July 16th, it's on!

[JasonGotaProblem]

I booked a 10 hour snapper/grouper trip out of hubbards marina in madeira beach FL. Fishing 90-120' deep

Time to figure out what I'm bringing.

I'm thinking 2 hot rodded jigmasters (ones running 50# braid the other has 40#), an everol 12/20 (probably 60 or 80# braid, gotta decide and load it), and a daiwa 900H or 910H (100# braid). Maybe I'll get that acc 270mag fixed and bring it too.

But I'm open to alternate suggestions.
They do favor mono, but I contacted them to confirm braid is allowed as long as i have at least a 30' flouro top shot.

Shot in the dark, but it would be super cool if anyone wants to join. As it stands I'm going by myself.

[steelfish]

good luck amigo,  just ask the captain what kind of gear he recommends and start from that.

maybe just one of you modd jigmaster and one 113h

on 900h and 12/0 everol, I would take just one from those two reels, go big or go home, prepare the everol on its rod and just take the 900h reel as spare in case something wrong happen to the everol reel or if you feel undergunned.

grouper fishing can be hard and might need strong rod and reel if you target for really big ones but most groupers on the 20-30# mark will be fun to catch with something as a 113h or similar reel as your everol with 80# braid (just because rock abrasion purposes even using 30' mono leader)

careful, this can be addictive

 

[thrasher]

Sounds like fun, hope you have a blast. Checked out their website and they seem to think a jigmaster sized reel, 4/0 and a big spinner is all that's needed. You'll be fishing 60-100 feet so if it was me a Shimano Speedmaster IV for bottom and a Shimano Baitrunner 4500 for flat lining would be going but I'm old school.

A 4/0 sized reel seems like overkill to me but that is what most party boats near me have as their boat rods. I'm sure a lot of people will say it's better to be safe than sorry, so bring what you are confident in.


From their website    Catch : Grey Snapper, Porgies, Black Seabass, Hogfish, Red Grouper, Gag Grouper, Scamp Grouper, Mangrove Snapper **Mahi, Mackerel & Kingfish**

Good luck and hope you give us a full report of the trip

[JasonGotaProblem]

So when I told my wife the final total (205 with bait) she said that's a good deal!

How many rods is too many? I got a lot of my toys to play with, but i don't wanna be inconsiderate.

[Midway Tommy]

Good for you! Have a good time and catch a bunch of fish, but don't rinse off your hands over the side of the boat.


 

[thorhammer]

Alex, the Everol is a 12/20, not 12/0...big difference The 12/20 is maybe 3/0 size or a hair larger.

Jason, were me, for simplicity's sake; I'd take a jiggy or 12/20 for snapper baiting, a 4/0 and maybe the Accurate for jigging. The 900 is fine but gonna be heavy- a 6/0-size is plenty on grouper. I'd run 30 feet of 100-130 fluoro for rocks in any case and that will make the mates happy. I have the Everol Super 50's, but I'm not sure about drag in the 12/20. My FinNor 12/20 is a tournament reel and maxes with light drag numbers for so much metal. The 12/20 would be fun tho. \

re 4/0 as overkill: if the boat is anchored, the line capacity is nice for flatlining a kingfish or mahi where you can't chase, and there are really big gags, ,and possibly blacks, down there, and you can get picked up by 300 lb nurse shark very easily with a big grouper bait down (this happend to me). I wouldn't want to try to keep one out of the rocks with a jiggy, well maybe a CC jiggy with SS guts but still...

[thrasher]

Good point on the anchoring, also you'll need a lot of line and a lot of lead to if they anchor. All the day cruise party boats I've been on didn't anchor but I haven't been on many that didn't go out of Palm Beach County.

On how many rods, I would say 3 maybe 4. Up to 60 anglers with 80 rod holders, Sunday is the busy day and might get crowded but  I would call on that(and if they anchor). I would bring a lot of lead but I have a thing about running out of lead 

The what not to bring section was interesting and humorous. I got a chuckle out of the bananas but I wonder why no cellphones or smart watches.   

[JasonGotaProblem]

What's a good drag number to target for keeper grouper?

The 12/20 is in between a 3/0 and a 4/0 senator. Thanks to Keith i now have 2 12/20s, the one he gave me is a 1 piece frame version, and that's the one i wanna use because it doesn't lose free spool no matter how tight the knob is. I have tested my first one with a spring scale, 24# drag before line starts slipping, and for a max, it's still rolling smooth at a steady 27#. That one has 65# multicolor braid on it. I may swap the spool into the 1 piece frame one.

I have the components to build a really solid 4/0 (steel innards and penn H2 aluminum frame bars), and steel innards and upgraded drags (including a versa option) for a 6/0 but nothing upgraded for external parts, just posts or a graphite frame. I guess I can assemble those. And the jigmaster is a Cortez 1 piece 99, with steel gears, a 5-stack, and I think a dbl dog setup. Seems legit for big snapper but probably outclassed for big grouper.

Re: the cell phones, they don't want you to drop a marker on their spots! That's the part my wife is upset about though. "So you mean i can't contact you for 10 hrs?" As if I'd have cell coverage out there anyway.

[thrasher]

I forgot that you have to go a pretty good ways out to reach the deeper water in the Gulf, over here around 5 minutes out of the inlet and you're in 100' of water, plenty of cell service. Heck in Boca you could probably connect to some beach houses wifi while fishing   

[steelfish]

Alex, the Everol is a 12/20, not 12/0...big difference The 12/20 is maybe 3/0 size or a hair larger.

I swear I edited my comment before posting it but seems that I didnt.

yeah I notice it wasnt a 12/0 but a 12/20, that smaller everol could work pretty good for snappers and groupers with the  24# and 27# drag.
4/0 might be overkill but it could be the ticket for a bigger grouper, after many years of using the 4/0 and trying different gear sizes and speed I opted to keep the steel 3:1 stock ratio as my favorite, it gives you great torque and enough line recovery on the 1st half of the spool (top).

.......That's the part my wife is upset about though. "So you mean i can't contact you for 10 hrs?" As if I'd have cell coverage out there anyway.

LOL that sent me back to my 1st times going fishing off-shore, the 1st times my wife was like, soooo, if I have any emergency who should I call? -- the police I answered, that didnt helped much but ooh well   

I dont know how works there but in this part of Baja, 30 minutes south from my town there is no cell signal either on land or sea for the next 3hrs, yeah, welcome to the big Baja Desert.

Some wives of the captains have CB radio on their home not to check their husbands but as a safe tool in case the panga boat have a motor problem or any other emergency, many times our captain call his wife by the CB radio telling her that we just landed safety after a day of fishing and we are preparing everything to drive home (its a 2hrs drive to my town with no cell phone signal until 1.5hrs)

[Crab Pot]

I'll be in Florida next summer Jason.

Take notes so you'll be able to show me! 

Looking forward to the pictures.

[thrasher]

"Call the police" that's funny to me but I can see how your wife wouldn't think so much.

You can definitely run out of cellphone service but on the east coast of south florida 100' of water comes quick. Less than a mile out where on the west coast I'm guessing near 10 miles before you get that deep

[Swami805]

Have a fun trip!!

[JasonGotaProblem]

I can only bring 3 rods. You would think that simplify things, but it actually complicates them.

[oldmanjoe]

  This is your first time on a party boat , i would bring one 1 stick and reel .  Than rent the other stick from the boat  for 20 dollars . They will supply all the hooks and sinkers that you will loose .
   You will get lots of tangle with the other guest on the boat .   learn on their dime this time , than you can Gage the next trip with some prior knowledge    !!