What kind of setups have you guys taken 35#+ fish from the surf with? Please specify rod, reel, line and leader. Also mention if you felt under or over-gunned with the gear. Did the fish hang you up at all, and how confident did you feel about getting that fishes head up?

How much thought does everyone put into selecting a setup for large? Are people content with the gear available?

Here's what I've found most success with (Please try to keep this to 2 or 3 setups that have been the best to you for landing large) :

1321-1 Arra, VS250, 20# fireline, 50 pound leader - Always have felt undergunned with this setup, have been taken into the rocks many times, but have always gotten lucky in getting fish in. Can't beat the feel and distance this rod gets. I am worried about losing a true giant with this setup and have semi-retired it. I have replaced it with a 1205 arra and am still skeptical about loving this blank.

1321-M, VS300, 50# stealth, 60 pound leader - Always in control with this setup, hard to break a fish off. Feels a little muddy, but still sensitive enough to not miss hits. If I ever hooked an 80 pounder this would be the setup I would like to try to land it with.

1209, Saltiga 6500, 50# stealth, 60 pound leader - The saltigas super fast retrieve gives the fish no chance to rest. 1209 has muscle. No problems other than the fear of pulling hooks on fish. Perfect for the canal.

Overall, I don't like the faster action blanks with braid. Tight drags and horsing fish seem to pull lots of hooks for me. I think 11' blanks are far superior to 10' blanks for landing fish in bony areas. Lighter setups make me very nervous when there is any kind of current or swell goin on.

Have used more expensive rods, and I still cant find a rod that matches the feel and action of the Tica dolphin surf rod.

-9' or the 10'6" MH fast action.
VS-200 50# power pro
50# Ande mono LINE for leader... not leader material, just straight 50# mono for a leader...

Took my 3 biggest fish on my 9' rod in heavy heavy surf... totally in control... biggest was 43.10 pounds
I do however remember the night I had my a.ss handed to be by a bass that was not stopping...

I was looking at a VS 300 at bass pro, and honestly, the places I fish I would never use that thing... friggin huge...

Landed a 38# with:
10' Tsunami Airwave
VS200 50# Power Pro
Ande 50# Leader

I didn't have any fear of equipment failure
but user error entered my mind a bit.:uhuh:

I haven't owned any custom or "high end" rods
so I'm not sure what advantages one would provide.
I would like to hear more comments about this.

Lami 120 1M with the ZB 27, 50 or 65# PP, 50# Ande leader with some in the canal in honkin current. Not afraid fish would come unglued but they certainly get an equal vote in that place.

1205 with a tweaked 6500 Mag Elite or Penn 965, 50 PP, 50 Ande leader good from surf. 6500ME does feel a little, err, light at times.

It all depends where you fish Rizzo. I believe I could land a super cow on a trout rod On a sandy beach if it is flat calm.
Surfcasting is a lot like golf and our rods are our clubs. You can't play all 19 holes with a putter and you can do it all with a driver :)

I have a breachway rod, a boulder field rod, an estuary rod, a schoolie rod... Etc.

My go to rod when I was more Serious about cow hunting was a sb 1213m with an abu 7000 spooled with 50 lb master braid and 60 lb flouro.. That set up is unstoppable.
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Seems to me this issue usually takes care of itself. What you are trying to cast determines what rod you should use.

Any blank that can throw 3 oz has the balls to handle large fish, any reel that balances on said blank likewise can do the job (the added demands of the canal's current are perhaps an exception).

Any blank that can throw 2 oz can also do it, but with a higher failure rate and more operator anxiety during the task....perhaps worth it for the enjoyment of fishing lighter stuff.

I think the more important issues are how you rig and how you handle things during the fight when stuff goes wrong. Big fish are uncommon for most of us, we invest a lot of effort looking for them, when we finally hook one it feels like there is a lot at stake and we often make bad decisions trying to land them. Using the strongest tackle possible and trying to overpower the fish feels right when you are anxious.......but is not necessarily the only (or best ) way to do it.

