Albacore reel suggestions?

[22GB]

Hi everyone,

I need some more advice on what albacore trolling and casting reels to buy in order to have enough on hand in case we have a good season again. My criteria:

1. Easy to service and maintain by myself (I'm OK servicing my Penn Senators, but my Shimano TLDs take too much time).

2. Durable, yet costing used < $100 for trolling and < $200 for casting.

A couple years ago when I first joined the forum, Alan suggested Penn Senator 113H 4/0 with drag service and upgraded handle, I got one off ebay (w/original handle) and might try to find another 1-2 there, unless you all have some other suggestions in the trolling department.

I have never cast for albacore, but I understand that I should learn how as on the "slide" I may be able to get more hook ups. My casting skills are mediocre. Should I just stick with my TLD15 which has all the Alan suggested washer and bearing modifications?

Also, it seems like most people load their reels with synthetic with a top shot of mono (how many yards?--Alan uses 25 yrds, but others told me more to avoid cutting lines if a big fish tangles up into other lines), so if you suggest some reels also please give me ideas on what to load them with. I imagine it would be different for trolling vs. casting applications. Oh, and recommendations for brands of both synthetic and mono, or at least ones to stay away from.

Thanks!

Kevin

[Keta]

Learn to service your TLD's, they are not that complicated.

The 113H is a great reel but in my opinion it is too large for albacore, a Jigmaster size reel would be better.  The 113H is a good Pacific halibut reel.  A Shimano TLD20, Penn FTH30 or FTH30LD would be good choices for trolling.  I am a Penn/Shimano guy but Okuma and Diawa also make good reels in these sizes.  You do not want or need a high gear ratio for a trolling reel.

For "casting", people up here are using much smaller reels.  For iron the high speed  Daiaw Lexa or Shimano TranX would be good choices,  for swim baits a lower speed reel would be better.  If you feel you need a bigger reel something like the Penn FTH25N works well, again other companies make good reels in this size range.  I like small reels and have a FTH12 and Shimano TN12 that have caught several albacore.  You might also want to consider a spinning reel for casting, I have Penn CLA4000 and BTLII4000 spinners that work but a 5000 size reel would be a better choice.  Again Shimano. Diawa and Okuma all make good saltwater spinners in this size range.

I sell Jerry Brown Spectra so that's what I use on most of my reels but again most name brands are good.  I like Shimano Depth Hunter on my iron rigs and put 200' of it on top of the JB.  I use 10'-20' fluorocarbon topshots on casting reels, 100' high vis mono (I use Berkley Solar Collector) on trolling reels.  50#-60# Spectra works well on albacore reels with 30# fluorocarbon topshots for casting and 50# high viz mono for the trolling reels.

[Donnyboat]

Hi Kevin where in the world are you, I have a shimano triton TLD 15 for sail, & also a Diawa sealine 250, I have completely serviced both of them, if your interested, please message me, cheers Don.

[Cor]

Our Albacore don't average much more than 15-20 kgs but are magnificent sport fish.
Most 40 or 50 size reels that can hold 40-50 lb line, have a reasonable drag should do the job.

I have not used my Tranx on them but for sure it will work as well.

[Swami805]

We'd use 6/0 size reels with 100lb for trollinig with tight drags for trolling to keep the fish coming straight at the boat so the school would follow. Also 2 boat lines which are handlines with 400lb tuna cord to 200lb leaders. Usually 30 for a drop back,20-30 for bait. But it's been awhile since they've been here. Helped to throw a couple brails of bait right away then keep chumming to keep them around.

[Decker]

A Penn Mag 970 would fit the bill.   I don't know much about fishing for albacore, but the 970 is very strong, braid friendly, and has magnetic cast control.  Upgrades include the Tani SS gear sleeve and Bryan's 5-stack drag kit (both available from PennParts).  Along the lines of what Keta said...   the 970 is close to the size of a Jigmaster (even smaller) and is just about as strong as a 113H.  More experienced fisherman and reel mechanics -- correct me if I'm wrong.   

[MarkT]

Back when we had Albies in Southern California we fished for them using 20-25#, 30# max.  I think they got bigger when they moved north but any fairly small reel like a Penn Fathom 12-25n should be good.  The Fathom  15 would probably be perfect. I use a Fathom 12 and a 525 Mag for light live bait fishing for school sized BFT.

