Fishing Tackle and Terminal Gear

Blue water trolling

We use and recommend troll outfits in the 15 to 24kg range. A good 10kg outfit can be fun for the serious sport fishermen. We suggest a reel of the Penn Senator 4/0 or 6/0, Shimano TLD 20 type or similar size reel on a 5 to 6 foot rod matched to your line class. My personal outfit holds 750 mts of 15 kg and I have been spooled in a single run and still don’t know what it was. This is not normal but it will tell you not to be over confident as whatever you bring we have something swimming around out there that can break it.
Trace wire that we use is single strand in the 30kg to 40 kg range we do not recommend the use of multi strand wire. We also use Hawian snaps in preference to snap swivels These clever little clips are really strong and cut down on the amount of hardware hanging off the front of your lure.
Lures can change daily but a short list of the most successful will include:
Halco scorpions 150mm D/D 5 meters+ most colors but must haves are
R25 Mullet, H53 White/redhead, R21 Chrome Silver Multi,
R26 Golden green
Halco scorpions 125mm D/D Colors as above
Halco Lazer pro 190mm and 160mm D/D 2.5 metre+
Colors as above plus H57 Baitfish, H58 Mackerel/blue,
R26 Golden Green
Rapala Magnums CDMAG-14, CDMAG-18, CDMAG-22
Colors MU mullet, RH redhead, GM green mackerel, SM silver mackerel
Barra classics in 160mm and 120mm
Colors 20 Bobby dazzler silver/blue, 21Bobby dazzler silver/green,
03 Elton, 08 Qantas, 13 Chrome mullet
A few poppers in the 100mm to 150mm range
Don’t be shy to bring a few of the 9 inch Tsunami soft plastics these things are trolling
up a storm

Blue Water Spinning

Usually a 10 kg outfit with a rod of about 6 ft to 6.5 ft in length and not too stiff in the tip section to enable casting slugs down to as light as 15 gms; most casting is done with slugs from 25 to 50 gms range. When the Tuna are feeding, it is very important to match the size of the baitfish they are feeding on, so every now and then you can be casting a slug that's just a wee bit light. This rod should be fitted with a reel that has a line capacity of about 300 meters and a fast retrieve rate. I use 7500 Penn spinfishers for this job and find they are perfect for casting to Tuna ranging up to 30lbs. Believe me this style of fishing is great fun and anything bigger that is hooked we can always chase in the boat if we have to. Double or triple hook-ups can make things a bit more interesting and result in a call from the skipper of “every man for himself”.
Slugs
Gorilla Big Eye 15gms, 25gms, 40gms
Halco Slices 20gms, 30gms, 40gms
Twisty 20gms, 30gms, 40gms
Streaker 20gms, 30gms, 40gms
Raiders 20gms, 40gms, 65gms
Lazers 25gms, 50gms,
Note– to be brutally honest a barrel sinker with a coat of white paint works fine as well.

Blue Water Bait

Re rig the spin outfit. That ones easy.

Estuary and freshwater
A good medium action rod in the 5.5 to 6ft range. Not much different from the blue water spin stick really. Either spin reel or baitcaster is fine the choice is yours. If you are not familiar with baitcasters don’t bring one, A sure way to get a really hard hit is to be sitting there picking away at an overrun, Barra can sense these from miles away!
The reel of your choice should be spooled with a minimum of 10kg line or even heavier. When fishing snags, line capacity does not need to be overly large as it is only a short run back into the snag, where it will be all over unless you can stop the fish before it gets back home. Again the same outfit is fine for flicking lures or bait fishing.
Whatever your choice, a bit of casting practice will never go astray. When fishing snags the catch rate will depend very much on the skill of the angler. I can put you on the snags that hold fish but if the lure does not get into the strike zone fish will be hard to come by. This is a fact and although we do get many nice Barra for novices I have noticed that catch rates are much higher for the people who have spent a bit of time practicing their casting accuracy. Novices will still do fine fishing with bait.

Lures
Halco scorpions 90mm and 68mm D/D 4metre+
Colors R25 mullet, R11 Chrome gold orange, R26 Golden green
Classic 97 and 65 10ft+
Colors 03 Elton, 04 mullet, 05 tiger, 19 bobby dazzler gold,
20 bobby dazzler silver/blue, 21 bobby dazzler silver/green,
Killalure Flatz rat2 plus 10 and plus 15
Colors 01metallic gold/black back, 15 chrome/black back/ red stripe
BDG bobby dazzler gold,
Tilsan Barra
Colors T121 classic, T110 chrome gold herring, T109 pink herring,
Reidys B52
Colors Gold, Silver,
Bombers Long “A”
Color Gold,

Fly Fishing
I personally do 90% of my fly work with an 8wt outfit. I have a few years on me and I find an 8wt easy to cast all day without getting tired. I do however recommend a 10wt as the best all round choice, this is based on the number of times that I have been blown away on my 8wt. If you want to bring something heavier than a 10wt then that is fine.
Reels must have a high quality drag system and the more backing the better.
The best all round line is an intermediate sink, also if you own a fast sink don’t leave it at home as you know getting to the right depth is one of the banes of fly fishing so any help to get to the depth needed is always helpful and nothing is more frustrating than getting down to where you need to be after the current has washed you way past the strike zone. Sometimes a floater can be used, but I would not run out and buy one if I did not already have one.
Most fly fishermen bring their own gear. If anybody wants to have a go and does not own their own gear let me know and I can put something together for you.

Flies
Clouser Minnows
Color Pink/White, Blue/White, Green/White, Grey/White,
Chartreuse/White, Chartreuse/White
Hook size 1,1/0,2/0,
Gold Bomber Color Gold/Black Hook size 4/0, 6/0,
Surf Candy Color Clear, Green/White, Blue/White, Hook size 1, 1/0, 2/0
Pink Thing Color Pink/White/Grizzle Hook size 2/0,
Black Thing Color Black Hook size 2/0
The Cockroach Color Grizzle Hook size 1, 1/0, 2/0,
Dalhberg Diver Color Any Hook size 2/0,
Poppers Color Any Hook size 1/0, 2/0,
Crab Color Brown, Sandy, Hook size 1, 1/0, 2/0,
Shrimp Color White, Clear, Green Hook size 4, 2, 1,
Deceiver Color As Clouser Hook size 1/0, 2/0, 4/0,
Clousers will need a mixture of eye weights from chain bead to heavy lead.

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