hey folks, i was out today looking for a longline for my tinny. quite hard to find this time of year! but the few i did see ranged in price from 69.99 to 259.00.

at first it was hard to see where that extra money was going, but looking a little bit harder it became more obvious. the cheaper one had a handreel instead of a big reel that sits in the rod holder. the more expensive one also had better clips for attaching traces, and the backbone was seperated into sections by means of crimps. allows the traces to moves around a bit instead of threeway swivels.

i wouldn't mind having a look at a few more, does anyone know who stocks them in the auckland area? so far only found the higher quality ones (they had only one actually) at Big Fish on cascades road. it was made by nascan? the cheapo ones were at the warehouse.

cheers for any info. damian, if you read this what kind did you have when woody and i came out for a charter? cheers john

CJ try Pauls Kites in Onehunga or Sunset Kites and Fishing Supplies in Waiuku I am pretty sure they make their own.

So long as 1.the back bone is monofilament 2.the stoppers work3. You use lighter mono for traces (I use 30lb)4. use longline hooks with clip swivels that run between the stoppers you can't really go wrong. I think mine cost less than $50 all up and it catches fish.

All the parts plus complete longlines I have seen or purchased at Fish City in Albany.

Baits- have had good success on Kahawaii, Trevally and believe it or not Moki!

cheers guys. i should have thought of that smudge, used to live nearby pauls.

redfinger, did you make yours up from parts then? pretty straight forward i should imagine. i'd likely buy the backbone made up already though. the traces i can manage.

CJ

This is the shizz. Important to make sure your backbone is long enuf. Use good floats and I prefer to use a reel that can be rod holder mounted and that has a rachet/brake so you can free up ya hands for grabbing clips, traces, weights etc. Use pretty heavy end weights and smaller mid weights to keep the gear on the bottom. Size 16 mustad longline hooks on 600mm- 1m traces and definatley use a swivel attached to the clip. Sea harvester and JVI clips are good.

Keep your floats labeled and don't let the float line drift around on the surface. Yachties love to run them down and are usually blissfully unaware that they fouled your gear on the keel until it is a tangled mess trainling behind them! A few pics dude:

Damo

CJ- The other place that has all the makings is Gourocks in Patiki road.   Has shark clips, rope, back bone and long line hooks.  I use old 2-stroke Oil packs for floats.  Make sure they're labelled well.  Also make sure you have something good to store it all in.

    CHeers

           DA

awesome guys. was on my way to buy the backbone today, but stopped off at rebel sports and just HAD to buy the torium 16 they had on sale.

will now have to wait until payday next week.