Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

I have a cost effective setup. 7' Bogan rod and I bought a Penn Fathom 60 two speed on sale in the winter. The rod was like 200 and the reel was 160. I can put pressure on the fish!!! Reel is probably overkill.

I bought my own setup because a lot of the rental rods are junk on the boats. You'll have a tough time landing the fish on an old 6/0 that rocks sideways when you reel it.


Meat Hunter

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

I love the shimano talica reels....a talica 25 or 50 two speed.

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

X2!! The 25 w holocore and mono wind on will smoke canyon dwellers. They're light yet incredibly powerful reels.

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

Fished V for years until a few years ago when I bought a house that needs a lot of work and had a baby.
Irony was that one of the reasons I bought a house was because I got sick of washing my 160qt cooler in the bathtub of my condo and wanted to hose off the cooler in a driveway. But no time to go fishing now since I'm always busy working on the house.

I'm with others about paying 25 bux or so and renting the equipment first time around. I went through a few setups and wasted $$ buying and selling until I ended up building one myself as nothing was available off the rack nor I could find a custom rod builder who was willing to work with ideas I had.

My needs were:
spiral wrapped to stabilize the rod with a wide reel.
7.5-8' long to clear the hull
long foregrip made with tough material so i can rail without damaging the grip
long rear grip so I could sit on it while railing.


So I built the rod in the vid and as you can see, i had no issue landing that bigeye which took around 30-40 mins. For yellowfins, I usually take no longer than 5-7 mins with this setup. I feel that the longer you keep fish in the water, the higher chance of losing, so I try to finish it as fast as I can.

edit. how do i insert a vid?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATuz4RB8LEo

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

Use a rental rod.Bring fluorocarbon #60 /#40.You only need fluoro during daylight; Owner or Gamakatsu 6/0 live bait hooks.Tell the mates your new to tuna fishing.They will set you up. You only need to use the KISS until you have caught one! Then you will have tuna fever=$$$$:D

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

Maybe someone can explain the need for 2 speed reels ? No one uses the rod anymore to lift n reel but me ! Ya I’ve used the following 2 speed reels , Garcia
Shimano , Duel , Fin Nor & Alutecnos ! The best of the lot was Duel !

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

That rod looked bad ass! Whered you bury the gimbal? I couldn't fully see how you were holding the rod aside from how you used the rail fulcrum. West coast slay job lol

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

PARTY BOAT...Use the rail! Reel in low. When the water caries the boat up you're lifting, when the boat sinks into the trough you reel. All the while the rod is loaded with the foregrip on the rail.

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

So much to think about. Seems like majority says rental rod. Just was nervous that it would be junk thus making it less enjoyable first experience

Re: Chunking tuna setup advice
 

Rental rods on the Voyager are not junk. The most important thing in my opinion is using fluoro carbon (various lb. 80-40lb), quality swivel and quality hook. You could have the best rod & reel but that is going to do nothing to give you better odds of getting a bite.