Does The Perfect Albacore Trolling Reel Exist?

Started by Gman_WC, January 11, 2019, 07:40:38 AM

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CooldadE


What about hopped up old school? 99 sized Jigmaster Franken Reel... Albacore Special....
No bells, no whistles. Just a simple workhorse...

Cool
I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6...

Gman_WC

Quote from: jurelometer on January 13, 2019, 09:07:56 PM
You might want to determine which lure(s)  you plan to troll with first.   With a soft plastic swimbait at low speeds,  I would prefer to use my casting outfit.   On the other hand, if I am trolling a big lipped plug, resin head or even a spreader rig at any kind of speed,  the whole setup, both rod and reel, needs to be more heavy duty.
If you are trolling on a charter or party boat,  your setup needs  to be compatible with whatever else is being used, and is usually specified by the captain.  The captain may even  specify the lures to use.  Some prefer to have all of the same lures in the spread.  If it is your own boat,  then you get to choose.
When it comes to fighting a hooked albacore,  it doesn't take as much reel as some folks think.  Back in the day when albacore showed regularly around here, a narrow squidder was my goto albacore live bait reel, and it did just fine year after year.   These are still tuna, so you need a decent reel with a smooth drag, but that is about it.
If you want to be prepared for a bigger bluefin that might end up in the mix, or want to be able land  fish quickly in order load up during a bite,  then a two speed might be useful.  Two speeds are nice for checking/changing out your gear without having to slow down the troll.  
In terms or repeatable drag settings, you can still use a star drag.  A dab of nail polish or wrap of duct tape on one of the star legs provides a pretty repeatable  index for my reels with carbon fiber drags. Jeff (Riverrat) has a post  describing using a paracord loop on the star for the same purpose.
-J

You didn't read my post! The title says it all "Albacore - Trolling Reel". I have plenty of overkill gear in a star drag but looking for something new in a LD, and for this slot size of longfin.
This is for private boating feathers, clones, brooms, etc.
Usually in the NorCal (Albion-Ft Bragg) IMO if your out trolling for albacore there's not much bycatch like you're very likely to have in SoCal.
I've seen a few opah, dorado, and every so often bluefin.
This is the second time of heard of people claiming to use squidders for live bait on tuna. Unless your fully tanked, I just don't see a #20 albacore coming to the boat with dime sized drags in under 30mins.
As far as smooth drags, tuna don't have a soft mouth like a salmon, so I'm unsure why this is relevant. All drags should be smooth, if not the reel needs to be serviced if it has jerky drags.
Walnut Creek, CA

Swami805

I had a avet SX that worked great for 20-30lb, A little above my ability to service it so I went back to a 220 newell. Great reel though and abundant so parts aren't an issue. Lots of good small LD reels these days. Hard to pick one.
When I was a youngster the squidder was the reel of choice for albacore, 20lb mono, a nice limber bait stick, a pocket full of hooks and rubber core sinkers and that's all it took. Killed a lot of them with that set up, pretty much the standard.
Do what you can with that you have where you are

boon

Shimano Talica 16II if you want to run mono, 10II if you can run braid.

Maybe a little over the top end of your budget. Talicas are pricey in NA for some reason.

jurelometer

Quote from: Gman_WC on January 14, 2019, 02:21:36 AM
Quote from: jurelometer on January 13, 2019, 09:07:56 PM
You might want to determine which lure(s)  you plan to troll with first.   With a soft plastic swimbait at low speeds,  I would prefer to use my casting outfit.   On the other hand, if I am trolling a big lipped plug, resin head or even a spreader rig at any kind of speed,  the whole setup, both rod and reel, needs to be more heavy duty.
If you are trolling on a charter or party boat,  your setup needs  to be compatible with whatever else is being used, and is usually specified by the captain.  The captain may even  specify the lures to use.  Some prefer to have all of the same lures in the spread.  If it is your own boat,  then you get to choose.
When it comes to fighting a hooked albacore,  it doesn't take as much reel as some folks think.  Back in the day when albacore showed regularly around here, a narrow squidder was my goto albacore live bait reel, and it did just fine year after year.   These are still tuna, so you need a decent reel with a smooth drag, but that is about it.
If you want to be prepared for a bigger bluefin that might end up in the mix, or want to be able land  fish quickly in order load up during a bite,  then a two speed might be useful.  Two speeds are nice for checking/changing out your gear without having to slow down the troll.  
In terms or repeatable drag settings, you can still use a star drag.  A dab of nail polish or wrap of duct tape on one of the star legs provides a pretty repeatable  index for my reels with carbon fiber drags. Jeff (Riverrat) has a post  describing using a paracord loop on the star for the same purpose.
-J

You didn't read my post! The title says it all "Albacore - Trolling Reel". I have plenty of overkill gear in a star drag but looking for something new in a LD, and for this slot size of longfin.
This is for private boating feathers, clones, brooms, etc.
Usually in the NorCal (Albion-Ft Bragg) IMO if your out trolling for albacore there's not much bycatch like you're very likely to have in SoCal.
I've seen a few opah, dorado, and every so often bluefin.
This is the second time of heard of people claiming to use squidders for live bait on tuna. Unless your fully tanked, I just don't see a #20 albacore coming to the boat with dime sized drags in under 30mins.
As far as smooth drags, tuna don't have a soft mouth like a salmon, so I'm unsure why this is relevant. All drags should be smooth, if not the reel needs to be serviced if it has jerky drags.


With all due respect, you may want to take another look at my response.

