The right fishing reel for sail cruising

[Catamaranbliss]

My cruising brothers and sisters have been so freakin awesome with so much info, been thinking if there is ANYTHING I have figured out enough to share--finally thought of one that might help somebody--until somebody who is a much better fisherman posts below this (probably there the second this gets posted)something smarter, in which case go with their idea!

So on the rare times I actually hook a great fish, inevitably I've got full sails up and the breeze just picked up naturally it takes like forever to furl front and drop the main fighting my old cars & twisted halyard so I dont crazy jibe to turn the boat towards the trailing big one and not run over or tangle everything...so after attempted buying old crappy reels I can tell you while pricey, the:

PENN Senator 113W (that's "W" for WIDE, not others)

is the ultimate! In case you're old and didn't know it (ok, yes, me) they have amazing new fishing lines made of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Braid Fiber (I got KastKing SuperPower MultiTuf PE Line Braid in yellow--nice visibility to hopefully prevent and also aid in removal from where I sometimes store it, round the propeller) (but if you're old enough though you'll know this is the updated version of the one Robert Shaw used in Jaws)

and when you fill up that reel with that stuff---I'm not actually measuring here but I'm fairly certain you can fit like 357 miles of line (perhaps slightly off) or, it turns out ENOUGH NOT TO GET TO THE END OF THE LINE

and then lose a big fish when it takes you like 8 minutes to get the sails down at 8 knots while encouraging for somebody to grab, no really grab it the fishing pole, after I lifted on it once and realized this ain't no 18" fish that is going to be towed in my direction just cuz I say so! Oh and put a loose tie line between the reel and the boat, in case of, you know.
The Penn people actually gave a 10% code which made it better, but it is still pricey, but it is super cool to have enough line to land a big one after taking the sails down, so there it is, one thing I have figured out.
Working on a gaff attachment that fits the boat hook handle...

[David M]

I like having a line counter on mine. It makes some sense to know how far back it is, not so close to the boat where the boat might have spooked the fish and not so far back that you are going to need Popeye arms to reel the fish in. I usually don't put out more than about 250 to 300 feet.

[Red Sky]

Never slow the boat down, reel quickly and get them on the surface. They skim the surface and can’t fight. Get them in the boat before anything else takes a bite. It’s catching not fishing. Personally I use a Cuban yo-yo, 200’ of 200# test & 15’ of S.S. leader.
A yellow tail caught on the last trip down the West Coast of Baja.

[FlyingScot]

We have a Penn Squall 2 speed reel 890/50.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Paid $208. Watch for wild price fluctuations.

We also have a Shimano 2 speed reel TLD50II LRSA

I'm not an expert, but I do like both of the above. I like the Shimano more, but I paid 50% more for it, so that is to be expected.

I wouldn't want a single speed.

[Catamaranbliss]

great ideas--just seemed like I needed more line than fits into those, and yes indeed it took a LONG time to reel all that back--but hey they are still attached when I got the boat slowed down. The big ones have just popped something when they get to the end of the line under speed or with me pulling as hard as I can, whether that skims the fish or not. By not going 8 knots, sure seems like I can finesse the fish tired a lot better. But great viewpoints--

[Simi 60]

10 inch hand caster, rope, 100lb mono
Attached to boat with bicycle tube to take the hit
Trolled like that for 30+ years.

[beetle]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

10 inch hand caster, rope, 100lb mono
Attached to boat with bicycle tube to take the hit
Trolled like that for 30+ years.

Ah - you go with light tackle. I use 400# monofilament 100 feet behind the boat, same donut for line storage, with a 1/4" bungee cord as the shock absorber. A coke can with a couple of nuts and washers inside is attached to the shock cord. When the can goes 'rattle' there's a fish on the end - usually skipping across the surface like a frisbee.

Rot-gut vodka in a plastic bottle labeled 'Fish Juice' at the transom is available for dripping onto the gills (instant anesthesia), along with gloves for handling the line.

A few folk I've run across swear by parachute cord instead of the monofilament, they are using even heavier gear than I.

- rob

[nwdiver]

Para cord and steel leader and great gloves, just reef them in........as pointed out its catching fish not sport fishing.......

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by beetle

Ah - you go with light tackle. I use 400# monofilament 100 feet behind the boat, same donut for line storage, with a 1/4" bungee cord as the shock absorber.

I catch fish for eating.
Anything much bigger than about 40lb and I won't have enough freezer space to keep it.

[belizesailor]

Re getting sails down. No need, a quick heave-to solves that problem.

Really only needed for bigger fish or those you want to enjoy fighting.

Careful when handling those fancy new lines...they cut to the bone.

[a64pilot]

If you get a big fish on the line, you don’t have time to drop sails, heave to etc. I’ve found that cranking the engine and bumping it into reverse will slow the boat way down of course and the autopilot will still hold a course.
Although a sailboat is a terrible fishing platform, tough to back down on one etc.

[Falbala60]

There are NO best lure neither best reel.
Even the most simple, as others said, like the Cuban yoyo with a 300' x 250# mono and a small green ruber squid. For little money we catched all our fish.

Over that, with a good movement you can bring in the fish very fast 2-3ft/sec, even under sail at 8 knots, and hoist it with a hook pole on the boat.
To hold the Cuban yoyo I use a 1/2 dia bungee with a weight at the end, so when it raise .... FISH ! FISH ! FISH !



Enjoy !

[David M]

Originally Posted by Red Sky

Never slow the boat down, reel quickly and get them on the surface. They skim the surface and can’t fight. Get them in the boat before anything else takes a bite. It’s catching not fishing. Personally I use a Cuban yo-yo, 200’ of 200# test & 15’ of S.S. leader.
A yellow tail caught on the last trip down the West Coast of Baja.Attachment 195231

Yup, its food harvesting and not a sport. The fish are not supposed to have a chance in hell of winning.

[Ken Z]

penn is great. I also use a flat braid poly nylon hand line with a outrigger clip and 25’ of florocarbon leader, its hard to land a fish under sail.

[jrau18]

Originally Posted by Red Sky

Never slow the boat down, reel quickly and get them on the surface. They skim the surface and can’t fight. Get them in the boat before anything else takes a bite. It’s catching not fishing. Personally I use a Cuban yo-yo, 200’ of 200# test & 15’ of S.S. leader.
A yellow tail caught on the last trip down the West Coast of Baja.Attachment 195231

The yank 'em in method only works with smaller fish. But fish too big for that method you probably dont want anyway, unless you have a massive freezer or a lot of friends handy to take the extra fish.

I think you meant to write yellowfin. One of the best eating fish you can find. Yellowtail are pretty good too, though.


The OP's method of slowing the boat isnt the tack I take. I just set the autopilot to a close reach and ease the sheets until the sails are right at the edge of luffing, but not quite luffing. This usually slows the boat to a knot or two and is a lot more expedient than dropping sails, takes less than 30 seconds on most boats.

Another option is to heave-to, on a boat that allows it. Most boats will be moving less than a knot when hove to and be pretty still, which helps with gaff accuracy.

If you have another person on board, you could try just easing the sheets while you fight the fish, then right when you go to gaff it, have that person pinch up to luff the sails for that few seconds it takes to gaff the fish, a brief moment of luffing wont be a big deal in terms of eating up the life of the sails.