Good day's shopping

bigred · #1 26-10-2003, 06:37 PM

This past weekend saw the Mercury fishing & 4X4 show on at "Jeffs Shed" in melbourne. Pretty ordinary really. Just soooo commercial, lacking in any real benefit or expo's.

The shopping can be outstanding, and you need to go with a bit of cash in your pocket, as you can score some pretty good deals which was my aim on Saturday.

You see, I broke my trusty Shimano rod a coupla weeks ago and was looking for a decent replacememt and I was prepared to spend about $200 no worries.

Whilst wandering through all the displays at the show, I found a Daiwa Heartland IM6 6' with a price tag of about $130 bucks or so, which was further reduced by another 30% bringing the cost well below $100. I couldnt believe my luck so I grabbed it pretty quick. I already own a "Heartland" coursing rod, which I use for trout fishing which is just a brilliant rod, which made my decision even easier.

Since I had saved a load of cash on the rod, I thought I may as well have a sniff at a reel as well, as they had loads there. They were not discounting any of the high end shimano gear, but at the Okuma stand I found a neat old surprise. Now I dont know how well you rate them, But I bought an "Okuma Metaloid". Just a small one. 10 ball bearings blah blah blah. A bit "lairy" looking but sheesh its a smooth reel. Price tag on it was $160 which was about the same as I had seen them for in stores. I managed to have a bit of a play with the salesman and ended up walking out with it for $80! and he threw in a box of fireline!

The Okuma is maybe a little heavy for the rod, but I took it to the bay yesterday,casting for frogs with sp's and it performed beautifully. Dead eye accurate casting and smooth as silk. Caught three thirty to fourty centermeter flatties and the rod just broke their spirit straight away.

Needless to say, I am pretty stoked by the whole deal. What do you fellas reckon?

peter bear · #2 26-10-2003, 10:10 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bigred
[. I managed to have a bit of a play with the salesman and ended up walking out with it for $80! and he threw in a box of fireline!

sorry couldn't resist ''big'' ,if you had a firm grip on his rod and didn't let go till he dropped the price i'd be beaming too.
pete.

Dave W · #3 27-10-2003, 04:28 AM

Quote:

I managed to have a bit of a play with the salesman and ended up walking out with it for $80! and he threw in a box of fireline!

That is an absolute steal - trust me

madsurfe · #4 27-10-2003, 05:09 AM

hey bigRed

you did very well on that little deal. Good onya and happy fishing with the new setup

bigred · #5 27-10-2003, 08:47 PM

Yeah, I thought seemed like a good deal at the time. I hadnt done much research on the Okuma reels though, so I was going in a little blind on that side of things. Since I bought it, i have found pretty much every review to be favourable.