I'll try to rephrase:   most decent saltwater reels with the capacity that you need will be up to the job of landing albacore, so IMHO,  the "best" reel for your situation will be dictated by what you lures are pulling and how fast, and whether you had to match up with what others were trolling with from the same boat.   And I do think that west coast guys err a bit on the overkill side for albacore, so if you want to fish something that is viewed on the lighter side, you will probably get away with it, as long as it is up to the task of pulling your lures.   Based on your functional requirements, a lever drag is not even a necessity if you are willing to forgo the two-speed. 

---


As Swami noted, back before the days of small lever drags,  it was pretty much jigmasters and squidders for live bait and jigs for albacore out of NorCal.   Squidders were a bit better for tossing  live bait when the anchovies got small.   Not too hard to stop an albacore with an honest  5 to 6 lbs of drag.  The size of the drag washer is not the only thing that matters;  spool diameter and gear ratio (on star drags) can have a much greater effect.

A smooth drag is important for a bunch of reasons.  One example:  break-offs during a strike.  This happens more with fast swimming species like tuna, especially when there is slack in the line, or you are flipping the lever after the bite.   Another example:  a sticky drag causes a jerk, jerk, jerk, that will widen the hook hole(tuna too!) and stress knots.   Another example: you have to set the drag at a lower setting to accommodate  the higher static friction. And finally,  sticky drags put more stress on all of the components, leading to more wear and shorter lifespan.    Agree with you that maintenance and drag lube are the keys to a smooth drag, and won't affect your purchase decision much, as long as the reel is not too much of a pain to maintain properly.

As to specific recommendations for your situation-  I would go with the TLD20II that Alan is using because my preference runs more toward utility and ease of maintenance. Only downsides are that it is a bit on the heavy side and not as impressive looking as some of the more recent designs.


Good luck!

-J

Keta

#20
Quote from: Gman_WC on January 14, 2019, 02:21:36 AMI just don't see a #20 albacore coming to the boat with dime sized drags in under 30mins.

Someone said a ABU 560X was not a albacore reel and I told him he was wrong and proved it to him the next trip, but it's not a stock 5601.  I would not recommend these reels though as there are a lot of reels better suited for albacore.  My preference for albacore trolling is Penn 25N SIZE reels but mine just happen to be Avet JX's.  

You can go smaller for live and dead bait, iron and plastic.
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

MarkT

"I just don't see a #20 albacore coming to the boat with dime sized drags in under 30mins."

I saw a guy catch a 25# albie using a Curado 250 loaded with straight 20# mono.  He didn't have much line and it didn't take 30 minutes... maybe 15 minutes.  It was longer than it took people fishing 20-30# line on bigger reels.  My go to rig for albies with live bait was a Penn 535 GS on a Seeker G970 with 25#.  I had another 535 with 20# on a 270.

Down here in SoCal the go to albie troller on the party boats was a 114h with 80#, maybe 60# if you were going light.  PB'ers could go as light as they wanted.  These days my local trollers are tricked out TLD20 and 30 2-speeds. No albies down here but I've caught BFT on them.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Gman_WC

#22
Quote from: jurelometer on January 14, 2019, 10:01:03 AM
With all due respect, you may want to take another look at my response.
I'll try to rephrase:   most decent saltwater reels with the capacity that you need will be up to the job of landing albacore, so IMHO,  the "best" reel for your situation will be dictated by what you lures are pulling and how fast, and whether you had to match up with what others were trolling with from the same boat.   And I do think that west coast guys err a bit on the overkill side for albacore, so if you want to fish something that is viewed on the lighter side, you will probably get away with it, as long as it is up to the task of pulling your lures.   Based on your functional requirements, a lever drag is not even a necessity if you are willing to forgo the two-speed.  
---
As Swami noted, back before the days of small lever drags,  it was pretty much jigmasters and squidders for live bait and jigs for albacore out of NorCal.   Squidders were a bit better for tossing  live bait when the anchovies got small.   Not too hard to stop an albacore with an honest  5 to 6 lbs of drag.  The size of the drag washer is not the only thing that matters;  spool diameter and gear ratio (on star drags) can have a much greater effect.
A smooth drag is important for a bunch of reasons.  One example:  break-offs during a strike.  This happens more with fast swimming species like tuna, especially when there is slack in the line, or you are flipping the lever after the bite.   Another example:  a sticky drag causes a jerk, jerk, jerk, that will widen the hook hole(tuna too!) and stress knots.   Another example: you have to set the drag at a lower setting to accommodate  the higher static friction. And finally,  sticky drags put more stress on all of the components, leading to more wear and shorter lifespan.    Agree with you that maintenance and drag lube are the keys to a smooth drag, and won't affect your purchase decision much, as long as the reel is not too much of a pain to maintain properly.
As to specific recommendations for your situation-  I would go with the TLD20II that Alan is using because my preference runs more toward utility and ease of maintenance. Only downsides are that it is a bit on the heavy side and not as impressive looking as some of the more recent designs.
Good luck!
-J

Thanks J for the feedback. I've got tunnel vision on a new LD trolling reel that I don't really need, but want. With all the spec's and recommendations running in my head, I did discount you're input on a few important facts you brought up and I apologize.  I've been so fixated on that one trolling #30/#40 reel and not so much on the slide after first contact. That gear's already covered many times over.
I do own a few TLD30II's, but that just going to be overkill for this boat ride. Looking to downsize on frame and weight size, but still have a reel I don't need to max out and that could maybe double duty in BCS if I go back.
-g
Walnut Creek, CA

Jigtosser

Alan is selling for a friend...
Accurate Boss 870 single speed, 4.6 gears...
For $175.00, This reel will stop any Albacore you will ever find.
It will also toss a jig out pretty good for a lever drag...
I believe this will cover your needs...
Dan

boon

Just spooled a Calcutta 400B with 300m of 6kg mono as a dedicated Albie setup.... some people prefer the light options I guess :)