halibut

[ghillbe]

Has anyone used spinning reels for halibut in Alaska? what kind of reel was it? the halibut we usually are 20-40 lbs but larger ones are possible

[Keta]

You wolud be much better off using a coventional reel for Pacific halibut.

[swill88]

You wolud be much better off using a coventional reel for Pacific halibut.

Not to argue Lee, but, why is this true?

[Hardy Boy]

I live in coastal BC and fish lots for halibut and use the conventional reels but that being said one of my guide friends had a client who was fishing for halibut with a large Van Staal reel loaded with 65 lb braid and he was impressed. The guy loaned it to my buddies son and he fished with it all summer and it held up great. I serviced it and was impressed with the quality and the drag it could produce. I would not hesitate to fish one for halibut but it would have to be strong with no flex. The Van Stall are spendy. I've seen a 110 lb halibut get caught on a cheap spinner with 12 lb test line while fishing for coho but that was pure luck to land it .

[Porthos]

You wolud be much better off using a coventional reel for Pacific halibut.

Not to argue Lee, but, why is this true?

Hey Steve,

In no way (pun intended) I am Lee, but it's bottom fishing with a heavy sinker for big heavy fish... fundamentally​ winching. Conventional first, but if a spinner is all I've got, then spinner second choice.

Wai

[swill88]

You wolud be much better off using a coventional reel for Pacific halibut.

Not to argue Lee, but, why is this true?

Hey Steve,

In no way (pun intended) I am Lee, but it's bottom fishing with a heavy sinker for big heavy fish... fundamentally​ winching. Conventional first, but if a spinner is all I've got, then spinner second choice.

Wai

Wai, I got it, thanks. Last Thursday I went out with Randy and another friend out of Moro Bay on a 3/4 day "shallow water" rockfishing trip. I  brought a 6:1 Fathom 25N star drag and a 7:1 Okuma Komodo. We ended up in 250' - 280' waters and limited with good size fish. My arm muscles are still sore!

Steve

[Porthos]

...My arm muscles are still sore!

Steve

You have learned the pain firsthand. To mitigate the impact from your Fathom, you would need the handle mounted in the max length hole. I would have left the Komodo in the rack.

[swill88]

...My arm muscles are still sore!

Steve

You have learned tbe pain firsthand. To mitigate the impact from your Fathom, you would need the handle mounted in the max length hole. I would have left the Komodo in the rack.

no pain no gain

[Porthos]

...My arm muscles are still sore!

Steve

You have learned tbe pain firsthand. To mitigate the impact from your Fathom, you would need the handle mounted in the max length hole. I would have left the Komodo in the rack.

no pain no gain

My weapons of choice on your trip would have been my Okuma CT-30L, CT-45L, and/or SD-55L. The in-production equivalents would be the CV-30L, CV-45L, and/or CV-55L. For the OP's original ask, my start point would be the CV-55L with 65lb braid to 50lb or 60lb top shot, 15-16lbs and 18-19lbs max drag respectively.

For anything heavier, I'd jump to my all metal Daiwa 400H and 600H; if in the habit of running into barn doors, I'd go get a 900H and do Alan's 900H upgrade as the most cost-effective solution. If $$$$ is burning in my pocket, then the Mak 20 and/or Mak 30...

I'd do the above before even thinking about grabbing any of my heavy spinners.

[Keta]

You wolud be much better off using a coventional reel for Pacific halibut.

Not to argue Lee, but, why is this true?

Pacific butt here in Oregon run from 20 to 100 pounds, in SE Alaska they ran 30 to 130 average with larger fish caught.  Halibut tend to be hard to bring yo do to their body shape and the fight is a tug of war.  Spinners tend to not have the right gearing for this kind of fight.  In oregon we usualf have to fish 500-700 feet and sometimes deeper, a spinner would have to be huge to hold enough line.

My prefered butt reel is a 3.5:1 conventional Penn 349H but when fishing deep I use a 114H.

[ghillbe]

Sorry I should give a little back ground i have been fishing with a lexa 400 with 50 lb on a TREVALA S JIGGING rod using 4-7 oz jigs in 200 ft of water love the rod and will continue to use it. I was listening to radio in seattle and the topic came up that this guest was saying he has a charter halibut boat out of seward and has been using them for a couple years and it has cought on that almost all charters out of there are going away with Conventional and going spining with no roll in rod and is hard to rat nest and you open the bail and when it hits reel up and you are ready to go. My 10 yo son has a hard time reeling and having the rod roll and I was thinking of going that route for him and wanted some input from the group here before I go drop a load on a rod and reel

[Keta]

The Lexa 400 is a levelwind not a spinner.

[Porthos]

Sorry I should give a little back ground i have been fishing with a lexa 400 with 50 lb on a TREVALA S JIGGING rod using 4-7 oz jigs in 200 ft of water love the rod and will continue to use it. I was listening to radio in seattle and the topic came up that this guest was saying he has a charter halibut boat out of seward and has been using them for a couple years and it has cought on that almost all charters out of there are going away with Conventional and going spining with no roll in rod and is hard to rat nest and you open the bail and when it hits reel up and you are ready to go. My 10 yo son has a hard time reeling and having the rod roll and I was thinking of going that route for him and wanted some input from the group here before I go drop a load on a rod and reel

Ah...good to know the context. Anyone who's running a charter/guide service will not always get anglers with conventional reel experience so with that scenario there's a lot of merit for having a heavy spin setup given the lower learning curve--lift rod and retrieve, but requiring more physical effort with no possibility of using the rail.

Some more questions:

• Is your Lexa 400 the 5.1:1, 6.3:1, or 7.1:1?
• Has your son tried a 2-spd reel (something with 5.5:1 / 2.7:1 or similar)?
• On the Lexa handle, what is the the distance from the center of gear shaft to center of paddle?
• Does the TREVALA S JIGGING have a gimbal rod butt?
• If the above is"Yes," then has your son tried a rod belt with pin to minimize the rod roll?
• What length is the TREVALA?

[Keta]

Trying a left hand conventional  reel and/or spiral wraped rod  might help too.

[Jim Fujitani]

There is another option.

Is your son is comfortable with large conventional reels (levelwind or not) that you already own?  But just want to see about a new big spinner, with enough drag (and a new rod) for your son to avoid the rod from wanting to roll over due to the torque for fighting a fish or just reeling?

You could consider having a new rod built instead of buying a new big spinner and spinning rod.  Vadney (as well as most professional rod builders here on AT, or elsewhere) can build a spiral (acid) wrapped rod for you.  The spiral wrap takes the torque out of the equation so the rod and reel do not want to roll over.  

Granted, you could buy a cheap spinning rod, but you could order a quality blank, reel seat, rail grip, and ring guides (even ask to put a roller tip on if you absolutely must have one) and a simple wrap and have a quality rod that will last for years.  And not have to shell out for a quality big spinning reel.  (Have you heard or read Tunanorth explain that to achieve the same quality in a spinning reel that you have in a conventional reel, the cost is 3 times as much?)