Do my NSC setups look ok? And I need a heavy casting rod

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Reeling
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Do my NSC setups look ok? And I need a heavy casting rod

Post by Reeling »

Offshore brains trust!

I need to buy another heavy rod and based on how I was intending on pairing my setups I was thinking about a heavy rod suitable for casting (poppers and the like) 60-120g iirc.

Light stuff
Shimano Catana 7' 2-4kg matched with Shimano Sedona 2500 - 10lb braid

Medium stuff
Rapala Maxwell 7' 4-7kg matched with Shimano Sedona 4000 - 20lb braid

Heavy stuff - trolling
Shimano Aquatip 7' 5-8kg match with Penn Slammer 560LL - 30lb mono
Evercatch Aggressor (cheap) 7' 5-8kg (now only 6'6") matched with Shimano Alivio 6000 - 30lb mono

Heavy stuff - Casting
Some kind of heavy spin rod matched with Pleuger Salt 70 - 30lb braid

Any advice on specific rods for casting? I don't want to break the bank with a t-curve so something at the lower range would help. I've done a bit of a search on here, but so far all previous suggestions I've found have been on the higher end and ebay links no longer work :(
Tuna 20.5kg ---KingFish 90cm --- Snapper 84cm --- Gummy 83cm (55cm legal) ---- Whiting 40cm --- Silver Trevelly 41cm --- Flathead 52cm --- Aussie Salmon 38cm --- Squid 34cm hood

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shane
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Re: Do my NSC setups look ok? And I need a heavy casting rod

Post by shane »

The slammer and salt in the heavy outfits look OK, although the rods may lack lifting power. I've mainly got cheap rods and find that the reel is more important in most cases with these fish. However for tuna you will want something around 10kg+ as they can be a bugger to lift once they start circling. The medium outfits would be OK for snapper/salmon, but be outgunned by a decent tuna or king. While a sedona can and has landed tuna, it's a stretch and will take a while, I'm also not sure about the Alivio and suspect similar.

If you want a very cheap basic rod, check out the Melaluka and similar rods on ebay, eg:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MELALUKA-HIG ... Swna1ZwfMy
I picked one up for under $30 recently and while basic, it will do the job. Otherwise a solid tip fibreglass rod (crystal powertip etc) will be tougher and last longer.
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maverick
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Re: Do my NSC setups look ok? And I need a heavy casting rod

Post by maverick »

I would leave the 2500 on the beach if you are planning on using it for Tuna. I landed a couple of Tuna (12 kg & 18kg) on the Sedona 4000, but upgraded the rod for the second one to a 6-8kg and it made the job easier, but reel worked hard and jumped gears a couple of times. The biggest Tuna I didn't land, I guess 25kg, made tough work on the Penn 8000 and a 10 -12 kg stick. Sitting down to fight a fish makes it harder than standing up with a gimble, as well.
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Reeling
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Re: Do my NSC setups look ok? And I need a heavy casting rod

Post by Reeling »

Thanks for the replies both. The two guys I've been watching vids of on youtube haha ;)

Shane, regarding my current heavy rods being a bit light, I was thinking this may be the case, but was also hoping that the rod I lost 6" off the tip may be OK. I just got home and double checked and its actually a 6-12kg rod - which is now 6" shorter and therefor a bit "heavier". Thanks for the link and the advice about a crystal powertip.

Mav, the only reason for the light setup I was only going to be onboard for bait collection purposes - squid, slimeys etc. The medium setup for salmon/snapper etc. Then my two current heavy setups and the Salt (with a new rod) for kings/Tuna if I were lucky.
Tuna 20.5kg ---KingFish 90cm --- Snapper 84cm --- Gummy 83cm (55cm legal) ---- Whiting 40cm --- Silver Trevelly 41cm --- Flathead 52cm --- Aussie Salmon 38cm --- Squid 34cm hood

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Re: Do my NSC setups look ok? And I need a heavy casting rod

Post by Fish Grylls »

I would favour rods not too long with high end grunt. Last year I hooked up to a tuna which took me 45 minutes to bring to the surface and then 15 minutes watching it do circles on the surface. I did not feel I was winning the fight when the 30lb leader wore through. Back at the camp I took the reel (spheros 10000) on a shorter high action composite stick rated at 10 - 15. The tuna hooked up the next day took less than 20 minutes to bring onto the kayak using the spheros/bushy kingy stick in comparison.
Better to go a bit heavier on the rod.
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