Just tore down and cleaned up old 9/0 that my son got on auction site for 100 bucks. Was in very good shape, all I did was clean and lube everything, added Penn 5 stack drag (had the old 3 stack) and put some Delrin washers in. It seems very smooth. Purpose is for shark fishing from beach in Jacksonville, FL. Sharks not too big usually. So my questions are:
What should I spool it with?
Is my current rod big enough, it's a Made in USA Star Rods, Handcrafted, B507HC, 50-80 LB Line, 2-8 oz lure? It doesn't have any roller guides.
Need handle and grip recs too.
Thanks in advance.
As far as line it's a matter of how far from the beach you are dropping your bait. 80# mono should handle close in work. For a farther drop use at least half a spool of 100-130# braid & a top shot of 80# mono. This should all be hooked to a leader of 8/0 circle hook crimped to 200-250# cable or solid wire about 3 ft & crimped to 10 ft. of 200# mono. Use swivels where needed. Use a heavy quick release bb snap swivel on the end of your main line for a quick change of leader rigs due to damage or breakoff. That should get you started. Rudy
Quote from: RowdyW on August 21, 2018, 11:32:15 PM
As far as line it's a matter of how far from the beach you are dropping your bait. 80# mono should handle close in work. For a farther drop use at least half a spool of 100-130# braid & a top shot of 80# mono. This should all be hooked to a leader of 8/0 circle hook crimped to 200-250# cable or solid wire about 3 ft & crimped to 10 ft. of 200# mono. Use swivels where needed. Use a heavy quick release bb snap swivel on the end of your main line for a quick change of leader rigs due to damage or breakoff. That should get you started. Rudy
Thanks, sounds great.
Any insight on the rod and handle questions?
The rod you have will work until you decide you want something more or the sharks get to big. In the future you might want to get a slightly shorter rod (6-61/2 ft) with a little heavier action. You may even want a rod with a roller tip & stripper. Roller rods require more maintence though. For handles arms try Alan T's or Adam (3 Se7ens). For knobs there is Black Pearl, Alan T., or ebay for t-bar knobs.
You might want to look at a heavier rod if you're using 80#, something rated 60-130 or close to that. On a big fish that rod will likely "bottom out" where it's so bent you'll lose the pulling power. Shorter will give you better leverage but longer gives you more of a cushion for head shakes and sudden change of direction. The best rod will be a series of compromises and naturally something you fell comfortable using.
The long rod will help get your line up in the air and out of the surf. The waves drag your line across the sand, make your line catch pieces of seaweed and dislodge your sinker. Depending on the spot and the day, a few feet more elevation can make a big difference. But with a fish on the long rod will make you work harder and doesn't offer any advantage. I wouldn't really consider seven feet long by beach standards though.
Roller guides came about back when ring guides were made of softer material and line was more abrasive. There was/is a danger of wearing a groove in the ring that could cut the line. You seem to see more and more rods without rollers these days
-steve
I would check manufacturer specs on rod to see if braid compatible. Im not a beach shark fisherman but I would wonder about using roller guides on the sand. In my inexperienced opinion you are good without them.
I think Gator has some nice long rods specially for land based shark fishing. Your star rod will be fine for starters.
Thats all I got
If this is the same 9/0 you had another post about re original parts and has the old three piece spool, you definitely want dacron or braid backing to keep from popping the spool apart, that reel likely pre-dates compressive mono lines. Additionally, I'd bet spools from the newer ball bearing plates will not fit your reel...somewhere can confirm....and leave you with a difficult to replace separated spool.
I spool my 9/0's (all BB models) with 300yds of 100lb power pro topped with 80 mono. As Rudy says, it depends a lot on how far you drop and what size fish you after, but you want some backing either way that will absorb some of the compressive force of tightly wound mono.
Is the bearing hex shaped?
Quote from: thorhammer on August 22, 2018, 02:36:03 PM
If this is the same 9/0 you had another post about re original parts and has the old three piece spool, you definitely want dacron or braid backing to keep from popping the spool apart, that reel likely pre-dates compressive mono lines. Additionally, I'd bet spools from the newer ball bearing plates will not fit your reel...somewhere can confirm....and leave you with a difficult to replace separated spool.
It is the same 9/0 that I asked about original parts. The spool is chrome and one piece. the handle side bearing is hex shape (is it really a bearing or just a bushing really?)
With the chrome 1 piece spool you can use all mono or braid underneth, your option. A bushing can be also called a bearing. A ball bearing is just another type of bearing.
Thanks for all the good advice.
Didn't know about the bushing being a type of bearing, just assumed when people said bearing they meant ball-bearing. So my reel has bushings as bearings (sleeve bearings according to google)?
Also any idea what year it might be from?
