Would you use a beefed up senator 6/0 for BFT in the 100# range?

Started by SevenYearsDown, May 13, 2019, 04:54:49 PM

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MarkT

I'm on a 2 1/2 day next weekend and we'll spend at least the first day looking for BFT. I'm taking 20, 30, 40, 60# rigs plus a jig stick and an extra reel with 50#. My best BFT was 85# on 30#. It doesn't sound like you need the heavy artillery. The fish hitting flat falls have been 50-60#ers. Most are coming on bait with small hooks.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

milne

Hi guys,  Some good experienced comments here.
             FWIW from my experience and to answer to the initial question, I can only relay my personal experience with the 6/0.
      I have landed a 75lb BFT on a stock standard 6/0,,,,, and have landed a 70lb kingfish on a stock standard 4/0,
     The 4/0 was worse for wear after the 70lb kingfish, in fact i thought I was going to honestly break the reel, such was the pressure being put
   on the old girl, it was near new and was in the early 80's, I was on my own boat at the time, so I was well prepared to take my time and couldn't
   of cared less about my fishing mates having to wind up there gear and wait till my time was done. The BFT on the 6/0, was trolling a skirt and in all
    honesty, the reel handled it brilliantly, I admit previous BFT on my 50 internationals were done a lot quicker and with less effort and I suppose a lot less
risk of loosing the fish, I wouldn't have done this on a charter I admit.
   Because of these experiences and my luv of Penns, I'm currently pimping out 2- 113h's and a 113h wide, and a 114h, purely to target Kingfish and
   BFT of this size. I figure that yes, I would be far better off if they take the 2 internationals I also use in my spread, but pimped up and far stronger than
original stock reels, I know they will do the job and secretly hoping they take one of the senators !!!!!
   My choice is not for everyone, So my answer to them is go buy a 2 speed modern reel that will probably do it a lot easier in all aspects,,,,
     But, where's the challenge in that   ;D
   So, yet to land one on a pimped up 6/0,  But yes, they will handle it if you fish to the reel.......

Col

SevenYearsDown

I was thinking, what reel, used under $350 should I look for. Would a penn international 12t that has been blue printed and 2spd work? Is that equal to or better than the fathom?

Ron Jones

While some people might want more capacity, I think you will be very well equipped with that 2 speed international.
Ron Jones
Ronald Jones
To those who have gone to sea and returned and to those who have gone to sea and will never return
"

thorhammer

for that price range you might find a 30SW- one of my all time favorites, and will hold a ton of 100lb braid plus topshot, so capacity is no issue. Just be sure about drag numbers of any 12 you look at- I'm not sure what they put out if blueprinted.

Hunter5

Quote from: MarkT on May 19, 2019, 07:47:27 PM
I'm on a 2 1/2 day next weekend and we'll spend at least the first day looking for BFT. I'm taking 20, 30, 40, 60# rigs plus a jig stick and an extra reel with 50#. My best BFT was 85# on 30#. It doesn't sound like you need the heavy artillery. The fish hitting flat falls have been 50-60#ers. Most are coming on bait with small hooks.

I'm curious about how much line you need to not get spooled when fishing 85# BFT on 30 lb line?  Mark, how much line would you guess that fish took?

Thanks, Greg

alantani

this is a bluefin that taped out at 93 pounds, landed in 15 minutes on 30 pound seaguar blue label fluoro with 15 pounds of drag.  the reel was a penn torque 15 2-speed lever drag with 50 pound braid (not sure how much).  the rod was a phenix black diamond hybrid 833MH. 

send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

ez2cdave

Quote from: Gfish on May 13, 2019, 07:05:59 PM
I'd think so, but I'd want the HLW model for more line capacity.

Funny you should mention that . . .

I have a 114 HLW and a 114 H ( chrome over brass spool ) and I was curious one day.

The 114 H was empty and I was going to change the line on the HLW, so I used the 114H to strip the line off the HLW.

To my surprise, the 114 H held ALL of the line off the HLW, perfectly.

This leads me to believe that Penn created the HLW, once they discovered that the Aluminum Spool reduced line capacity, significantly. I was astonished !

This is true for the 114 HLW and, I suspect that it may also be true for the 113 HLW ( 4/0 ).

Tight Lines !

Dave F.

MarkT

Quote from: Hunter5 on August 23, 2019, 01:49:52 AM
Quote from: MarkT on May 19, 2019, 07:47:27 PM
I'm on a 2 1/2 day next weekend and we'll spend at least the first day looking for BFT. I'm taking 20, 30, 40, 60# rigs plus a jig stick and an extra reel with 50#. My best BFT was 85# on 30#. It doesn't sound like you need the heavy artillery. The fish hitting flat falls have been 50-60#ers. Most are coming on bait with small hooks.

I'm curious about how much line you need to not get spooled when fishing 85# BFT on 30 lb line?  Mark, how much line would you guess that fish took?

Thanks, Greg

I was using an Accurate dx2-400 with 270 yds of 65# spectra and a 30# topshot.  I took a dull knife to a gunfight and won anyway! I went around the boat 7 times, 5 times under than anchor line.  The fish stayed near the surface until the very end.

On the 2 1/2 day this year I got a 30# BFT on 20# using a Fathom 12.  I got a 60# BFT on a 2 day in June on with a Colt Sniper using 50# on a Saltiga 40ld2.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

sabaman1

JIM

MarkT

I like it.  It was my 50# reel a couple of weeks ago on the Cedros trip.  I also caught a 60# BFT 5 years ago on it fishing a sardine on 40#.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

sabaman1

JIM

Gfish

Reconsidering it, what would your personal cost/benefit ratio be, for landing a hooked Bluefin? Thinkin about the time, effort, cost and thrill of success, etc. A pound of Bluefin ranges from 20 - 40$. I've never yet had the opportunity to get one. I think I'd wanna use the best reel I could afford for onea these prized critters.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

SoCalAngler

Still there is very large BFT on the backside of San Clemente. Well large for us anyway, over 300 lbrs have been caught and several long range boats out of SD have been there for about 2 weeks now. Not the same boats but it seems the LR fleet is looking hard at the island.

The larger models are on the yummy fliers, rigged flying fish and a couple on the double trouble rigs.

These are flown on a kite for the most part, sometimes a few balloons can be used when the weather is right but that's not the case right now. Meaning large reels, most often 50 wide reels, spectra backed and two speed. I don't think a boat would even let you fish anything less than that when looking at these fish.

You could fish a reel like that while soaking bait but the odds are way against you. On the kite it just won't happen even if you really want to use a your 6/0. The captain and crew would never put that reel on a kite setup.

100 lbers...well maybe, but right now those are being caught on 30 lb test when a person is lucky enough to get it in gaff range.