Hey all
Been a while since I have posted here, I am however looking at posts daily. ;)
I live in the Great White North in Canada's Arctic but have started planning for retirement and have decided I will take my leave from the frozen barrens in the NWT when retirement time finally comes.
The plan is to change it up and move to Panama to chase salty fish and as such will need a ton of new gear (YAY!!!!). I am looking for input on which blanks are recommended for both 50# and 30# stand up trolling rods for off shore trolling in the Eastern Pacific for tunas, sailfish and marlin. I would like to know your thoughts on length, brand, model etc as well as when to use straight VS bent butt handles.

I'm currently thinking of using short straight butts on the 30# and short bent butts on the 50# sticks.
Does this sound like a successful plan?

I find it pretty exciting learning a completely new genre of fishing, other than all of the $$$$$ it's going to cost to get all the new gear put together. ;)


Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

I would start small and slow. Many of the fish can be caught on lighter gear. East coast sailfish aren't quite as big but close. People are now using 12# spinning gear and 20# spinning gear has been catching them for decades (in my waters).

So I'd concentrate of the lighter end of my gear first. 15-30# class will probably see the most use. Within that range I'd want spinning outfits in at least 15 and 20, with 200- 250+ yard line capacity. I'd want good casting revolving spool reels in the same line classes (and maybe 30# too). A little more line capacity than the spinning reels would be good, 250-350+ yards or so. I'd want both lever drag and star drag reels in 20 and 30# class. Here I'd be looking at 350+ yards on the smaller star drags and upwards of 650 yards on largest lever drag reels.

All the above is mono line capacity. Buy the right reels and, with an extra spool loaded with braid, you can cover a lot of ground. Be advised braid isn't safe for trolling (IMHO). I'd buy spin jig rods for spinning outfits and composite live bait rods for the others. Names like St. Croix, Lamiglass, Batson/Rainshadow, Calstar, and Seeker come to mind.

You would be surprised what a skilled angler, captain, and mate can bring to gaff with 650 yards of 30# mono on a good lever drag reel. It is much more of a team effort than other types of fishing. Many salt water fish like to fight and jump near the surface so you can follow them. Personally I wouldn't want the weight of a uni-butt for 30# nor would I use roller guides.

Once you are in place, and get a handle for just how often the "big ones" happen, you can decide of the 50, 80, or 130# class outfits. If you are anything like me you might find trolling boring and perfer using live bait and sight casting to fish you see/find. You would also do well to grab a rod and see what amount of drag you can actually fish. It isn't so much that a guy can't fish 30#'s of drag as much as he is painfully aware that if the line broke he'd fly backwards head over heels....and it is a long walk to the nearest doctor out there! Buy a good spring scale and find out where your line and knots break. Set the reel's drag at home and avoid touching it on the water. Use the spring scale to learn how to judge what 25, 33, 50, and 100% of the lines breaking strenght is and apply extra drag when needed with thumb/hand.

P.S. Get a great harness and a lighter fighting belt. Learn and practice knots. Good rigging is a progressive system like bimini twist on main 20# line to blood knotted 40# shock leader long enough to have a couple of wraps on spool whan fish is at gaff, to improved clinch knot on a swivel attached to final leader with crimp or haywire twist. Get good crimping pliers, sleeves, and leader material. Learning to catch and rig bait is perhaps the biggest key. Once I stopped buying bait I started doing much better. Still, getting good at knots and especially developing a touch for how much pressure one can put on a fish, at the right times to do so, is a close second.

Oh, don't underestimate sun/temperature/hydration. Gator-aide is great stuff. So are shirts that breath and prevent sunburn. Ditto on a good hat. Polarized sunglasses are a must. A 60# tuna on 20# spinning gear can give you the toughest two hour battle you ever had and heat stroke could be the outcome if ill preparded. And don't fish alone, have proper safety gear, radio, navagation stuff, learn to dead reckoning and file a "flight plan" with friends/family.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Thanks for the response Russ.
A lot of what you wrote I have already thought about. Especially the hydration thing.
I always drink a ton when fishing in the tropics. I also have a full compliment of micro fiber shirts, shorts and buffs to go along with some good hats.
I also have a drawer full of good quality polarized glasses from Smith, Ray Ban, Haber and of course Costa. :)
I will also be putting a misting system in what ever boat I purchase for use down there.

The off shore gear will be for fishing Hannibal Banks which is less than a two hour boat ride from port.
Yellowfin tuna average 50-70#'s there and when the big fish are in in the summer they can reach up to 400#'s.
The tunas can be caught trolling, jigging and on large surface poppers there.
It is one of the most productive marlin spots on the planet as well with striped, blue and lots of big black marlin to about 800#'s or so.
Probably the number one way to take the marlin is slow trolling with 5-10# tuna and bonita.

Closer to shore there are groupers, AJ, Rooster fish and giant Cuberra Snapper.
The snappers, AJ's and groupers all require heavy equipment in order to keep them out of the of the volcanic rocks and tunnels.
65-80# braid on heavy, fast action rods (spinning and conventional) are needed.

For a harness I really like the Braid Power Play harness matched with their belt.

I don't even know if you can buy bait where I want to move to, so had always figured on getting my own.
Ii always have all the right gear on board all of my boats and have been navigating big water for many years. Not ocean big but top 10 in the world sized lakes. I live on #10 and guided on #8 for 15 years.
I've also fished #2, #4, #5, #11, #12 and lucky #13. ;)

Looking forward to the preparation on my way to retirement.



The roosters can be taken with 20-30# gear as they are more out in the open.

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

Sorry nobody else has responded. Also sorry I didn't ask your experience level before my long reply covering the basics. Still it would help to know if you have fished stand up tackle with both straight and bent butts, in these waters, for these fish.

If you ask around you will find it is a matter of opinion. Must would agree you can apply more pressure with a bent butt. However depending on height/build and gunnel height you can lever the butt out of the fighting harness when a fish heads straight down. In short it "all depends".

Myself I'd save the bent butt for the chair. Of course you can buy something with the option to switch butts as desired. Sounds wise as then rods could do double duty. Also think I'd want something different for those fish that sound deep like tuna vs those that go sideways on top of water column like sails.

For the chair I'd look at Calstar and Seeker first. Those would be at the top of the list for stand up too.....but I'd also look at names like black hole and phenix. If anything there are too many good choices today. I kinda favor glass for real tough fish that beat you up but readily admit a lot of my stuff is composite these days.

Best of luck and I envy you!

Russ in Hollywood, FL.