Tag Archives: Fishing Rod

The basics: fishing gear to set up a novice angler

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The basics: fishing gear to set up a novice angler

When you’re new to angling it can be hard to know what fishing gear to choose.  The most basic fishing equipment includes rods, reels, lines, fishing tackle and lures.  For a novice fisher it’s important that any gear you invest in is easy to use. Here are some tips to help you select a set of fishing equipment for your first fishing outings.

The rod is the most important item of fishing equipment you’ll be purchasing, so it’s worth spending some time to find the rod that suits you best.  A rod about 7 to 8 feet in length is best for a beginner as an all round general purpose size, however if beach fishing or rock fishing it is usually best to use around 10 feet off the rock ledges and 12 foot fishing on the beach.  Look for a rod that is reasonably durable but preferably sensitive, allowing you to learn the skills of casting lines and playing fish.

Give some thought to the type of fishing you’ll be doing most often and choose a rod with a casting weight that suits your purpose.  For pier or estuary fishing, go for a rod with a light fishing line rating (often 2-5kgs) around 6-7 feet in length, while for surf fishing rods or rock fishing rods usually with heavier casting weight are more suitable in a rating class of say between 6-10kgs in the 10-12 foot size is suitable. A good solution for a beginner would be a 2-piece rod.  This type of rod is easy to transport.

There are three main types of fishing reel available: overhead, Alvey sidecast and spinning reels. Of these, the spinning reel is the most commonly used, and is popular with both experts and novices. These reels are often called eggbeaters because their design is similar to those old-fashioned kitchen utensils.  For anyone who is learning angling, a spinning reel is a good choice.  These reels are very simple to use and make it easy to learn casting and retrieving.  The reels come in a variety of sizes and the size of spinning reel should be chosen to match the weight and size of the rod.

Fishing lines come in a variety of materials, structures and weights.  Other fishing line characteristics that anglers consider are visibility, cast ability and stretch.  As a beginner to angling, it’s probably best to select a simple monofilament fishing line with breaking strength suitable to the type of fish that you’re targeting and line class rating within the rod’s classification.

Lures are devices attached to the end of fishing lines to attract the attention of fish, and are designed so that their colour, shape and movement imitate the prey of the fish you are targeting. There is an enormous range of styles of lure available for anglers: check out the fishing lures stocked by the Ocean Storm Fishing Tackle Shop Online, which include lures designed to attract fresh water and salt water fish from small table fish such as bream to huge fish.

There are a few other essential basic fishing items such as hooks and sinkers, swivels etc.  While you’re shopping for fishing equipment, don’t forget a tackle box to store and carry your new fishing gear, and an ice box to keep cool all those fish you’re going to be catching. If you are after an all round beginners tackle kit then I suggest the surecatch fishing tackle kit.

 

Visit our online fishing store website to browse through our range of fishing gear and if you require assistance in making your selection feel welcome to contact us. (Usually by email or live web chat is the preferred method so we can give you a more detailed response and provide links to our website for reference where possible).

Fish species article: Bonito – Fishing for Bonito

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Species article: Bonito

While Bonito used to be considered a bait fish, its eating properties were overlooked; it is actually a tasty fish if bled straight after capture and cooked fresh rather than frozen. The main reason this species is so popular with anglers is its ability to fight fast and hard, providing great sport on light fishing gear.

Bonito is an inshore pelagic species, often found along the subtropical eastern and western coastlines of Australia. There are a few species of Bonito in Australia  such as: Australian Bonito (sarda australis), Oriental Bonito (sarda orientails) and Watsons Leaping Bonito (cybiosarda elegans).  In Australian waters they don’t grow large: to a maximum of about 7kg on the east coast and about 4kg off the coast of Western Australia.  Bonito are sometimes mistaken for skipjack although their colour is a brighter green and black stripes appear along the top of the body rather than along the lower sides as with skipjack.

The Bonito are surface feeding fish and most often found close to the shoreline, in rocky wash areas and around reefs, so they can be caught from boats or by anglers casting off from rocks or jetties. Around dawn in summer and autumn, when the water is between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius, is the best time to catch bonito.

The same fishing techniques as you’d use to catch species like skipjack, kingfish and salmon will be successful with bonito. The fish will attack live bait and cubes of fish flesh, as well as flies and fishing lures.  While land based anglers are limited to casting and retrieving lures or baits, boat anglers have a much wider range of options including casting lures, and trolling lures and baits.  Because bonito have sharp teeth, metal lures will last longer than lures made from softer materials. One of the best types of lure for attracting bonito is the Halco Twisty Fishing Lure or Kokoda Quarter Back Fishing Lures, both versatile metal lures with an enticing actions, available from the Fishing Tackle Shop.

