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Jiggin' Leper Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: 61° 30′ 0″ N, 23° 46′ 0″ E
Posts: 8,142
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Some outfits
Little peek into my personal arsenal, since "what kind of rod/reel should I get for xxx fishing" threads pop up often.
Sabre IGSC 1087 rod, Daiwa SS 2600 reel, 14# Fireline:
This is a sweet light to medium beach plugging set-up, and covers most lures to 2 oz. Altho these Sabre blanks are as dead as the dodo, the Batson SW 1087 is a near-exact duplicate. Total cost of this outfit, less the line, should be in the $250 range, and the Batsons are very durable. Other good reels for this set-up are a Penn 5500SSg, a 460 Slammer, or any decent Shimano (Stradic, Spheros, etc) in the 6000 size.
Batson SU 1088 rod, Penn Slammer 560 reel, 40# Power Pro:
This outfit picks up where the 1087 leaves off, altho you can cast smaller plugs. Top end of this rod is about 4 oz, and it has tons of power to handle any fish. Perfect for big plugs, good for eels, and also handles light jigging applications. Other good reels for this rod would be the 8000 size Shimano or even the old reliable Penn 704Z. The rod should run in the $150 to $200 range. Penn Slammers and comparable Shimano reels go for $135 to $150, and the 704 right around a buck. The Breakaway LDFS 90 M factory rod is almost identical, and one of the best off the rack 9 footers going. I've seen the Breakaway sell for about $160 as a "show special".
With these two outfits, you have almost every beach plugging situation covered for around 600 clams. The SU 1088 is also a pretty decent light to medum rod for the rocks.
Sabre IGSC 1088 rod, Shimano Calcutta 400 reel, 50# Power Pro:
Again, while the Sabre blanks are no more, at least in this taper design, the Batson SW 1088 blank is damn near identical. This is my "go-to" eel rod, altho I might switch the reel spool to the one loaded with 20# Big Game mono for snake slinging. It's also a nice jigging rod for light to medium duty. Handles 3 oz without breaking a sweat. I've never had a problem with the Calcutta. You should be able to get a conventional on the SW 1088 blank in the $180 range, and if a Calcutta 400 is too rich for your blood, the Abu 6500 series of reels would put the cost of the outfit under $300.
Lamiglas 1204 rod, VS 200 reel, 20# Fireline:
This is my favorite rod for plugging, especial along Long Island's South Shore where a 9' rod just doesn't cut it very often, with prevailing southerly winds and a 3-4 foot surf coming in. You can still find this blank for under $200 if you shop around. Handles everything from 6" plastic swimmers, to plugs in the 3 oz range. Now I know VS reels aren't in everyone's budget, and they were considerably cheaper when I bougth mine, but the Penn 704Z or the SS 6500 also match up pretty well with this stick, and run just under to just over 100 bucks. 20# Fireline works well on both of the Penns, too. It's also a good set-up for the back beaches if you need a little extra distance than you can get out of a 9' stick, and one pissah of an eel rod.
All Star GSW 1208 rod, Newell P-220F or Penn 525 Mag reel, 50# Power Pro:
This is a very sweet, and light, all-around conventional set-up. Don't be fooled by the light weight, this rod has tons of balls. Good for big plugs and jigs to 4 oz, and can be pushed to 5 in a pinch. Also good for light chunking duty. The Batson SU 1208 blank is virtually identical. With either the Newell or the 525 Mag, you will cast those 6" Strom shads very far with minimal effort. The All Star and Batson versions of these blanks are priced very reasonably, in the $125 range, amking them a great value. I've used this rod for Canal jigging, and also have tossed pencil poppers at breaking fish. Casts far with minimal effort. If you want to step up in price range, the Lami Ron Arra XRA 1205 would work for the same purposes.
Lamiglas SB 121 3M rod, Abu 7000 reel, 65# Power Pro:
This is another general purpose conventional set-up. Used to be my main Canal jigging rod, and also used for live-lining/chunking with a Newell P-235F and 40# mono. Comfortable casting range starts around 2 oz. This is a slow-loading fiberglass rod that's perfect for slinging big eels, as the slow load keeps you from tearing eels loose if you have to drive your cast. It's also good for fishing bait, and can handle a 6 oz sinker and a chunk easily. Fantastic for the biggest plugs, and you can whip a fish on this rod faster than the guys around you would ever believe. It also make a great spinning rod, used with reels like a Penn 704 or 706, a Nautil 7500, or any other spinning reel that can hold 250 yards of 20# mono or 300 yards of 50# braid. Being fiberglass, it stands up well to rocks and you can lean into fish to get them away from the junk. If I could only have one rod to fish with, this would be it.
Now, some dedicated Canal outfits.
Lamiglas XRA 1322 rod, Newell P-229F reel, 25# Big Game mono:
There is no more popular Canal plugging rod going, and for good reason. This rod is light, powerful, and casts like a dream. Pricey at around $300-$350 for the finished rod, but worth every cent. Early breakage problems due to a bad production run have been settled, and most breakage nowadays is due to "pilot error", ie, trying to cast weights outside the rater range, "hi-sticking" when fighting fish, and trying to lift fish out of the water. With the Newell, reaching out to fish breaking in the middle is not just the province of Ron Arra and some other power casters. If you use the power curve of the rod, and allow the butt section to fight the fish by holding the rod at the 10 o'clock position, you can tire any fish and bring it to the bank. Don't try to fight a fish by leaning back and "hi-sticking"---you're not using the most efficient part of the blank in the fight, you risk snapping the tip, and you're tiring yourself more than the fish.
Lamiglas XRA 126 1MH rod, Abu 7500C3 reel, 65# Power Pro:
While the All Star/Batson SU 1209 has many fans, this is still my #1 choice for Canal jigging. It can toss the biggest jigs you can buy, up to 6 oz. Unlike many of the Arra blanks that have a faster taper, this one bends almost to the butt when you have a fish on, and lifts a jig off the bottom effortlessly. I haven't hooked up with one yet that I couldn't turn, altho they probably are out there. It can also serve double duty for casting the biggest Hawg Hunter or Guppy pencils. I doubt you could ever break this rod except with the most ham-handed misuse. I've seen Don Willis hook and bring to the bank a small boat that broke loose from its mooring and was drifting downcurrent.
I have some other favorite outfits, but they're rods and blanks that have been discontinued (like my JK Fisher 8420 and some S-glass Lami models). I've tried to limit this to rods and blanks that are either still widely available, or ones that have nearly-identical available counterparts.
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