AS a fishing photojournalist I get to fish quite a bit, I mean hey, it’s my job and someone has to do it!
It also means I get to target a lot of different species with an assortment of tackle, including the latest rods and reels. I will fish anywhere, but I generally feel at home within the many estuaries and creeks on the NSW South Coast, chasing everything from big lizards, tailor and jewfish, to bream whiting and bass.
I recently ventured north from my home town in the Illawarra to spend a few days chasing the many inhabitants of the well known Lake Glenbawn, about four hours north of Sydney. Brad Sissins from Daiwa sent me one of the TMZ Interline rod/Zillion baitcast outfits to try on the bass, and for the four days we fished I could not put it down. I have a couple of Interline spin combos which are my favourite sticks for bassing at home, but for throwing an assortment of crankbaits and spinnerbaits, I can safely say that this is the most comfortable and accurate bait-cast combo I’ve used.
Without guides, you literally feel everything. Not that it mattered with these fish however, as they were so aggressive it was just a case of cast, retrieve and hang on! Anyone seeing a guideless rod for the first time can be understandably sceptical of its performance, especially when distance casting, but there’s no hindrance with the new water repelling Hyper Dry Technology within the rod itself. The best thing is, there’s no tangles and you can literally drag a fish in from any position on the boat. With Daiwa’s Airfoam grips and reinforced CRT butt they are extremely strong and just a pleasure to use.
The Zillion is just all class. Once you have tuned these reels to the line and lure weight, you can literally cast all day without issues. For its size, the Zillion is all strength and reliability, especially on big Glenbawn bass and should present no problem when fighting larger fish, such as metre barra up north.
More info at: http://daiwafishing.com.au
