Saltwater Fishing Gear

[BadContrakt]

I could have SWORE there was a saltwater section on BassResource.com but I guess not! If you don't care to read my rambling, I have a TL:DR at the bottom of the post!

Let me put it straight. I'm moving to Florida permanently. Every reel I own is a Daiwa Tatula, Tatula CT, and Tatula CT Type R, and Zillion. I have multiples of all these reels. Love the Tatulas.

 

I really don't want to dunk any of my Tats in salt. So I'm in the market for a new reel (anything for new gear, right?). Was checking out loads of sub 100 dollar cylindrical reels just to use in the salt and not care about... Not very happy with the choices. So I figure ehhh. Might as well go big or go home, right?

So right now I have the Lexa HD 300 picked out. I originally thought why not go with the 400 for the whopping extra 100 yards of line capacity... But here's the point of this thread... Do I need that capacity?

 

According to the internet, this reel holds about 250 yards of 30 pound braid, and considering the reel has under 30 pounds of drag, I don't see why I would need to go any higher than 30 pounds for open water. Maybe if I want to try to hit some pier or bridge snook, then I'd have to step it up to 50 or 65 pound I guess?

 

 

TL:DR

In any case, how many yards can a fish under 100 pounds drag off the spool? Is 250 or even just 200 yards enough line for the ocean? I have never fished for any saltwater species and if I happen to land onto a big tarpon or jack, how much would they be able to peel off of the reel? It's got a whopping 25 pounds of drag, keep in mind.

[Klebs01]

25 pounds of drag is actually a lot. Should be ok for a small tarpon or a jack. It really depends on where and how you are fishing. Could be good for snook, large tarpon could spool you, tuna would be real tough to land with that. More specifics on your location and fishing would make it easier for recommendations. 

[BadContrakt]

The location will be Southeast Florida. Tampa to Naples. Most likely Fort Myers area. For the first year or two it will predominantly be shore fishing for sport fish that I see guys on youtube hitting up. Snook, Jack, Peacock Bass. However, I will eventually end up on a boat and if the target is larger fish like Tarpon or Tuna, I'm curious exactly how much line they can pull off the spool.

 

Oh, and my dream fish is a Goliath Grouper. Just saying.

 

Frankly, I don't even know what the most common type of fish is in that area of Florida. I know there are the above listed species there, but are they on the East Coast? No idea.

 

And yeah, I know, 25 pounds is an insane amount of drag. It's one of the reasons I am picking the Lexa HD.

[Hulkster]

my family used to have a vacation home in florida near tampa and as a teen I used to catch 18 pound redfish with 12 pound test monofilament and 4000 size spinning reels. so you don't always need superheavy or huge stuff. just a decent drag. and that was before the age of braids. actually, spiderwire was just coming out but back then a 100 yard spool was $60 so we never bought it lol.

[MI.Kayaker]

I would pick up a saltwater rated low profile with #30 braid to use for throwing plugs and a heavier spinning setup for fishing larger live baits. 5000-6000 reel. Typically the larger saltwater fish are caught with live bait and that is where a spinning gear excels. 30# braid for open water and 40-50# in heavy cover.

[BadContrakt]

8 minutes ago, MI.Kayaker said:

I would pick up a saltwater rated low profile with #30 braid to use for throwing plugs and a heavier spinning setup for fishing larger live baits. 5000-6000 reel. Typically the larger saltwater fish are caught with live bait and that is where a spinning gear excels. 30# braid for open water and 40-50# in heavy cover.

Well a low profile can have a spool anywhere from 100 yard capacity to 350. Pretty big difference.

 

Typically larger fish are caught on live bait with spinning gear. Doesn't mean a big tarpon can't nab my swimbait and spool me when I'm not using a good sized low profile baitcaster! I'd like my inshore baitcaster to have a lot of line capacity. That's a given for this post. The point of the post is, will 250 yards of line be enough for the off-chance that I hook a big fish, or should I play it safe and get the size 400 reel with a 320-350 yard line capacity that's substantially heavier and substantially bigger than the 300?

[MI.Kayaker]

 

9 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

Well a low profile can have a spool anywhere from 100 yard capacity to 350. Pretty big difference.

