SportFishing and Charters Forum - Shimano Travela rods

Hey guys. I was looking at these rods on the Shimano website. I hear they're super light and have a powerful backbone. I'm looking for a light rod for the woman for inshore fishing. Mostly fish for fluke, flounders, porgies, stripers & bluefish. I know they make these rods for jigging the new butterfly jigs, but does anyone have any experience using these with bait? I was looking at the 10-30 or 20-50 pound rods. Thanks.

Dom :thumbsup:

I have two of the spinning rods (30/65) and am going to buy at least two more. It is hard to believe that this rod is rated for 65 lb braid. I have used jigs to 6 oz in 250 of water and small blue crabs, mullet and pinfish etc. for tarpon in the shallows. Hard to beat this rod.

The 20/50's come in 7 foot. :thumbsup:

Great rods, I jig in 100 to 150 mtrs, Amberjacks average 6 to 12 kilos, Sama, grouper average 12 to 14 kilos. Best all round rod the 66MH very light and and very strong. I have 3 and 1 each of the stronger rods Everone wants the MH.

Regards rushman

They sound great. Since they're specifically made for jigging, would there be any downside to using them with bait instead?

Dom

Pass,

I only use them for jigging, but you can get them for either jiggingor spinning reels. perhaps some one else can answer that question.

rushman

I'm basically looking for a light rod with a good backbone. I use a G-Loomis Pro-Blue for myself and love it, but I wanted a few rods for the woman and guests. Pro-Blue's are a little too expensive for that. Are there any rods similar to the Pro-Blues but less expensive (lightweight, strong & sensitive)? A cheap rod with those qualities might not exist though.

Dom

I bought the jigging rod for 60-100# braid and use it with a Thunnus 16000 with 50# braid, and I LOVE IT! Wahoo to 65# and YFT to 50# so far and it works well for casting live pilchards too.
@ $100 or so I think it's great value......


Bones

I've got a few and love 'em. Do quite a bit of jigging but will drop bait with them too and they're great. don't let the lightness of them fool you when you take 'em out of the box, they've got some serious fish moving power. They cast pretty well too, both spinning and baitcasting. I will say that I think they are getting hard to come buy, at least through melton. I got around this with my last order by trying the two piece. All weights in the one peice were back ordered until forever. the two piece is joined right above the foam grip so the action is no different. I was skeptical when the guy from melton called me to try and get me to try it but I have no problem with it, you really can't tell the difference when it's put together.

cregan, what kind of fish do you target? Also, which pound class rods are you using?

Dom

I'm in SC using them mostly on the nearshore reefs for Snapper, Grouper, AJ, sharks, cobia, king mackeral etc. For a while I was using the 10-30 lb spinners with a 3500 baitmaster spooed with 20 lb braid. great set up, casts well, can't wait to try casting to cobia, tarpon, spadefish with 'em. Very light, Very powerful. But,... one weekend I hooked up with something I could not move, probably a big grouper, ran me back to the bottom and hung their until I got impatient and broke him off. Since then I've picked up a couple of the 30-80 baitcasters paired with the avet JX6 spooled with 30 braid. You can hoist 'em to the boat pretty well with this set up and it feels great as far as weight and balance. I'm waiting for the right day to get a little further off shore and try and put this set up against a tuna or dolphin. I'm pretty confident it will hang right in there with tuna in the sub 50 lb. class. Over 50 it might get interesting. I'll post and let you know if I ever get out there to try it.

make that shimano 3500 baitrunner. Not sure what a baitmaster is. got to learn to use the preview button.

They are softer/slower than one would think from their ratings. The 30-65# model feels like a 12# rod but seems nearly unbreakable....so far.

Here are a few shots of the 6'6" MH conventional model being used in the Keys:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/hatidua/c44a88b5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/hatidua/a90ff42d.jpg

Just a question? What is the cover on your face for? I have also seen this in advertisements for fishing reels. A guy standing on the deck of a boat with a bandana or something over his face. If its none of my business thats fine.
Matt
By the way awesome fish

An attempt, albeit too late in life, to reduce the amount of meat the dermatologist cuts off me every six months due to skin cancer from excess time in the sun. Same reason for the gloves, long sleeve shirt, pants, SPF 40 sunscreen, etc.

Masks are pretty common on the faces of anglers in South Florida and the Keys. I wish I hadn't spent time trying to get a tan earlier in life - one of the dumber things I did.

you might find this link of interest:

http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=472574

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I should be a little more careful with how much skin I leave exposed to the sun! And thanks for the info on those rods.
Matt

I'm gonna buy one of these rods and test it out. Thanks for the help everyone.

Dom

Me too

these rods are tough to find

is there a substitute jigging rod that will work with butterfly rigs

tia