Hey Guys,

Just a bit of an update of where Iam at with my fishing at the moment.

After spending four weeks travelling around the North West, I have had a bit of a lay time and getting ready for the Abrolhos in two weeks time.

Exmouth was awesome however you Really have to understand the waters out there and how to fish those drop offs where BIG FISH live.

You have seen some of those fish on my previous post however there were a couple of untold stories.

1 - At 6.30am whilst rigging up at the back of the boat, in a 2-3m swell, heading out to the Murions, passing the Emouth Navy Pier, the boat broached sending me flying into some very dark water.

As I fell out of the boat I took my Shimano T Curve with me. breaking it at the base since it was in the rod holder. The crew were fantastic and had me back in the water in no time however there were a few very scarey moments bobbing up and down in very shark infested waters.  "Let not this be the day" I thought.

2. Next day jigging in 80m of water with my Smith 54H and Twinpower 8000 loaded with PE5 drag set at 9kg, I hooked into a big cod, Up it came, down it went, up it came, down it went, rod fully loaded, this went on for 25minutes when I decided to lock up the reel and either bring it up or break the line. Pump & Wind, Drop Knees, Pump & Wind, The cod was comming up more and more, rod loaded, No High Sticking when it exploded below the last bottom runner and 10cm above the hand grip, Busted My Most Loved Rod, Booooo Whoooooooo ( Build a Bridge ).

The rest of the trip went without a hitch apart from catching some very good trout.

On my return I went and saw the boys at Campbells Tackle in Leederville where I buy most of my fishing gear, the Tackleworld Guys are also fantastic  sometimes you need to spread the love around as most of them move from shop to shop and from store to manufacturer ( Hey Shane & Willy ). I went through the whole trip, fish by fish, incident by incident.

I explained to the boys what happened with the two rods, James ( assistant manager ) & Nathan ( Manager ) were Unbelievably Fantastic, they said that since I was such a good customer being going there for 32 years, they would replace the T Curve without question & speak to Steve from Smith Austalia ( Australian Agent ).

Thanks Guys and Shimano Australia for your support & understanding.

Nathan & Steve are in discussion regarding my Smith Rod,  I will keep you guys posted.

What I learnt from the whole exercise is that if you support local stores and Fishwrecked sponsors, you might just be pleasantly surprised, as I was, when things go south.

Cheers

Abeldog