Must have boat fishing gear
 

My buddy just bought a new 22ft grady that will be on a moring in buzzards bay. He wants me to make him a shopping list of rods/reels tackle etc. I do a lot more surf fishing that boat fishing so I figured I'd see if you guys had any combo's that you love. Keep in mind he'll be fishing stripers, blues, black bass, fluke and if I have my way, Albies, lots an lots of albies. So while the Tiagra 130's would look pretty sweet, we want him to crawl before he can walk.

Thanks,

Mike

start w/ safety stuff - submersible handhald radio, plb [mini epirb]. for setups just tell him to keep buying stuff until he thinks he has too much and then buy a few more, shimano has a pretty sweet lineup of reels nowadays . set up a plano box w/ terminal tackle. a net and a 4' gaff. and the list goes on and on.

100% agree on safety. Also might want to get a back up handheld GPS. Get Seatow or Boat US too.

For fishing probably will want to have at least 2 conventional set ups on boat rods (Shimano TLD or Torium). As well as 2 casting/spinning set ups (Shimano Baitrunner or Thunnus).

You can get some pretty good units today which combine both features, for example I got the Horizon HX851.

The least expensive backup GPS IF you have a smartphone: Navionics software for either iPhone or Android, newest version is only $5 and enables you to upload your waypoints to the net for safe keeping. I had the older version with about 150 waypoints that I lose ability to use since I upgraded my phone, also upgrade the ap to the new version.

I'm a little crazy Buzz. I have:

Main boat GPS,
Submersible floating handheld GPS,
Main boat radio,
Submersible floating Standard Horizon HX851 handheld Radio w/GPS,
Navionics software on iPhone
PLB
Water
Candy bars
Flares
Horn (all in the ditch bag)
Immersion suits

Better piece of mind when offshore

Crazy? One of these days you will actually get to take all these toys offshore..:rotf2: As always, hope we never have to use them!

I totally agree with you guys about the safety equip. This guy is a big sailor and has been on boats his whole life. He's completely insane about the safety equip and he's got a wife and two young boys that will be on this boat often, so he won't skimp. The ditchbag is a great call though. I made my uncle get a floating handheld last year after that video popped up of the guys that went down and were able to hail that fishing boat with their handheld from the water.

Have any of you guys ever used those Cabela brand rods? Are they junk?

I have not used the Cacela brand so I can't comment on the quality. For a good cheap boat rod, you can't go wrong with a few Ugly Sticks. Cheap and durable......

Seatow

Shimano TLD 25s. Workhorse reels.

My boat is full of Ugly sticks, $40-60/rod! No complaints

i have high dollar customs, ugly sticks, cabellas & bass pro rods. I really can't say i ever notice a difference in quality. With the customs you can really dial them in for specific situational usages, but for every day stuff the non/customs do a great job.

don't forget, boots, oilskins, very good sunglasses, a huge assortment or terminal tackle in all shapes and sizes in a plano, a huge assortment of jigs in all shapes & sizes in planos, trolling lures, paper chart of buzzards bay, sunscreeen.

life is too short to fish with uglysticks :uhuh:

word

It ain't the rod, it is what's on each end of the rod!:rotf2:

a biochemist on one end and a failed knot on the other :devil2:

Ouch! But who was out fishing who one day @RP?

you got me that day buzzy for sure. for your birthday i'm gonna get you a st croix. now i will stop hijacking this thread

Two 7-7.5 foot spinning rods matched with a shimano 4-5000 size reels for plugging the islands and chasing bluefish and albies, and two stcroix muskie rods with shimano 400 size baitcasters for bottom stuff and top water trolling ought to get him going. If he plans to do rip fishing a pair of wire line trolling outfits will be needed.

For plugs, get a few pencils, a few dannys, and a few spooks, a few poppers. Some hogies for rubber, some spro jigs, some lucanus jigs (great for sea bass/scup), and some fluke rigs.

Load up on all the safety gear first. Redundant systems and the such. Gumby suits and a raft. I carry a raft, gumby suits 2 gps systems, radar, epirb, iPhone with another gps, and weather radar, submersible handheld vhf, extra flares, extra hand held horn, plenty of water and a ditch bag to name a few, plus water staining dye. The dye makes it easy to be spotted in the water. I'm sure if you asked everyone who drowned or nearly drowned they wished they carried more safety gear. After all that is bought then start on the fishing gear. Respect the ocean and its immense power.

Gumby suits and a raft for a 22 foot boat in Buzzards Bay?????

Have plenty of bait catching rigs. and stuff for smaller species,Mackerel, Scup, Seabass, Flounder, etc..
Sabikis, bait rigs of all sizes and pogie snagging hooks are dirt cheap on eBay.

I can't say it better than that! I accumulate rod/reel combos the way Imelda Marcos accumulates shoes. You can never, ever have too many. And they look cool.

Clearly he needs to sell this boat and buy a larger boat. ;)

Hahaha, I get hung up at work and this thread takes on a life of its own! Sorry about that knot PR, happens to the best of us.

Thanks for all the input, very helpful. Its a lot of fun making a list that will hit someone's else's wallet!

What do you guys get on the sabiki's down there, we'll get tons of Macs outside sciutate harbor, but havent tried jiggin up baits in the bay or sound. Scup?

Love that list numbskull, thanks again guys!

Mike

It only lost me a BigFish Prey plug (orange/yellow) with a BIGFISH! Had it boat-side, too, could have reached out and grabbed it.

As will be the case when he sees tuna crashing.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Thats where its moored. Im sure he'll venture out. Ask any guy that drowned and Im sure they would all say yes please to a gumby suit and a raft. I'd rather be safe than sorry. Im sure some of our deceased brothers who passed in the surf would wish they had some form of safety gear on . Some skimp on safety equipment; others don't I know what camp I reside in. To each their own. The way I look at it you can't put another quarter in the game of life.

I don't think anyone is being cavalier about the safety stuff. Guys on this site seem to have a genuine interest in looking out for eachother when it comes to that stuff. This guy knows how to run a boat, he's just green as hell when it comes to fishing and I've been all over him to get some gear to take advantage of the fishery right in the bay. He won't sniff 3 the three mile line south of the vineyard this season. Seatow, ditchbag, floating handheld, hell yes.

But once I get the hooks in him and he gets the bug. Well then we can talk 32 ft. CC's, fuel bladders, epirbs, and gumbys!

I like my boat set-ups to be able to multi-task. I'd rather have 4 set-ups on board that are not 100% perfect for any specific task, but fully capable of handling anything you throw at them. The only exception is my spinning outfit for tuna.

All I use for boat rods are Ugly Stick Tigers. It is really tough to beat them for the money, not to mention that it is really tough to beat them up in general. I'd probably recommend a couple of Penn Senator 113's on the heavier conventional Tigers. You can jig cod, live line mackerel/pogies and troll, all with the same set-ups. I do have a few shimano live-liners, but they took a back seat to the conventional set-ups.

Penn 5500's or 6500's make good plugging reels and if you aren't into conventional stuff for the fluke/sea bass, then you can use these as a lighter alternative. Personally, for flounder, I like an abu with braid on a light rod.