A curious case of humpbacks and samsons.

A few weeks earlier, while on a holiday trip to Perth, I managed to hook up with a friend of a friend's who owns a boat and he was super kind to bring us out for a quick half a day's jigging in the shallows. Weeks prior to the trip, we kept a tight watch over the seasonal change that resulted in unpredictable weather. Just few days before the trip, I was visiting down south and experienced winds in excess of 140kph, ripping trees off the ground taking down power lines and a gas station.

Fortunately, the weather calmed down a bit and 2 days prior to the day trip, wind and tide forecast indicates conditions that are OK, not ideal, to head out to the shallow reefs and drop a couple of jigs in the hopes that the samson's still there. The swells were quite pronounced up to 4-5 meters at times with winds up to 12 knots with a forecast of picking up to 15 knots later in the morning. A small window of opportunity and we took it.

With his speed boat, we were at our first spot just under 30 minutes, the sounder was quite bare with occasional schools of baits as we cruise around a bit looking for bigger blotches. We decided to drop some jigs regardless and aimed at demersals at the bottom instead.

Upon several jig drops and knocking on the bottom, we managed to hook up a couple of pesky scorpion fish and a small dhufish, not the legal size basically. It was rather difficult to snap any pix as it was very rocky and not the smartest thing to mess with a scorpion fish.

With a GoPro latched on the other side of the boat, I managed to capture some decent fights of my mate using my pimped out Shimano Stradic 6000FJ paired with a Giant Killing PE3 rod.

The best part about this short trip out? A pair of humpbacks came to check out our pimped out tackle!

Tiny Samson but BIG on fight to the end. The pimped out Stradic didn't break a sweat.

Feisty sambo was no match for the pimped out tackle.

Hook in mouth, jig slapping the cheeks, surrendered.

There was no big Sambos to be found, skipper took pity and gave us his pink snapper instead.

Another small Sambo with BIG fight all the way to the tip of my pimped out Ocea Jigger & Giant Killing Long Fall. No contest, didn't even take any drag but sure as hell worth more than its weight.

 

Short but strong fight all the way to the top.

While jigging, we heard puffs and big splashes not far from where we were jigging and we saw a pair of humpbacks swimming around us. Never would we imagine to be able to witness any whales and they were UP CLOSE! We were awestruck and gaped at the sheer size of these gentle giants and forgot about our jigging.

The humpbacks decided to come even closer to check us out, occasionally peeking out of the water with a curious stare keeping the calf at bay. The video above shows how close they were to the boat, iPhone video with no zoom and no post processing, as it is. With so many years of OZ offshore fishing, never have my mates seen any this close.

The curious whale experience alone was worth the short and unfruitful jigging trip. I'll surely be back to hunt these famous big sambos when the time is right.

SAE what??? Will the real slim Rusty, please stand up!

I've received quite a bit of questions about bearings and comparisons between different types and application. There are no better ways to explain this than to do a simple test to reveal sufficient information for you to make an informed decision. A humble reminder, I'm not an engineer, just a desktop research hero with itchy hands wanting to take things apart to see how things work. If you feel that my findings are questionable, please do drop a line and I'll try to address it as best as I can or even derive a slightly better test.

This is a quick and dirty test which I put together with an intention to generalise what materials work best for your fishing application (regularly exposed to either fresh water or salt water, in search for speedy spool and casting distance). Hence not all bearings are created equal with different materials and standards to suit your angling needs.

What I did was gather a bunch of bearings, 4 types at first then the 5th one arrived later but was also treated with equal abuse as the other 4 earlier. Bearing A, an S-ARB bearing from Shimano's JDM reel, removed it's shield (note that it's machine pressed in, hence without a retainer ring to hold it in place). The bearing itself has a special coating that looks like black chrome, I suspect they are of special nickel coating. B, was a generic hybrid ceramic bearing from my RC days, still in excellent condition as it's regularly used in a lubricated environment with not much exposure to corrosive element. C, was a full ceramic. D, an interesting prototype said to be of unique material property that will out perform typical corrosion resistant coatings. It's claimed to be a mixed alloy in between marine grade stainless steel and katana replica hard stainless steel.

The contestants were partially rubbed down with salt water grease, just to see how well these grease does its job in displacing water/salt. I mixed a concoction of salt water using sea salt and my taste bud to roughly gauge how much salt to mix in to simulate sea salt water. And to simulate salt water splashes or exposure to the elements on a 3 day off shore excursion, the bearings were sprayed with the salt water concoction, semi submerged, and left out to dry.



On day one after several sprays of salt water and leaving out to dry, signs of rust start to appear on the generic hybrid bearing B's stainless steel races but the salt water grease was holding up nicely protecting the areas properly covered. Shimano's S-ARB, full ceramics and prototype bearing stood up very well with no signs of rust at all. Impressive.

Day 2. The boring bits first, A, C & D gave nothing as usual. B show even more rust and starts to spread it's share of rust around the salt water. The grease was starting to fade and rust starts to seep in creating more corrosion damage on the entire stainless steel races, assuming the ceramic balls inside doesn't react to any of the rust.

