Rockfish Rumble, Rods and Reels

[fishmeluck]

This post is partly a fishing report but even more so, it is about reels that I modified using parts bought from people on this website, how they were made part of three setups, how the setups were rigged, and how well they performed.

Last week, I fished the Rockfish Rumble out of Ventura with friends from the Huntington Beach Fishing & Recreation Club. It was kind of grueling for a person my age (66), driving two and a half hours to get to Ventura, standing for an hour and a half to sign in and board, motoring four hours to the fishing grounds, fishing for 4 hours, motoring four hours back, and another two and a half hours driving home. But, it was good fishing with good people to hang out with.

The setups I brought were:
1) 7 ft, Custom Coastal Classic, 20#-40# fiberglass rod, Penn 501 reel w/ silver Tiburon frame, blue Cortez Conversion side plates, an offset handle, spooled with 500 yd of 30# multicolor braid
2) 6 ft 6 inch, Custom Coastal Classic, 30#-60# fiberglass rod, Penn 99 reel w/ black Tiburon frame, green Cortez Conversions side plates, a straight handle, spooled with 500 yd 50# multicolor braid
3) 5 ft 6 inch, all roller, no-name (Big Fish Tackle) 50#? fiberglass rod, Penn 4/0 reel w/ red, narrow Tiburon frame conversion, silver Cortez Conversions side plates, an offset handle, spooled with more than 500 yd of 65# multicolor braid.
All three reels have also had stainless steel bridge, gear sleeve, and drag upgrades. So, they're all tanks.

All setups worked well on drops up to 400+ ft. The first two setups were rigged with two hook dropper loops and 16 oz of lead. I had 20 oz and 24 oz lead too but didn't use it. Rig #1 had some green & yellow beads above the hooks as attractors and I baited the lower hook with a sardine and the upper hook with squid strips. Rig #2 was rigged similarly, except with red and glow white beads as attractors. Rig #3 was rigged with a 10 inch chartreuse swimbait on a 12oz lead-head and a small brown teaser Hookup Bait above it.

First stop, there was practically no wind and little drift, so I gave Rig #3 a try. After a short time, I did hook up on the Hookup Bait but no luck on the swimbait. Others were hooking up quickly on bait and Hookup Baits, so very soon I switched to Rig #1 and started fishing sardines and squid strips. Every time I dropped the Rig #1, I'd get bit as soon as I reached the bottom, usually on the sardine, sometimes on the squid strip too. On the first drop with this rig, I hooked two fish, one being a huge quillback, which had to be descended, dead already I'm sure before it was sent back down. Eventually, a tangle cost me the leaders on Rig #1, and I switched to Setup #2. It didn't get bit as often but I don't know if the attractor colors made the difference or not. It could be that by then we had drifted off the spot or fishing had slowed. Long tale short, 4 hours was more than enough time to limit on rockfish and then some.

Rod/Reel Reviews:
Reels: From an ease of use point of view, I did notice some differences between my Setups #1 & #2 with the 501 and the 99 reels. The 99 with its increased width and straight handle wasn't as stable and enjoyable to crank weight or fish up from the bottom and the 50# braid also caused it to scope out due to wind or current more often than the setup with the 501. I fished with both for roughly equal times; both with 16 oz of lead. Still, I found that I preferred the 501 reel w/ the 30# braid. It handled the same conditions and same fish as well as the 99 with less wobble, which matters when you're hauling up from 400+ ft. Also, scoping out less often matters. Setup #3 with the 4/0 narrow was also easy-cranking but the thicker 65# braid and 12 oz lead-head was not a good combination after the wind picked up, scoping out quickly. The scoping out problem isn't just about reaching or not reaching the bottom; it's about tangling or not tangling other anglers' lines. The 501 & 99 gear ratios were both 4:1; the 4/0 was 3.25:1. All were pretty easy cranking, 4:1 being a great gear ratio for rock-fishing, and the increased spool diameter of the 4/0 made up for its lower gear ratio.

Rods: From a comfort point of view, the short 5 ft 6 inch rod was easiest to hold while cranking up off the bottom, fish or no fish, and the roller tip felt good and smooth. But, I could feel bites the best with the 7 ft rod, and the 7 ft rod felt better than the 6 ft 6 inch rod while bringing up fish, getting a good bend and holding more consistent line tension with the boat rocking and me cranking.

Rod & Reel Change(s):
As it turned out over the years, I happen to have collected two spare Penn 501 spools, one the basic Penn aluminum spool and one a Newell aluminum spool. Given that I liked Setup #1 the best, I'm thinking about replacing the Penn 99 Tiburon frame with a Penn 501 Tiburon frame, popping in one of my spare 501 spools, replacing the straight handle with an offset handle, spooling with 40# braid instead of 50#, and Setup #2 will be as almost as much to my liking as Setup #1. I might also change the tips of the two longer rods to roller tips as I only ever use them for rock-fishing.

Other Reel:
That said, I have another reel which is looking for an application. It's Penn 100 Surfmaster with Newell bars, base & spool, a Newell aluminum spool and an extra Newell aluminum spool. It has the stainless steel gear sleeve upgrade and a drag upgrade too. The only drawback is the gear ratio. At 3:1, it's pretty slow. I've paired it with a 7 ft 15#-30# medium action Ugly Stick for salmon fishing and also for flylining for barracuda, but that's about it. If anyone has found other favorite uses for this reel, I'd be glad to hear about them. If I could get a 5:1 gear set in it, I might find more applications for it and consider it worthwhile to upgrade the frame to Tiburon, but so far, I don't know of any such gear set.

[Swami805]

Sounds like a fun trip, how was the weather? Looked a little salty
Surfmaster would be good fishing 20lb in situations where you don't have a lot of line out, fly lining for bass, drifting of halibut, that sort of thing

[fishmeluck]

It was great fun. The weather was really nice from 9 am to noon while we fished. Hardly any wind and not much swell or wind waves. The wind picked up after noon though and it started getting hard to hold bottom with 16 oz. On the ride back, I was told that our boat, the Californian, had gone south from Ventura. The other two boats went north, it was saltier that direction, and the fishing was not as good.

As small as the Surfmaster is, with today's braided lines, according to my line estimator, it will still hold about 480 yd of 30# braid. Like you say, I could fish straight 20# mono for bass or halibut, except I've got smaller, lighter, more versatile reels to fish 20 lb. So, I'm thinking about filling more than half the spool with some used 50# braid, putting about 150-200 yd of 30# braid over that, and using it for shallow water rock-fishing.

[Gfish]

It seems to be more widely known for deep-droppers nowadays that thinner diameter line helps keep terminal tackle "in scope". I don't like using lotsa lead, but I guess it's about finding that sweet-spot where it all comes together, given the conditions.

[Brewcrafter]

Cool report! - john