Freshwater Outfit/Combo - Help Please

[Marlin_Mike]

Allright, so I am settled in Gladstone, and look like taking regular work trips out to the Bowen Basin, and possibly the Surat basin maybe but more Bowen Basin.

So i don't have a decent freshwater rig for perch, yellowbelly, etc etc you know the fish out there. There is a reasonable Tackle World here, and a FBC.

What should I look for in a freshwater combo? Size, length, line size, what sort of lures are best, small hard bodies? spinners? Do I like buy a reasonable assortment of lures and SP's? I have a shyte load of jig heads so don't need any. I understand the basics of freshwater..... work the structures and snags etc. Just need some help/advice as to what sort of rod/reel and line and lures to buy. ( Note: I am not a braid fisherman )

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am prepared to walk the creek banks working for them, doesn't worry me, will be weekend fishing as work trips out there would be Mon - Fri basically.

Cheers

Mike

P.S: Please don't mention fly fishing. Tried it once didn't like it and it doesn't really interest me.

[Goodoo haven]

Get yourself a graphite rod and 6' to 6'6" long, a good quality bait caster reel filled with 15lb to 20lb braid. You will get the hang of it and when you do you will wonder why you haven't been using it earlier. If your not a fan of bait caster reels, you will have to get yourself a good spinning reel. As far as lures go there are too many to mention, but a good start would be some spinnerbaits and hard bodied lures in different sizes and different diving depths.

I hope that will help you a bit mate.

[warrior]

for an all rounder i would use a spin outfit in the 6 to 7 kg range with a 2500 reel something like the shimano sradic fi,or diawa sol with a diawa heartland spin ,shimano raider this gear wont break your bank either ,lures would be spinnerbaits ,atomic sliders any suspending lures , small large biibed lures ,and bibless crankbaits like jackalls,river to sea ecogear

[TheSaint]

I would look to get Baitcaster outfit maybe get Daiwa Aird reel & look at getting shimano dam raider 7ft if you are tight budget & load it with some sunline castaway 20lb braid.. & use a 12lb leader..

For the lures get some 1/2oz spinnerbaits in a few different colours & Jackall TN60's in ayu, brown dog & ghost wakasagi

[Cod-man1904]

If it was a spin combo you were after, i run a gary howard 2-5kg envy with a 2500 stradic ci4. Its nice and light for walking the creek banks and also heavy enough to cast those big spinner baits and hardbodys. I use alot of smak and oar-gee hard bodys with yellow and black and purple and black. Also i use alot of Bassman and smak spinner baits in the 3/8 and 1/2oz with purple and black skirts and a big gold blade being the most successful for me.

[lethal]

I bought myself a nitro dominator extreme 6-8kg with an Okuma Vs40. I used to specificaly target barra in the 10kg+ range in tight cover with hard body lures so i needed a heavy drag. The rod itself is 6'6" graphite. This is the only Okuma reel that i have used that i would rate, spooled with 50lb braid i have turned and landed plenty of large barra, and in the salt i use it spooled with 12lb mono and landed plenty of 10kg plus fish without doing any maintainence other than a quick wash after each use. Think i have had the reel at least 5 years.

[frawlz]

Forget lures if fishing the Balonne around Surat. The water is too dirty. I've only seen it clean enough for lures two or three times. You can take nice keeper sized cod off the banks just east of the bridge now and then. The yellabelly and cod love very small yabbies. If you fish with worms you can also be succesful but I mostly got carp like that. If you have access to a boat, there is a ramp there and it opens up a lot more of the river to you.

For fishing from the banks you probably want a longer (8-9 foot) light spin rod with some good heavy leader (20lb) because the banks can be fairly steep and it's hard to land the fish so you end up skull dragging them out of the water on the leader unless you have a net with a 6foot handle.

Take a bottle of green ginger wine and a warm coat this time of year.

[Gordie]

Fishing from the banks will give you a lot more chances to snag your lure. I use the smaller bait casters and have to be on the ball with diving lures. (swum for them many times)

So I like the suggestion of the longer rod which you have more chance to wind it down to your lure and giggle it off the snag.

Love braid.

Good luck
Gordon