Hey guys i have finally gotten a chance between school and work and this that and the other thing to get back on here. I havent posted something in so long. Well i hope everyone is doing well and holding in there till all this snow is gone and we are all back in the saltwater that we all love. As for myself i have been spending most of my time with school and whenever i get a chance on the hard water with my dad catching trout. Hope everyone is finding a way to pass the time during this long winter. Now as for my question....I was scrammbling through all my saltwater rods, reels, tackle and what not the other day. And as i was doing so, i stopped and was remembering how fun freshwater fishing for bass was with light tackle. I soon thought to myself, how fun would it be to tackle my favorite species (stripers, obviously) on light tackle! I was looking through the cabelas catalog the other day and i picked out a rod and reel i thought would be pretty suitable for light tackle striper fishing. I picked out the Abu Garcia anti-backlash baitcast reel along with the new shakespeares striper version of the ugly stik. I have been fishing the whole 16 years of my life with ugly stiks and have found myself very comfortable with the design. Th abu garcia reel holds up to 12 pound test line. this is where my question comes in.....would 12 pound test line be good for light tackle stripers (schoolies mostly). and also, how would my rod reel combo go with the light tackle fishing i would be using it for. I have been fishing for 5 years now for stripers using mostly 20 pould test line and i thought i needed a challenge and this is why i have decided i wanted to go light tackle. Any opinions, insights, or help would be greatly appreciated. thanks alot and it feels great to be back on the website.

tight lines
Anthony

Anthony - welcome back... From those that I know tha have the AB model ABU - they all go around the anti-backlash feature. It costs some serious distance. It might help a little initially to learn conventional but it won't let you advance either...

Don't know about the rod... 12# is fine for schoolies, but conventionals can be tough throwing the little 3/8 & 1/2 ounce jig weights that schoolie stripers like...

John,
i know how to cast with a conventional reel pretty well. I freshwater fish with conventional all the time, however i have tried casting with a conventional saltwater reel and i dont know what it is but i down right stink at it! haha. i have tried and tried and i dont know what it is, could you point me in the right direction of a good light tackle spinning reel? and possibly a good light tackle rod as well. My budget is about $120-$150 for both rod and reel. since you said that 12# line is good for schoolies i would like the reel to be able to hold a suitable amount of 12#. thanks alot John

tight lines
anthony

Anthony,good to hear fromyou/
why a conventional, light spinning works great. i use 12 test & under,at times your going to find out =that you want to throw something that a conventional just won,t do//////////

:p :p :p

clamdigger what would be a sufficient rod/reel combo to oufit myself with for 12 pound test

Anthony - if I had to go semi off the shelf??

Probably the 8' Daiwa Sealine $50-60 And a mid level Shimano 4000 size reel like a Sedonna or something $60...

What I use is an 8' St Croix and a Stradic 4000 - very good combo but a little more like 250 or so