I agree with both Nebe and Numby. The only constant I try to have is a leader of 50# or greater. I have one spot that produces good size fish on 1 oz. bombers which are worthless IMO with a heavey leader. I have lost a few fish because of frayed 30# leaders there and there is pretty much no structure there to worry about.

Rizzo,
There is a fine line between you having the bass and the bass having its way with you.


GSB1321M, VS300, 20 pound mono, 50-80 pound leader.

This outfit above is the one I use when fishing big water with rocky structure - like you said it has the make up to control fish. Casting it all night does take its toll on my stamina but I'm not targeting school fish with it. Also a pain to use this long stick when it's windy.

When looking for more comfortable fishing with fish mostly up to 35 lbs I'll use a VS250, 20 lb mono, 50 lb leader, GSB 1201L with a few inches cut off the tip making it a medium blank. Can throw almost anything from 1/2 ounce fins to 3 ounce needles, eels both live and rigged. But this outfit doesn't have the power to control larger bass like the 1321m - even so it is adequate for the task at hand in most conditions.

Now sand beach fishing is a completely different ball game.

DZ

My heavy Canal outfit is a 1209 and a Saltiga 6000-Z.

However, I used my XRA 1205 and 525 Mag a lot this fall and put some fish over 30# on the rocks with it, and never felt the least bit undergunned--never said to myself, "oh %$%$%$%$, I wish I had my 1209 for this fish".

Got a modified(with a chainsaw, perhaps?) Arra XRA1205(??) from backbeach and put a Calcutta 400BSV 50# Power Pro 50# Fluoro

Had no problem getting the 35 in my avatar out of the ditch with it. I really like the BSV. Smooth casting, nice drag and power handle. The rod is a total meat stick. I'll have to ask him what he was actually thinking when he cut it to its current specifications. :^)

I made another xra 1205 conventional this fall but haven't caught anything really big with it yet. It throws a mile with the BSV on it. Can't wait to work it out next May.

I unfortunately foul hooked a 35 with a bucktail. I was using a vsb 250 on a Lami SS rated 2-6 with 50lb pp with 40lb seaguar and a breakaway clip. The fish was hooked in a good rip about 50 yards out. It took an easy45 minutes to get this fish in. It was a great test for all of my gear. I was real impressed the way the set up reacted to what was going on. The fish was hooked broad side and felt like a tug boat. I wasn't happy about keeping this fish as I did try for 10 minutes to revive her. But I was impressed with the overall set up and gained quite a bit of confidence in it.

My big gun for the canal and Bways is a 1208 with an abu 7000, never have i felt i couldn't turn large with it.

I really like a 1201L with 4 off the top matched with a stradic 6K or 706z but i couldnt turn a fish on BI this year with it. After that i only used it once for the annual dink chase.

The surprise rod of the bunch for me that whooped large was a 1088 with a 6500 chrome rocket. The rod was so light i didnt think it would handle anything over about 20, i nailed a 35 on it. The rod was great the reel was screaming for mercy though.

I got a late season acquisition this year. Dont know the blank # its the ssu 11' 1 piece. Nice stick that landed a ton of fish 15-20 pounds, but haven't gone large with it. I hooked into a 40+ for about 10 seconds with it, but proceeded to fall off the rock and lost the fish. She hit about 2 feet from the bank of the canal at sunset, i wasnt on a familiar rock. It was really graceful.

For most of the shoreline I like my Loomis 1266 and pair it with a Calcutta 400. That's plenty for most any fish. I do swap the reel out sometimes for a Mag Elite if eeling in a in your face wind where the mag control helps and sometimes for a BG6500CL if I am tossing mostly big jigs or poppers. On all these reels I use 35 lb Spectron but may chnage that in the future now that many new braids are available.

At the canal I like the XRA 1205 with the BG 7000CL and 50 LB Spectron. . I have the much more powerful Century Tip Tornado but that rod is not so hot for landing fish unless they are fairly big. You can hardly tell a 26 inch fish is on there with that rod.

