Blackfish

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

While many guys are going to tell you to use spinning equipment IMO it’s not,even close to being the best set up.

Most spinning rods can’t handle,big double digit fish, and most drags on reels being used don’t cut it.


Instead many of us are using low profile bait casters on light rods simaler to,what we use fluking, that have a lot of backbone.

Set up I’m using is a penn battalion 12/20 casting rod.
Paired to an Abu Garcia low profile beast 40.
20# Berkley X9 line.

A low profile reel drops the jig with less effort on line payout.
Allows you to feel a fish swim by your bait.
IMO it allows you to fight a big tog easier than on the spinning equipment.

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I have had many people who couldn’t feel the bite on the spinning equipment change to the bait caster and tear tog up with those outfits .


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Funny that I have the opposite experience then you Dan... I have a Abu Revo low profile and a fish it on a Loomis GL2.. Maybe it's the Loomis rod but I don't get the feel like I do on my shimano stradic CI4 and challenger 731M.

I also like the spinner a lot better when casting lighter jigs since it casts lighter stuff easier and I always try to use as light a jig as possible.

The other thing I tend to do is use my fore finger on the line coming off the spinning reel with the same hand I use to cast to feel bites better. Can't do that with a conventional either, at least with one hand..

The one thing we can however agree on is the low profile conventionals and conventional rods definitely give you an advantage on larger fish over spinning. Much easier to pull and lift a big fish out of the wreck for sure... The shimano stradic does have 24 pounds of drag so it's very capable but the spinning rods just can't give you the leverage and comfort you get with a conventional...

I think the other thing we can also agree on is to be sure whatever rod you choose has a nice long foregrip... This really helps when you're trying to get some leverage on a bigger the fish... Move one hand up on the foregrip and lift as opposed to trying to lift the rod with only your wrist...