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Random Quote: Dad, is there a depth finder on this boat? Why is the water tan?
Trying to pull the trigger on some trolling/chunking rods for North Shore Tuna from 20-300# ish. (Ya never know what your gonna get) and some sharking for blue dogs. Want to drag birder and spreaders and chains.
Looking at some Penn 114 Senator Combos (@ $175) and some Shimano TLD 25s (W?) For @ $225ish.
Any other thoughts/set-up in the sub $250 range I might look at?
I wouldn't want to tangle with a 300 lb tuna on a 114. Save up the dough and get something like a 30 wide, fill it with 50lb momoi and you will be fine. This will be close to $700. At this point, you might want a 50 wide for another 100 bucks, because the 30 is too small a setup to pull a squid bar on. Fishermans outfitters in Gloucester can set you up. If youre stuck at $250, get a 9500 tuna spinning combo with braid and throw metals to fish. I hear this has been especially effective up by you. Fighting 100lb tuna on spinning gear is fun.
because the 30 is too small a setup to pull a squid bar on.
I've heard similar comments a couple of times now on such and such a reel being too small to troll spreader bars.. why is that? Is it the chances of getting blown out by a big fish, or more with the wear and tear on the reel's drag pulling the spreader bar around all day?
you would be WAY undermanned with a 114h... a 300 lb tuna can rip drag off of a 130.... you would be lookin at atleast a 30 wide and better than that a penn int 50 or a shimano tiagra 50. thats if you are trolling for the tuna. If you are going to cast to the big schools you need a heavy penn 7500 or 8500 spining reel with 60+ lb power pro. The school fish rarely get over 150 lbs.. a 300 lb fish would be over 73" most of the school tuna are well under that. But like you said you never know what you are going to get and if a 300+ lb tuna does bite while you were using a 114.... kiss your spreader bar goodbye... Better off to do it right the first time rather than lose a spreader bar that costs almost as much as your rod and reel set up....
I agree with GoodNyou...I just had Fishermans build me a couple custom rods and put a couple TLD's with 50lb Diamond on them. I know I would struggle with anything over 250 however anything under that I should be fine. If I get something bigger than that oh well I have a great fish story
That is the thing on the North Shore... 50# and 500# swimming together.
Spreader bar is an expensive mistake! But the admiral is 8.99 mo pregnant with able bodied seaman #2 and a requistion for a grand worth of fishin poles would not be well received at this particular juncture.
Nope, gotta do it the old fashioned way. Make some more money and siphon more of it inot the "offshore account". Or the OLD OLD fashioned way. Ask Dad.
I have been trying for years to blow up a reel. Maybe this is the year!
While I agree the 114 might be too small for the rare large fish, I have used 113's to catch 75 lb. YFT and albacore. This year, I am going to try to save some money and buy the 114's to replace some rods I've lost. I target mostly 50 to 75 pound fish, though. If your quarry is giants, then I would not get the 114's.
you might want to try the tlds preferably the fity though I've caught school yellowfins to 75 pounds on the thirty two speed tld without to much undue fighting time. If you really need to go with something cheaper in price I'g go with a 9/0 senator seen giants beaten on theese from a drifting party boat. That was interesting. I'd fill it with 80 pound momoi diamond line. A bit heavy for any thing under 100 pounds but it still gives you a good shot when the real brutes decide to beat up you and your gear.
I once caught a 63 pound bluefin on a 113H with yellow stren 50#. Even with the boat in reverse and my thumb on the spool twice, to keep from being spooled, we were luck to boat the fish. I have taken 500-600 pound bfins with Penn 50's using 80# Jinkai. A buddy took a 69"Bfin with a 114H. It was a long battle; but no big problem. We were fishing in 500 feet of water. Lots of big tuna have been taken with 114H. I started out with them. Now everything is Penn Internationals, 30's, 50's and 80STW's. I would not hesitate to get a couple 114H's and some Penn slick butt tuna rods. When you are done with them you can sell them on ebay.
shimano 30 and 50 two speeds are excellent set up for school tuna, i landed a 300 blue fin on a pen senator black beauty that I bought in the want ads for 100 bucks had the drag washers replaced and new line packed it was good as new.
Schoolie Tuna Set-ups... 