 

Typically larger fish are caught on live bait with spinning gear. Doesn't mean a big tarpon can't nab my swimbait and spool me when I'm not using a good sized low profile baitcaster! I'd like my inshore baitcaster to have a lot of line capacity. That's a given for this post. The point of the post is, will 250 yards of line be enough for the off-chance that I hook a big fish, or should I play it safe and get the size 400 reel with a 320-350 yard line capacity that's substantially heavier and substantially bigger than the 300?

Anything can happen in saltwater. I prefer to fish the most appropriate gear for the fish I catch 95% of the time. When I break a large fish off in cover on a lighter live bait setup I accept it as the tradeoff. I never expect to hook an inshore fish on a lure I cannot land with my alphas sv. If you want to take the opposite approach and be ready for anything that could happen, by all means use the heaviest set up you can. If a larger reel is what you want the Lexa 300's capacity is enough for saltwater casting applications.

[BadContrakt]

10 minutes ago, MI.Kayaker said:

 

Anything can happen in saltwater. I prefer to fish the most appropriate gear for the fish I catch 95% of the time. When I break a large fish off in cover on a lighter live bait setup I accept it as the tradeoff. I never expect to hook an inshore fish on a lure I cannot land with my alphas sv. If you want to take the opposite approach and be ready for anything that could happen, by all means use the heaviest set up you can. If a larger reel is what you want the Lexa 300's capacity is enough for saltwater casting applications.

Well put!

[A-Jay]

If you do not have experience with the fishery & the fish where you're pursuing, purchasing the right gear in advance may not be the best plan.

 

I'd recommend waiting until you can go into a few local tackle shops where you intend to fish and talk to the humans who are there and who Know what an angler there needs to be successful; Or you can buy stuff now that may or may not work.

 

Good Luck on your move.

A-Jay

 

[Bigchunk]

I lived in ft Myers, from pa. For most inshore fishing your bass gear will be fine, you just have to break your reels down a lot more.  My words of advice are anything a bass will eat, snook and reds will too. Your going to have to get some serious tackle if your going to go for a jewfish though 

I've caught 34" snook with a 7 m crucial crankbait rod with 14 lb mono.  It's all about where you are fishing. Braid with 30lb flouro leader on spinning gear for Everyday fishing. Don't be intimidated just get some jerkbaits, hard and soft. Gulp shrimp on a jig head and you are set to figure it out. If you get spooled.. it's all good and fun for the first time !

[Chris at Tech]

I've done a fair amount of saltwater fishing in the SE.  Off the top of my head, the species that are caught from land or pier include redfish, trout, flounder, bluefish, bonita, grouper, tarpon, permit, sailfish, king mackerel, spanish mackerel, snook, jack crevalle, sharks, pompano, snapper, cobia, barracuda and I'm sure many more I'm not listing.  Point is, they can run anywhere from a 1 to 100+ lbs.  The beauty of saltwater is you just never know what's gonna swim by and inhale your lure, and some of these guys can and will spool you.

 

If baitcasting is your comfort zone then go for it, but I would recommend you take a look at some spinning reels as well.  To me, I feel they do the job better and are more effective at handling the variety of conditions you can find yourself in.  And I'm more confident throwing on a spinning rod regardless of what the wind is doing, whereas I can't say the same for my baitcasters.  Those reels that still come with spare spools are also nice so you can have a different size line ready to go, or a backup so getting spooled doesn't end your day.

 

If I was starting from scratch in gathering gear to fish via wading, bank or pier in Florida, here's where I'd go:

 

1. 7' ML/F spinning rod w/ ~3000 sized spinning reel w/ braid.  Great for artificial shrimp, small plugs and jigheads w/ plastics
2. 7' M/F spinning rod w/ 4000 sized spinning reel w/ braid.  Great for bigger artificial plastics and plugs, popping corks, spoons and smaller live bait
3. 7-7'6" MH/F spinning rod w/ 5000 sized spinning reel w/ braid.  Great for bigger spoons, jerkbaits, bubble rigs, and heavier bait fishing
4. If you really want to target the bigger tarpon, sharks, jacks, etc then an 8' H/F w/ 6-8000 spinning reel w/ braid will be a good choice

 

I happen to like the St Croix Tidemaster series w/ Shimano Stradics, and either PowerPro or Sufix braid.

I'm FAR from an expert, but happy to share some more info on what has worked for me.