Bonito are very much sought after by light spinning enthusiasts.  Fishing reels best suited for land based fishing for bonito should allow a reasonable casting distance, so for angling from rocks or jetties consider a six-eight kilo spinning outfit. For boat fishing, lighter spinning outfits (four-six) would be suitable. For land based fishing you’ll need an 8 to 10 foot fishing rod, while a shorter (6-7 foot) rod is better for boat angling. A great rod/reel combination offered by the Fishing Tackle Shop is a Okuma Epix 60 Fishing Reel with 8 foot Crystal Power Tip Fishing Rod which is perfect for targeting bonito from the shore.

You can fish for bonito from the shore or from a boat close to the shore, and light – medium fishing gear is all that’s needed.  Provided that you have the patience to keep casting until the speedsters start to appear, your persistence will be rewarded with some great sport.

Images: The owner of fishingtackleshop.com.au  2011 with  few  bonito captured from Kiama Blowhole Point, NSW on an 8 foot Uglystik Fishing rod paired up with a Shimano Stradic 6000 Fishing reel with 20lb Power Pro Braid. Lure is a  Kokoda Quaterback metal lure.

Fishing for Flathead on Soft Plastic Fishing Lures

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Fishing for Flathead with soft plastic fishing lures has become ever so popular in recent years. Flathead are always a hungry fish that will pretty much eat anything that appears to be food. It is not uncommon for large Flathead to be cannibalistic and eat other smaller Flathead.

My favorite spot for fishing for Flathead would have to be Mallacoota, Which is located just inside the Victorian boarder if traveling south from NSW. Mallacoota is a small township and is quite peaceful particularly in the upper reaches of Gypsy Point. Flathead and Bream are plentiful in Mallacoota and what more is it appears from my experience that most of the fish are of decent size.

Though Mallacoota is my personal favorite spot for Flathead fishing you can pretty much find a variety of Flathead in most parts of Australia.

Fishing for Flathead on soft plastic fishing lures is quite easy when you have the right tackle. What I would recommend is:

Fishing Rod: Depending on how light you wish to fish I recommend a light weight graphite/composite fishing rod rated somewhere along the 2-4kg to 3-5kg mark. Good rod choices would include the Shimano T-Curve fishing rod, Shimano 3 Zero Fishing Rod, Shimano Starlo Stix Fishing Rods, Berkley Dropshot Rods and Daiwa Generation Black Wicked Weazel rods just to name a few. These rods have been specifically designed to suit soft plastic and hard body lure fishing. Prices for a fishing rod suitable for soft plastic fishing can vary anywhere from around $59.00 to $600.00+

Fishing Reel– There are many fishing reels on the market and ultimately it depends on your budget but for something fairly half decent I would not recommend any reel that had a price tag of less than $60-70. The size of the reel can vary depending on the rod you choose but more commonly the choice would be some where between a 2000-2500-3000 size reel for this type of fishing. Again it really depends on your personal budget but for the average angler that is after a fishing reel with a bit of quality that doesn’t want to spend a lot, brand ranges I would highly recommend as a starting point the Penn Battle fishing reel, Shimano Sedona Fishing Reel, Okuma Avenger fishing reels.  For the angler that is willing to spend a bit more for top quality gear you could consider the Shimano Stella or Shimano Stradic.

Fishing Line: Obviously the choice is yours. Fish anywhere from 2kg to 5kg depending on how light you prefer. There are many brands on the market and you can use either Braided / Super Lines or just a regular mono-filament fishing line.  My personal choice is I like to fish fairly light for more fun and use 4lb fireline crystal fishing line with an 8lb Berkley vanish fluorocarbon trace. I use heavier trace compared to my main line mostly to handle any abrasion.

Soft Plastic Fishing Lures: There are many many soft plastic lures on the market and the Flathead will be more than happy to eat pretty much any of the soft plastic fishing lures if it fits in their mouth! the other alternative to soft plastic fishing lures is Berkley Gulp. Berkley Gulp is designed to completely look and feel like soft plastic however the ingredients used are all natural.

My favorite picks on soft plastic lures for Flathead would be Squidgies: in 65mm fish and 100mm wriggler. Favorite colours are silver fox, bloodworm gary glitter and black gold. For the Berkley Gulp fishing lure range my picks are the 2″ Camo sand worms, 2″ nuclear chicken shrimps and 3″ Minnows in smelt. Truth is though you can use any colour and they will most likely get eaten by a Flathead if hungry.

How to fish soft plastic fishing lures for Flathead:

There a few methods but by far the easiest and effective way if fishing for Flathead in a lake, river etc.  is to cast the soft plastic fishing lure out along the sand flats or edges of weed beds and let the lure sink till it hits the bottom, leave it for a moment, retrieve any slack line, give your rod an upward twitch, wind a small amount of line back let the lure sink again and keep repeating this process of twitch, wind and sink and be continuous at a fairly slow pace.