So without thinking much of it, we ordered in a few spools and added the price ($200 for 1000m) to a pamphlet that was in production. What was surprising was the number of orders and inquiries that started to arrive, for this heavy braid. A lot more people were fishing the bottom in 400 metres than I had realised, and a lot of them needed braid. Talking to clients I decided to give it a go myself, and contacted our main supplier for reels to see what he had available. He offered to add an electric motor to his 80 wide game reel – one he made for a large US tackle company. That reel already has a formal distributor here in Australia and he explained that it could only be supplied without the branding. That didn’t worry me one bit, as long as the reel was good quality.  The first one shipped had a blue electric motor bolted to the side of the reel, opposite the handle.

We took it out to Browns and regularly caught excellent fish on it, mainly gemfish:

And blue-eye cod:

with a simplified control box, which incorporates a thermal cut out in case of overload. All up weight is 9.1 kilos, which gives you an idea of the power of the motor. Retrieve rate is 1 metre per second and please note: that rate was measured with a stop watch in actual use, retrieving from 500 metres down at Browns Mountain. Here’s a video showing the combo in action on blue eye cod, and bass groper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIpy3SM7D_4

The reel has 30 kilos of dry lift and is supplied with 1000m of 200-pound braid. Heavy braid means that the droppers and terminal tackle can be made from 150-pound mono. This gives extra protection from the sharp pointy teeth of gemfish but means that, if your sinker or hooks get snagged on the bottom, you won’t be risking the valuable main line. The rig is a double paternoster with short droppers, hooks are 8/0 Owners with a luminescent bead attached:

At least one of these rigs is supplied with each reel because we have found them to be so sucessful. A four-pound sinker is used, and one of these is also supplied with each reel. Cables from the reel to the controller and from the controller to the battery are supplied:

Price of the reel, sinker, rigs, line counter and 1000m of 200-pound line is $1200. The reel is a lever drag and can be used as a normal reel when the motor is not working, although some extra muscle power is required to rotate the motor shaft. The handle disconnects for the electric windup, so that it is not spinning on retrieve.

For rods, we have three options:

The first is a heavy broomstick, 5’6” long with underbound guides and a heavy gauge tip roller. Broomsticks are good for deepwater fishing and show the bites quite well. The cost of this one is $120.

The next option is a straight rod, our Deep 37, a copy of the Wilson Live Fibre 37 kilo rod. A lot of our clients take this one, it has a more tippy action and has been very successful. Here’s some pics:

The third option is the Daiwa Saltiga SA-B56HF-DD. This is a two piece bent butt rod rated for up to 150-pound line and fitted with an Aftco swivel roller tip. Heavy bent butts are good for deep dropping because they keep the line well clear off the side of the boat.

It’s the American equivalent of the Daiwa Tanacom TBD 66XHF-DD sold here in Australia. Same blank, guides, butt and winch:

http://daiwafishing.com.au/?p=4219

that rod sells here for $449:

http://www.rayannes.com.au/products/rods-reels/daiwa/daiwa-rods/daiwa-tanacom-bull-rod-tbd-66xhf-dd-449/

Our price on this brute of a rod is $360.

We’re offering it on a bent butt rod, spooled with 500 metres of 80-pound braid, for $1050. That’s a good deal. The big plus with the TB750 is its auto jigging program. After catching your bag limit of gemfish or blueye you can rig it with a jig and drop the jig down 250 metres or so. The auto jig function will work the jig back to the top. When a strike comes, disconnect the cable and fight the tuna in the normal way. We get some great feedback from happy customers on our electric reel combo. Here’s a selection:

Hi Andrew, went out to browns mountain last weekend for the first time this year bottom fishing and was very excited about being able to use my deep sea electric winch and bent butt outfit you sold me two seasons ago. I love this reel and everyone i know loves it too, my best mate Kevin has been so impressed with it, he had to purchase his own combo from you, and in turn he went out to browns mountain on the same day you and i were there and says the fish he dreamt of catching, has now been made a reality by you selling him this combo that truly makes fishing a pleasure.

Hey Andy,

Just had to send you a few photos after I bought the electric reel from you on Monday, a couple of my mates and I decided to make the trek to browns the next day and give it a go. We stopped at 12mile for a little jigging and live baiting but came up dry, browns however was a different story the new reel was awesome, drop after drop it was unbelievable you couldn’t stop it. I was amazed at how easy it is to use and the speed of the retrieve, we had it hooker up to a jump-start battery pack which is pretty small but ended up having plenty of life. All in all we landed a blue eye travella at 9.4kg on the scales and bagged out on Gem fish, largest was 90cm. Awesome!!!! Going back out on Sunday and Monday weather permitting..

Many thanks

Stephen Weaver

Personally, I find that the real benefit of a powerful electric reel is that you’re almost guaranteed of a good catch of prime table fish anytime from April to November. That can take as little as two drops, they really swarm out there:

Here’s two solid gemfish coming aboard at Brown’s Mountain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlIIfh2MtaU

Once 20 kilos or so of delicious table fish are on ice the pressure is off. We can kick back and fish for yellowfin, marlin or mako sharks, knowing that whatever happens we’ve got some great fish for everyone to take home. Like to know more? Call me anytime or send an email whenever suits. We also have a free DVD showing the reel in operation I can mail to you, same day. Thanks for reading,