My guess would be mid 60's to early 70's.
I would just spool it with straight 80lb mono and go for it.
With a one piece spool and a new drag stack. I would say you are good up to 7 or 8 foot Shark. ;)
Thanks for all the great advice. Probably going to just go with mono for cost purposes, still looking for handle, and will see how it goes with current rod. It's not going to get used heavily. Thanks again.
A lot of things in shark fishing that come down to numbers are based on where and how you're fishing.
Spooling will have to do with the beach you're fishing. I'm not familiar with the Jacksonville area, so this will be up to you to decide. If you can get away with short drops, a short topshot is fine - but if you need longer drops, you'll want a longer topshot. You'll also want to go heavier or lighter based on what's on the bottom where you're fishing, if you've got lots of shells you'll want much heavier mono. If it's straight sand, you'll be fine going a bit lighter.
For a topshot - you generally want it to be as long as you imagine you'll be dropping. 50 yards, 100 yards, 150 yards, 200+, whatever.
Personally - I would spool with 300 yards of 130 lb hollow core (buy from Lee on here, screenname Keta), and top it off with 100 lb mono - if I recall correctly you can get about 300 yards on there. If it gets cut off near the top, you've still got a topshot long enough that you don't need to replace it. And, when you do eventually need to replace it, 300 yards isn't bad. The braid won't need replacing for years provided you take care of it.
It's about $45 shipped for 300 yards of the 130 lb braid from Lee, and it'll be about $15 worth of mono on top.
If you want straight mono - you'll have to replace it all whenever you need to replace it, instead of having the braid backing. And, capacity will go way down. Sharks to about 8 or 9 feet shouldn't be a problem with 500-600 yards of line. The only things that will take more are the big hammerheads, tigers, and exceptionally large bulls.
Rods - I had originally gone with a rod for my 9/0 that was about 5'7" or 5'8" from John (screenname Thorhammer). It's a nice rod, cut down an old Shakespeare blank. Looking back, I wish there was a bit more bend in the rod - it takes some serious force to bend it, I like rods with a bit more action, I think they wear down the fish better.
It will depend on how you plan to fight the fish, the rod length. Do you have a bucket harness and a plate, and you'll be doing stand-up? Or, will you just be throwing on a shoulder harness, or a bucket harness, strapping in, and sitting on the sand, south Florida style?
If you're standing up, you won't want over 6'6", personally I'd go under 6', maybe even closer to 5'6". A longer rod will wear you out too quickly.
If you're sitting, you'll want the line off the sand. Here I'd go with a 7' rod, again one that bends well to wear down the fish.
Ring guides are fine, I'd go something higher quality if you're using braid, but if you're just using mono, pretty much anything should work. There don't seem to be very many "bad" guides out there nowadays.
As for a handle, I ended up with two - one from Dawn at Smooth Drag, and one that Alan generously sent to me. The one from Dawn is good, but I much prefer how Alan's feels in the hand. If I were you, I'd send him a PM or email and order a replacement handle from him.
Any kind of upgrade you can do over the stock handle though - is well worth it.
Oh and I think someone touched on roller guides not handling sand well - I haven't seen many people that recommend them after using them. Sand and rollers don't seem to mix well.
For rigging - I'm going to respectfully disagree with Rudy's rig. An 8/0 circle is not big at all, I started out using that for casted shark baits and on 3-4' sharks, it looks tiny in their mouth. A 5-6' shark would have a good chance of swallowing that hook, and on a bigger fish, the hook almost definitely wouldn't penetrate, maybe until it was in the gut.
A 20/0 is not that big of a hook when you see it in a fish - it looks big in the hand, but trust me they're not that big. Mustad 20/0 are cheap and pretty great, you can still cut them with bolt cutters which is good too.
I'd go heavy Rosco swivels, heavy (at least 500 lb, preferably much heavier) mono, twisted/doubled up for 18-24" on either side and crimped. This will give you more thickness and will help when leadering the fish.
Single strand vs cable, personal preference - but I'd go #19 single strand. Look at shark's teeth - they're like saws, not razors. To me, it makes no sense to put braided cable in between those teeth - it will shred at some point or another. Single strand won't - it can kink, but most of what I've seen is people worried about it, not people having actually experienced it.
That's my 2c on the subject. Personally - I don't have much of a desire to kayak baits out anymore. It's much simpler to catch the 5-7' sharks on casted baits, far less equipment needed, mainly the kayak. I'll take 6 footers all day over one 10 footer - they still fight plenty hard :)
Tight lines,
Drew
Thanks for the very detailed response.
I went with braid backing and 100lb mono top, 200yds.
Will let you all know when I catch one.
Great choice for spooling.
Tight lines
Drew