spinners vs conventional reels for heavy jigging

[Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B]

bought a gosa 20000 for poppers and sticks/pencils. will try this style of fishing. also some people say that this is the poor man's stella...

[mohamedhashem21]

Saragosas are great I've fished with them for large amberjacks they were excellent but people who tried them on bft said they had some problems with the drag cap which melted in long fights !!!!

[Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B]

actually my target are < 80 lb species. for larger ones i prefer conventionals.

[erikpowell]

We've got a couple saragosa 20k's on the boat...better reel for the money than a Stella IMO
these reels pop, troll, and jig for us out there..it's a good reel for popping
not much chance of a GT melting the drag cap... but that's happened twice so far..drag cap melted on less than 100lb tuna.
Shimano replaced them. Haven't had a chance to address the issue as far as a fix...
but they're not my personal reels 

[mohamedhashem21]

We've got a couple saragosa 20k's on the boat...better reel for the money than a Stella IMO
these reels pop, troll, and jig for us out there..it's a good reel for popping
not much chance of a GT melting the drag cap... but that's happened twice so far..drag cap melted on less than 100lb tuna.
Shimano replaced them. Haven't had a chance to address the issue as far as a fix...
but they're not my personal reels 

thank you for the advice , actualy i don't like the graphite rotor in the saragosa and it has lower line reterive per crank 41 inch which is not ideal for popping for BFT, but it still a good value for its price

[Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B]

...Haven't had a chance to address the issue as far as a fix...

let me know when you find a fix, just in case the cap on mine melts...

[marc77]

Mohamed

I fish the northeast canyons.  During October and November, medium blue fins migrate through our canyons and we frequently catch them there in large numbers.  Due to the regulations, we are allowed to keep one or two per trip and we release the rest that we hook.  These fish are between 150 and 300 lbs.  I have caught as many as 15 during one trip.  Sometimes they are a nuisance, like blue sharks.  We are trying to catch yellow fins, albacore and bigeyes and we will hook blue fins.  They are more of a problem on full moon nights.

In my opinion, these blue fins are the easiest tuna to catch, especially inshore.  They are not as line shy as the other tuna and they will always hit jigs.

You do not need any expensive or fancy gear to catch them.  I use a penn senator 114 reel mounted on a Shakespeare 1120 ugly stick rod.  The reel costs about $ 100 new.  I modified my reels with stainless steel gear sleeves, daiwa 900h handles and one piece topless aluminum frames.  I use 80 or 100 momoi high catch smoke blue line with no braid.  The reel weighs 40 oz and with the 2 to 1 gear ratio and long 900h handle, I can literally winch these fish in.  The rod costs about $ 65 new.  I cut off about 10" off the tip and glue on a roller tip.  I use an 8 oz db hammered Diamond jig which costs about  $ 6.  Jigging technique is simple.  Just drop the jig down to the level where the fish are holding and yo yo the jig; that is, lift it with a slow to medium lift of the rod and quickly drop the rod tip so that the jig flutters back down.  They will usually hit the jig as it flutters back down.

My cousins fish for them in the Mediterranean, in Italy, using the same gear and technique and they also do well.

Good luck.

[erikpowell]

That's good info marc77, thanks for joining in the discussion.

Mel, my local tackle shop owner (the melting cap victim) is checking his garage and some other new shimanos to see if he can find a cap to swap that's non plastic. If we come up with something, will be sure to let you know.

[Reinaard van der Vossen]

I think, if I recall correctly, that the plastic melting cap refers to the first batch of the saragossa's and not to the current SW version. Even for the old version you can get an upgrade with a metal cap from shimano.

I'm not sure as I do not have such an old saragosa  but I'm thinking about buying the new SW version in a moderate size (probably 10000 size) for light to medium popping and stickbaiting for everything up to small sized schoolie blufins (maybe up to 50-6- lb)

On the other hand for overhead jigging reels, Jigging master, maxel, alutechnos albacore gorilla's and the smaller accurate seem to be used quite often

In the med, especialy in deep water, the larger blufins are not an easy catch and have wrecked a lot of gear. They are also finicky and leader shy.

I'm a little puzzled that it is mentioned that Yellow fins fight twice as hard as blue fins. From a biological  and body type perspective that seems almost impossible. Maybe you've got YFT on steroids over there. 

Hoe hard those bluefins realy fight I hope to experience this summer

[Cone]

I wanted to point out that it's the angler as much as the gear. Here is an old post from another site. Check out the monster AJ caught on a Penn 8500 and 25lb Momoi.   http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f34/pending-igfa-aj-record-rig-report-65770/    Bob

[mohamedhashem21]

Mohamed

I fish the northeast canyons.  During October and November, medium blue fins migrate through our canyons and we frequently catch them there in large numbers.  Due to the regulations, we are allowed to keep one or two per trip and we release the rest that we hook.  These fish are between 150 and 300 lbs.  I have caught as many as 15 during one trip.  Sometimes they are a nuisance, like blue sharks.  We are trying to catch yellow fins, albacore and bigeyes and we will hook blue fins.  They are more of a problem on full moon nights.

