Tuna Rods...

[RIROCKHOUND]

Ok, here's the deal..
This past year the old man upgraded his boat and put in considerably more time offshore than in years past, so for Xmas/Birthday (10days apart) My Bro and I are looking into some new sticks for his arsenal, which is my job since baby Bro is a golfer, not a fisherman..

I've used a bunch of different sticks over the years chasing tuna and sharks; Sabre's, Seekers, Penn Slammers... But wondering which rods you guys that put in a lot of time offshore thought gave the best bang for the buck.. looking to go something that will handle a 50TW with 80lb mono, so rated 50-100 or so, and 6ft or 5'6 cause we troll and chunk, dont like them long chair rods....

Thanks!
Bryan

[MakoMike]

Penn tuna sticks 2260 ARA, if you can find them. I understand they have been discontinued but lots of places still have them. If not 2260 them 2255ARA which are 5.5 feet. I have six of them and we beat on them mercilessly, never had one fail. Been fishing them for about 8 years now. Buggest fish so far was a estimated 450 blue marlin, literally hundreds of tunas from 20-200+ pounds. If I has any sense I'd pick up a couple of more for myself while they're still available.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Thx Mike... that was one that was on the list.... but didnt know anyone who fished em... tight lines
B

[fishweewee]

I hoarded a bunch of G. Loomis "hybrid" offshore standup sticks (30, 50, 80 class) right after Shimano announced it was going to buy the company. I'm glad I did because these factory high-end sticks, which I love to death, have been discontinued.

Calstar is making some interesting offshore standup blanks - you might want to look into getting a custom stick done if you have the inclination.

MakoMike spends a LOT of time offshore - he knows his pelagics and his gear so definitely look at the Penns.

[Team Rock On]

If you shark fish a lot I would look into rods with wind on guides. You can purchase 25' cable wind on leaders and reel them right through the guides up to the bite leader. This works out great if fishing with only 1 or 2 others. You basically have no need for a leader man. You can also "thumb" the cable against the foregrip to put as much pressure on the fish as you can take at boatside. Penn doesn't have a suitable rod for this application in a stand up version. I have 5'1" bent butt rods but I think a little extra length would be better, especially with outboards. Try to get all the same rods as it can be a pita to adjust the harness every time you hook a fish.

[pete santini]

i've used seeker east coast bts6460xxh-6ar/ub for the past 4 years and i've taken everything from blue marlin to makos with them in fact i own 4 of them and have 50w on them great action plenty of muscle tse rods were designed by fishing legend al ristori santini

[Goose]

RIR, CMS has nice section of custom off-shore sticks. They pump them suckers out the door.