Gear Talk - Surf Caught Large

[Rob Rockcrawler]

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.

[Saltheart]

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.

[gone fishin]

"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.

[Grapenuts]

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.

[Clogston29]

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.

[t.orlando]

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.

[MAKAI]

Handline.
Capt courageous style.

[MikeToole]

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