Travel setup for up north

[AllFisher]

Hi guys,

Have had the luck of snagging myself a 5 night trip up to Cairns (Palm Cove to be more specific) just before Easter and have been agonising over the choices for a travel set up to take with me.

I'm leaning towards a Nitro 007 Magnum Butt running a 3000 certate and 20lb braid, but wondering if I'm gonna end out regretting not getting something a bit heavier like the 007 viper.

I'll be land based and was looking at the jetty and the rocks a bit north as an option?

I'm out in the middle of NSW and have very little access to higher end gear to feel so would really appreciate any advice.

Cheers

Alex

[bashman]

Originally Posted by AllFisher

Hi guys,

Have had the luck of snagging myself a 5 night trip up to Cairns (Palm Cove to be more specific) just before Easter and have been agonising over the choices for a travel set up to take with me.

I'm leaning towards a Nitro 007 Magnum Butt running a 3000 certate and 20lb braid, but wondering if I'm gonna end out regretting not getting something a bit heavier like the 007 viper.

I'll be land based and was looking at the jetty and the rocks a bit north as an option?

I'm out in the middle of NSW and have very little access to higher end gear to feel so would really appreciate any advice.

Cheers

Alex

Had a trip up their recently and loved it. Really depends on what your targeting but the majority of likely targets that outfit will be a great all rounder. I assume your putting your rods in a tube so if possible try and get at least 2 in the tube if you access to them? If you don't know anyone local try and do as much ground work on likely spots

My mate with me had the same rod and he smashed some pretty big fish on it. They seem to punch above their weight!

[AllFisher]

Thanks Bashman,

As for what I'll be targeting, will probably be anything really hahaha never fished up that far north so would just love to open the accounts for some of the tropical species, not too fussed if they aren't huge, but don't want to go up too under gunned for the area just in case....

I currently have none of the gear mentioned in my first post.... so will probably try to limit my purchasing to one or the other (or an alternative), most of my gear is one piece rods, and I'm not super keen to drag them around the airports, plus the heaviest I run at the moment is a samurai 302 with certate 2500R which I don't think would be quite enough if I hook into some of the angrier fish up that way anyway.

Yeah no locals up that way for me, lucky I have almost two months to suss out and dream up options

Yeah that's what I've read of the magnum butts, just for my interest, what was the biggest fish lolly he was throwing with it?

[The G factor]

Hey mate,

I recently tried out the new samaki travel rods, the 3 piece 12-20lb rod. It performed flawlessly and at less than 200 bucks it would be my recommendation.

Caught heaps of nice bluefin trevally to 8kg, small reef sharks, and it performed great on a tuna before I lost him.

[AllFisher]

Thanks G,

I had a look at the samakis but the 3 pieces wont quite fit into my suitcase....

But might be worth buying a bigger suitcase hahaha

What reel were you running on it out of interest?

[The G factor]

Definitely need a bigger suitcase then!

I ran a 3000 branzino on it and found it to be perfect. Seriously impressed with the rod, a few times I was sure it was gonna break with the drag I was running but all good.

Best of luck with your trip mate, very jealous

[bashman]

Originally Posted by AllFisher

Thanks Bashman,

As for what I'll be targeting, will probably be anything really hahaha never fished up that far north so would just love to open the accounts for some of the tropical species, not too fussed if they aren't huge, but don't want to go up too under gunned for the area just in case....

I currently have none of the gear mentioned in my first post.... so will probably try to limit my purchasing to one or the other (or an alternative), most of my gear is one piece rods, and I'm not super keen to drag them around the airports, plus the heaviest I run at the moment is a samurai 302 with certate 2500R which I don't think would be quite enough if I hook into some of the angrier fish up that way anyway.

Yeah no locals up that way for me, lucky I have almost two months to suss out and dream up options

Yeah that's what I've read of the magnum butts, just for my interest, what was the biggest fish lolly he was throwing with it?

Sorry just checked with him and he was using a 2 piece viper. He throws up to around 80 grams lures with it . Has a thickish butt and tapers of fairly fine. He uses it from everything from big softies for flatties to snapper small to mid kings etc. a great all round rod .

