Boat Reels, Is Big Best ?

[The Jester]

Years ago, big boat reels loaded with 50lb main line where par for the course.
Now a days, with the braid lines i use 2 Shimano Triton Speedmasters, beach reels, i use them for downtiding and wrecking. These reels pull cod through kelp and rocks on a beach so i reckon they are more than up to it pulling fish straight up on a boat.

Probably will be some answers involving lever drags, retrieve ratio's.

Whats your opinion, what size reel do you use and why, do we need 300 yards of backing and 150 yards of braid on a big reel, or a smaller lighter reel which is probably up to the job....

 

[codhw]

being really old fashioned here:red: but there is so many reals, rods, snaps, hooks lines etc etc that at the end of the day what works for one may not work for another:mad Yes there is definite technical advances i.e Braid, lure materials, rod composites but if the fish are there, then they are there, the mastery is in finding them and then being able to haul them up which I suppose brings us back to the orginal question I give up:hallucine:

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

TLD 15 is the size I use - have tried the 25 and it's to0 big in my opinion...an opinion backed up by others

Lever drag on the boat is a def advantage as it's quick and instant drag adjustment....although as I found out last year you can still eff it up if heavy handed

Been trying to get hold of a TLD 10 and 5 but ever since the Shady boys got theirs they've all been selling for daft money (daft to me anyway) :red:

Used a 7000 sized reel for inshore fishing but don't know if I'd be happy on the wrecks...not because of it's capabilities of hauling fish but more of coping with hooking into 100 tonnes of rusting steel coupled with the drifting boat seems like a recipe for sheared gearings to me

 

[The Jester]

I know what you mean Tony by the gears stripping, it's happened to me once quite a few years back when using an Abu 10000C.

I always have the star drag set at about 80% and the times when i have'nt been quick enough to get the priest round the braid to snap off, i've hung on for dear life, and either the trace gives or the shock leader knot.

I've never had gears strip on any of the modern type reels i.e Triton, 525's, slosh 20's, ( gonna wish i had'nt said that )

Wish i could gat my hands on a TLD5 as well, just hope we don't come up against each other on EBAY, bidding might get out of hand...

 

[kingcod deano]

i had a diawa sealine 400h and that was a beast of a reel the only fault i had with it was it was a tad on the heavy side so my arms where doing twice the work they should so i bought a saltist 50h which is alot smaller but for some reason the retrive feels faster than the 400h and weighs about half the weight lol my brother uses an intrepid pirate reel a old reel but have seen him pull up 6lbers with it no probs just waiting to see if it can handle a double

 

[Falcone]

im one of these guys that likes using lighter gear, even when wrecking, im not into winches haha.

 

[lingking]

big reel

big reel

back in the 70s i had a 12 inch onescarboro reel that is:exclam: gradually come to my sensesup to now use an old type abu 9000 for all my fishing,on a 30lb class kenzakiBUThaving aquired my 20lb kenzaki will be using a 7000 for the ground this year

 

[The Jester]

The Kenzaki setup sounds good LK,, I got an SK4 boat rod and i'm matching it with a Penn 525 together they're light as a feather. Can't wait to try them out...

 

[canman]

Hi Chris, Been boat fishing light for years. Last few years using a 12lb shakespeare rod and smallish Penn reel with 40lb braid for wrecking, which I pulled a 12 and 6lber doubler off a wreck last year, but sadly it went overboard near end of season
I caught some nice cod inshore on spinning rod with fixed spool with the clutch set nicely, what great fun pumping them up on that set up. I think as long as the clutch is right, you can get away with light reels for most of the fish around our coast once they are out of the wreck, just pump then reel, if you'll pardon the expression then the gears should not be over stressed.

 

[lingking]

kenzaki

kenzaki

The Kenzaki setup sounds good LK,, I got an SK4 boat rod and i'm matching it with a Penn 525 together they're light as a feather. Can't wait to try them out...

aye they are the older kenzaki models slightly stiffer and heavier than the modern oneswhich are absolutely beautiful rods i might add

 

[The Jester]

Hi Arthur, i agree it is more fun seeing a bend in your rod and nice to see people getting away from thinking you need a 50lb rod and big whinch to boat fish. I see some anglers down the marina with thier gear and think, " Must be Marlin out there ".
Hope to see you out there Arthur i'm going to do a bit poaching up your way in the summer.

 

[stevew]

the lighter you can go the better the sport and at the end of the day thats why i go fishing.
i know theres a balance to be had, but the days of wrecks stuffed with big cod are long gone and now i think you have to use the gear that matches the fish. i also think the skill is in the playing of the fish and if you can use the gear to it's full potential then why not go for light lines with 12lb class rods and smaller reels.
i also don't think it has to be expensive to be succesful however i think the quality of the rod outweighs the need for an expensive reel. i've fished with god knows how many different rods and reels over the years and had success regardless of brand or cost.

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

going back to your comment on gear ratios I'm sure I read somewhere that a slower gear ratio was better for the boat fishing as if for example your yarking a fish up at 6:1 you could end up pulling the hook out of a lightly lip hooked fish...whereas a steady away 4:1 you stand a better chance of keeping it as you're not yanking it's heed off...

TLDs I think are at 4:1 (not sure without looking so someone please jump in as I'm tying rigs for sunday...shore rigs that is)

I like the sound of your SK4 and the 525 set-up though sounds like a very good shadding set up to me

 

[The Jester]

Tony do you agree that despite gear ratios, if you compensate by turning the handle slower it reduces the speed, and a small spool diameter at 6:1 would be the same retrieve as a large spool at 4:1.

Might be getting out of my depth on these comments, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong :red:

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

of course that's correct but then it's surely extra effort to reel in faster on a 4:1 to try and emulate the 6:1 being a fatty these things are to be considered :red:

high retrieve is def handy from the shore as you want to try and get the fish high in the water as quickly as possible but from the boat the need is perhaps less as you're straight up and down anyway?

 

[The Jester]

Going by my success off the shore this year i might as well have used a Scarborough reel.

The 6:1 retrieve comes in handy when you blank one drift and want to get the gear back to the surface quick to get back round for another drift.

I'm going to make it a year for fishing light this year, if i lose fish or not and also going to have a go at this shadding lark, what do you use Tony, a 10oz lead and long hook trace,and do you just let it drift or wind up and down to work the shad ?:question:

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

lead weight dependant on the rod I'm using because I do use the light gear if the drift isn't super fast - 3 way swivel flowing trace stylee, reeling in steadily for half a dozen to a dozen turns at varying speeds then dropping back down - hardest thing is training yourself not to strike as soon as you feel the fish plucking

I found that textbook theory proscribed long traces but in practice shorter lengths worked just as well and tended not to tangle as much

 

[The Jester]

Thanks for that Tony , i'll shop around and see if there are any left about. Word has it Slinky and Shady have cleared everywhere out .
At what point do you strike, or do you just wind into the fish ?

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

strike when you're sure it's been swallowed

 

[dt1]

Changed the gears on my 525 to 4-1 much better feel................Dave.