I have been a flats fisherman for a feew years. Will be going down to SGI in July. Will be hoping for some nice weather and hope to take my bay boat out a little ways to try for something bigger than trout. I have been fishing with Stradic 4000s on poles rated to 17lb. test. Will I be able to do anything with these and 12 lb test or will I just get broken off a lot. Would appreciate ideas for a some tackle up dates. Also, any advice for areas to try over there would be welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Nuts
Need some tackle advice
Moderators: bman, Chalk, Tom Keels
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dogonenuts
- Posts: 126
- Joined: April 12th, 2005, 11:11 am
- Location: macon, ga
Hey there dogonenuts. 
Hopefully you'll receive some additional guidance other than mine 
Don't take this the wrong way, but unless you are a real pro at catching and fighting big fish with light tackle you will probably find that your out classed by what you might catch. IMO, I think you need to consider purchasing a heavier spinning or level wind rig. I have caught grouper (on the bottom) using a Penn 6500 with a 7' spinning rod using 20# test with either 40 or 50# leader but it wasn't necessarily skill as much as luck for me to get them to the boat. If you are going to go with what you have, at the very least I would suggest you consider:
1. Make sure your drag is in good shape!
2. Change out your 12# ...for 14# or 15# (You didn't say if your using braid, mono, or fluorocarbon which could make a difference as well)
3. You will need some good leader material (fluorocarbon) at a minimum of 20#. But, depending on what you get into that may not be heavy enough (40# or 50# is not uncommon for grouper). You could also find yourself needing some wire depending on what you get into (probably 30# or 40# there as well).
3. If you will be fishing rocks/structure your probably going to be just plain out of luck. What you have won't be heavy enough to keep anything of size from rock'n you up.
I'm sure I've suggested something that someone else will take issue with and that's a good thing 
cause we'll get some advice from somebody that really knows what they're doing. 
Good luck and let us know what happens.
Hopefully you'll receive some additional guidance other than mine Don't take this the wrong way, but unless you are a real pro at catching and fighting big fish with light tackle you will probably find that your out classed by what you might catch. IMO, I think you need to consider purchasing a heavier spinning or level wind rig. I have caught grouper (on the bottom) using a Penn 6500 with a 7' spinning rod using 20# test with either 40 or 50# leader but it wasn't necessarily skill as much as luck for me to get them to the boat. If you are going to go with what you have, at the very least I would suggest you consider:
1. Make sure your drag is in good shape!
2. Change out your 12# ...for 14# or 15# (You didn't say if your using braid, mono, or fluorocarbon which could make a difference as well)
3. You will need some good leader material (fluorocarbon) at a minimum of 20#. But, depending on what you get into that may not be heavy enough (40# or 50# is not uncommon for grouper). You could also find yourself needing some wire depending on what you get into (probably 30# or 40# there as well).
3. If you will be fishing rocks/structure your probably going to be just plain out of luck. What you have won't be heavy enough to keep anything of size from rock'n you up.
I'm sure I've suggested something that someone else will take issue with and that's a good thing
cause we'll get some advice from somebody that really knows what they're doing. Good luck and let us know what happens."Good Judgement" comes from experience, ... and a lot of that..... results from "Bad Judgement".
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Tom Keels
- Site Admin
- Posts: 4712
- Joined: December 11th, 2001, 8:00 pm
- Location: Tallahassee, FL
- Contact:
For catching kings, bonita, spanish, cobia and smaller AJ's, you can absolutey use that stuff. If you want an advantage, I would step to using 30lb power pro braid. It will be a lot of fun catching these on a smaller setup.
For grouper and snapper (especially in deeper water) you will need to step up to something heavier. The combo Sir Reel suggested would work well. I would also use braid on it.
If you want a good all around grouper/snapper/aj/trolling setup go with a Penn 4/0 or 320 gti and a 6 1/2- 7 foot medium heavy rod. You can get these combos at west marine for pretty cheap (~$150).
Put 50 lb ande clear on it and have fun. Never use wire for anything except flatlining for kings.
Rig up 40-60lb flouro carbon leaders for snapper and 60-80 lb mono for grouper. Use circle hooks. Have fun.
For grouper and snapper (especially in deeper water) you will need to step up to something heavier. The combo Sir Reel suggested would work well. I would also use braid on it.
If you want a good all around grouper/snapper/aj/trolling setup go with a Penn 4/0 or 320 gti and a 6 1/2- 7 foot medium heavy rod. You can get these combos at west marine for pretty cheap (~$150).
Put 50 lb ande clear on it and have fun. Never use wire for anything except flatlining for kings.
Rig up 40-60lb flouro carbon leaders for snapper and 60-80 lb mono for grouper. Use circle hooks. Have fun.
Tom Keels
Site Founder
Site Founder