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Starting to get back into fishing. Used to bass fish, but haven't in a few years (upstate NY). I plan on getting a couple of set-ups to allow me to enjoy the full range of fishing we have here on the Gulf of Mexico, but I will probably start coastal to offshore first.
What should I be looking for as far as rod/reel setups? I only used spinner reels bass fishing. I would like something I can go for grouper/snapper with on the heavy end.
Get the MXL's and put them on Trevala HEAVY or EXTRA HEAVY rods. Spool the reels with 65-80 lb braid. I fish the same body of water chasing the fish you are going to want to chase... and the TLD 20's never got wet last year.
Get the MXL's and put them on Trevala HEAVY or EXTRA HEAVY rods. Spool the reels with 65-80 lb braid. I fish the same body of water chasing the fish you are going to want to chase... and the TLD 20's never got wet last year.
I second the MXL's. They are small, light, have an incredible drag and are built like a tank. They will be more than enough for that style of fishing. A lot of guys down here are using them for smoker King Mac's and they will PEEEL some freaking line off your reel.
Avet MXL for grouper fishing in the GOM? I wouldn't recommend it. The MXL is designed to be a 20-25lb class reel and nothing more. It will make a nice light snapper reel, a nice reel to freeline live bait to Blackfin Tuna and Little Tunny, but not grouper. I have mine spooled with 25lb mono, backed with 50lb braid on a Calstar 700ML.
For grouper fishing, think 40-50lb class tackle -- it'll have the drag needed to keep a . Start with a star drag reel such as a Penn 113H or Daiwa Sealine 450. Spool with 40lb mono and a rod made to fish that class line. You want a reel you can button the drag all the way tight to keep the grouper from returning to his hole and "rocking" you.
The best grouper reel out there is the Penn 113HN "Baja Special". Penn is phasing them out for some reason and you can get a great deal on one for $150. Spool it with 50lb mono and backed with 65lb braid .
did you buy your 30's new or used? and what do know about the HX?
I just own new 50's, but friends and charter guys I fish with have the redesigned 30's. Never touched an Hx, so I am no help to you there.
The Mx's are fun for top water inshore fish, but you pretty much have to use braid due to spool capacity, so here I use my spinners for casting braid and tld25's with mono for inshore trolling.
The Avet 5 bearing system really spins, once you get it spinning with thier heavier metal (over plastic) spool, but this also makes it harder to stop and avoid backlashes. Braid burns more on the thumb, and since there is no stretch in braid, a tangle when casting usually means that the braid will snap, losing your lure.
This doesn't happen when casting braid with a spinning reel, and their line guide winder makes for a better casting/topwater system with more drag when needed.
The Avet 30W's, 50W's and LX are good values, but I do find applications for their TRex, Mx or Sx's where I go inshore and off.
The 30W's are light, have up to 40 lbs of drag to stop grouper, will also catch large marlin on top and are suitable for 200+ lb tuna as they also have good spool capacity for all braid, or mono over a braid backing, and no plastic parts. Add their castabilty for large live baits along with a lever drag and a 2 speed cranker, and this is a hard reel to beat for all around deep water applications IMO.
I love my 50w's too as Mexico has beeeg fish, but the 30w's would have been my choice if I had waited for the redesigned models that are out now.
To the OP... Maybe where in the Gulf is needed. The boyz around Tampa Have the LARGE grouper... You are not going to see that on the west side of the Gulf (now, I'm sure someone will post a pic of a friend that heard from a friend that they caught a 100lb grouper...FINE, but you will not do it everyday on the west as they do on the east). The largest "pullers" here are going to be AJ's... and battleing them with MXL's are fine and sporting. If you want a winch, get a winch. If you want to be able to do some trolling, chunking, bottom fishing, live-baiting and have the drag of a 20# reel, get the MXL.
If you are going to target large grouper only... go bigger. But buy something else for the other 90% of fish you'll want to catch.
Good luck to you... everyone has opinions. Now, ask me if I had to grab ONE outfit to travel the world with what I would grab? My MXL on the Extra Heavy Travala, NO QUESTION!
You guys crack me up... Now you got him in MARLIN REELS... Reread his post... He is a smallmouth bass fisherman from NY looking to start COASTAL, and then venture a little OFFSHORE.
In the gulf this means: Trout, Redfish, BigUglies, Sharks inshore / Tarpon, Bonito, Smacks, Sharks, around the Jetties / Then all those listed plus Kings, Mahi, 3Tail, Blackfin, AJ, Snapper, normal Grouper within 12 miles / Wahoo, Marlin, sails, and Bigger once you break off the shelf.
Again, he is wanting to start inshore and close offshore. Atleast that is what I took from his post.
2005 SeaCraft - 3/8/2008 10:25 AM
You guys crack me up... Now you got him in MARLIN REELS... Reread his post... He is a smallmouth bass fisherman from NY looking to start COASTAL, and then venture a little OFFSHORE.
In the gulf this means: Trout, Redfish, BigUglies, Sharks inshore / Tarpon, Bonito, Smacks, Sharks, around the Jetties / Then all those listed plus Kings, Mahi, 3Tail, Blackfin, AJ, Snapper, normal Grouper within 12 miles / Wahoo, Marlin, sails, and Bigger once you break off the shelf.
Again, he is wanting to start inshore and close offshore. Atleast that is what I took from his post.
Actually he specifically asked about "grouper and snapper on the heavy end" -- and that's the advice we gave him. An Avet MXL is definitely on the "light side"; actually on the lightside of the lightside.