[Hardy Boy]

Here in BC most guys just grab their halibut rigs which have 80 to 100 lb braid, put a top shot of 50 or 60 lb mono (or not) to a swivel and their 6 foot heavy leader to the lure. We only troll here as there is no live bait available. My one buddy uses straight 30 lb mono and has never had issues. You see a lot of TLD 20's  and 15's along with the Penn 113 H and 114 H. All work and I have never been in danger of getting spooled with my TLD 15 and we keep trolling for a while to try and double up. Any reel in that size range that you like would be fine. As Keta said the TLD are not hard to service.One morning three of us landed 30 albacore in a morning well before lunch. Our fish up here average 20 lbs with the odd one on the low 30's.

Cheers:

Todd

[1badf350]

If you are talking casting conventional, look at the Daiwa Saltist BG30H. We use them for drum fishing the OBX. They have awesome centrifugal brakes and a really smooth drag. We routinely beach 6-7' sharks with them. Not on purpose, but when you throw a mullet head past the bar, you are gonna have to deal with sharks.

[MarkT]

Back when we had Albies we also had Anchovies.  They seem to go together!  I bet a large baitcaster like a Lexa 400 or TranX 400 would slay 'em throwing colt snipers, small megabaits, etc and would be a lot of fun.

[swill88]

Wow! What a great thread!

I'm worried I'll peak way too soon the the August Westport Albacore trip.

Steve

[22GB]

I forgot that the Alan board has members all over the world!

I mostly fish out off the Mendocino Coast (3 hours north of San Francisco). We had a really nice albacore season last year after about 4 years of hardly any albacore.

The albacore usually run 8-20 lbs, with some 25-35 pounders and I have heard of a few bigger fish but pretty rare I think.

Regarding the trolling reels, which of the suggested reels would be the cheapest and easiest to service myself? I was a bit disappointed when I serviced my TLD15 as the cost of the bearings/CF drag was about the same for a serviced TLD15 on ebay, then there was the time involved too, hence my inclination to buying 3-4 more Penn 113H reels to round out my albacore reel needs (uh...wants!).

Maybe part of my servicing problem is due to taking the TLD15 salmon trolling on my surfski, which means it has gotten soaked a number of times when I've crashed through the shore break on the way in or out. Now I only take my Penn Senator 3/0 or one of the cheapy Penn 320 GTIs out when I kayak trolling.

For the casting reels, I imagine for Northern California-Oregon albacore I'd be using swim baits, but having never tried casting for them I don't know if swim baits or iron would be better--anyone know?

I didn't want to bring up spinning reels since I have not heard of many people using them for albacore and but hey this isn't a flyfishing forum where I'd get grief over even mentioning the "s" word in conjunction with reel. But I grew up fishing spinning reels and have very little experience casting conventional reels, so for ease of maintenance and cost what spinning reels would fit the bill for albacore? Keta mentioned a 5000 series one would be good.

Kevin

[Hardy Boy]

22GB: For sure the TLD's will not like getting a soaking and that would lead to at least pinion bearing failure in short order without regular maintenance and greasing of the bearing. In my experience it will also lead to the steel shaft (sleeve) on the main gear fusing to the dis-similar metal of the side plate. If the TLD is serviced regularly it should do fine  and not need bearing replacement for years (My two TLD 15's still have original bearings after years of fishing). That being said it is hard to beat the ease/ cost of servicing the penns . No reel will go for ever without service ............................ some just need more that others.


Todd

[Swami805]

Swim baits work great, just drop them back when you get a trolling strike. just leave the troll fish, they ain't going anywhere.  Also in morro bay with no bait available we used chunks of frozen sardines, we'd get them in 25 lb blocks.  find an area of fish and start chunking. Not the smartest fish in the sea just gotta find them and get them to stick around the boat.
any reel that your capable of casting with a good drag, conventional or spinning should be fine.

[Bryan Young]

 For trolling I would recommend sticking with the 113H.  If you're going to throw live bait, I would recommend the jigmaster. If you're going to throw swim baits to lighter live baits, I would recommend the squidder.