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Does anyone know of any good setups of have anything that i can take a look at? I am mainly looking to troll. Mabye use kites for giants but mainy trolling. I have been looking at penn's, shimanos, and accurates. If you could oint me to the right brand of have something to sell let me know. Thanks in Advance--JOE
I am new trolling for tuna as well, but when it comes to the reels you mentioned you can't go wrong with any of them. I decided to go with Penn just because of the ease of getting parts and the number of shops in my area that can work on Penn reels. You may also want to look at the Avet reels.
I don't have much experience with rods, but plan on purchasing a few from the E-bay store Pinnacle Marine. These come highly recommended from others on this site.
Its tough to get a starter reel that can tackle 40lb tuna as well as 400lb+. It also depends on how much you are willing to spend on each? For the most part you get what you pay for and any of the brands you mentioned will all get the job done. If you got the $$$ then accurates sure are nice, but I would consider them far from starter setups. Penn internationals, Shimano Tiagras, they are all nice too. My thought on the matter is to buy good equipment the first time. Theres nothing worse than having your tackle fail on a big fish.
I agree with spooled up. Buy your gear once and dont buy cheap stuff. I like penn 50 wides for reels but they all are good that are mentioned in above posts.
Still, trolling around for sbft's with a bent-butt 130 isn't going to be much fun either.
I'd highly recommend leaving the giants on the shelf until you have a few more miles behind you. As hard as they are to hook, they are even tougher to boat.
Besides, they are rarer than hens teeth.
So assuming you are going to focus on what's left and within a reasonable distance of shore, you can do very well with 50's and even 30's on stand up fighting rods. They will get you the most mileage, from sharks to medium tuna, for the least money.
You don't need the fancy gold penn's either. Start with okuma ts-50's and move up if you end up fishing every day. They have very good drag systems, are well built, and hold up well.
Just one opinion.
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Terry Jason 35, Yanmar 370 hp, Lots of fun at a leisurely pace
One other thing i forgot........ the penn senators if taken care of can last 60+ years. I have a senator that was made in the 40's and it works as goos as one of my new senators. actually i would prefer an older one because of the look and feel
Best deal out there for a good used reel is the Penn International 30's. Look on Ebay you can usually get some deals on the 30's. Load them up with 50lb line and you got all the reel you will need for anything except the over 300lbs BF.
30's and 50's are good for most fish you will encounter. I spool all my Penn Intl 30's and 50's with 80# jinkai. I usually burn up a couple of drag washers a season; but you can really put the pressure on the tunas with 80# test. This gets them to the boat fast for the best eating steaks.
I have the following equipment for sale. All items are in very good condition. The Penn 50 TW's are perfect offshore reels. Actually so is the Shimano Beastmaster 2 speed, although it may be a little light for a beginner.
I have three Penn International 50TW's. These are 50 Wides spooled with 50 lb. Mamoi Diamond. These reels have just been updated by professionals working for Penn Reel. The following work has been done: All three reels have had the old drag system, HT100, replaced with the new system which is the "Rotory Tuned Door Drag System". Also installed were new main bearings, clutch springs and cam followers. Aside from having new parts, one of the benefits of this work is that you have a higher drag range. I want $350.00 each.
I have a Shimano Tritan "Beastmaster" arguably the best reel made. This is a two speed reel with high gear @ 4.0:1 and low gear @ 1.7:1. It is loaded with either 20lb. or 30lb. Ande Pink. This is a light tackle reel used for offshore specifically to break records. The reel is rated 12/30 lb. It matches up with a Penn International ll Stand-Up Rod which is a 5 1/2' long, has all Aftco black roller guides. The model number of this rod is 1355 ARA, rated for line class 12-20lb. but has been used with 30lb. line and performs fine. I want $375.00 for the reel, and $140.00 for the rod. I'll sell them together for $475.00.
Next is a Shimano TLD-25, with 600 yds. of Mamoi Diamond 30lb. test line. I'll sell it for $110.00.
