Hello from across the Pond

[Ranger 175C]

Just wanted to say hello and tell you your site is awesome. I would love to come over and fish for your bream. I am an avid angler for both fresh and salt water fish in the US. I am a big fan of G Loomis rods and Shimano reels. I own a Ranger Bay Boat and I live to fish.
Brian

welcome to bm mate, what species do u usually target?

[Bear]

Good to see you got it going mate. As I said b4, wicked boat.

[Ranger 175C]

Panfish mainly because our Bass waters in my state are very pressured. I like small soft plastics on 1/16oz leadheads for Crappie and Perch. I can post some photos if you like. I also have a small john boat that I fish in ponds and small rivers with just and electric motor. I have very good luck. My favorite tackle appears to be perfect for your bream fishing, G Loomis SR781-1 a 6'6" ultra light rod rate for 2-6lb mono and 1/32oz -3/16oz lures, paired up with a Shimano Stella 1000FA. I also have a light action rod SR782-1 which is rated for 1/16oz-5/16oz lures and 4-8lb mono. Paired up with a newer Shimano Symetre 750FI. I have a few more ultra lights and alot of bass rods. I am a tackle junkie.

lol well your not a stranger being a tackle junkie here.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: would love some pics mate if u can't manage to get them up send to beef_cake_123@hotmail.com and i will put em up for ya mate

[Ranger 175C]

Here are a couple of fish photos. One is a spotted bass caught from Lake Lanier in Georgia, the other is a freshwater panfish from New Hampshire it is a bluegill, but in the southern half of the us it is called a Bream. They are great fun but yours look better.

do much spinnerbaiting and surface lures for the bass over there?

[Ranger 175C]

Last Photo I promise. This is my favorite fish. It is called a Black Crappie. I caught this one last year. It weighs about 1.5lbs. It is a very good fish for my area. I caught it on the ultra light rod listed above. It was a 1.5in Lunker city Fin-S shad Chartreuse Sparkle rigged on a 1/16oz lead head. This is a great site and I would love to fish Australia.

[Ranger 175C]

Fishman

I do yes. I like S.O.B spinnerbaits. I also use and love Rapala minnows twitched on top. I really like Slug-Go and Senkos alot also.

[flathead_boy]

g'day mate a big aussie welcome to u those bass look sick

[Nath_18]

Oh thats one sweet ride :D :D :D

Welcome to the site Brian :)

cheers, Nathan

[Ranger 175C]

Thanks flat head Boy. These bass are great. They pull very hard. We fish for them with 8lb mono and a 4in plastic worm rigged on 1/4oz lead head, you pitch the lure around boat docks and deep structure. They are great. To bad this species caused me to travel 750 miles to catch it.

[Ranger 175C]

Thanks Nathan,

I like it very much. I have been fortunate. I really like my little John Boat as it letsme fish in water that is hardly ever fished.

[Ranger 175C]

Good Nite all. Thanks for the warn Aussie Welcome. Anyone who wants to talk fishing, tackle or lures, drop me an e-mail at brbgab@hotmail.com

[Nath_18]

Hey Ranger is there any reason you fish mono lines instead of fuised or braided lines?

cheers, Nathan

[swoffa]

G'day mate, and welcome aboard. There's a few tackle junkies here so you'll fit right in.

[Drewy]

Welcome Brian, nice fish and nice boat m8, do you fish the comps over there much??

[i_wanna_fish]

Originally posted by swoffa
G'day mate, and welcome aboard. There's a few tackle junkies here so you'll fit right in.

Not mentioning any names eh swoffa:D :D :D

[swoffa]

I didn't want to single anyone out and embarrass them... ;)

[i_wanna_fish]

:p :p :p :D :D :) :)

[Ranger 175C]

Sorry Guys

Had to get some sleep before work. I did fish tourneys for a few years. Did ok. They are very hardcore over here. I do fish the panfish ones when I can. I also am looking in to the Tournament Redfish scene. If you can get ESPN on your tv they show the comps on Sunday Mornings.

[Ranger 175C]

Back on-line at work. Any body out there

[Ranger 175C]

Nathan

I use mono becaue the light lures cast farther and I have had a problem with the fireline or spider wire not laying on the spool well. It seems to stack up or come loose on the spool also. I like the mono better. The fish I catch pull hard but not like I imagine your bream pull. If you have any hints about spiderwire, or power pro let me know.

[Evileye]

just wondering if u use mono backing before u put the fireline or spiserwire on the spool. other wise it slips on the spool. and u shouldnt fill the spool too much so it wont come over the edges. fireline makes fishing that much easier to cast lightlures, its amazing hay.

Ashley

[swoffa]

Fireline doesn't slip on the spool of any of the higher-end reels such as Stellas, Sustains, Luvias, Certate and Airity.

[zimeric]

when i first started using braided lines i still preferred mono,(ive used it all my life) basically its a whole different way of fishing, you have to rely on line movement to pick up bites, but the main difference is in the stretch when fighting,
a) it doesnt put as much strain on the tackle
b) it has more abrasion resistance
c) you can stike harder (you could also put this as a disadvantage in that "you have to stike harder to hook fish" )

but this being said, i now prefer braid for bream as it has far more advantages than mono, such as
a) small diameter, meaning more line on the spool
b) less stretch - meaning faster hookups, and better bite detection.
c) there is little point in striking hard so the hard strike issue is a non event, with the tackle we use here for bream, however if i was fishing Bass in the USA i would definitely be using mono.

