Advice on rod for light trolling 12lb
Submitted by Mela_77 on Sat, 2012-03-17 14:15
Hey all,
Just need some advice on a light sort of rod to put on a Santiego SA12, I'll using it on a 12lb mono (approx 900m of it)
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Ps trying to keep it on the low range, not too fuss on rods, as much as I'm on reels
Cheers
Hesh
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hlokk
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What are you goin to be
What are you goin to be trolling with it and at what speed? Eg lures vs skirts vs bullets, etc.
Mela_77
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Probably trolling jelly
Probably trolling jelly babes for tunas, dollies, between 4 to 8 kns. Also some jetting skirts
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MJ
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Capacity
Not sure that running almost 1 km of 12ib mono is a good idea, the water drag alone on all that line would be likely to in excess of 12 lb.
I wouldnt run more than 500mt of 12lb, if it comes to the crunch just follow in your boat.
Mela_77
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Fully agree MJ .... I guess
Fully agree MJ .... I guess I just want to use only 12lb, and I dont like half full spools
Also who care, IGFA mono is cheap like chips, compared to our usual finess braid
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soupster51
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Care Factor
You'll care I reckon when you loose a quality fish when it takes a mountain of line and only breaks because you've added an extra 10lbs of pressure on the line by having so much in the water. Depends on the size of the fish you're targetting I guess. Dollies and small tuna I would say won't get you into that sort of situation. A marlin and you could be in trouble. I've had marlin strikes on jelly babes so I can tell you it does happen.
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Mela_77
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Date Joined: 10/11/11
I still don't get it; so you
I still don't get it; so you think I should put only 500m of 12lb, on a reel that takes 900m, or you mean I should be using heavier line (16, 20lb)? Or do you mean I should top shot the spool?
To me, as far as I know, you've got better chance in landing a fish with 900m on your spool, than having only 500m. At least it allows you to clear all the other lines out of the water, while the fish is still taking off, first run. Also buys you some time to adjust the boat, and start chasing it.
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soupster51
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Depends
Mate it all depends on what you are trying to achieve. If landing a fish on 12lb is your goal then I would top shot so that the line in the water is coming from the outside to the centre of your spool (rather than the centre to the bottom). But you have to be realistic about what fish you are targeting. I agree, more line gives you the time to clear the lines and with the drag setting on a 12lb line you would obviously have a whole lot more of it in the water compared to 30lb, 50lb or 80lb. Then you enter dangerous ground as have be been stated before, the more line in the water means more pressure on the line, thus increasing the chance of passing the 'magic' mark and simply snapping due to the weight on the line. Top shotting would have to be the safest option and you wouldn't need much more than 300m I would reckon as a small tuna or dolly isn't going to take a whole lot. At least you have some money in the bank if something bigger hits your lure and once you have the 30/50lb line back on the reel you are still fighting a fish on 12lb.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Mela_77
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Great ideas there, cheers
Great ideas there, cheers mate
So now, we're back to my question, but with clearer ideas. What rod would take the 12lb line, and also able to handle the 30lb backing?
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soupster51
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Ugly Stik
I'm an Ugly Stik fan myself. A rod in the 12-15lb class will give the bend that makes it fun and the grunt to catch some bigger model fish.
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Alan James
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Live Fibre
This won't break the bank. Live Fibre ZWS 65MJ 6-8kg O/Head. For the money I reckon they are a great rod. I have the 4-6kg model and run 4kg mono on it, love it.
hlokk
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Soupys right re having lots
Soupys right re having lots of line in the water but it's much of a muchness if you're just targeting small fish like dollies and tuna under 10kg. Now, marlin, where 50lb would still give you a big run it's a different story and they may very well take 100s and 100s of meters off on a single run. Chasing big marlin on 6kg gear is something the whole crew needs to be on the ball from what I've been told.
I dont really understand the point of using 30lb backing unless you have it laying around and don't want to use as much 12lb. You may as well spool the whole reel with 12lb. If you have some 12lb out then the 30lb out, then the 30lb is going to be adding a lot more drag pressure per meter than the 12lb line. Your drag is still limited to 12lb line though as its still in the system, so lines still going to be going out at the same pace. Your spool will deplete quicker though, so drag pressure will increase faster once 30lb starts going out. On a huge fish, if the line was to snap, you could either get spooled or the line snap due to drag pressure. With 30lb backing, won't both happen sooner than full 12lb on the reel? Of course, if you never get to the 30lb, it doesn't matter, but the 30lb is just giving bulk. With 1000m of 12lb, if you have it all out you may very well get snapped off due to line pressure, but you should always try to close the distance anyway. If you cant, you'd loose the fish regardless of what backing you had.
You could use braid backing and a mono topshot though. The braid would add a lot less drag so you could have more out before it was likely to snap due to water pressure. Once hitting the backing, your drag would go down very slowly thanks to the braids tiny diameter. However, you'd probably fit km's and km's on that reel so you might need some mono undershot to bulk it up. Would make sense for a smaller lighter reel though where bulking it up wouldn't matter, but the SA12 ain't exactly a small reel in capacity/weight.
I have a live fibre 6-8kg. Handles over 10kg fine. Though personally I would prefer something with a more parabolic curve but such trolling rods seem near on impossible to find :( I run a salitst LD20 on mine. 500m of 20lb braid plus either 8, 10 or 15kg topshot (about 100m at 10kg)
Tim
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Reason
Also have to allow for the reason your using mono. If your fishing GFAA tournaments then line class would be rated at the highest of the 2 if you have a heavy backing connected. Would mean your fishing 15kg if you went with the above setup.
If it was mine I would fill it to the top with the 12 lb as it allows you some spare in case of break offs. Nothing worse than getting busted off and only having half a spool left.
I have had 300m of 2kg out without a water pressure bust off but you need to keep backing the drag off as the fish gets further out.
soupster51
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Agree
That's a good point Tim. With a full spool of 12lb backing off the drag as the line went out would definately be a good way reducing bust offs.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Mela_77
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+1
Agree also with Tim, thats how we fished all the tournaments overseas (Red Sea). And yes Tim, the reason behind the mono, line class, is the IGFA.
Cheers all
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barneyboy
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If it were me I would go 7 ft
and something in graphite which is fairly stiff. Hook sets can be a prob with fishing lighter classes. 7ft means you can keep your line out of the water more and will also give you a bit more shock absortion with head shakes and the like. Loomis L904 is a good rod to look at. Similar to the lightest t curve 6 to 8kg I think it is. Its a toughy because a lighter tipped rod will be more forgiving but wont be as great for hooksets especially when trolling and more so with fish with hard or bony mouths.
FEEEISH ONNN!!!