I have a Penn Mariner Stand-Up Tuna Rod rated 20 to 50 lb. line with seven ring guides. The price is $85.00.
Of course the shipping costs must be paid by the purchaser. You may pick them up in Beach Haven, NJ or Ambler, PA where I reside during the winter. I'm willing to drive a relatively short distance to meet a buyer. Needless to say this is a cash deal.
I have taken pictures of most of the items and if you send me your e-mail address, I'll send you the pictures.
i also agree with spending a few extra bucks to get the right gear. I started tuna fishing 4 years ago on a limited budget spent twice as much cheap stuff as i did 2 years ago getting the proper gear. it is expensive but well worth it. no need to buy the gear twice.
__________________ Dont Get none on ya
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I use 4-Penn International 12T's with 30lb line and 1-Penn International 30 w/50lb line. I've caught tuna up to 60lbs and 1-marlin that was around 100lbs. I've never lost a fish due to the size of the tackle but im not trolling for Bluefin either. But for normal offshore fishing that i do, i figure i will catch 10 times more fish 60lbs and under than i will over 60 so why not have some fun with them on a little lighter setup. Plus these size reels are much easier to handle than the larger stuff. The shimano TLD 25's are another great reel for this type of setup and resonable priced and i can vouch from experience they will stand up really well to offshore fishing.
Penn Internationals.You cant use penn senators they are to light.You will burn the drags off them just trolling the squid bars...Not to mention the 113s wont hold enough line.You will need at least 3.Do you have outriggers?You might wanna take a look at some.More lines in the water more fish!!!!Your from mass so I take it you will be going out on the bank with the rest of us idiots...LOL Last year everybody was hooking the footballs on squid bars you will need a half of dozen of these.They range any where between a buck to a buck and a half.Black was the color last year with a pink stinger.Best to get a couple of daisy chains they range from 50.00 to100.00.Then there is all the little shit that you will need 2 gaffs,some teasers a couple of planes.gloves,and alot of beer!!!!What I would do if I was you would be to go out on a charter or someones elses boat that knows what they are doing and watch..Also the weather out there changes so fast you dont wanna be stuck out there on a 24 foot boat.Been there done it it sucks.If you go out with someone like I stated even if you have to pay it will save you alot of money in the long run!!!The best times to go out are very early or at dusk it seems to me but Im no expert.If you have a small boat dont load it up with to many people as they will just get in the way.My boat is 25 and 3 is perfect.But the 2 guys I go with know how to fish so this bring me back to the point first go with some that know tuna.They will be happy to show you the tricks of the trade Im sure.I learned alot by just being out there watching the big boys catching them.If you do venture out to watch just remember not to get to close!!! these guys have probably a couple grand there towing around and they would just as soon shoot you then lose there gear.When I first got into it I took my wife and kids with me and they got to watch the whales while daddy was watching the charters boating charlie!!!!Its alot of fun very expensive but once you nab one you never ever will fish for anything but charlie!!!!GOOD LUCK!!!!
Still, trolling around for sbft's with a bent-butt 130 isn't going to be much fun either.
I'd highly recommend leaving the giants on the shelf until you have a few more miles behind you. As hard as they are to hook, they are even tougher to boat.
Just one opinion.
Until you have fished for Tuna for a while I would advise not to chase giants you really 130lb tackle for them and to do it right you need 4-5 setups. These set ups purchased used with new line are about at a minimum of $1,500 a piece, so that puts you at $6,000 -$7,500 and $$ left over for squid bars.
To fish for "school Tuna" I'd start with: in this order once you buy the top line go down:
Number Reel Brand
2 50LB Penn Int, Shimano Tiagra or Avet
2 30LB Penn Int, Shimano Tiagra or Avet
2 30LB Shimano TLD 30 or similar
Then Repeat
2 50LB Penn Int, Shimano Tiagra or Avet
2 30LB Penn Int, Shimano Tiagra or Avet
2 30LB Shimano TLD 30 or similar
If you plan on fishing the "Canyons" buy Four or Six 50lb set ups before you buy the TLD30's, If you don't plan on fishing the canyons then don't buy the second pair of 50lb reels and buy two 20lb class reels (TLD 20) or an Avet LX or MX. For the Northeast there is no more versatile reel than a 50wide lever drag reel but if you don't plan on fishing too far from shore the avg size school bluefin has been around 30 inches so in that case 20lb class reels are allot more fun.
man, what a good post... this is what i can add... i started fishing out of Hawaii 4 years ago and started small and changed along the way... a couple of things i found in my ventures were this....
