Fishing equipment

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Forgo the rod if you are fishing for food.
80-120 lb mono and wire leader.
Crank it in.

WOW!!! YOU HAVE SUPERIOR CREATIVITY!!! I like your idea and intend to copy it next season. Thanks

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by foggysail

WOW!!! YOU HAVE SUPERIOR CREATIVITY!!! I like your idea and intend to copy it next season. Thanks

Thanks for the thanks but I have to admit that while I have thought up a couple of ideas over time (several sitting in the file because patents cost so much to get and are not good for anything but defensive litigation) this one I got from outside, tried it and it worked for me. YMMV as always.

Might have even been from someone here on CF. Just can't remember.

Happy fish fry.

[Dustymc]

The 114 is pretty hard to beat for just trolling, and can often be had at garage sales, etc., for cheap. TLDs are great reels. The Penn Squall lever drag is, in my opinion, a better reel than either of the above, and can be had new for around $150. For any trolling reel, find the schematic online, take it apart, clean everything up, pop the seals out of the bearings, and grease it (Yamaha outboard grease is great) heavily once a year. Tighten the drags down and give it a good soapy freshwater bath every time you use it, then dry it and back the drag off for storage. A full-roller rod is nice for trolling. Anything under about $300 will be more or less the same blank (fiberglass, fairly heavy), with more expensive generally having better components (reel seat, guides, etc.). If you don't get a roller rod, try not to run the lure in the same place every time to avoid line wear. If you just want smallish dorado and such for dinner, any sort of "meatline" will work fine, but you're just never going to land anything very big without a rod. Feeding $10+ lures to wahoo that you never see could get old pretty quick....

[Dulcesuenos]

The issue i have with these slower (not real powerful) reels is that if your in an area with weeds or grass that foul your lures, you will wear yourself out reeling them in and checking or clearing them over and over. Then when you land a substantial fish 25-50 or more lbs you have to just about stop your boat. To fight or reel it in. This is why i prefer faster or 2 spd and more powerful reels. The 114s were great on our dive / fish boat but got old fast after several hundred miles.of trolling on a sailboat. We would stop fishing because it was so exhausting even reeling in a 10lb fish if we didn't come to a near stop. Just my 2c .

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

The issue i have with these slower (not real powerful) reels is that if your in an area with weeds or grass that foul your lures, you will wear yourself out reeling them in and checking or clearing them over and over. Then when you land a substantial fish 25-50 or more lbs you have to just about stop your boat. To fight or reel it in. This is why i prefer faster or 2 spd and more powerful reels. The 114s were great on our dive / fish boat but got old fast after several hundred miles.of trolling on a sailboat. We would stop fishing because it was so exhausting even reeling in a 10lb fish if we didn't come to a near stop. Just my 2c .

Yes, definately not the reel for bigger game, but my thought process is that if we cant boat it with a 114 on a good heavy action rod then we are probably not equipped to handle it safetly. Usually that works out to fish in the 40 - 50 LB range max...which is lots of food for 2 people.

For larger fish, I usaully heave-to and fight them. After all thats part of the fun. If I just want to put meat on the table then I use my "meat hook" (cuban rig, heavy mono, wire leader, bungy shock cord)...and take it to a winch (this works better if you rig with large enough backing line to grip the winch).

The local fishermen I know, who are only concerned with putting meat on the table, use only heavy hand lines for trolling or bottom fishing...radically cheaper than all this fancy gringo gear and deadly effective in their experienced hands.

Edit: Just recalled that mine are 114H reels, "H" indicates "high speed", still nothing like two speed reals, but gives you somewhat faster retrieves.

[BriRich]

Originally Posted by amytom

We went with Penn Senator 114 with the standard slammer rod. About $200 full price and closer to $150 on sale.

The standard Penn 4/0 (114?) and 6/0 (116) reel are great reels easy to service and catch a lot of fish. Fill the reels with a good quality 50lb test monofilament. You should a have a roller tip for trolling to prevent mainline chafe. Cedar plugs are really cheap and make great lures for sailboats. Use 49 strand cable leader say 180lb when you are close to reefs where the toothy critters live. Use 150lb mono leader when off shore.

A poster commented negatively on the low gear ratio of the 4/0 and 6/0. I disagree. You don't want to have slow your boat much when reeling in a fish. The lower gear ratio has better power and brings them in slow and steady which is what you want at 5 - 6 knots. If you an afford a 2 speed reel all the better.

This is a good way to do some quality fishing at low expense and have a good chance to land fish. Handlines work well also but you didn't ask about that. Make a long (8ft) gaff out of calcutta bamboo.

Catch a big one.

[rebel heart]

I have a ~6' CalStar rod and a Penn VSX dual speed loaded with 50lb and nylon. I also have a cheap ass spinning rig.

