Blackfish Reels

[Joey Dah Fish]

I love my Avet SX I canst see changing to something heavier. I also have an MX I got last year because I felt the same way you do. I found the my arm was fatigued mid trip do to the weight of the larger reel. But I did like it fishing very deep 90 plus feet less reeling

[shrimpman steve]

Originally Posted by Joey Dah Fish

But I did like it fishing very deep 90 plus feet less reeling

Lazy bastid

[Blackfish Doug]

Saltiga 20 good luck finding one & the 30 best reel that I can reccomend. That's all I use for them I also like the trinadad 12 the gold ones. Not the newer silver 12a ones. Also the p series Newell 220 & the 229 are good bets as well.

[njboarder]

If you've got $450-500 to spend on blackfish reel, saltiga 20 or even 15.
If on a budget, avet sxj works fine too.

[socks]

1/0 Penn Senator

[bulletbob]

believe me, I am NOT trying to be a jackass, but I could never understand the need for a $700 rod and reel combo for bottom fish.. A Penn 65 and a boat rod will catch any blackfish that ever lived, and its 3 to 1 ratio will actually have more pulling power to wrestle a big tog out of the rocks than modern high speed reels..

I use a couple of old Ocean City reels that I got at garage sales for I dunno, 2-3 bucks, and I catch blackfish with them just fine..

Ever see a captain or mate on a headboat grab a decrepit old painted rental rod with an ancient Penn reel , fish between a couple of regulars with high tech , high dollar rod/reel combos and make them look like chumps, or a couple of folks with rental rods standing toe to toe with the regulars using high end gear?. I have.. More than once..

Its only my opinion, but the rod is a lot more important than the reel.. A good graphite rod with some backbone and length for leverage, and a good "boat reel" with a well functioning star drag and 30-40 and braid will be just fine.. I suppose an Avet is a wonderful reel, and thats what makes some fisherman happy, having really special gear.. Thats great, I understand that, and appreciate the fact that it is simply something many fishermen enjoy..

However, it won't catch a single blackfish more than a rental rod, IF you know how to catch blackfish... bob

[Gerry Zagorski]

The Avet SX will handle anything you can throw at it inshore.... People have landed 80 plus pound Black Drums... Nice, small and light so you wont get tired holding it at the rail and the drags are silky smooth.

As with any lever drag reel, it does take some getting used to since you have to enguage the drag manually while some star drag reels you simply reel to enguage the drag.