Reel

[rotomod]

I need someone to recomend a good package (rod, reel, line and lure) i-m no fisherman but i have the facilities to fish.  I cross over to sicily a couple of times a year with my sailing boat, it takes me quite some time to get there. I have been very lucky during the Lampuki seasons in the past years catching a substancial amount of Lampuki,cerviol and tunnag with the same ordinary line . On my first trip this season I tried to fish for a big tuna or swordfish with one ready made line & lure bought from Pirotta. It took me a couple of hours untill I managed to hook a big one, but as you can imagine with no rod and no reel and no ready floats to thro in it quickly cut and injured my hands also. So now the big question. I want to by a once and for all boat rod and reel to catch the big mama. I want someone to recommed the whole package for me. Can anyone please tell me a.s.a.p. Also please tell me where to purchase it from. Budget is not a problem but but neither do I want to spend alot on something I don't need. Number of times this rod is going to be used is not more than 10 times a year

[placebo]

pay a visit to Angler Centre in Gwardiamangia (near St lukes old hospital)

He's got the best gear but at a cost price!

there's also a good shop in the road leading to Mskala from Zabbar (Fishing Frenzy)

[Jonathan]

Hi Rotomod,
Just like you I am into sailing and fishing. What type of boat do you have?

The type of equipment which you need depends a lot on the type of fish which you are targeting. If you are targeting albacores/long-fin tuna/alungi, go for a 30lb reel, matched with a suitable reel (the best are Shimano like the TLD 25 and Penn like a 113 or 114), loaded with 0.60mm line, and according to your speed choose a lure. If you are mostly under 6 knots, I'ld go for a Rapala Magnum Redhead or Firetiger size 14cm. If your speed is over 6 knots, go for a Williamson Jet-Head or something similar. Also don't forget that you need a ganc to gaff the fish as soon as its next to the boat.

What I wrote above only applies for fish up to say 12 - 14kg.

Anything over that and you need to go for heavier tackle.

[shanook]

If u wanna catch the big mamma then u need to have a bigga rodda otherwise its a NO NO..... really if u are after the big BFT which arent that abundant to catch easily (never know when to get lucky), u need a heavy expensive gear, Personally i wouldnt bother that much with these expensive reels and rods. the least expensive i can think of is a Penn Senator 117L which is a good heavy massive reel and a good stand up reel in the 80lbs class. As Jonathan said u need a good sturdy gaff.
load ur reel with 80/100 lbs and u can have the time of your life it u manage a 100/200lb tuna.
Oh u need a good harness if u are doing stand up,  the okuma agent in Malta has a very good, not expensive harness.
I think thats the l

[skip]

I can second Jonathan recommendation, and would go for the Shimano TLD25 and spool it with 30lbs Momoi Diamond as that will give you a line breaking strength close to 50lbs, or the Penn 114H and spool with the same. For the price difference I wouldn't bother with the 113H. The difference between these two reels is one is a lever drag reel and one is a star drag reel. I prefer lever drags but those Senator Specials are bullet proof and hard to beat for the price, and the 114H is a 50lbs class reel as opposed to the TLD25 which is a 30lbs class reel. On the 114H you would have the choice of putting around 700-800 yards of 30lbs line, or else putting 475 yards of 50lbs line. The advantage of putting something like Momoi Diamond 30 on the 114H is that by spooling on more line you have the capacity to play with the fish and give you time to move head to wind and drop your sails, or start your engine etc if you're hooked in to a decent tuna.

Rods you have a good choice, either 20-40lbs or 30-50lbs, make sure it's a standup trolling rod with round guides and a roller trip or some better rods have the first and last guide as rollers. A trolling standup rod will not measure more than 1.5 - 1.6meters.

Lures as per Jonathan's advice, though if you're running a jet head or other skirted lure as opposed to a hard bodied rapala I personally would run it off a daisy chain when deploying only one rod in the water.

Lures and rods you can find a good choice locally for a resonable price, but no one stocks Momoi Diamond and reels are in my opinion totally over-priced locally. cabelas.com will do the reels on their own or as a combo with a rod and they also stock the Momoi Diamond line.

Penn Special 114H will set you back only $125, the TLD25 will set you back $170.

If you want to look at other options, or a larger reel let us know, but I think you'll find that Tuna you came across was in the 15-25kgs range which on a hand line would seem massive. I have some heavy reels/rods and personally reckon it's not worth the money that was invested in them for the type of fishing we come across. To have that set up for a once in a few years opportunity seems to me an overkill. If I wanted to do that on a budget I would go with the Penn Senator 115L on a 50-80lbs rod and spool it with Momoi Diamond 50 which breaks at around 82lbs. That 115 is a large reel, the 117 is far too big on not practical on standup in my opinion as it's meant for chair fighting.

Just for your to understand, in the past people went for bigger reel to cater for line capacity and drag pressure, but now even something like Penn International V 30wide can exert more drag pressure than a 117L, what you get from things like the 115 and 117's is much more spool capacity, which again is offset now by higher quality mono like Momoi Diamond with almost 200% over the rated breaking strength or even Spectra fiber.

[redbus9]

 Hi Rotomod,i have been thinking the same as you what reel and rod combo to buy,and after some reasearch i decided on a penn 115L with a 50lbs class rod.theres sufficient line on the reel,approx 700meters of 50lbs line and provided you play the fish and don,t youse it like a winch theres no reason why you cant pull in a 300lb fish. the penn 115L is bomb proof,as they say in the adverts -used and abused all over the world- and its true.If youd like some company on one of of your trips i,d love to come. cheers and good fishing.