clips designed to fail, but I prefer to use a second Gemini rig clip and a short length of lighter mono. The advantage of this is you can still cast with heaps of power, which the rotten bottom clips can't handle.
 
You can source all the bits needed for these rigs here in Australia. I have seen the Imp clips in shops but they're kind of dear, not sure if the Geminis are available, but the Fishing Guru sells an identical part that I have tried.
 
Here's a link to a PDF with all sorts of crazy British rigs, some are quite simple looking and others incredibly intricate. You'll find the pulley rig and rotten bottom rig for a bit of reference.
 
http://www.skysports.com/downloads/Book_Of_Saltwater_Rigs.pdf
 
If you like, later tonight when I get some time, I can take some photos of all this stuff I'm talking about as it's kind of hard to explain in words.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hot-Sea-Fishing-LED-Rod-Tip-Night-Light-Strike-Alert-Glow-Stick-Bite-Alert-Alarm-/331657393343?hash=item4d385234bf:g:m9cAAOSwsB9V-N0A

This is what I use, these ones are from china but extremely cheap. You can get them local from memory but they are at a higher price, you can change the batteries yourself and from memory they're meant to last about 100 hours of being on before needing to be changed

Flashes green every 2-3 seconds when no bites, when you do get a bite it flashes red constantly. It works off what I'm assuming to be some kind of shock absorber, It detects vibration through the rod blank when a fish bites. I've found them to be pretty good when discerning between wave/wind action and a fish bite, The wind/wave action will tend to put a slow long draw on the rod as opposed to the quick sharp pull that a fish bite will do, This all depends on whether or not you are using enough weight to hold the bottom though, if the conditions are windy and the wind manages to dislodge the sinker from the seafloor it will be able to set the flash off although it doesn't last long and you'll be able to tell the difference soon enough

The light is fairly visible from a distance as well, I put one down at the rocks one day on my rod and climbed roughly 80-100m up the cliff face back to the car and I was still able to see the rod, While not exactly practical being that far away from the rod unless using circle hooks it is nice to know you are able to fish a decent spread of rods while still being able to see bites on them all.

If you go for the option of getting one from china it may take 2-3 weeks to arrive but definitely worth it, the ones that are sold in australia are just ones bought from the suppliers in china so its all the same product at $1.89 its definitely worth a try to see if its for you, won't help much as far as being able to doze off while fishing but pair this with an alvey as softy suggested and you should have all bases covered for detecting bites at night even if you do have a quick sleep

Afternoon everyone, its about that time I went and gave some land based snapper a decent try once more, While I'm no stranger to land based snapper and know the ideal conditions and locations to maximize success its been a good 3 years since I've gone out targetting them so I've got a few questions, I used to use just a plain old running sinker rig with the sinker attached via 12-15lb with a small sinker moving freely on the main line before the hook trace, while good it does tend to get snagged fairly often resulting in lost tackle.

I've seen a bit of information about pulley rigs for snapper but never used them myself, I did some googling last night but could only find information about using it with an impact shield. My question about the pulley rig is I'd still like to use the breakaway sinker trace, that way I've thought about it was using 40lb line connected to the hook with a bead to stop the sinker from the mainline running up to the hook trace/knot so it doesn't get trapped in there or anything and then using a small sinker with maybe about 2-3cm of 20lb line connected to the sinker, I'm just worried about possible entanglement while casting such as the bait twisting around the hook trace while casting

I've also recently been catching quite a few rock crabs in my nets while crab netting off the jetty so I've kept a few to try as some snapper bait as this time of year the pickers are really out in force as the local snapper grounds get invaded by pickers. thinking this may be a way to get around that although this may increase catches of dog sharks being that they specifically feed on benthic invertebrates.

Has anyone here used rock crabs for snapper before? also would using something such as say the claw or a bunch of legs grouped together work on a single hook rig? I've read in some of the information I saw that sometimes a snapper may come in and have a go at the legs/claws before taking the body itself, While this may not be the case with the bigger ones there is a few pannies that get around at this spot so taking the legs/claws off and fishing them as a separate bait to the carapace may be a way for me to get around this but as I've said I've never tried using them as bait before so its all new ground to me

I've looked up some info about using the rock crabs as bait but only really seen information about it from NZ based sites or the occasional result from victoria but I've never heard much about it down here in SA. The way I see it when the snapper do come to feed in off the rocks along the shore line this will be the food source they are after as the big blows wash the crabs off the rock and into the breakers making an easy meal for the snapper.