After day 2, bearing E arrived, a high grade hybrid ceramic bearing was prepped and treated with half rubbed salt water grease and salt water sprays. I left the 1st 4 bearings alone with no torture test done to it (assuming without much accelerated corrosion) while I treat bearing E with 2 days of corrosion test to bring E up to speed with the first 4 bearings. Again, A, C & D gave nothing. B didn't like the salty treatment at all. E was reacting very well with only a slight hint of rust seems to appear around the salt water but not on the bearing surface. Curious, don't ask me why or how as I don't have the answer to this.

A clean up after to check surface damages. Again, A,C & D gave nothing away. B was badly damaged with deep corrosion seen around the entire bearing stainless steel races, the bearing was able to rotate but with friction and damage grinding feel to it. It's a dead bearing by now. Bearing E was holding very well with no signs of corrosion damages to the curious 'rust patch' on the salt water. No damages done.

Upon further digging, there are many types of stainless steel material used for different types of bearings with different applications, appearance alone is the wrong criteria to judge what's good for your reel. Apparently, bearing B was made using Si3N4 ceramic balls and SAE408 grade stainless steel designed for high speed and high temperature application in or near RC engines but poor corrosion resistance. That's why they are for RC applications where there's plenty of lubrication with little exposure to corrosive elements.

I can't find any information about Shimano's S-ARB material but I hear they are specially coated with nickel and the manufacturing of this coating is rather expensive. With special coating means high precision was also difficult to achieve. But their coating seems to hold up well but there are plenty of jammed up S-ARB bearings out there to know that these coatings wear off over time and reel maintenance isn't exactly at the top of people's mind.

Bearing D is an interesting proposition with a unique stainless steel material that are much more affordable to produce and high precision can be easily attained for our angling application especially salt water exposure.

Bearing E seems to be targeted at bait casters to achieve high speed spooling and distance casting. The ceramic balls are Si3N4 and the stainless steel are of SAE440 (material for replica katana/swords stainless steel which is hardened through heat-treatment), that's how high precision of ABEC-7 can be achieve on a hybrid ceramic bearings. It holds up pretty well against salt water corrosion but I would make sure I rinse them clean with fresh water after salt water abuse as it is designed for fresh water and high speed application.

So, SAE what? Different applications require different bearings and there hasn't been a one size fits all bearing. Good quality full ceramics are too expensive and the affordable ones aren't built to high precision standards. I also read somewhere that it's very difficult to manufacture these micro bearings in full ceramics as they require thin materials and very difficult to achieve it's intended potential and precision due to its natural properties of being brittle. Full ceramics can only take a fraction of the load as compared to an equivalent stainless steel bearing hence different parts of the reel with different types of load would need different type of bearing specifications (if you are anal about being specific).

Hope this answers most if not some of your queries about the type of bearings to go with.

Rusty anti-reverse on a Speedmaster

This Shimano Speedmaster's been pimped with speedy hybrid ceramic bearings and recently been used offshore for jigging without much fuss except for a weird rough and grinding feel while cranking.

A quick check by popping open the brake side cover reveals the spool support hybrid ceramics to be in excellent condition. Unscrewing the spool tension cap on the crank handle side also reveals a speedy clean hybrid ceramics. Pop the entire spool out of the body and gave it a few cranks to reveal that the roughness comes from within the inner works of the crank case.

Rusty one-way bearing (anti-reverse). Looks nasty, some damages done but not critical.

It didn't take long to discover that the one-way bearing's probably exposed to salt water for a tad too long. These bearings are generally lubed with light one-way bearing oil and if they are not well taken care of and regularly checked and serviced, this is the outcome.

Upon removing the phenolic resin cage, the roller pins should fall off quite easily. In this case, rust is holding them in the cage. Even the steel outer ring (steel ring in the crank case body) shows some serious damages are about to go deep.

Damage assessment can only be confirmed after thoroughly cleaning of rust and gunk collected over time. A combination of lubricant, rust remover and contact cleaners were used to flush out these nasty rusty bits to reveal an almost new bearing.

Almost new roller pins with signs of typical wear, phenolic cage is like new, crank shaft sleeve is almost new with slight signs of uneven wear.

The outer ring didn't like the rust that much as there was initial signs of deep corrosion if it were to be left un-serviced longer. Note the dark patchy stains on the left most grove.

Fitting the roller pins back into the phenolic cage was a tricky affair as it keeps dropping out and getting stuck onto greasy patches around the crank case. Grease is a big NO-NO for one-way bearings and has to be cleaned before assembly. Shown here fully lubed with one-way bearing oil.

Assembly was tricky with the tiny pins falling off the cage like rice choc chips. Upon assembly, ensure that there's proper lubrication with quality one-way bearing oil. Take extra care not to get any grease into the bearings. Give it a few rotation to fully lube the bearing and try it out on the crank to see if it does stop any reverse crank with little to no back play.

Good thing that this is an early detection, could have avoided some deep corrosion if it were to be serviced sooner. The bearings worked fine with no back play shows that the damages didn't affect it's function. With this discovery, prevention is key by packing in some salt water grease around the star drag screw system where I suspect salt water can seep through. Although not 100%, little TLC does go a long way for you to enjoy fishing with minimal interruption and prolonged lifespan of your gear, any gear really.

