[RussH]

I'm a fan of heavy for blackfish. Heavy line, heavy leader, heavy sinkers, heavy reel. I use one of Bogans Fish poisons with an Avet MXL on it as my main stick. I also have a Lamiglass with a Daiwa 300 I don't like nearly as much.

I see the guys fishing noodle rods for blackfish and yeah it looks fun, but it also goes against everything I ever learned. With the 40# braid and the 60# flourocarben leader I don't feel as much as the guys fishing 20# braid and 30# leader and I get less fish, but I'm also not swinging every single time I feel a scratch.

What I will say is it's a LOT easier to cast with one of those fast action super light rod setups. I'm absolutely terrible casting with the Avet. It's heavy, clumsy, and I end up getting minor amounts of backlash that cut my cast short anyway. Fortunately you don't usually have to cast black fishing. And it could just be me being a crappy caster with no anti-reverse.

To me blackfish is so good because it's so simple and yet deviously complex. I also don't need my rod to bend in half on every single fish I reel up.