Jacked up JM

[Gulfyakr]

I'm with Saltydog on this one. King mackerel are not too hard on a stock Jigmaster. Light drag settings and a large line capacity are best for kings, so perhaps upgrade the Jigmaster's drag with new carbon washers, fill it up with fresh mono and get after them. Spool tolerances on the JM's I have are all pretty tight, 20 pound mono would not be a problem....but I use 30 on 'em.

[broschro]

I understand. The Avets do require servicing. A larger Sealine casting reel would do what you want it to do very well, and additionally would perform well surfcasting.

lots of pepole in florida ues the TLD's for King's but i think the JM is up to the task all day.i have never had a problem with braid on my JM 's or the 209.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

Reason I water to upgrade is that I run braid and catch a lot of sharks as by catch, popping 20lb gets old. I need a lot of capacity as I fish the pier and we have big tarpon and cobia at times. I have a tld 15 and a 4/0, I just want something in star drag that can handle big fish to not to terribly much

[saltydog]

I always have 3 to 4 spools for each of my jigmasters filled with line for different situations. Most of my fishing is with 20,25, 30# mono, who really needs that much mono for kings but it works better for flatlining small dead or live baits. I can get 400 yards of 30#BBG on my 500 so I really don't see any kings taking that, I've caught them well over 70# and never had them hurt a stock 500.

Now for the level wind reels I really don't like them because on the really large kings they will smoke the level wind and cause you to either loose the fish and damage the reel due to lockup. Had it happen many times with the TLD's and the Penn level winds I used to own. Now don't get me wrong they are great reels but when speed is a factor level winds can and will fail.

How thick is the 20# you are using, you should have 475 yards at least on a 500 and if you use 50# braid a whole lot of line. Maybe you need to tie an Albright to some 15 feet of 50 to 80# mono for a shock leader.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

I don't use level winds for pier kings, up here every big king I've seen caught ran 200+ just on the first run. I was thinking straight 65lb solid with a surgeons loop to Bristol with 40-80lb mono depending on te situation

[Dynamo]

For what you want then, a stock jig master with 30(IMO) mono would serve you right. Mr tank said in a jig master post about how he thinks JMs with braid is a bad idea. I've done it, trust me, and I would agree. Line gets caught in the spool shaft while casting and locks the reel up, l agree. Spool stops, line often breaks, (terminal tackle lost), and braid is torn by the spool. 65 solid would get caught, 80 does, i know that for a fact. That lx should work fine with braid, but a star drag would require less servicing, so here we go. If a star drag a little larger than a JM is what you want then the Baja Special 4/0 narrow is a beauty. Aluminum frame, double dogs, carbon drag set puts out just under 30, and is very smooth, disengaging spool allows for very nice free spool performance. Smaller than your 4/0w but still packs quite a punch as you can see, great size for the smaller size carhoods I reckon, great for larger kings and smaller to mid sized sharks. Looks to be a fun size and very versatile. Cheers. I await your decision!!

[BMITCH]

What about the 112HN tanked?? I haven't run any braid on mine yet, but with Bryan's new drag stack and all the goodies this looks like a fish killing machine.
Bob

[broschro]

I have never had a problem with braid on my JM 's just saying 

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

What about the 112HN tanked?? I haven't run any braid on mine yet, but with Bryan's new drag stack and all the goodies this looks like a fish killing machine.
Bob

I thought about it, i was going to purchase one years ago when i first started king mack fishing, but decided against it as the jigmaster is a bit more managable. Do you guys have any idea of a price on everything upgraded but the sideplates?

[broschro]

80$ for the gears and drag stack.50 to 60 for the frame and or Newell kit,upgrade handle 30$ i have a buck fifty in mine

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

Aight, im gonna do it piece by piece, time to start cruisin ebay

[Dynamo]

I have never had a problem with braid on my JM 's just saying 

I gotcha, but just warning him about braid. You might've not had problems, but I did....

[floating doc]

I bought a 506HS planning to fish 16-20 mono for kingfish. I spooled it with 20 and pretty promptly wrapped the line around the spool shaft.

It went on ebay. It's in Hawaii now with a bunch of aftermarket parts on it.

[DaBigOno]

Where do you get the SS yoke,bridge and eccentric?
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Looks like Black Pearl will be coming out with these in December...