As a side note I'm aiming to beat my current PB off the rocks of a fish maybe about 50cm (Caught it when I was a young lad of about 14 or so, cant remember the exact size it went)
Heres a photo of that one and I've also added a photo of some snapper on the same side of the sink, The photo with the 3 snapper from memory ranged from 38-42cm


 

Alvey reel when beach fishing... you know from 100ft away when it real starts singing.. you have a fish on... and makes enough noise to wake the dead! Love my Alvey for beach work!

Luke,
 
Those marks are'nt made by worms but from a small type of cockle by memory.

G'day Puds
Yeah you probably need something longer off the beach than will be practical in the boat.  I don't fish the beaches anymore when trolling for tuna off victor etc I don't think you need anything flash, mind you we've only caught up to 20kg.  Anyway, when trolling for tuna I use a variety of rods including the 7ft Penn 10-15 kg with 850 ssm from Ray and Annes for $109.  If you want to go to port mac etc for barrels well that's gunna require something a lot better.
If you want to go trawling for tuna you're going to need one of these    
Cheers
Rod

Not sure how tube worms would go but I recently tried salting down a seaweed worm that I had caught and managed to catch 3 shitties on one piece of the worm bait before needing to change it, also had a school of shitties and a single mullet and the mullet came in and smashed the worm before the shitties could get a look in so salted might be the way to go. Right now I'm trying to salt down some of the worms enough so that I can keep a few of them in the car in a ziplock bag with some dessicant, bit of back up bait

 
Out of curiosity mate, what size jighead are you using? and are you using a stinger hook at all? i've given it a shot slightly with the plastic worms but hadn't found the hook up rate to be real good, might just be down to the size of the whiting that were around at the time though 

G'day
I enjoy hearing about people involved in illegal fishing activities who get caught and pay a hefty penalty for it.  Go for it I say, take their boat and their car if it is being used to fish illegally for profit.
However, as a recreational fisher I don't like the fact that these low lifes who rape and pillage our seas, get called 'recreational fishers'
To my mind, once they cross the line from accidentally having an extra fish, to seriously abusing the limits, they become criminals and should be named as such, not called recreational fishers.
eg If someone is jogging along taking handbags would you call them a jogger or a bag snatcher?
If someone is driving a car that they have stolen, would you call them a 'motorist' or a car thief?
If someone goes in to a store and removes goods without paying for them, would you call them a 'shopper' or a shop lifter?
etc
So why punch us law abiding recreational fishers in the nose by calling these marine poacher scumbags 'recreational fishers'
I find it very offensive, please use an appropriate term
Cheers
Rod

Normally the leader will tend to be slightly heavier than the main line, I run 15lb braid on one of my reels and typically topshot with 20lb mono or fluorocarbon (Topshotting is putting roughly 10-100m of line onto a reel using braid, This can also be called a shock leader or just a leader, although the term leader can often get confused with a regular leader such as the one running from your swivel down to the hook or lure)

As far as the line strengths you've listed I find some of them to be a bit heavy for my liking, For salmon you could drop down as low as 10lb as long as you're fishing in a relatively snag free area although off the jetty you may want to up this to around 20lb depending on the size of the salmon you're targetting, Not sure what part of the state you're from but typically the salmon encountered around jetties in the spencer and st vincent gulfs will be around the 1-2kg range with some larger specimens about, if you went to the west coast where 5-6kg salmon are common though the 30lb mainline would be the go off a jetty.

