Williamstown 25/09

[4liters]

About 12 hours ago the alarm went off and it was time to take the yak out for its first attempt at saltwater fishing. I met up with a couple of kayak fishers and we set out right on sunrise. There were a lot of boats (for a workday) out over the Gellibrand shoal chasing snapper. As soon as the baits went out there were little nibbles, probably micro pinkies. There were a lot of undersize flathead as well. After a bit we moved in a bit closer behind the footy ground and tried for some squid but shortly after we started one of the guys noticed gulls diving into the water about a kilometer away so we packed up and went to check it out. There were no bait fish that we could see hitting the surface but I saw some big schools on the sounder. I started drifting with baits and a plastic out and ended up with 4-5 undersize flatties, one at 32cm and a small pinky. I'd forgotten how hard the pinkies go, it's been such a long time since I caught one.







It got a bit rough after about 12 so we headed in, it was interesting getting back through the rocks with the waves getting quite lumpy. The only downside was one of my reels getting a dunking so I'll have to take it apart. It's a Penn slammer and those things are pretty tough so it should be fine.

[BIG GAV]

What a day to be on the water! I just got home from work humps been busted fair to say I'm jealous! I'm gonna need a few workdays off in a few weeks to get out on the bay

[Nude up]

Conditions look fantastic

[Fish-Hunter]

Good pics, have you considered a Alvey kayak Special reel ? Its not as sweet to use as a spinning reel & prone to line twisting etc, but can handle dunkings of saltwater all day long.

http://alvey.com.au/products/45bc/

[4liters]

Yeah, I'm actually pretty keen to get a couple of Alveys when the Siennas I use for snapper/gummies eventually die.

I opened up the reel this morning, there wasn't much water in there so I just wiped out all the old grease and replaced it with MX8. There is a slight clicking from the main gear not quite aligned with the pinion but I think the MX8 might be finer grease than the factory stuff because the reel is now smoother than the other Slammer I have that hasn't been used yet.

[Fish-Hunter]

^^
Good idea to pull down your reels & give them a clean + grease, i doubt you will need to replace your reels anytime soon, with your current maintenance program.

[4liters]

^^
Good idea to pull down your reels & give them a clean + grease, i doubt you will need to replace your reels anytime soon, with your current maintenance program.

I hope not. I'm still learning how to service them properly, but I think once I get the hang of it it'll save me a fair bit of money in the long run.

[Fish-Hunter]

^^
Not only save $$, but generally you actually do a better job.

[BIG GAV]

Waiting for a sienna to die.. Mines never been serviced it's copped a beating been submerged and all n is still in great workin order.. You'll be waiting a while