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Thread: Swains Reef

  1. #1

    Cool Swains Reef

    G'day all,

    Wish i could have been posting fishing reports but haven't had the chance (due to not having the chance of fishing over the last while).

    So I'm lucky enough to be heading to the middle, northern parts of swains reef in September this year for a 7 day charter. I will be asking the guys on the charter and have all ready spoken to my local tackle shop as well as the Nomad rep who happened to be there, but I know there are a lot of clued up guys/gals on here and hoping a few might have been up that way recently.

    Just after any tips that will help me get more out of the trip, any little or big thing that might not cross my mind but you have picked up from when you were up that way.

    I'll be taking the following set ups as they are the best i can afford:

    T-pop 100lb samurai rod with a penn slammer 8500 with 100lb braid (22.5kg drag)
    Terez with a torium 16G 50lb braid
    Terez with baitrunner oc 12000 50lb braid
    Silstar 15kg with a stradic FJ 5000 30lb braid
    NS dark hole 2PE jig rod with a Stradic FJ 4000 20lb braid
    TLD 25 combo with 80lb mono

    Thanks in advance

  2. #2

    Re: Swains Reef

    I went September just gone on Iron Joy, had a GREAT trip under 10 all week

    I took

    custom 20-50lb spin rod with sargosa 8000 and 50 braid (used this %90 of the time)
    a custom 30-60lb ov erhead with talica 10 and 60 braid for the 40-80m work (used a handful of times chasin reds)
    a custom 30-80lb overhead with talica 12 and 80 braid for 80m + used on 1 day in the deep (the boat bagged 50 nannies in 4 hrs)
    a 15-25kg live fiber overhead with tyrnos 30 loaded with 50 mono (never got out of the rod rack)

    I wouldn't take too many unless you are going to do specific fishing, I am going again and may drop the tyrnos

    I took spare braid, shit loads of lead, 80 Snyder mono for leader, boxes of 7/0 big guns and as many yakkas as we could catch leading up to the trip
    Garry

    Retired Honda Master Tech

  3. #3

    Re: Swains Reef

    Try a hand line 50lb for shallow 70lb for deeper and light sinker on a 10/0 with a pilly and hang on.

  4. #4

    Re: Swains Reef

    Hi mate,

    I have been a few times and this is what I take:

    1. 30 pound braid outfit on a 10-12kg 7 foot spin stick. Your stradic 5000 would be perfect. Great for plastics, throwing slugs into tuna/mackerel schools etc. Use this also for getting squid at night off the back of the boat. Take a couple of squid jigs.

    2. 30 pound mono outfit on a 10-15kg 7 foot spin stick. I highly recommend this if you will be getting into the dories and bait fishing around the reefs. It is so much easier and quicker to simply tie a hook straight onto the end of you line when you get snagged / bitten off than be messing around with braid / leader knots. If you are fishing with mono you spend a lot more time fishing. A 7 foot rod allows you to cast to bommies etc. If you have a smaller length rod and can't reach the bommies with your cast you may as well be on the mother ship drinking beer. I would personally put mono on your baitrunner reel. Not sure if you need the 12000, the 8000 would suffice. You will get 200m of 30 pound on this - plenty. Don't forget - you will be holding on to these rods and reels for 10 hours a day so the lighter the better!

    3. 50 pound braid on a 7 foot PE5 rod. I use this for poppers, stick baits etc around the reef. It is not man enough for large GT's but I don't actually fish for them.

    4. 50 pound braid on an overhead reel and rod which I use for deep water bottom bashing and doubles as my trolling rod or for floating unweighted pillies off the back of the mothership for Spaniards. Your terez / torium will be perfect for this.

    5. 50 pound braid on a 10000 shimano reel on a 6'4" PE2-4 jig / spin rod. This is basically my back up all rounder in case something goes wrong with either 1, 3 or 4 above. It hardly comes out at all actually.

    Of the 5 outfits I take I really only use 1, 2 and 3 regularly.

    I am not sure what you intend to fish for with your 80 pound mono outfit? I have seen 500kg sharks caught with ease on 50 pound mono.

    Also take:

    2 x hats and 2 x sunglasses - just in case you lose either one of these over board on day 1!

    Long nose pliers - you will catch a lot of fish with nasty teeth - also helps getting hooks out of mouths.

    A bag of balloons for floating pillies / live baits out the back of the mother ship for Spaniards.

    Antiseptic cream - rub this in to your hands every night - stops the cuts and knicks from getting sore.

    If going for a week take about 150 - 200 hooks (7/0, 8/0), about 100 ball sinkers ranging from 1 to 5 if bait fishing around the reefs. A lot of the time you wil fish with no sinker at all if in about 5 or so metres of water.

    300 - 400m leader - 60 and 80 pound. Take a spool of 100 pound for deep water paternosters. Take tough trace, not supple.

    A few small slugs (30-60g) for throwing at tuna/mackeral bust ups.

    A couple of squid jigs.

    A spare spool of each size braid / mono. Get spooled on day 1 and your rod and reel is in the holder for the rest of the trip!

    PM me if you need any other info.

    Cheers

  5. #5

    Re: Swains Reef

    If a handline is the tool of the pro trout fishermen why look any further?

  6. #6

    Re: Swains Reef

    Thanks for all the feed back,

    I'll defiantly be giving the hand line a crack.

    I'm gonna try to get a fair bit of variety in (not let it get in the way of catching plenty for the table though) fishing style wise, some good advice Billy C on a few things i wouldn't have thought about.

    Might need to slim down on some of the gear too!

    Side note: went out to the four beacons before work this morning, a few shows on the sounder but couldn't get any thing to bite, didn't even see any birds working on the way back, plenty busy out there by the time i got back to Cleveland.

  7. #7

    Re: Swains Reef

    Quote Originally Posted by Billy C View Post
    A bag of balloons for floating pillies / live baits out the back of the mother ship for Spaniards.
    1. Worst advice from a fisherman I have seen in a long long time, just leave the balloons at home buddy, they have no place on the water

  8. #8

    Re: Swains Reef

    And you wonder why people abandon forums. You try to help and get this.

    Quote Originally Posted by SatNav View Post
    1. Worst advice from a fisherman I have seen in a long long time, just leave the balloons at home buddy, they have no place on the water

  9. #9

    Re: Swains Reef

    The balloons are ok if the butterflies are out at the reef (only old Ausfish people will understand this)
    fruit salad is the new Bacon

  10. #10

    Re: Swains Reef

    Don't leave us hanging Fishard?

  11. #11

    Re: Swains Reef

    Quote Originally Posted by FisHard View Post
    The balloons are ok if the butterflies are out at the reef (only old Ausfish people will understand this)
    If they head west so do we????

  12. #12
    Free Membership Dirtyfuzz's Avatar
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    Re: Swains Reef

    Sorry about digging up an old post but just wanted to keep a record, heading past the swains on big cat reality in May and going to chase Gt’s for one of the days, would a penn slammer 8500 be big enough or should go the 10500? Was going to match it with a 7tt Pe5 Wilson venom cheers!


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  13. #13

    Re: Swains Reef

    I have been to the Swains and beyond about 7 times. What Spaniard king said is good advice.
    Have a great trip.

  14. #14
    Free Membership Dirtyfuzz's Avatar
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    Apr 2016
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    Sunshine Coast

    Re: Swains Reef

    Cheers mate, decided to go a second hand Stella 20000 that I got for a good price and hardly used instead of the slammer, at least I can use it as an extra reel for a trolling spread later on!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Mercury 115ct going strong😁

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