The baseline tackle set up here in the GOM for grouper and snapper is a 4/0 star drag reel spooled with 40 or 50lb mono on a 7' or 8' rod with ring guides. There are variations of course:
Some guys go lighter, say to 30lbs and I know anglers who keep an International 30W 2spd (or equivelent) when the big boys show up.
Frankly, there is no more versatile saltwater reel than a 4/0 star drag. You can spool it with 40 or 50lb mono to bottomfish deadbait for grouper/snapper, live bait AJs or spool with 30lb mono (more line capacity) to troll for dolphin and kingfish, and cast to cobia. The 4/0 Penn 113H I've modified with a Tiburon topless frame, handle and 4:1 gears is a super reel.
To each their own.... I wish the wind would at least drop below 20knots so I could go fishing!
Get the MXL's and put them on Trevala HEAVY or EXTRA HEAVY rods. Spool the reels with 65-80 lb braid. I fish the same body of water chasing the fish you are going to want to chase... and the TLD 20's never got wet last year.
Who pushed your button?
Take a reel like the MX that produces 8-9 lbs of drag and stick 80 lb braid on it? What's the point when 25 lb what that drag was designed for?
The TLD 20's will hold double the line and take 13 lbs of drag, buy I do not consider these all around reels either.
Take 25 lb braid and put it near the rocks and you are gonna lose a lot of fish as the braid has no abrasion resistance and with the MX you don't have enough drag to stop a small grouper or jack unless you want to burn your thumb.
Have you ever untangled thin braid? How much 25 lb mono will the MXL hold?
The MX's are impractical toys. Everything small is not good just for smalls sake.
I am on the MS Gulf Coast. When I find the boat I want I'll mostly end up going out of the OS/Biloxi/GPT area. If I end up going out to the rigs out of Venice it will probably be on a friends boat and they should have the gear necessary.
So, I think "2005 SeaCraft" is pretty much in the ballpark as far as species and distance for most of the kind of gear I'll need to start acquiring. At the same time I would like to have gear that will be able to handle the larger fish that I will be able to reach on a ~23 footer.
All comments by all posters to date have been very informative, so don't feel the need to argue with each other because it is all good info.
I live and fish the area you are talking about. I also fish the canyons well offshore. In a 23' boat you can easily fish the shallow oil platforms offshore as well as around the islands. There are a lot of larger species in those areas. You can expect large shark, cobia, snapper, grouper, ajs, etc. I personally refrain from spooling up with anything less than 50lb. braid on my spinning reels and a minimum of 80lb. braid on my conventional rigs. The reason being once hooked most fish run for the cover of the platform so you have to be able to torque 'em to prevent that from happening. I also agree that braid any smaller than that is just not beefy enough for fishing around structure. My conventional reels are Avet Lx, Hx, Pro 30EX, and 50WEX. I would not want anything less than the LX for what you are looking to do personally- matched up with the Shimano Trevalla Heavy jigging rods makes for a great setup. The LX is not that much more money than the MXL. The LX is very light to fish with for long periods but well capable of handling some worthy opponents. I prefer the 2 speed reels over the single speed reels for the simple fact that when you engage with a biggun you can gear down and double your power while exerting half the energy. The other advantage of the 2 speed is that it is geared perfectly for butterfly jigging (or conventional jigging) with it's high speed retrieve whereas most of the single speed reels with their lower gear ratio will wear you down much quicker. The HX does not feel much heavier than the LX and is a great all around reel too. I have them paired with Offshore Angler 5'9" 30-80lb. class standup rods which are extremely light. This setup does not feel much heavier than the LX/Trevalla setup. For your application the LX should be an excellent all around reel.
Merlot is right on the money. Iv got a couple of LX with 80 hollow core on OTI and Trevalla rods and thoese things are amazing. They have taken everything from monster AJs (80lb+) to tuna and more big bulls than I care to count. Have them mounted on OTI and Trevalla rods because I mostly jig fish, so if you don't plan on jig fishing you could match them to calstars are or other rods rated for 30-50.
__________________ Most have none, a few have one, only one has two. GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!
I have used the Penn 113 and 114s in the past- they are a workhorse. They were the first reels I ever used, and I used them for years. Never had a seconds problem with them. After I switched over to the TLDs (my second generation reels) I sold the Penns. The TLDs are light and tough as nails and the finish is far less prone to corrosion issues. The big change however was that it was my first experience with a lever drag reel. After using lever drag I cannot make myself go back to fooling with a star drag reel. The lever drag is far easier to adjust than a star drag while dealing with a sizeable fish. Plus the TLDs have a very smooth drag. Shimano TLD wins this round in my opinion hands down.
I have used the Penn 113 and 114s in the past- they are a workhorse. They were the first reels I ever used, and I used them for years. Never had a seconds problem with them. After I switched over to the TLDs (my second generation reels) I sold the Penns. The TLDs are light and tough as nails and the finish is far less prone to corrosion issues. The big change however was that it was my first experience with a lever drag reel. After using lever drag I cannot make myself go back to fooling with a star drag reel. The lever drag is far easier to adjust than a star drag while dealing with a sizeable fish. Plus the TLDs have a very smooth drag. Shimano TLD wins this round in my opinion hands down.
Exactly.
Lever drags don't break line and are much better at feeding baits to fish prior to setting the hooks. Better, more modern tools at the same price with less weight.
Avet MXL?? 
.
I wish the wind would at least drop below 20knots 
so I could go fishing!