Unattended handlines are by far the simplest and best bang for your buck. I doubt very much you'll ever get a big fish with one. It really depends on what fishing is for you. If you want to snag a fish every now and then for food, use handlines.

If you want to be a fishermen, get a standup rig (trolling rod, trolling reel). The range of fish you can catch and the amount you can haul goes up dramatically.

If no one's mentioned it yet, grab Amazon.com: The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing eBook: Wendy Bannerot, Scott Bannerot: Kindle Store

[robert sailor]

I use 1/8" nylon braided rope with about 10-12 feet real heavy mono leader (weed whacker size) I use 24" heavy rubber snubbers attached to the 1/8" nylon with a big loop in the line between the snubber, tied off to a rear cleat. I have caught very large fish with this rig, some large enough that I drag them to drown them fearing lifting the sucker aboard. For a lure I get good results out of a fake squid. Sailing offshore and fishing is not sport for me, just food.

[MARC D]

Thanks everyone for real good ideas

I'm heading for some shopping now. Get a feel of these toys!

Hope to have fish on the menu regularly in a near future...

Marc

[HopCar]

I try not to be too obvious when I want you guys to buy something from me but I think I've got a very good sailboat rod and reel at a good price.
It's a TLD-25 with a nice stand up rod for not much more than the reel alone.
Take a look: Hopkins Carter Shimano TLD 25 6' Stand-Up Combo

[MARC D]

Hopcar, I just sent you an e-mail about that.

Marc

[Dustymc]

2-speed reels are awesome, but OP is looking to spend less than $400 on the WHOLE SETUP. MAYBE with some VERY lucky ebaying and a tld30/2....

In the right hands, given enough time, the proper line, someone who knows how to drive the boat, and maybe carbon fiber drag washers, a 114 will kill anything(ish..) that swims.

That said, at least in my boat, it doesn't matter who's driving - it's not that maneuverable, it's not that fast, and there's no great place from which to fight a fish. Hove to probably isn't measurably worse than anything else. A big mako or marlin would be fairly dangerous from it, should by some miracle you get a fresh fish close in.

Belizesailor: It's interesting that the locals, everywhere, have mystical powers over fish and various other flora and fauna - except, apparently, when we "gringos" climb into the panga with them, when it inevitably works a lot like any other fishing trip.

The 114 is a 6/0 - the 113 (also a great reel) is the 4/0.

The "h" does indicate "high speed," but I think they stopped making the non-H reels in about 1960! "High speed" means something very different to modern reels. (Usually about double the line per turn, and the gears to make that work.)

If someone has "really cheap" cedar plugs, I want to buy some.

It's easy to understand why someone who uses 150 mono leaders doesn't know that there are plenty of toothy critters offshore...

>1/8" nylon braided rope
>very large fish

I don't think "large fish" means what you think it means....

[captain58sailin]

I've got all the set ups, and I prefer the hand line due to it's simplicity. I can handle even large fish, but then, I am set up for it with a hydraulic pinch puller. Not likely to be found on a yacht type boat. When I was aboard more yacht type oriented vessels the 114 Senator was plenty of reel for everything we caught. The "Ugly Stick" is a good rod. Really don't like the roller eyes, more trouble than worth.

[Captain Bill]

I have a number of rods and reels I have accumulated over the years. My best pure trolling rigs are a shimano TLD 25 on a 5.5 ft pole and a Penn Senator 4/0 whch I think is the 113 also on a 5.5. ft pole. The Penn pole has roller guides, but don't get them they are a maintenance headache. Get a pole with heavy fixed guides with ceramic inserts. I use 80 lb mono on both trolling reels. For leader I have used wire or 150Lb mono. I loose more fish with the mono, but also hookup more fish. I don't expalin it, I just report it. I control the size of the fish I catch by the size of the bait. I use 6 inch cone headed skirts. The biggest fish I've ever caught has been in the 30Lb class. Since I only have limited storage space I would release anything bigger anyway. I used to run at least one skipping the surface and one diving, but I hooked up on the surface skipper about 10 times for every once on the diver so I just skip them now. Since I'm primarily fishing for food I simply stop fishing after I catch a good sized fish. If you are doing the same there's not much point in buying something to land a 600 lb marlin, so the TLD 25 and the Penn Senator 113 are pretty good reels. Note that the Shimano is takes a bit less maintenance as it does not have as many metal parts exposed to salt and salt spray. When on a passage I am in water conservation mode and do not waste fresh water on a good soapy washdown of the reel followed by a rinse. I let rain do the rinsing. The Shimano is 8 years old and the the Senator is 12 years old, so either one will last a reasonable amount of time with minimal maintenance.

[captain58sailin]

The thing I like about Penns is I can rebuild them on the fly. I have not had any experience with shimanos, they look like nice reels, if I ever find a cheap one in a pawn shop or something, I will probably buy it just to see how it comes apart.