IMHO
ps my first trip out with bubba , i used mono , and was the only one to catch a bream.... ;) my first on SP's
i put this down to me just being used to using mono and not because its better than braid.

[swoffa]

The best thing about Fireline over mono is the lack of stratch. I get a lot of my bream around tight (sharp) structure covered in oysters, if the line had any stratch the bream would get into the cover and cut me off.
That's also the reason I use a very short leader when fishing oyster racks, sometimes the fish only need an inch of stretch to be able to cut you off.

[Ranger 175C]

Swoffa

I will try fireline next time I spool up. I use Stella 1000FA reels so I guess it will be good. I am trying see if I wasted $180.00 on two Stella FW spools from Japan. They hold alot less money. I really don't need 140 yards of 4lb test for my ultra light fishing. I hope they work out. I will check back in a few minutes

[swoffa]

Ranger,
You say you use a Stella, if you don't mind me asking, why do you choose this reel? (It's an excellent real, I'm not saying otherwise)

Does Shimano hold the majority market share for light sportfishing in the US?
How does Daiwa fare?
What about the other brands, Quantum etc.?

The reason I'm asking is that Shimano has dominated here for many years, but recently Daiwa has released many high quality reels in the smaller sizes that have quickly converted a lot of people over from Shimano to Daiwa (me included).
There's been a lot of keen bream fishermen here switching from Shimano Stella and Sustains to Daiwa Luvias and Certates. Also quite a few people are going from Sustains to the Japan spec models like the Twinpower.

Any comments?

[Ranger 175C]

Swoffa

I was a die hard Daiwa angler for years. At one time I had 28 different Team Daiwa combos. I still use there casting reels as I like the external adjustment for the spool. I really like high quality ultra light spinning reels. Daiwa ul were to small and there high quality reels were to large. The stella 1000FA was the perfect size for my ultra light fishing. Please tell me that Dawia doesn't offer a reel the size of a 1000 over there. The 1500 size was the smallest of the higg quality reels right.

[swoffa]

It's a personal choice, I was just curious.

I'll probably get Woddy arguing with me here, but the following is my opinion and is shared by a lot of the guys I fish with, some won't agree.
I find the 1000 size Shimano reel spools to small for casting ultra-light and unweighted lures. I can cast quite a bit further with a 1500 size Daiwa. While Shimano make excellent reel, there's nothing between the 1000 and 2500 sizes (which I find to big for bream fishing), which is why I see Daiwa dominating in that particular market in Australia.
Also, from my experience, the Shimano Sustain 1000FD drag system doesn't stay smooth for long (I've owned quite a few), whereas my Luvias 1500's have caught some monster fish and still run as smooth as the day I got them. I've only owned one Stella, which had an awesome drag also, I got rid of it due to the small size of the spool.
I'm currently trying to upgrade my main bream outfits to Daiwa Certate 1500's but it's too costly an exercise to rush into. (I'm a pedantic bugger and don't like have different kinds of reels to use, I like all my gear to be the same) :p

Have you tried any Quantum reels? Any thoughts?

Also, I'm thinking of getting some Kistler Helium LTA rods from the US, any experience with these?

I'm not trying to start an argument, I value your perspective on these items. :D

[Ranger 175C]

Swoffa
You will get no arguement out of me. I like the 2500 size for Bass and inshore saltwater fishing. I own quite a few in that size. But for the smaller panfish that I posted the 1000 Size is the best balanced large sized spool reel I have ever tried. I just love mine. That being said if Dawia came out with a TD-Z 1000 or 750 exact size of the stella 1000 I wouls switch or at least look at one very hard. I am not a big fan of Quantum reels, they are good but not up to Daiwa or Shimano levels. I also use matching tackle, just find it easier to put down one rod and pick up another rigged with a different lure but the same reel and rod type. For me G Loomis rods rock.
I just talked to Trey Kistler about his rods yesterday. I found a few that would work really well for your bream fishing. His rods are very nice. My friend owns a high claiber tackle shop not far from my house. Check out his brands on the web. www.anglers paradise.com. He is also linked to an on-line sales area landbigfish.com He has everything for bass and quite alot that would work good for bream. I just ordered and received a panfish kit from yamamoto. It has 2in senkos in it. I think they would work great for your fishing.

[swoffa]

Thanks again for the reply. I also sent you a PM. :D

Those 2" Senko's sound good, I haven't seen them that small.

I'll check out your friends shop soon.

I'm glad I'm not the only pedantic fisho who has to have matching outfits when on the water. ;) (fishing outfits not clothing :p )

I'll certainly be talking to you further about Kistlers when I'm ready to buy, it'll be good to get a comparison between some of the models and some Loomis sticks that I'm familiar with.

Thanks agian. :cool:

[swoffa]

I just had a quick look at your friends site, he has everything. :D

It looks like a good alternative to BassPro and Cabelas for me to consider. (especially with BassPro now using Fedex and charging a fortune to deliver to Australia)