Gulf Coast - Rod Recommendations - Light-Medium Rig Fishing

Looking for some rod recs from the experienced mangrove guys here. I'm putting together a new setup to target mangroves with and pitch baits to whatever else moves by. Reel will likely be a Saragosa 5000 spooled with 50 lb braid. I want something light enough to fish all day and stiff for pulling fish out of the rigs. Budget between $150-$200. Any input?

We fish Mangroves with Spheros 8000s with 80 lb braid on med-heavy Trevallas. Caught well over 500 groves with a lot of fish in the 10-13 lb range last summer on those setups and never had any issues. A lot of fun to fish them that way, too...

Trevalla should do the trick. I'd get the extra heavy action---you can't give those bastards an inch

whatever reel you use make sure you can fit both thumbs down on the spool...i use tekotas on 5'6" med-heavy 20# standup rods with 80# braid

we use the 5'8" xh and xxh trevalas with torium 20s and 30s.

I am building some 6'6" 15-50lb rods with tyrnos 16s. Blank has plenty of backbone and the reels have 33#'s at full with a quick retrieve. Should be a good combo for freelining

We fish Mangroves with Spheros 8000s with 80 lb braid on med-heavy Trevallas. Caught well over 500 groves with a lot of fish in the 10-13 lb range last summer on those setups and never had any issues. A lot of fun to fish them that way, too...

We use similar setups to these and as makomyday said you can't give those bastards an inch

Thanks for the input. I currently fish them with a cabo 80 on a heavy dragonfly rod and 80 lb braid, just looking for something lighter thats more comfortable to fish all day.

Woody,
Check with Pinnacle Marine in the commercial ads. He has some really nice rods at a great price. My son's troller just came in today. Very nice. Great price.
Mike

http://www.connleyfishing.com/ alot of guys here know him. He has built every rod I currently own

We fish Mangroves with Spheros 8000s with 80 lb braid on med-heavy Trevallas. Caught well over 500 groves with a lot of fish in the 10-13 lb range last summer on those setups and never had any issues. A lot of fun to fish them that way, too...

I also use 8000s but would recommend the extra extra heavy rod. Got get their head turned fast.

I am building some 6'6" 15-50lb rods with tyrnos 16s. Blank has plenty of backbone and the reels have 33#'s at full with a quick retrieve. Should be a good combo for freelining

Question...do you think you are going to be able to cast light chunks and little live baits with the Tyrnos? I love those reels too...just not sure if they would cast very good with the light weight.

Also, what size leader are you guys using and how long of a leader? We are currently using probably and 8 ft 30 lb fluro leader, but damn we break off a lot. Would love to move up to 50 but it seems like everytime we do that they start getting shady.

We are currently using the biggest saragosas, and calcutta 7 hundos with 65 lb braid and trevala medium heavy rods. They both work great, but I prefer using the spinners because you can cast the lighter baits easier. Good luck

I don't cast the chunks more than 10 or 15 yds which can be done by stripping the line off the reel and then pitching the bait.

I use 30# leader as well and keep it fresh, you do break off some but you get more bites so it evens out.

I was using calcutta 700's and got tired of having to rebuild them every year so I have switched to these lever drags. They didn't cast an ounce or less very well either, used 400's most of the time. The anti-reverse and the drags on these reels were giving out on me constantly.

I like the idea of being able to pitch the chunks further with the egg beaters but we normally have the fish right along side the boat in the slick so casting isn't really necessary 80% of the time. most times the fish won't eat until the bait is atleast 2-4' down so by the time the bait drifts back to them it is deep enough to get hit.

Question...do you think you are going to be able to cast light chunks and little live baits with the Tyrnos? I love those reels too...just not sure if they would cast very good with the light weight.


This is one of my reasons for wanting to go lighter too. When I'm casting with my short, heavy jigging rods I feel like it's a crapshoot as far as where my bait will end up. Just looking for something a little more managable. That's why I was thinking maybe a longer rod.

Do yall think I mid-sized saragosa with an upgraded carbontex drag will get the job done reel wise?

we use 50, 60, and sometimes 80lb but we fish right off the delta and the water is usually very dirty.
as far as casting we don't, we just chum the fish up to the boat.

Do yall think I mid-sized saragosa with an upgraded carbontex drag will get the job done reel wise?

Absutely, just make sure you have at least 65 lb power pro on them.

We used to pitch the bait, but like stated above, it was always a crap shoot as to where it would land. Chunks would fly off the hook often, but not as much with spinners cause the line flows off the real smoother I guess. We chunk them up right to the boat at first...but after catching a few, it's the craziest thing, you literally have to cast it right on the rig leg for them to touch it...so distance and accuracy in casting are important for us. They seem to all be huge and smart out our way. Live bait is the way to go!!

Biloxi, it will be fun setting them up on those tyrnos. You can basically treat it like tuna fishing. Your hook up ratio will be much better with the gradual drag increase when using those circle hooks as opposed to star drag.

We like to find water with about 3-4' of visability max and use about a 5' leader of 40 lb fluro unless you can get away with bigger. If the water is any clearer they all start having starring contest with the croakers. We like to start of chumming a good bit with cut bait to get them going and then we'll toss some live croakers at them hooked through the top lip. They swim straight down hooked like this. We also found that when you hook a fish don't run to the back of the boat trying to pull the fish with you instead horse there ass straight up to the surface. We have put several limits of these fish in the boat doing this with very few break offs to the rig.

Do yall think I mid-sized saragosa with an upgraded carbontex drag will get the job done reel wise?

man do your self a favor and get in touch with Alan Tani if you haven't already. Any reel that doesnt have greased carbon fiber drags needs to get them. I just sent him 4 calcutta 700's and 4 TN30's, all were completely cleaned and lubed got greased carbon fiber washers and I had the anti reverse beefed up in the TN30's he turned them around in 48 Hrs charges competitive rates and gives a more thorough service than any shimano service center, including the factory and I have sent reels to every shop in the northern gulf. He also will fix any problems you have with the reel after he services them for the cost of parts only. PM me for his number or PM him directly his handle on here is alantani or check his website alantani.com I haven't fished my reels yet but I can't say enough good things about my experience with him.