Small boat/kayak conventional reel opinions?

[bluefish69]

Redfish12

There is a nice Rip on the S E corner of Floyd Bennett that's good for Stripers & Blues. You said you fish the Ramp. Between the Sea Plane Ramp & the Marine Pkwy. Bridge there are very large Fluke caught every year July1 - Aug. 31 [10# +]. With your Yak you can drift by the main sections, Stripers hang by the leeward side. Start your drift up tide using whole Sand Worms. These spots should keep you busy for a while. A 4 oz. Gold Hammered Jig bounced on the bottom might turn up a Weak Fish.

[redfish12]

Mike I know that area well! There is a ditch out there on the approach to the bridge that holds some big clams and may be a clam bed (we've snagged a few somehow) and we always seem do catch a few fluke even in early/mid May. I've seen some pictures of some real monsters caught out of that area (32" Fluke) and I would love to do that in the summer time.

The area across from the ramp called the ruffle bar has a few channel cuts around it and I usually do alright on blues and stripers there. It seems the stripers are harder and harder to find every year though! I'll have to bring some diamond jigs, they are pretty foreign to us down here as we mainly use soft plastics on leadheads. I'm learning it though!

Michael

[bluefish69]

You have to try Dutch Town at day break. It might just be a shell island now. It's half way between F B & Ruffle Bar. If you go on Ruffle Bar be careful the Rats are HUGE up there.

Mike

[coastal_dan]

Bummer, wedding that weekend Redfish12, so no go for JBay for me.  Looks like fun too; I was reading up a bit on Snaggedline as well.  Maybe next year.  I had no idea NY had such an amazing fishery, I just never thought about it, haha.  Bonita from the yak would be awesome!

[redfish12]

That's too bad! I'm hoping to get out at the flats, South NJ and DE Bay more this year now that I am in Baltimore. Maybe I'll see you around!

[coastal_dan]

Well the 965 came in the mail and it doesn't sit very well on the rod!  It's loose when all the way tightened...grrr.  Back to square one...haha.  Not a bad problem to have though.

Redfish12- yeah definitely,  I fish Cape Henlopen 90% of the time, due to my folks living in Lewes.  I'm thinking I may be doing a little more boat fishing this year, but we'll see.  Although you can't beat an early morning pedal out to the wall....come on Spring!!

[Bryan Young]

My friend in Hawaii uses 2 penn 40NLDs fishing from his yak.  Of course, he fishes for marlin, tuna, Mahi mahi,  GT, and many other ocean fish.

[coastal_dan]

Screw it, I'm going to keep this little 965 and make it work...I'm going to try making some alum. shims...and use black zip ties...once its spooled I'll test it for strength.

Byan - yeah don't need anything that big, haha!

[Bryan Young]

but it does look like fun and a great thrill while I pee in my pants when the nose of a marlin or open mouth of a wahoo is pointing at me.

[coastal_dan]

Ok, to reboot this - the 965 didn't work out...reel foot was too small for the rod and after making a spacer I didn't really like how it felt...sold the 965.  In turn I picked up a new Accurate Fury 400N in the 4:1 ratio.  I have to say, for me, this is the absolute perfect size reel.  I have 300 yds of 30 lb Toro Tamer brown braid on it, perfect for nearshore/inshore bottom fishing from the kayak/small boat.  It pairs up to the rod phenomenally.  I hope to be using it quite a bit in April so maybe a picture with a fish will follow 

Pictures of the reel:









And for size comparison the Fury next to a Jigmaster 500

[STRIPER LOU]

That Accurate is a SOWEET reel. I love the old school reels but I really have a fondness for the Accurates.  Great choice. The Penn Torque's are nice too!
......................lou

[FatTuna]

Very nice looking little reel. I've never seen those before. What species do you plan to use it for?

[coastal_dan]

The plan is this will be my general purpose rig...flounder, triggerfish, tautog, stripers, bluefish, seabass -basically anything inshore.  I am eyeing up the fury 500 or 600N in 2 speed - that would make a great deep water seabass/cod/tilefish reel.

[FatTuna]

It looks like it would be perfect for that. I've never tried an Accurate but it sure looks promising.

[redfish12]

Looks like you kinda went full circle on that and went back to an Avet SX like reel (but on steroids!). Looks like an awesome reel!