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I went to Kevin's & picked up a new reel, they've got Torium 20's on sale and I couldn't resist.

Somebody in another thread said that picking a rod for them was harder than the reel, and I totally agree.

I'm on the bman train of wanting to get a good bottom fishing rig, so the rod needs to have plenty of backbone. I'd like to not spend a fortune, but I know that is a very relative term. The young man @ Kevin's told me that the most popular rod is this Shimano Trevala which is sold on Shimano's site as a "Butterfly Jigging" rod. The rod itself is much thinner than I'm accustomed to seeing and I wasn't sure how well this thing would handle a big fish. My last time out has me thinking I need a bigger, heavier rod. 10-20 lb grouper is one thing, but I hauled up a 12 foot nurse shark last time...would that same shark break this Trevala that is being recommended? I appreciate the warranty that the Shimano rods come with, but I'd just assume not have to use it.

If you can't tell, I'm pretty new at this end of the fishing universe. Until now my bottom fishing has been done with borrowed setups, and those all have had relatively massive rods.

Sports Authority has a "Mariner" rod by Penn that's a little more beefy...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Any advice?

The Trevala is perfect for our coastal snapper fishery. Calvin has killed many snapper as well as grouper with his trevala matched with a narrow spool Saltists. However, I would not drop a 10'' hardtail down with that rig. If this is your only bottom rig, i would go with something heavier. I would check out the 30-50 class Uglystick rods.

jigging rod are plenty strong enough and great to hold all day long.

I fish the Shimano Trevala about 100% of the time and have have no problems ever. 10' nurse sharks big grouper and snapper. It's a very light (in weight) rod and will not wear you down on an all day fishing trip.

WolfeMan, buddy Sharkman and I have caught multiple huge nurse, bulls, and even hammerhead sharks offshore and NEVER had a rod broken.

Quite to the contrary, we've both had rods broken on far smaller fish (15 pound cobia & sharks) that went ape-$^!# bonkers close to the boat and wrapped the rods/pulled them against the boat's edge.

I've used both broomsticks (early in my saltwater efforts) and lighter rods (past few years) and my .02 is it's far more fun catching cobes, snapper, & grouper with a rod that has a bit of flex to let you feel the fight than a board stiff setup. Plus you get a strong but flexible rod you'll want it on board for most inshore and offshore trips for cobe/shark use, but you get a mega-stiff rod don't be surprised if you end up leaving it at home most trips because it's just too heavy/not as fun to fish.

Or you could just ask your "expert" realtor fishing friend...

Haha, BBG!

That Trevala is lookin good. I just checked out a video on Youtube where a guy hauled up a 40 lb AJ in 160 feet of water in the Keys. Impressive!

Barry "Bad Influence" Bevis and I just left Kevin's with our new rods. The Trevala is a bad mamma-jamma. SO LIGHT!

Tidedancer wrote:I fish the Shimano Trevala about 100% of the time and have have no problems ever. 10' nurse sharks big grouper and snapper. It's a very light (in weight) rod and will not wear you down on an all day fishing trip.

TD and Gyrene are right on. I have already posted that the Trevala (XXH) and a Saltist 30 is my favorite outfit (that rod is rated for 80-200 lb line). It's incredibly powerful, light, and when short pumped will bring in a big fish better than anything else I have used short of real standup tackle and a full harness, which may be fine for BF tuna or a marlin but is way overkill for off of Dog Island. Ditch the broomstick idea, IMO. I would gladly drop a hardtail down on one, and have done so more than once. Caught a nice AJ (season closed: released) on it with a hardtail about 10 days ago, matter of fact.

There are a couple of drawbacks to those rods but overall I like them a lot. The first is that the pistol grip makes it hard to use a reel brace, so I had to leave that off the reel. Second, it is possible to flex the rod enough with a big fish so that the line may touch the grip. However, I find this issue is there on almost any standard stand up rod when you have a big one on. You also have to make sure the line doesn't cut your hands.

EJ