Gar and tommies you don't need to go overly heavy or overly light in my opinion, the lighter line will help you get longer distances with the light weights that you get from pencil floats and the like but I typically fish using a berley float so I have the float loaded up with berley so its more like casting a sinker for me, My typical go to reel is spooled with 15lb braid and 20lb mono and find this is ample for almost every bread and butter species ranging from gar and tommies through to squid, whiting, salmon and even small rays. I've landed a roughly 15kg ray using this line set up

Fluorocarbon is the better leader line by far but its not entirely necessary, From memory in an email I read about the differences of mono vs fluorocarbon fluorocarbon has a few advantages over mono

Fluorocarbon lets more uv spectrum go through the line compared to mono which does make it near invisible under water, this isn't a very huge advantage as its made out to be as regular mono itself is still quite hard to see underwater and typically fish will be able to see your hook anyway. In saying that though it does make a difference for when the fish are quite shy and skittish but if the fish are in a feeding mode they won't bother as much as long as you use the correct lb line for what you're targeting. (What I mean by this is the suppleness and diametre of the line you're using, For example using 50lb line to make a whiting rig compared to using something like 10-15lb)

Fluorocarbon has a much higher abrasion resistance over mono, Don't get me wrong mono is still quite resistant to abrasion but fluorocarbon has a definite advantage over mono in this aspect. You'll want either of the two lines to use a topshot on braided lines when fishing around structure as braid has near zero abrasion resistance and its possible to snap something as tough as 50lb braid if it hits something like a rock when under pressure.
 
Mono line can actually absorb water whereas fluorocarbon typically doesn't, The more water the mono absorbs the less force it will require to break it, Don't be disheartened by that though as most people still use mono mainline with no troubles.

I'll find a few links for you that can explain the difference between the two better for you, I'll also dig up that email

http://www.berkley-fishing.com/Berkley-ae-monofilament-vs-fluorocarbon-infographic.html

Heres the link the email gave me
http://teachmesurffishing.com/product-review/fluorocarbon-surf-fishing-leaders-vs-monofilament/

All in all as far as mono vs fluorocarbon goes
Yes - There is a definite advantage between the two
No - It is not entirely necessary I've gotten away just using mono leaders more times than I can count but I can feel the advantages when using fluorocarbon

stick to the gulps the scent works a treat! you can actually buy packets of the 2' worms and find they work an absolute treat on just about everything. You can also buy the 2' grubs in gulp alive tubs which should set you up for a while

I remember back when I was a young lad my parents used to buy me those really cheap squid jigs that were flat white and I used to paint them with nail polish, I've had them for a good 15 years or so and they still hold their colours amazingly well.
If you leave them in the sun for a day after you paint them the smell of the polish pretty much disappears and you can get ones that are clear with gold/silver reflective glitter in them.
Just make sure you send the missus to the shop or buy them online though, I'm not sure the excuse "It's for fishing" would work   

Could be easier then spray painting them mate apart from that they look good

Anyone built their own fish cleaning station out in the garden?
I'm after some photos of peoples stations to see if I can adapt any ideas to my own. Last time I went out and caught squid I landed myself in hot water because squid ink somehow managed to find itself all over the blinds we have over the window over the sink (To this day I still maintain my complete and utter innocence and claim that my story of the squid actually attacking me which caused a rather lengthy wrestling match which resulted in a large portoin of the kitchen being inked is 100% true.) I started on a project today with an old sink I found in the shed, Using only materials I've already got on hand I'm going to build it up entirely.   At the moment I'm planning to use star droppers I had left over from putting up a shade cloth fence around the garden, probably about 5-6 along the back for stability with 4 on the front to allow easy movement, Going to drill through the side of the mounting bracket of the sink and use either cable ties or fencing wire to attach it securely to the base.    After that I'm going to mount a knife and plier holder I bought a while ago for my boat onto the left side for easy access and safe storage while cleaning and on the left side a rather nifty thing I found for a tinny which is a sort of bracket to hold a plastic bag open so I can bag the fish up ready for freezing or chilling down until consumption.   Theres a gap inbetween the shed and the sink which will allow me to make a bracket to mount a hose over the sink so I have running water to clean off any scale or gut content. I'll be attaching a length of PVC pipe to the drain on the sink which will run into a 10l bucket allowing water overflow to just drip out into the garden while keeping most of the scales and what not inside the bucket itself for easy removal   I've got a large cutting board which I can fit onto the top of the sink with ease allowing me to easily cut anything I need too and get the job done, afterwards it will just be a simple hose down job with very little to worry about.   Here's a photo I took today when I was measuring out the stardropper placement, I've still gotta go along and make it all level but this was only 10 minutes of work and I still have quite a few more star droppers to go in On the bottom of the photo is the knife holder and plastic bag holder

