Spanish Mackerel Trolling Gear Help
Saltwater
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EI;
do a search on spanish macherel trolling or look up some of my post and threads. We have had some in depth discussions on this subject on this site.
To start with I use Shimano TLD 15 reels on 7' Star Live bait rods or 7' med/light action spinning rods with 5000 and 8000 series spinning reels such as Shimano and penn.
as for tackle use clark spoons in 00, 0 sizes in silver and gold, yozuri deep divers, mackerel tree rigs by strike king, etc.
I hope this gets you started. As I have said there is a world of info. on this site about this very subject.
do a search on spanish macherel trolling or look up some of my post and threads. We have had some in depth discussions on this subject on this site.
To start with I use Shimano TLD 15 reels on 7' Star Live bait rods or 7' med/light action spinning rods with 5000 and 8000 series spinning reels such as Shimano and penn.
as for tackle use clark spoons in 00, 0 sizes in silver and gold, yozuri deep divers, mackerel tree rigs by strike king, etc.
I hope this gets you started. As I have said there is a world of info. on this site about this very subject.
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EI,
Well congrats on the new boat! You mentioned you want spanish outfits. The question is how much do you want to spend and are you wanting trolling or spinning outfits or both?
I'll tell you what I did and it didn't cost a lot of money.
I bought 2 okuma classic pro CL 202L brand new for around $30-35 ea. and put them on a pair of shakespeare sturdystiks that I bought at boaters world for around $20-25 ea. I use these for my levelwinds.
My spinning outfits are a pair of Diawa Sweepfire 4000 reels that I bought from Eastern Outfitters for a whopping $25.00 total (that's $12.50 each) and put them on a pair of shakespeare uglystiks model sp1101.
I have 10lb. cajun red line on all of them and I use the same lures that BT mentioned above. I usually pull a different lure on each rod until I see which is getting the most hits but if you pull clark spoons and yozuris you should do well providing the fish are biting that day.
You'll certainly want both trolling and casting outfits, just a matter of how many of each.
So in 4 outfits I have about $200.00
If you want to go higher$$$ then I can't help you there as this works for me. I've been using my cheap spinning reels for 2 years now and when they quit at that price I can just chunk them and buy a couple more.
Now when you go to set up for bigger game I upgrade the equipment but I still don't spend the high $$$. I found Okumas that work for kings for a price I really liked. Of course I do a lot of shopping on e-bay! But we can go through all that at a later date when you want to.
Here's a link to the place I bought my Okuma reels. As I said I have the 202's and I see he is now listing the 200's but the stats read the same so not sure what the difference is. It would be worth a phone call.
This gives you a few things to consider along with all the other information available and provided by others. Hope it helps and good luck with the catching.
OKUMA CL200L LEVELWIND TROLLING DOWNRIGGER FISHING REEL - eBay (item 390196016938 end time Jun-13-10 04:23:44 PDT)
Well congrats on the new boat! You mentioned you want spanish outfits. The question is how much do you want to spend and are you wanting trolling or spinning outfits or both?
I'll tell you what I did and it didn't cost a lot of money.
I bought 2 okuma classic pro CL 202L brand new for around $30-35 ea. and put them on a pair of shakespeare sturdystiks that I bought at boaters world for around $20-25 ea. I use these for my levelwinds.
My spinning outfits are a pair of Diawa Sweepfire 4000 reels that I bought from Eastern Outfitters for a whopping $25.00 total (that's $12.50 each) and put them on a pair of shakespeare uglystiks model sp1101.
I have 10lb. cajun red line on all of them and I use the same lures that BT mentioned above. I usually pull a different lure on each rod until I see which is getting the most hits but if you pull clark spoons and yozuris you should do well providing the fish are biting that day.
You'll certainly want both trolling and casting outfits, just a matter of how many of each.
So in 4 outfits I have about $200.00
If you want to go higher$$$ then I can't help you there as this works for me. I've been using my cheap spinning reels for 2 years now and when they quit at that price I can just chunk them and buy a couple more.
Now when you go to set up for bigger game I upgrade the equipment but I still don't spend the high $$$. I found Okumas that work for kings for a price I really liked. Of course I do a lot of shopping on e-bay! But we can go through all that at a later date when you want to.
Here's a link to the place I bought my Okuma reels. As I said I have the 202's and I see he is now listing the 200's but the stats read the same so not sure what the difference is. It would be worth a phone call.
This gives you a few things to consider along with all the other information available and provided by others. Hope it helps and good luck with the catching.
OKUMA CL200L LEVELWIND TROLLING DOWNRIGGER FISHING REEL - eBay (item 390196016938 end time Jun-13-10 04:23:44 PDT)
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EI angler, what kind of boat did you guys get?
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21 ft Carolina Skiff
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It's been years since I pulled for Spanish, so this might be a bit dated.
In addition to the Clark spoons I used to keep a few gold, size 12, Tony Accetta pet spoons on board. If the fish were finicky we could sometimes coax a bite by pulling a couple of those without any weight behind 10lb gear (Mitchell 300s on 7' medium action rods). The spoons would skip in and out of our wake, and I've watched the Spanish grab them in the air. We were normally using 30lb leader, but I'd tie these directly to the 10. Did get cut off a bit, and made sure to do a good inspection after every fish, but the thinner line seemed to produce better.
Another note, even though not nearly as sporting, the largest number of fish we caught were on Clarks about 30ft behind size 1 or 2 planers using hand lines.
BTW, congrats on the new skiff!
In addition to the Clark spoons I used to keep a few gold, size 12, Tony Accetta pet spoons on board. If the fish were finicky we could sometimes coax a bite by pulling a couple of those without any weight behind 10lb gear (Mitchell 300s on 7' medium action rods). The spoons would skip in and out of our wake, and I've watched the Spanish grab them in the air. We were normally using 30lb leader, but I'd tie these directly to the 10. Did get cut off a bit, and made sure to do a good inspection after every fish, but the thinner line seemed to produce better.
Another note, even though not nearly as sporting, the largest number of fish we caught were on Clarks about 30ft behind size 1 or 2 planers using hand lines.
BTW, congrats on the new skiff!
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I prefer light tackle for Spanish, on the order of the stuff Hunter's Haven mentioned. But I buy mid priced Shimano reels (around 100-120 bucks each) - I have had a pair of them for 15 years now and 3 or 4 others for close to 10 years as well as some newer ones, they cost more but I haven't thrown one away yet. I'd recommend you buy what brand and price point you are comfortable with but keep it light, its more fun in my opinion. On the other hand if you are on a tight budget or just want to keep the amount of gear down, go with the mid-strength tackle like 'Bout Time mentioned - then you can use it for Kings and mahi too.
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Great Welcome to the skiffers club
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