Setting up for boat fishing in Nth Qld

[dirty_pierre]

'afternoon all

We are about to set up some gear for boat fishing (for the first time). Have done a fair bit of salt water beach fishing but boat fishing is new.

We will be in Qld until the end of the year and will be fishing from a 3.5m tinny.

For those experienced in fishing Qld irivers and lakes, I would appreciate some general advice and suggestions for suitable rods, reels, line and lures. Hoping to get a barra or two. Are there any quality DVD's that are helpful.

Budget may stretch to good quality, middle of the range tackle.

Heading to Townsville in a day or two to hit the tackle shops and would like to sound a bit knowledgeable!

Cheers

Pierre

[luigi]

G'day Pierre, welcome to the forum.

If you are going to get fair dinkum about lure casting, I would suggest the following items will give you a reasonable chance of catching fish consistantly;

- An electric motor is almost essential for manouvering around snags etc.

- A medium action rod (baitcaster) around 6 foot long with a fairly whippy tip if you are going to use braid/gelspun line. (Shimano or Daiwa)

- I personally prefer low profile baitcaster reels & again suggest Diawa or Shimano as a safe bet. Don't forget - the higher the price usually means the better the product. Thats not to say the cheaper items of these two brands are junk - far from it.

- As far as line goes, I used 6kg mono with a 40lb leader for years. These days I use 10kg braid or gelspun twist with a 25kg gelspun leader around 2 metres long joined to the main line with a double uni knot & a 55lb coastlock snap for lure connection.

- My primary lure would be a 70mm timber deep diver (to 4 metres) in purple with a black back. 70mm being an ideal size IMO - it's big enough for big fish but not too big for smaller fish.

My best advice for you Pierre is to get local advice where ever you can. If you come up this way make sure you call into my Lucinda Lures workshop & I will give you up to date info & advice which will hopefully result in a fish or two.

Cheers - Lou