I've always gone a running sinker rig, whatever size sinker you need tied to 10lb mono with a swivel on the end which I place on my mainline before i place the swivel for the rig on, 10lb will allow the sinker to breakaway without losing the rig itself. 
 
As long as you cast with a smooth even effort and no sudden jerks the sinker stays on fine although it can take a little practice at first to keep the smooth momentum going.
 
 

I work as a chef so I tend to save the left over juices from packets of prawns, mussels oysters etc.
Can mix garlic, water, curry powder, fish sauce, fish oil, aniseed essence just to name a few
If theres an asian store nearby you should be able to go in and pick up all sorts of whacky seafood items dirt cheap.
When I was at tafe for my apprenticeship I stopped into the vietnamese shop next door to find dried cuttlefish, dried oysters and believe it or not dried sea cucumber.
Get some of those and rehydrate them in water with some other cheap items like curry powder and garlic freeze it down in small bags and defrost it as you need to avoid it going off, take a small bag out a day tip it in a jar put any lures you're using into it and let them soak then go wild

I work as a chef so I tend to save the left over juices from packets of prawns, mussels oysters etc.
Can mix garlic, water, curry powder, fish sauce, fish oil, aniseed essence just to name a few
If theres an asian store nearby you should be able to go in and pick up all sorts of whacky seafood items dirt cheap.
When I was at tafe for my apprenticeship I stopped into the vietnamese shop next door to find dried cuttlefish, dried oysters and believe it or not dried sea cucumber.
Get some of those and rehydrate them in water with some other cheap items like curry powder and garlic freeze it down in small bags and defrost it as you need to avoid it going off, take a small bag out a day tip it in a jar put any lures you're using into it and let them soak then go wild

I work as a chef so I tend to save the left over juices from packets of prawns, mussels oysters etc.
Can mix garlic, water, curry powder, fish sauce, fish oil, aniseed essence just to name a few
If theres an asian store nearby you should be able to go in and pick up all sorts of whacky seafood items dirt cheap.
When I was at tafe for my apprenticeship I stopped into the vietnamese shop next door to find dried cuttlefish, dried oysters and believe it or not dried sea cucumber.
Get some of those and rehydrate them in water with some other cheap items like curry powder and garlic freeze it down in small bags and defrost it as you need to avoid it going off, take a small bag out a day tip it in a jar put any lures you're using into it and let them soak then go wild

I work as a chef so I tend to save the left over juices from packets of prawns, mussels oysters etc.
Can mix garlic, water, curry powder, fish sauce, fish oil, aniseed essence just to name a few
If theres an asian store nearby you should be able to go in and pick up all sorts of whacky seafood items dirt cheap.
When I was at tafe for my apprenticeship I stopped into the vietnamese shop next door to find dried cuttlefish, dried oysters and believe it or not dried sea cucumber.
Get some of those and rehydrate them in water with some other cheap items like curry powder and garlic freeze it down in small bags and defrost it as you need to avoid it going off, take a small bag out a day tip it in a jar put any lures you're using into it and let them soak then go wild

My most memorable catch after my first ever fish (A bream from the Onk) is my first ever lure caught fish.
 
It was a scorching hot day over Summer in 2011 down at Portland in Vic and after bombing out on the snapper charter, my attention turned to the trip home. As we were passing through Nelson on the way home I asked dad if we could stop and have one last fish. We stopped at an information guide and I found a little brochure for a tour of the Glenelg by boat and the name on the brochure was that of an angler I knew from the TV. After pestering dad for a while, he rang the number and surprise, the guy offered not only guided tours of the river but also fishing guide tours at an affordable price. So dad was forced to then book us in for a night in the Nelson caravan park and the next day we headed out on the Glenelg.
 
