Wagoe setup
Submitted by Versus on Tue, 2013-09-03 21:25
Spending a week at Wagoe over the new years break, plan to do lots of fishing (obviously) but I think i'm overdue to upgrade my beach combo. Got a Penn 950ss with 10lb mono on an old 12ft $50 job, which casts about 30m with a strong wind at my back. Would like to try ballooning but from doing a little searching on here it seems I'd probably need an overhead setup with a few hundred mtrs of line.
Would a spin reel with lots of line capacity work on the old cheapo rod for ballooning?
Also am considering getting something like a 2nd hand sensor surf to match the 950ss for general beach fishing, thoughts?
opsrey
Posts: 1200
Date Joined: 05/10/07
?
If you have trouble casting a Penn on a 12' rod, then you really will have trouble casting an overhead. There is plenty of recent information on nice combos in the search function. Look forward to a few pic in the new year.
Versus
Posts: 918
Date Joined: 06/03/09
Yer my technique can improve
Yer my technique can improve a lot, but the rod is a big heavy fiberglass thing that goes "boing- oing- oing" when I lob out a big bait. Also not much bite sensitivity.
Pretty much made my mind up to get a graphite rod, like a diawa sensor surf or similar as have seen this recommended a lot in other posts- I suppose I was wondering if the Penn would match well, weight wise etc.
I don't have much of a budget so hoping to pick up some second hand gear between now and then, just wanting some opinions from the more experienced beach fishers on how to get best bang for buck. Like I said would like to give ballooning a try, if I could get a second hand reel and stick it on my crappy fiberglass rod then that would be cheaper than a whole new setup, but if that would be a waste of time and money then might just leave it for now.
drifta
Posts: 106
Date Joined: 15/01/12
Hey man if you want you can
Hey man if you want you can borrow my spare ballooning setup, only problem is the rods a bit short for using over rocks and the reel could probably do with a service
- Brett
greyheads1
Posts: 249
Date Joined: 27/08/11
Spin Outfit
Hey Versus,
You should be absolutely fine with a 950 for ballooning. Those reels are great in my opinion, plenty pf grunt and huge line capacity and because the composition is so simple there is little to go wrong. If ballooning you shouldnt be casting anyway you can launch the bait from hand so wouldnt worry about that element. Are you gas balloon or simple surface ballooning? Either way nothing wrong with a spin outfit. I can get ~480m of 50lb power pro on my Saltiga and around 650m on my Ultegra - both I find are suitable spin reels to send out a balloon - Im no expert but as a rule of thumb you want approx 150m-200m spare line capacity on top of the distance your rig is off-shore.
I havent used the Sensor surf's myself - some seem to love them some less so. It should be versatile enough after the trip to use for anything, a specific ballooning outfit might be restrictive for general fishing after the trip unless you offload it.
Weather might be blowy in the height of summer and hopefully the water has started to warm enough by then to get the pelagics in. Always worth taking bottom rigs (and plenty of them that place is a magnet for gear loss), if windy you can take shelter in plenty of the bays in and around Lucky Bay, there are loads of Tailor and Mulloway to be had in the surf. Last time I was there, there were Dart in plague proportions - which made excellent bait filleted!
Versus
Posts: 918
Date Joined: 06/03/09
Hey Drifta, cheers mate i'll
Hey Drifta, cheers mate i'll definately keep that in mind if I can't sort my own setup by then.
Greyheads, I've got 10lb mono on the 950, not sure what that equals but i'm sure its alot less than if it were braid :/. I want a sensor surf (or any decent graphite beach rod) to match the 950 for normal casting of bigger baits for tailor, mulloway etc. Was thinking of using the old fiberglass rod for ballooning (which i have 0 experience at), as u said don't need casting ability. If i keep my eye out on second hand stuff might find a suitable reel for that.
Yeh the sea-breeze is probably going to howling everyday by midday (from what i can gather), but do u get easterlies in the morning? If not then a ballooning setup might be pointless anyway.
greyheads1
Posts: 249
Date Joined: 27/08/11
Last up there
I was up there in early April I think, wind was mostly southerly throughout, in the mornings a litle bit of easterly in it then moving to souwesters throughout the day. if you have some flex either side of your preferred dates just keep an eye on the forecast and you can hit it right. You should be able to get a balloon out in anything with a hint of easterly...though it may come down to line capacity as you might be going 10m north for every 2m west/out - ha ha!
Whatever the wind there will be fish in and around any of the reef breaks and beaches....a 3oz or 4 oz richter should get you some tailor
Plenty of info on rigs in the backdated posts and plenty of info on spots as well. 10lb mono will be fairly light for up there I would be looking at 10kg + if ballooning - don't forget your wire traces.
There was a sensor surf in the classifieds a couple of weeks back might still be available?