1. I started with penn senators and i know that these reels are super good reels, last long and if well taken care, do a good job.... THEN, i fished with Internationals on a charter boat... these guys were running all INT'L 130's.. i tell ya, i felt like i was fishing with a damm winch... it sucked... but i saw just how much drag they could put on a fish and how much smoother the reel was... so, i migrated over the course of a year to entirely Penn INT'L 80 STW's... i now run five of them on all of my trolling setups... i then run two Penn INT'L 50TW's on center riggers with smaller baits... My 80stw's have 100lb mono with 400lb wind on leaders... my 50TW's have 80lb test with 150lb wind on's... i use these primarily to run smaller lures on and when mahi mahi are in schools, i will free spool live baits on them... they are super fun to fish with using a belt stand up wise... all of the rods are 5'6" custom made rods here in Hawaii... now that is for trolling... i sold all of my Penn Senator 12/0's and 9/0's.... once i started catching fish consistently and the bigger fish ate up more fishing time that what i can catch with using Lever Drag reels, i made a complete switch... but i got the feel for it first... i also use and absolutely love the TLD series from Shimano... i have a few TLD 25's that i will run 50lb test on these and run clark spoons or King Busters and catch schooling tuna all the time... we then run the Skipjacks for marlin on the 80STW's...
the amount of money you spend on rod's and reels can be crazy... if you don't go fishing all that much, then don't buy the GOLDs.. ya know... Senator's do the trick, just put new drags in the right away and get them serviced... i would tell you with confidence, that i bought all of my INT'Ls used... and they are rock solid! Alot of Tuna fisherman, buy the INT'L series cause they work, yet they fish enough to keep them and they sell them for a couple hundred less and that's where you can benefit from this and purchase them used... If i had to recommend anything, it would be the 50TW's... it can hold alot of line if you combine something like the suffix performance braid with mono top shot and a windon leader... almost 1000yards i think...
Here's a consideration too.... i have done this before and it's worked... i hooked a 76lb yellow fin bullet on a 4/0 hook chunking for much smaller tuna one day messing around at one of the FAD Buoys... this thing was smoking line out so much, in a matter of second, i clipped my 80STW to the eyelet of the 113 Senator and overboard it went... i then fought the fish until it tired out a bit and after about 40 mintues, i was able to reel up to the 113 Senator again... i had about 100 yards of line still on the spool of the 113... you have to work magic on the drag system of each reel, but this is no by the book do this sort of thing, you hear about these sort of stories and we just happen to try it and it worked out for us... worse case sceneario, you loose the fish... anyway, that's PLAN C that alot of people don't consider...
fish with Senators, then fish with the INT'L equavilants .... you'll see the difference...
I troll Stellwagen and Jefferies with a pair of Penn International 30's. They are rigged with 400?? yards of 80lb hollow-core braid and are finished off with a 150 yard topshot of Momoi diamond.
Dont belive that the 6/0 Senators are not good enough to start with. They will put out 20 lbs of drag all day long with HT-100 washers and can handle plenty of the average fish your likely to encounter. The idea of ruining the drags trolling bars is BS never done it trolling the canyons for yellow fin and long fin. They will handle a 48" bar with 13" squid up in the bay if your drags melted trollin this set up than the washers were sh*t to begin with. Mine are spooled with 450 yards of 50 lb mono with the drags at 17 lbs. I have caught many tuna with this set up. You dont have to break the bank to get in the game.
Looking for some good starter Tuna setups? 
