Squidder Upgrades

[theswimmer]

A great set up without question but after you chuck it 120 not a lot left for a bull drum run much less the car hood rays that pick up your bait as often.

I was able to put 200 yards of 30 lb braid and about a 150yard flouro casting shot which is way more than I will use .
I surf fish primarily the Cali rocks north of Santa Cruz and that much line gives me plenty of line capacity.
Biggest striper I have ever  caught off the Cali beach was about 9 lbs.....

[thorhammer]

I think I'm going to run down to Buxton this weekend.  Bringing the Squidder with me to mount on a Lami 6 - 16oz rod.  I put 3 cups in the side plate that are cut so that I can get the magnet back out if need be.  Waiting for the epoxy to dry now then I'll test the free spool with different combinations.  Other than that it's bone stock.  Hoping to get a 1 piece 140 frame, gear sleeve/spacer, and eventually faster gears, and I think it'll be a sweet little toy.  Gives me something to play with while I figure out what the next step up is going to be.  Thanks again for all the feedback!

Did you make down? I rode down to Rodanthe one day. If, not see my report...you didnt miss much with the weather. 12 washed over the day I left.

[ReelCurious]

I did, I'll see if I can throw up a few pics when I get home.  We fished the rough day by throwing bait out maybe all of 30 - 40 yards, and walking it down the beach.  Had one puppy drum to show for 3 of us during that day.  I believe that was Saturday when the nor'easter was blowing through.  20 - 30mph winds with gusts in the 40 - 50s.  It was an exciting day, first time for me fishing those conditions.

We slowed it down a bit the next day and fished the sound.  One more puppy drum, lizard fish, and a small skate back there.  Never had an opportunity to launch the Squidder unfortunately.  The day fishing the ocean I wasn't comfortable using it in those conditions so I was using a spinning setup.  In the Sound I was throwing lures with a Slammer 560 and the big rods never came out.

It was fun to catch up with the folks, brought a friend with me.  A lot of the roads had washed over but nothing stopped us from driving home.  Unfortunately on Saturday all of the good places we wanted to fish the ramps were closed, hook, 53, etc.  I think 44 was open but it was flooded all the way up.  We fished the south Jetty on the bad day.  It was fun but not the ideal place to be, and we didn't want to walk it from 43 to the Point since a turtle closure blocked driving down the beach.  Rumors were it was impossible to pass the narrow section down to the point anyways.  Hope your trip was better, I'll see if I can find the report.

[ReelCurious]

Question for the folks familiar with the Penn 99.  I understand the upgraded 500/501 parts won't fit the 99, but without having them on hand I don't quite understand the differences between the two reels.  For example, if I wanted to get silly with it, can you use the 99 vanity side plate, 99 spool, then a 500 plate w/gears with a one piece 99 frame upgrade?  I don't know if the 500 will accept the 99 spool basically, but it looks like the frame should line up.

[Decker]

Thinking of using a Squidder 145 as a "bridge winch" for NJ coast.  It is narrow enough, and I understand that a lower gear ratio (3:1) is good for hoisting. It may sound backwards, but winching is necessary in some situations where the tide is moving fast, and you don't want to gaff an undersized fish... Also this kind of setup could be useful for getting a fish upon the jetty.

Planning on an SS gear sleeve and Newell spacer bars for strength.  A Tiburon frame would be nice but it is currently out of budget.

Do some stock Squidders have steel gears?

What else do I need?

Is a Penn Power Mag 980 a better choice? (I have one.)

[thorhammer]

980 is a better choice; drag and guts way bigger so you could upgrade to power handle on the gear sleeve and the higher ratio would give you cranking power and speed over the Squidder. The 980 uses 4/0 size drag parts; you can probably use 65lb braid on that reel. I have put a huge amount of pressure on rays over 100lbs with 980 from pier with no ill effects. The 980 is probably very close to a Magnum Jigmaster in capability in a Squidder sized package, and comes stock with the solid bars as you know. 980 is a better choice than a whole lot of reels its size for power and durability.

Burgundy Squidders likely have steel gears.


Thorhammer

[Alto Mare]

Yup! the mag reels are tough.

[sdlehr]

Do some stock Squidders have steel gears?

Most surely!

Sid

[Decker]

Muchisimas gracias, señores!    Guess I will find another use for the Squidder 145: surfcasting, pier, inshore bottom fishing.   

[thorhammer]

145 with steel gears is a great reel, especially in a surf application, but if you have a 980 I'd be def using that for the winching.