Bruiser Grouper, tasty grouper, and some clean up after.

We recently got news that there's a recent development of some pond operators opening up options for catch and release (instead of the usual baiting, catch and weight in to be paid by the kilo) with the promise of well stocked bigger barramundis and groupers in the range of 2kgs and above.

Great news and fun for us to fill in between bigger offshore trips. The day started early and gloomy but that didn't stop us from landing barramundis after barramundis. Sad thing about this pond is that the fish aren't in the best condition as there were very little aerial displays and the fights were rather weak for barramundis 2kgs and above. Nonetheless, it did scratch a bit of the itch for tight lines, twitchy loaded rod, and safe to say everyone had some fun in the sun later in the day.

My biggest barra of the day after several mishap and line cuts while retrieving the fish with a lip grip. Photo courtesy of Tackle Source.

Buddy of mine landed another barra using Zipbait's Tiny Khamsin SR.

And another using DUO's MOAB 85F.

Not long after, we got bored chasing after the elusive aerial displays from these shy & weak barramundis and a friend spotted something which he suspects to be the not so humble abode of a grouper. Within minutes, a few of us were huddled around the area tossing in jigs, soft plastics, bait, and on several occasions instantaneously taken on the drop. Premature excitement ensues with opened hooks, lost jigs, lure, and snapped lines egged us further as I decide to use a madai jig with assist hooks instead.

Upon several jig drops sweeping the area gave me a shock as it was taken on the drop and actually felt like a snag. I immediately gave it a second tug and to my surprise, I was given a firm response tug. Then comes the frantic tug of war trying to lift the grouper out of its hole. It was a bruiser grouper but was no match for my Majorcraft Skyroad spinning rod.

Bruiser Grouper tips the scale at 3.8kg, I decide to pay for this bruiser for dinner. Photo courtesy of Tackle Source.

Bruiser grouper turns tasty grouper. Half the fish here takes up half the lazy susan.

Complete catch report can be found here courtesy of Tackle Source.

Fun for a day also meant that it's time for my reel's regular checks and service prior to my off shore trip 2 weeks after.

Bruiser grouper was no match for these tough gears still in excellent condition.

Same goes to the worm gear and floating shaft without signs of wear. Just the usual grease coat top up is enough.

Make sure to apply generous amount of grease on these bruiser beaters.

These are just the few critical ceramic bearings that takes most of the bruising. Seals removed, grease flushed, soaked in cleaning solvents, and elevated with wire mesh to keep it away from dirty sediments in a glass jar.

In goes the jar into an ultrasonic cleaner to thoroughly clean these ceramic bearings.

Oiled balls and grease rubbed body back into the reel.

These babies just need some tender loving speedy oil.

Speed oil for this fella too before plugging it back into the reel.

A well kept and also the proud feeling of a nicely pimped up reel gives me confidence in the field that I've eliminated another factor for failure to land fish. Till next time, Jarak, here I come!

More speed for the Shimano Speedmaster

It's been quite a hectic month lately with very little time in between to scratch the itch of bent rods, tight lines, screaming drags, fighting fish, any fish. Nevertheless, a friend was kind enough to help me fill the little emptiness by handing me his seasoned Shimano Speedmaster (Curado for some) for a little bit of pimpin in search for more SPEED!

This calls for some quality hybrid ceramic bearings and some tuning.

The Shimano Speedmaster patiently waiting in the operation theater.

First to go in, brakes side spool support bearing, oiled with high speed bearing oil.

These hybrid ceramic bearings are of ABEC 7s and have very little tolerances for play. Notice that they are opened bearings with less friction. Perfect for a speedier spool tune up.

They usually come lightly lubed with their shields in. These came opened and already lubed with high speed bearing oil. If you are anal like me, you'll clean the bearings and lube them with your preferred oil/grease. Cleaning can be effectively done several ways either using grease solvent or contact cleaners and compressed air dried. I prefer to use an ultrasonic cleaner while soaking it in grease solvent for a thorough job, then add a few drops of high speed bearing oil in after drying.

Just a quick check on the handle crank shaft reveals plenty of gunk and dirt trapped. Just needs some basic cleaning and grease rub down to get it back to battle ready condition.

With the spool tensioner knob removed followed by the pentagon shaped retainer wire, out comes the standard bearings to be replaced by the speed tuned hybrid ceramic bearings.

If you notice that the crank shaft collected quite a bit of dirt over time, the original bearings were in excellent condition due to the fact that they are quite shielded from water exposure. The spool tensioner knob has and o-ring while on the brakes side, it's located quite deep into the casing and therefore running opened bearings are ok as long as you regularly oil it for longer life as much as retaining it's high speed spool characteristics.

The spool spins up to speed quite quickly and free spin noticeably longer than regular bearings. I will wait for a full catch report later then the owner has an opportunity to try out its new found speed.

Cheers for now and I'll see if there are any opportunities to go fish during this holiday.