Full servicing/cleaning/rebuild of my 9/0

[thorhammer]

Though I know WB is all sand, I will defer to Daron on any matters for landbased sharking. No one has done their homework better.

[RowdyW]

biggie, to answer your question about using a SS dog. If using a SS sleeve you should use a SS dog with it. Contact Keta (Lee) for 9/0 dogs.

[Swami805]

I'd be very leery of buying cheap braid on the internet, there's a lot of counterfeit name brand braid around too. Stick with the big online stores or better still your local tackle shop. If it's cheap,it's cheap for a reason. Sheridan

[Shark Hunter]

I only Fish Florida. Their beaches are riddled with shells. At 100 yards out, you can still see bottom.
My best guess is a 200 to 300 yard drop, you are only in about 50' of water.
When you try to bring a Shark over the last bar, He will purposely run into the bar and try to cut you off.
It is a much more Horizontal, than Vertical fight with the sea floor.
My very first Sharking experience was a 9/0 loaded to the brim with depth counter braid from the same source, you are seeking yours.
I didn't get cut off, because I didn't get any hook ups. My fishing partners did. several times.
I don't know if it was other sharks or what, but the line was cut clean.
This is just based on my experience in Florida. You can load your reel up any way you desire.
If I had to have more capacity on a 9/0, I would go with JB Hollow core and a mono top shot.
I spend too many hours preparing for my chance to use a knock off brand of braid or mono.
Mono is much more abrasion resistant then braid. That is why I use it.

[biggiesmalls]

Sounds like I will go with straight 80 pound mono for now. Should I go straight, or go 60 pound mono with 100 yards of 80 on top?

How big of a fish do you think that this could potentially bring in? My goal is to have a setup that can bring in a 10-footer under optimal conditions. There aren't a lot of sharks bigger than that - especially here (at least inshore). And a 10-footer here would likely be a catch of a lifetime, probably 8 is closer to the maximum size we're going to see on most trips.

Is Keta a member of this site? I'll check on here, thank you for the recommendation.

[biggiesmalls]

Talked to Keta, planning on ordering my dog tonight.

Looks like the capacity of straight 80 pound mono on a 9/0 is around 450 yards, and closer to 650 yards of 60 pound. One thing I need to take into account - how far my drops will be. I haven't managed to get anything in Wrightsville Beach yet - hoping this spring will bring me my first Wrightsville monster. However fishing off of BHI, which is an island pretty close by, I don't think I made any drops over 100 yards; possibly 150, but not likely. So I'll have to experiment with it and see how far I have to take out baits in order to catch anything that will pull hard on the 9/0.

One other thing I need to pay attention to - there is an ordinance at Wrightsville Beach that says:

"No person fishing from a pier or the shore within the town limits shall bait or cause to be used any bait which attracts sharks of any type to the shores or piers. This section shall not prevent regular and normal fishing now done on piers and shores of the town, except to the extent it affects the baiting and luring of sharks to the waters of the town."

Now, I'll be mostly fishing from a private access, meaning there won't be anyone to snitch on me. I have also never heard of people being caught for shark fishing here. And if I were to get caught, I can just say I'm fishing for tarpon or something. In addition to this, I'll probably move the kayak up into the garage by the access, just to be safe.

[thorhammer]

I hated WB....cant take beer on beach....dogs on leash....parking insane....surf only in zones...and no cast nets on pier. I think they don't even want you fishing on the fishing pier if you read all the pier rules. under your aforementioned ordnance, technically you wouldn't be allowed to clean fish on the pier, as it would constitute chumming. I've seen no telling how many sharks under cleaning tables.

[biggiesmalls]

Yeah, it's not great honestly. I figure I'll try it out and see what happens, it's a private access so shouldn't be a lot of people around.

Any kind of bait is going to attract some kind of fish, and pretty much any smaller fish will attract sharks in. So it's pretty stupid to expect no shark fishing. I'll just hide the yak and say I'm fishing for big rays, tarpon, or bull reds if I get caught.

[Shark Hunter]

If you use a premium monofilament, I think its closer to 650 yards on the 9/0.
The diameters of modern mono are smaller than the capacities originally listed.
I have ran 200 yard drops and the spool was still 3/4 full.
I hot rod my 9/0's to the hilt. Black Pearl gears, Adam's insert, Frame, ss sleeve and double dogs.
I usually run my longest drops on a 12/0 with straight 100lb and a 14/0 with 130lb. They both hold 1000 yards.
As far as catching a 10 footer with it. Anything is possible. This Hammer was 89" and I felt a little outgunned with a 12/0.

[biggiesmalls]

What kind of premium mono would you recommend? Since I'm saving money by not buying $100 worth of braid to spool up once, I don't mind putting a few more bucks into good mono. That Sufix line seems a bit too expensive for me - hoping to keep it closer to $20-$30.

The Sufix line you recommended is around .036 inches in diameter - which is similar to others, like 80 pound BBG which is .035 inches in diameter and the same pound test. I can probably get my reel filled with 600 yards of 80 pound BBG at the tackle shop for around $30. Is there anything that makes the Sufix truly worth it compared to BBG?

Also, anyone here use spinners often? If so, ever use a Penn Battle? I've heard VERY conflicting things about them, I've got two brand new 5000's right now and planning on trading them for a 3k and a 4k, plus buying a 6k - plus I've got a 10' Penn Prevail rod that I'll probably pick up a 4k or 5k Fierce for.
The 3k and 4k will mostly be for inshore artificials, plus some smaller live baits, and then 6k will see use with big reds, medium sharks, big jacks when I go to Florida (try to go once a year for a week in the summer), possibly some cobia, and if I run into any tarpon down in FL I want to be able to catch them. There's a 4-5 footer that lives off of my buddy's dock down there (his family's got a vacation home in Sarasota) that we haven't been able to catch for three years now - even though he's feeding right there!

[biggiesmalls]

Okay, a few updates. Firstly - I placed my order for the SS dog a few days ago, that should be here soon.

VERY fun surprise - after cleaning off the internals some, mainly the main gears, they appeared to be a silverish color, not brass. They had some really old-looking reel grease and some dirt caked on there, after I finish cleaning it off I'll post an update. If I have SS gears in this reel I'll be a VERY happy man - since I was going to buy them for it at some point.

I also found out why the chrome external parts weren't getting their original luster back - it's because the chrome is gone! It's all brass now, so I'll either have to replace the parts or get them powder coated. Considering my uncle, as well as my mother's friend (who wishes I were her son)'s husband are in the powder coating business, I should be able to get these done for a very reasonable cost, if anything.

Things were already going alright, and now they're going even better. Life's good, life's good

[biggiesmalls]

Well, I hit gold today - the gears are DEFINITELY stainless steel. So I've saved myself $75 or so that I was going to spend later.

At this point, the only upgrade left is a one-piece frame. Then again, I could just replace the rest of the internals with SS parts, and there's the option of double dogs, and two-speed...

But those are for another day

[RowdyW]

Silver colored gears do not mean they are SS. Whats the gear ratio? You could have Penn SS pinion gear & a Penn heat treated main steel gear which were standard in older Penn reels.       Rudy

[biggiesmalls]

Thanks for the tip. I put a magnet up against them and it stuck - meaning the gears aren't solid stainless steel, they're probably similar to what you were talking about - SS plating with some other metal underneath. Oh well, at least they're working parts

[RowdyW]

No the main gear is probably carbon steel that is heat treated (hardened) & not plated.