Having never tried plastics before, nor having a suitable rod and reel, it certainly was a learning experience. I fished the day using a Jarvis Walker Redbone with 15lb mono and dad did the same so we weren't really using the correct gear at all. But somehow I managed to hit this EP on the head in a snag and pull it out for landing.
 

 
My first ever lure caught fish and I was hooked. Throughout the day I also landed three bream of legal size and dad also caught his first lure caught fish being a 36cm bream. From that day ever since, my lure fishing technique has been developing and come a long way. If not for that day, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be as addicted to fishing as I am now. It's also my only Estuary Perch and is the reason why I really want to head down to that special place again.

That strongy is a bloody beauty mate, when I go spearfishing I normally catch a few for berley and what not and my biggest has been about 3kg even with a metre long spear stuck fast in the side of the head theres no way in the world it will staystill long enough for me to get a grip on it, the raw power alone those things generate is amazing
 
 

spending a week on the Whyalla rocks chasing snapper. Ended up getting 1 legal one after camping there for a week.
Having rocknev and Jason come and keep me company for periods, had to get that damn fish!

13.4 kg red emporer is one that sticks out!
 
14ft hammer head shark was a bit of fun for a while. skipper didn't want me to bring it on board but with a bit of help up she came.
 
hooked a whale once,
 
but when I was young hooked something massive, crystal clear water and about 20m to go 3 big sharks start to circle my rankin cod.
BANG damn sharks!
got the head and only a little bit of body and it weighed 14.4kg! imagine what it would be for a whole fish!
 
these were all caught in coral bay WA when I used to work on charter boats and commercial fishing boats.
 
more recently and in SA 5.8kg salmon from locks well on duel adagio lure.
49.5cm king george. I'll crack the 50cm soon hopefully!
first ever mulloway - 82cm
 
lines tight!

20kg Butterfish off Noarlunga Beach at the south end of the reef. Was over 10 yrs ago but still my biggest one yet.
Caught around this time of year, just after low tide around midnight on a mangey old salted pilchard.
Just looked at the google sattelite image of the spot.
It looks to me like you can a school of salmon swimming around the end of the reef
in the image but not enough res to be sure. [  here;   -35.157687, 138.466847  ]
Where that dark patch is would be exactly
where my grapnel sinker was give or take a few yards.
Might have another crack tomorrow night if I can catch some fresh squid first,
the tides look about the same.     Cheers

Let me start with the usual the best catch of my life is my Mrs... but now seriously.
 
A few years back was fishing and crabbing Wallaroo Jetty and was about to pack up the kit and head back to our cabin when a fiddler ray got pulled up in our Crab net. The thing was massive.

I have a few memorable catches.
 
My first legal snapper with UHF and BigRed out metro. Landed three of these beauties. Everyone caught a few nice reds that session.
 

 
An epic battle off of the Port Noarlunga Jetty and finally landing what has been said to be a pretty decent strongy.
 

 
My first Onkaparinga River Mully.
 

 
I also have great memories of finally catching a legal snapper from Port Noarlunga / Christies Beach area after sooooo many attempts. Another decent Salmon session down at Southport with mum and dad, was great to see even mum getting in on the action and landing a couple.
 
I have to thank the bream that jumped onto my hook way back in November 2011 I think it was. Using my BigW $20 rod n reel combo, I used worms dug up from the back yard and pulled in an average Onk sized fish but this got me hooked in a big way and paved the way for all other fishing adventures I've been on since.

I have two that stand out...
 
This was my first bream on plastics... 35cm from memory, Felt great to finally get one and pop my virginity!!
 

 
But my most memorable was the 51cm rainbow i got... saw him hanging around the shallows but wouldn't take anything so i cast a gold TT vibe past his nose for almost an hour non stop till it finally snapped and smashed it... my heart was in my throat for the next 5mins watching it jump 2ft clear of the water trying to spit the hooks!!! Finally landed it with the help of Scotty... as Del ran off sulking after seeing the  size of it!!!! 
 

 
Also a 67cm LB snapper.. but didn't put up much fight... decent fish just no real "angling" to it!