There are so many good rods and reels around now you may get a zillion different answeres to this question.

For the most part I use a 6500ss penn reel on a SUR 1064 loomis 8' 10' one piece. It got the job done this year with the biggest being 41# in moderate surf.

Go to is a Vs200G 40#pp 50#fcl matched up with a surfking. 2. Vs250S 40#fl 50#fcl matched up with 10"arra 3. Havint landed a 30+ but Vs150B 30#pp 50#fc paired with 9ft fast action tica and a danny gibbs metal lip
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"The surprise rod of the bunch for me that whooped large was a 1088 with a 6500 chrome rocket. The rod was so light i didnt think it would handle anything over about 20, i nailed a 35 on it. The rod was great the reel was screaming for mercy though."

RR - I have the same rod but with a tricked out 6500 sport mag on it and I have 30 pound sufix braid with a 30 lb. ande back country leader. I too was pleasantly surprised at the way that rod performs under stress. I pulled a big blue out of the ditch with the setup and had no problem turning and landing the beast.

The only set up I ever grabbed for when fishing the surf an one rocky area was a older batson 1088 with a cal.400/abu 6500..17lb mono an 20lb leader....when the wind got to blowing hard at 30+ i'd switch over to the other 1088 w/penn 550 w 17LB..only ever lost 2 large,one to a 21/2" galv. pipe sticking up that I knew was there and one cause it dug into the eelgrass and wrapped itself up in it....tried braid once..came home, took it off ,put it in the trash...//the ditch is a different story altogether.

lightest - allstar 1088, vs200, 30 lb suffix, 28 lb leader, a-salt bomber
heaviest - lami sb 121 3m, vs250, 50 lb suffix, 60 lb leader, 7/0 gami lb hook, eel

favorite - lami gsb 121 1m (full length or w/ 9" cut from the butt), vs200, 50 lb suffix, 50 lb leader

i fish the rod, line and leader combo that will present what i think will produce at a given spot the best. if i'm fishing bombers, its a "light" setup. If i'm fishing riggies, its a heavier setup. sluggos, a whippy setup. Etc. If i'm into big fish and just want to get them in as quick as possible to increase the odds of getting the biggest one (rare occurance obviously), then the lami sb 121 3m comes out.

with the canal and a few other places as exceptions, i feel confident in being able to land a big fish with any of the setups i use.

only issue i've had was a day catching schoolies that had a school of herring pinned to the beach in Maine on a light 8' allstar with a penn 710 and small ryan smith swimmer. hooked a fish that was in the 35-40 lb class in about 2' of water right in front of me. i never stood a chance with that one. obviously i've lost othe good fish, but that was the only time i ever really felt overmatched.

My big fish spin outfit is a 120 1M with a SatigaZ4500(or VS 200 when in wetsuit, which aint pretty and is pretty rare) 40# PowerPro, 50# Berkley Big Game mono leader.
Big shad throwing rig 1209 with Calcutta 700, 65# PowerPro, 50# BBG mono leader
Eel rig, 1205 with 7000CL, 65#PP, 50# BBG mono leader
Canal plug rod, Lami SuperSurf 2-6oz, SaltigaZ4500, 30# PowerPro, 50# BBG mono leader.
Of all my large fish, I have only had a few take enough line to get my knees knocking and thinking I could be in trouble with these set-ups. I fish a loose drag, and I've found that the harder you try and horse them in the beginning of fight, the more they head for trouble spots.

:musc:Handline.
Capt courageous style.

1088 Allstar, Penn 5600 Slammer, 50# Sufix braid. - rocks

1088 Pac Bay, Penn 5600 Slammer, 50# Sufix. - sand

SU1208 Rainshadow, 5500 Emblem pro, 50# Sufix. - canal

i never feel undergunned with my allstar 1208 paired with a zb 25 or vs 200 and 40#braid. can fish 1.5oz stubby needles to 4.25oz needles and can turn 30's around in the canal...