Avet 80's - EXW or TRX?

[Tightlines667]

There have been alot of good points made above.  For me, having a smooth drag, and alot of line capacity are the most important factors when choosing a big game reel.  My rule of thumb is to fish a reel at no more then 50% of the maximun possible drag rating to achieve smoothness throughout the line and heat range.

I favor retrieval speed over cranking power when fishing from a boat, largly due to my prefered fighting style, though having the ability to drop it in low gear and gain power after a fish sounds is important as well.   Durability and serviceability (ease & cost) are also important factors to consider.

I don't have any experience catching big game from the sand on long rods though, but it seems cranking power, stopping power, line capacity, and durability may win out here.

It is nice to have all the options we have available.  

There may he no absolute right answer here, since personal preference comes into play.

As many know, I often recommend the older Internationsl lever drags for heavy use.

Just some additional thoughts here.

John

[biggiesmalls]

I appreciate all the opinions shared in this thread. I will definitely be fishing hard this season (at least April through September, and probably at least one trip each in March and October if it stays warm enough) with the 9/0 and the Ambassadeur, and my goal is to get as comfortable as possible with 30 or so pounds of drag out of the 9/0 when it's hooked up to the big one. I'll also be using my buddy's 80w at his farm with the ATV and getting practice with heavier drags - up to as high as I can go. One thing that CJ had recommended to me was to build a "sand spike rail" - which looks like a tripod with spikes in the bottom to dig into the sand, which has a horizontal bar at the top of it to be used as a rail for fishing very heavy drags. I will probably go with 200# braid and 200# mono topshot on the reel (as per recommendations by CJ and seen in threads on SFSC), so heavy drags (Whether it's the EXW or the T-REX) are in order to put pressure on the fish.

Note that my goal isn't to get out every trip and use 40, 50, 60 or more lbs of drag - my goal is to be able to use this if I need to, because the "fish of a lifetime" isn't called that for no reason. Only the strongest tackle can handle that size of fish, and I definitely want to have it when I need it.

I'll have to post my theory about big tigers and hammers on this forum some time. I have off on Friday, so maybe I'll write it up Thursday night or Friday afternoon.

[CapeFish]

There have been alot of good points made above.  For me, having a smooth drag, and alot of line capacity are the most important factors when choosing a big game reel.  My rule of thumb is to fish a reel at no more then 50% of the maximun possible drag rating to achieve smoothness throughout the line and heat range.

I favor retrieval speed over cranking power when fishing from a boat, largly due to my prefered fighting style, though having the ability to drop it in low gear and gain power after a fish sounds is important as well.   Durability and serviceability (ease & cost) are also important factors to consider.

I don't have any experience catching big game from the sand on long rods though, but it seems cranking power, stopping power, line capacity, and durability may win out here.

It is nice to have all the options we have available.  

There may he no absolute right answer here, since personal preference comes into play.

As many know, I often recommend the older Internationsl lever drags for heavy use.

Just some additional thoughts here.

John

Retrieval speed is important, with the big reels you have it in any case. A smooth drag and line capacity as you have stated, but not 60lb of drag unless you are somehow anchored down. I would still rather be able to prefer to be able to run after the fish, our beaches are not that open and there is a lot of kelp in the water. The more line you have out and the bigger the angle, the more kelp you pick up. And on a busy day you end up wrapping up all your fellow anglers. If the fish runs out far and you stay in line with it, you simply walk behind the other anglers and your line stays out of harms way.