In my opinion, these blue fins are the easiest tuna to catch, especially inshore.  They are not as line shy as the other tuna and they will always hit jigs.

You do not need any expensive or fancy gear to catch them.  I use a penn senator 114 reel mounted on a Shakespeare 1120 ugly stick rod.  The reel costs about $ 100 new.  I modified my reels with stainless steel gear sleeves, daiwa 900h handles and one piece topless aluminum frames.  I use 80 or 100 momoi high catch smoke blue line with no braid.  The reel weighs 40 oz and with the 2 to 1 gear ratio and long 900h handle, I can literally winch these fish in.  The rod costs about $ 65 new.  I cut off about 10" off the tip and glue on a roller tip.  I use an 8 oz db hammered Diamond jig which costs about  $ 6.  Jigging technique is simple.  Just drop the jig down to the level where the fish are holding and yo yo the jig; that is, lift it with a slow to medium lift of the rod and quickly drop the rod tip so that the jig flutters back down.  They will usually hit the jig as it flutters back down.

My cousins fish for them in the Mediterranean, in Italy, using the same gear and technique and they also do well.

Good luck.

thank you marc
i have many senators nearly all sizes and many other LD reels , but i'm not familiar with this yo yo technique!! you mean that i don't have to reel the jig up !! just moving it with the rod??
if i understand this right , then that will be good i can use one of my senators or makairas for this technique
but do you use heavy iron jigs? or the colored Japanese ones i/ve used those colored jigs for jigging but using the Japanese technique on smaller fish?

mohamed hashem

[mohamedhashem21]

I think, if I recall correctly, that the plastic melting cap refers to the first batch of the saragossa's and not to the current SW version. Even for the old version you can get an upgrade with a metal cap from shimano.

I'm not sure as I do not have such an old saragosa  but I'm thinking about buying the new SW version in a moderate size (probably 10000 size) for light to medium popping and stickbaiting for everything up to small sized schoolie blufins (maybe up to 50-6- lb)

On the other hand for overhead jigging reels, Jigging master, maxel, alutechnos albacore gorilla's and the smaller accurate seem to be used quite often

In the med, especialy in deep water, the larger blufins are not an easy catch and have wrecked a lot of gear. They are also finicky and leader shy.

I'm a little puzzled that it is mentioned that Yellow fins fight twice as hard as blue fins. From a biological  and body type perspective that seems almost impossible. Maybe you've got YFT on steroids over there. 

Hoe hard those bluefins realy fight I hope to experience this summer

thank you for help
the most thing i don't like in the saragosa sw is the graphite rotor , the old saragosa had an aluminium rotor on the 18k model , the old 18 k saragosa has 41 inch line retrieve per crank, is this enough for surface popping (stick baits and poppers)  what is the perfect speed for that?? i wish to have a reel that can do both vertical jigging and popping if the old 18k saragosa is capable of that i may get it .

[mohamedhashem21]

I wanted to point out that it's the angler as much as the gear. Here is an old post from another site. Check out the monster AJ caught on a Penn 8500 and 25lb Momoi.   http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f34/pending-igfa-aj-record-rig-report-65770/    Bob

of course it all depends on the angler but i'm not that professional one

[Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B]

mohamed,

i have been doing a lot of research because i'll be on my 1st long range trip next june or on the boat saltwater fishing. i have used google and youtube for this and what i have learned is that the yo yo technique is a slow version of the japanese style of jigging.

in my case i bought a gosa sw20000 for popping(there's a guy at 360tuna who tried it and he prefers a faster ratio. but he added that the gosa is a nice reel) and a few conventional reels for jigging. IMHO it's a matter of preference because if the gosa's ratio(1:4.4) is slow i'll just crank a little faster.

here is a video of yo yo style;



and one result of my research, there are anglers who prefer at least 1:>5 ratio for popping. and with this ratio(if you decide to have just one spinning reel for both) you can yo yo or do the japanese(fast really fast) style of jigging and popping with just one reel. hope this helps...

[Reinaard van der Vossen]

I thought that the larger ones hat a metal rotor. At least this guy says (looks like from own hands on experience)
http://www.stripersonline.com/t/914249/2014-saragosa-sw/30

Whether they are fast enough for popping is something to be seen.

If you want a faster spinner in the moderate price range then the Daiwa saltist 6500H might be an option. They are also less heavy compared to the Saragossa where the 20000 SW is in excess of 900 grams. The saltist needs aftermarket carbon fiber drag washers and after market line roller bearings though.

In you area you might also have the opportunity to still find the Tica Talisman TG8000H (hig for high speed) with the stainless steel pinion (pre medio 2013). This one is  approx 700 gr but needs carbon drag washer replacement. Saw in in turkey for 160-200€ but didn't buy

Having said that. Probably nothing compares to the supperspinners like Daiwa Saltiga, Shimano Stella and accurates or Penn superspinners when it comes to larger blufins or large GT's.