Need advice on additional setup

Started by jzman, November 09, 2016, 10:01:55 PM

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jzman

I currently fish locally in the Long Beach/San Pedro area fishing half days and 3/4 days.  On those boats I usually use 20lb and 30lb rigs.  Rarely  I would use a 40lb.  I plan on going out to overnight or maybe longer trips for tuna in the future, but I may need more equipment.  This is what I currently have:

TLD STAR 15/30 with 7'6'' Daiwa Proteus rated 20-50 mono (40 lb rig)
SEALINE SL20SH with 7'6" Shimano Teramar rated 15-30 mono (20 lb rig)
SQUALL 25N with 8' Lamiglas Insane Saltwater rated 20-40 mono (30 lb rig)
FATHOM 25N Single Speed LD with Okuma Cortez rated 30-50 (50? may need to buy another rod)

Please let me know if any of my reels or rods are over/under rated for their respective pound test.  I don't really use the fathom 25nld and might sell it, so let me know if it is adequate for a 50lb setup. I'm planning to buy 50-60lb setup and if I need anything else I would rent from the landing.  I'm leading for Penn Fathom 40NLD2 (2 speed) for the 50-60lb reel.

Thanks

SoCalAngler

#1
JMO,

I like the TLD 15-30 as a 30 lb test reel and not 40 lb test.

The SL20SH with the Teramar looks like a good 20 lb setup

The Squall with the Lamiglas seems right also.

The Fathom 25NLD with its 5.3/1 gears (braid backed of course) matched to either the Daiwa or Okuma 40 lb rod is what I'd use for 40 lb. In this line class any rod over 7 foot for me  is used for surface iron but a 7.5' rod with 40 lb test is not too far of a reach for a 40 lb test bait setup.

Again just IMO but you seem have 20 lb, 30 lb and 40 lb gear covered with what you already have so I'd start to look for something to fish 15 lb test on. Many times the smaller tuna are line shy or you spend time at some of the islands for bass, bonita and barracuda and here is where a 15 lb setup is great fun to fish.

For me I really would not start to look at 50 lb setups until you start to do trips 4-5 days or longer. This year has been way out of the norm with the larger BFT around and I would not count on it happening all the time moving forward.

P.S. My avatar pic is of a around 75 lb BFT caught this year on 40 lb test setup but my reel was two speed but I think I could of landed it with a 5.3 geared LD reel without any issues.

MarkT

#2
Whaaaat? It's not gonna be like this next year?

I did catch an 85# BFT on 30# this year.

Maybe the albies will be back with the end of El Niño!
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

SoCalAngler

Quote from: MarkT on November 10, 2016, 01:41:55 AM
Whaaaat? It's not gonna be like this next year?

I did catch an 85# BFT on 30# this year.

Maybe the albies will be back with the end of El Niño!

LOL, Mark I was catching wahoo last year here in American waters. Did they stick around, because I was going shopping for more Marauder lures for local use?

SantaBarbarian

I would suggest to use your fathom 25N over the Squall 25N over time and as you up your game on trip lengths that will be a much better choice for 40 lb. I have a Fathom 40LD 2 speed and it is a perfect reel for 40 - 60 lb., best bang for the buck! ( check out Shark River Mail Order ). Should you fish for bigger models and if it takes a long soak to reach them the extra line capacity will come in handy. I would recommend 300 yards of 80 solid spectra with a topshot of 100+ mono of your liking.

jzman

For 15lb, I do have a CT frame Ambassadeur  C3 or a Daiwa LEXA 300 5.1:1 (23.3") also, but no rod.  I was hesitant to use the C3 because it didn't have any torque and slow retrieval. I didn't want to use the Lexa 300 because its slow, low line capacity, and not saltwater friendly.  But, now that you mention I need a 15 lb setup, I am leaning toward the Lexa and swapping the gears out to  6.3:1 or 7.1:1.

eguinn

#6
 Right now the boats are fishing 60lb to 80lb on these fish as they are 80 to 100lb + fish. That being said I would look at the Penn 40nld2 reel, back it with 80lb spectra, you can get 500 yds on that reel. You can catch a 80lb fish on 30lb line but your chances of losing the fish go wayyyyyyy up because you will be on that fish a long time, that's why the captains are saying fish the heavy gear. A good rod to look for to match that reel would be something like a Calstar 6470H or XH. Also the guys are using a 2/0 to 3/0 circle hook & a 1/2oz to 1oz glow sliding sinking as the bite has been all on the live squid. The Freedom has had the hot hand the last couple of days but that changes sometimes, keep your line in front of you & watch what's going on & try like hell to stay out of tangles. Good luck if you go.

SoCalAngler

#7
JZ,

The 15 lb setup is not something needed but on 1 day trips I find myself fishing it often. I almost always bring a 15 lb setup when stopping at the islands or when the smaller grade tuna are being picky. Also if the anchovy do show back up a 15 lb setup lets you fish them well. In the past I have fished chovy that were not much more than two eyes and a wiggle and the lightest line you can fish with these small baits the better.  

Now some say you need to go bigger but up until this year we have never seen the large tuna stick around for our waters here within 2-3 day range let alone on over night trips, though the larger models do make a showing from time to time in the 2-3 day range in the past it has been nothing like this year. Sure trips to the Lupe you will see tuna in average of about 60 lbs and sometimes larger models in the 100's but then again that's at least a 4 day trip to fish there. I chartermastered a 3 day trip for 25 years strait out of San Diego where I may have fished 40 lb setups on say 5 or 6 of those years with bait.

Of course these local large tuna could stick around for many years or they could go away just like the wahoo did of last year. l don't have a crystal ball and no one else does either, but if anyone saw that these tuna would of been here they never stated it. And, if any one can predict them next year l'd sure like to know where as this would save me on fuel....lol

steelfish

I dont fish 15# line often but my light reels calcutta 400TE and saltist 20H, pretty small they can hold at least 200yds 50# and topshot 15# or 20# mono, sometimes I use them straigh spectra to the lure but we dont have too many shy line fish in Baja (cortez)



The Baja Guy