[BadContrakt]

17 hours ago, Bigchunk said:

I lived in ft Myers, from pa. For most inshore fishing your bass gear will be fine, you just have to break your reels down a lot more.  My words of advice are anything a bass will eat, snook and reds will too. Your going to have to get some serious tackle if your going to go for a jewfish though 

I've caught 34" snook with a 7 m crucial crankbait rod with 14 lb mono.  It's all about where you are fishing. Braid with 30lb flouro leader on spinning gear for Everyday fishing. Don't be intimidated just get some jerkbaits, hard and soft. Gulp shrimp on a jig head and you are set to figure it out. If you get spooled.. it's all good and fun for the first time !

So... You've used regular ol' stainless steel (not corrosive resistant) bearings in saltwater and they've come out of it alright? I realize one outing isn't going to kill my gear but I'll be living on the ocean. It will be much more than one time.

If your gear came out alright, how often did you clean them after salt exposure, and did you just rinse them or do a whole breakdown?

[Darren.]

6 minutes ago, BadContrakt said:

So... You've used regular ol' stainless steel (not corrosive resistant) bearings in saltwater and they've come out of it alright? I realize one outing isn't going to kill my gear but I'll be living on the ocean. It will be much more than one time.

If your gear came out alright, how often did you clean them after salt exposure, and did you just rinse them or do a whole breakdown?

 

I can't speak for Florida, but I live in the Tidewater area

of Virginia, surrounded by salt and brackish water. My boys

fish salt more often than I do, and all our gear gets rinsed

in freshwater after their outings. So far, no issues.

 

So when I look for gear, I look for fresh/salt capable, which

is one of the reasons I use Shimano. One of my boys uses

Daiwa Lexa spinning and Lexa casting reels in both fresh/salt

all the time (has a friend who lives on the water). Those are

holding up great, too.

 

I'd think your gear is fully capable for salt.

[BadContrakt]

50 minutes ago, Darren. said:

 

I can't speak for Florida, but I live in the Tidewater area

of Virginia, surrounded by salt and brackish water. My boys

fish salt more often than I do, and all our gear gets rinsed

in freshwater after their outings. So far, no issues.

 

So when I look for gear, I look for fresh/salt capable, which

is one of the reasons I use Shimano. One of my boys uses

Daiwa Lexa spinning and Lexa casting reels in both fresh/salt

all the time (has a friend who lives on the water). Those are

holding up great, too.

 

I'd think your gear is fully capable for salt.

Excellent.

[Bigchunk]

Yea just give them a good rinse after every time in salt, oil frequently and you will be good. The salt will ruin any reel if it's not taken care of. 

[davecon]

I fish for snook more than I fish for bass and am in the Tampa area (born and raised). Your bass tackle will be just fine, simply rinse it off after every trip.

 

The area I fish is brackish with mostly smaller baitfish. This necessitates smaller lures to "match the hatch". Mostly use a 3000 size spinning reel with a 7 ft. ML rod, 15 pound braid and 25 lb fluoro leader. Have caught dozens of snook over 39 inches on this rig as well as 35 inch reds and tarpon up to 60 lbs. It is amazing what you can do with a light outfit. I also use a traditional baitcaster for throwing Zara Spooks and a few other larger plugs but the small lures are the ticket. Drag must be smooth, meaning quality reels (prefer Shimano Stradic CI4). Drag pounds are overrated. Too much pressure and you will pull the hooks free. Usually a snook will have his way with you for a short while. That's just the way it works. And if they head for piling or such there is simply not much you can do. I know guys that use 100 lb test line, that's right, 100 lb., free line mullet that weigh well over a pound, and do their best to keep the fish out of the piling. Usually the snook wins. That's live bait fishing which is way different than artificials.

 

A really good snook may pull 150 feet of drag. Even a modest size one will outfight any bass you ever caught. Reds pull hard but different, usually not taking as much drag. Tarpon go airborne and usually throw the hook after 6 or 8 jumps. Believe, you want them gone after a few jumps as bringing one boatside and unhooking them are a nightmare, especially if you are alone. Don't ask how I know this.

 

To see what you may be in for check out a series of YouTube videos "snook fishing 101, 102, etc.). The guy doing the video can be annoying but they are pretty good. Was filmed over on the east coast where the snook run a little larger on average but these will give you an idea. Note the tackle he is using - bass tackle. Quality stuff but still bass tackle. 

 

You are gonna wonder how you thought bass fishing was the ultimate after you get the hang of this snook stuff.