[Rattler]

I live in gladstone and most of the time I use a 6-14lb corkish in BC running 16lb braid or my spin is a 13 black omen in 8-14lb running 20lb braid on it. I use this for jacks barra and salmon. I have heavier gear but if you need to cast small lures you won't get the distance. I'd go for a 6-12lb or 8-14lb rod with a 3000 reel like you said. Have fun.

[AllFisher]

Thanks for all the input guys.

Have ended out ordering the Viper, a 3000 certate and a 300m spool of 20lb Frog PE.

Went the heavier option as everything seemed to be pointing that way haha also I feel the mag butt would overlap with samurai 302's I have where as this thing is a step above....

Gave serious thought to the 3 piece options, but once I took the cost of a bigger suitcase into account it wasn't had to justify the nitro, plus the cast weight range on it is a fair step outside of the other rods that were mentioned, 9-56g seems insane, and hopefully it will do alright down the bottom end of that range as well.

Cheers

Alex

[Penno]

This is the rod I use when I am travelling up north qld Nitro 007 Magnum Butt,
5 piece 4-6 kg, hope this helps for another choice.

[Specialkleen]

Allfisher, I live 5 minutes away from the jetty. When the conditions suit, it can throw up just about anything you to catch and usually the 'jetty rats' are the guys who will have prime real estate. However the advantage you have is your southern techniques differ to the locals. I rarely see small blades/plastics, light line and gear on the jetty and when it does occur they usually get a few fish. Which months will you be here? When the mackerel are on, it's a lot of fun targeting them on light blades and micro jigs. Having said that, lately I've seen photos of 20kg trevally being regularly caught so maybe heavier isn't such a bad idea. :P

[Brad Y]

I have the 007 magnum butt too- great rod. I would fish up to 25lb on the magnum butt and up to 40lb on the viper. They have some serious pulling power and have found fishing to the line rating on the rod really doesnt do them justice. Good luck.

[AllFisher]

Thanks Gents,

Starting to feel like I might have to 'invest' in a mag butt as well haha

Specialkleen, sounds like a tough spot to live hahaha I'll be up at the start of April, more or less have the 4 days leading up to Easter up there, so from what I've read not really in the mackerel run unfortunately. But 20kg trevors sounds well exciting

Might have to spool up the 4000 sol with some 30-40lb braid for the viper instead... Out of interest, what reels are you guys running on your mag butts and vipers?

Thanks again!

Alex

[AllFisher]

Got it all today....

Its a right old weapon, I get the feeling I may not get the distance I was hoping with the lighter end (15-25g) hards as she feels like a real brute, but i reckon she will cast a decent size slug into the next post code...

Bit of test casting later in the week should give me the answers I seek hahaha

Love the quality and feel of the blank, if it doesn't do what I was hoping I see a mag butt very soon in my future

Thanks again for all the advice.

Cheers

Alex

[AllFisher]

Hi guys,

Well ended out getting a 007 mag butt before I went (and a 6000 stella to match up to the viper hahaha) and managed to get a bit of fishing in over a couple of the days.

The water was really dirty along the shore, chatting to a bloke on the jetty it was silt picked up from the mud flats out the front of cairns by the big tides and strong south-easterly that was blowing pretty much the whole time I was up there. Apparently the week before there were schools of bait moving about and lots of activity but the dirty water had really slowed things up, but thems the breaks....

Managed to get a couple of little hits from the jetty on a popper from little macks but no connections.

Had a bit of a crack from the rocks round Buchanans point but no success. Saw a couple of turtles cruising about though so that was cool

Decided to walk right round the point to have a look from the far end of the rocks where it meets the beach again and finally hit some success!



My first barra! Not a big fish by any stretch but heaps exciting for me! Picked him up on a samaki vibelicious in a red head white. Got a reasonable flatty two casts later and that was it for the trip.

Also, for anyone who doesn't know the area, this patch of beach is an unofficial nudist beach, so if you're not ok with seeing/being congratulated by a bunch of old dudes with their dongs out, this may not be the best spot for you to have a fish hahahaha

Had another go round there the next day but the tide was heaps further out and no luck.

All in all it was a great trip and I'm itching to get back up that way to get a bigger model.

Cheers for the advice.

Alex