Centrepin Reel for Blackfish

It has been a while since my last post on the blog. Been busy with a worm farming projects, hopefully some of them will be fishing related hehehe.

Winter has well settled in Australia and I got sick few times already...

With winter comes Blackfish season, now those fish can be caught all year long but in cold winter when you are not in the mood to brave the cold on a kayak and want to take a break with other species then Blackfish is a great plan. They are fun fish to catch and eat. I used to catch them off the rocks but have now moved to the estuary and fish The Entrance, by the Tuggerah Lake with the company of the locals with whom I go prawning during summer.

This year I wanted to try the Centrepin. I have been intrigued for quite a while now but never really got into it. Until I have accidentally broken my LBD reel used for my ISO rod. I wanted to get something more affordable so got an Alvey 455B XL. It is a good little reel but the inertia is not great. It requires a strong current to spin the reel. So I sold it and got an Alvey 475B instead. That was a great difference. It just great to see the slow current peel the line of the reel and fight a fish on a 1:1 ratio. Somehow fishing with an ISO rod and a centrepin reel does make sense, it is almost like an LBD without a lever, you just use your fingers to lock or unlock the spool when fighting a big fish. I had great fun with the 475B and caught some nice blackies.

After using the 475B for three weeks I found few annoying points:

- although the reel brake button on the backplate can be useful even when fighting the fish, it is also too easy to press on it inadvertently.

- the side cast feature was very helpful as I learned the art of centrepin casting. However line twists are a nightmare. I needed to tie a tiny swivel above the float for it to be effective and it annoys me that sometimes I reel in too much and the swivel get locked inside the tip guide.

- also due to the side cast, the reel foot needs to swivel and this adds extra gap between the foot and the reel itself, making the reel to far away from the rod to be able to use the thumb to control the reel spinning speed. So I need to hold the reel with the middle to pinky fingers in front of the reel and use them to palm it, but that big gap still create some strain in the hand due to the stretch between the fingers.

However, the Alvey 475B (or Shakespeare Lincoln in the US) is greatly free running and does spin for one minute with a good flick. The slowest of current peels the line allowing a drag-free drift. It use using ball bearing as opposed to brass bushing on older reels, giving it a very free running reel, but running maybe too freely and if you don't master palming while casting you will end up with 30m of bird nest, don't ask me why I know...

I heard lots of good reviews about the vintage reels such as J.W. Young Trudex. This is my next reel to test out. You can sometimes find them on ebay especially on the UK market. I would have loved something more modern machined aluminum reels like a Okuma Aventa Pro or even better one of John Milner reels, but at 400AUD and way over they are way too expensive for me. And the Trudex although older than me will continue spinning even when I'll be burried. I manage to find one for a good price and even if it does not suit me (which I doubt) I will still be able to sell it back for the same price or more on the Australian market.

 

Recent catches on Iso Tsuri

Just a quick update on my recent catches on the Iso setup. Mostly caught in the Central Coast at Woy Woy and some from Terrigal.

Tenkara or Japanese fly fishing

Interesting fishing techniques seems to usually come from Japan, to no surprise really. I lately adopted Iso Tsuri, a japanese rock fishing technique using long but light rod and gear and absolutely love it and use it not just for rock fishing but anywhere I can.

Recently I was more and more interested in fly fishing. After few months reading and watching documents about fly fishing I discovered Tenkara, the fly fishing japanese way. Tenkara uses light (more or less 100gr) but long (usually 12ft) telescopic rods with fixed line (no reel, length varies from 10ft to 20ft). So you could basically hit the water with just a rod, a line and a fly.

I've always been attracted with smaller or lighter gears such as Iso Tsuri or the Pen Fishing Rods. And those also requires more finesse skills as opposed to rough ones where you would use heavy duty rods with big lines and sinkers.

I'm still in discovery mode and reading what I can trying to understand the system before buying something. But currently I'm limited budget wise so I will probably be looking on Aliexpress for my next Tenkara purchase of a 12ft 6:4 (light to medium) action rod. Then the following strp would be to start learning fly fishing which is totally new to me. 

Bread and butter species in Woy Woy Bath

II've been fishing the public whatf in Woy Woy for quite a while but recently discovered that the bath just around the corner is very productive at good tide.

So I usually bottom fish by casting a whole worm or pilchard on a gang hook over to the opposite side and then Iso fish for luderick inside the bath.

On my first session I hooked up with a big bream and in my rush I drop my Iso landing net!! And lost the fish. It was a cold morning but I decided to dive in and find the net but gave up after half an hour. 

Not having a net on the second session I hooked up with a good blackfish on a 4lb line so had to drag it back to shore.

On my third session I finally caught that big bream. A nice 35cm specimen, along with a trevally and two mullets.

I will be trying to do some fly fishing in this area for blackfish and mullets.

Tandem kayak fishing from Davistown/South Kincumber to Empire Bay

Yesterday after work  I picked up my mate Dom at Artarmon and he stayed with us in Wyoming for an early morning kayak fishing.

For this first tandem kayak fishin trip we decided to head down to Davistown on the south side of Kincumber and paddle around to Empire Bay.

I was pretty quiet but we managed to catch a long-tom, 5 flatheads with one keeper of 42cm on soft-plastic on a pen fishing rod, a 27cm bream trolling a crank bait and two nice squids.

It also was the first trip out with my Garmin Echo 201DV fishfinder on a DIY mount I made for the yak.

Great day out!