Heavy spinning rod and reel

[Craig]

Hi all, abit of an odd question.....

I'm after a heavy spinning rod and reel for drifting for pollack (wrecks and reef) and wrasse over reefs. Will be mainly on the south coast, maybe north Wales too.

Ideally I'd like a slim handle on the rod and a metal body fixed spool reel.
Weights will be upto maybe 12Oz.

My current setup is a Penn squadron 2 20-50g spinning rod and a Quantum Throttle 50 fixed spool with 30lb chinese braid.
It's amazing fun with this setup but the rod struggles with anything over 6-8oz and as much as I love using this rod and reel, I know I'm pushing it with those weights.

All ideas welcome.

 

[Flipper]

Not sure on the weights, but, if you can track one down the conoflex assassin in 10ft might do it. Designed to cast 2oz from the shore, it would probably fish the lead’s you want under vertical condition, although it might lose some fun factor. Is a decent 12lb boat rod not a better option?

 

[Thrasher]

Maybe find John S Locker on You Tube, I am sure he will have done something on his boat tackle some of which is fixed spool gear for his boat fishing videos.
I think I watched one this week and he was catching blue shark with fixed spools?

 

[ever optimistic]

as flipper suggests a light boat rod but change the first two rings to match a fixed spool.

 

[Craig]

Thanks for the help.
I have looked at lighter boat rods in the past but they usually have a thicker handle on them compared to spinning rods and I need a thinner handle due to problems with my wrist and holding the rod for prolonged periods when drifting.

Does anyone have any particular recommendations for a good quality rod with a thinner handle? 12lb boat or heavy spinning? As I haven't been able to get to any fishing shops lately to have a look and the only one I use that has a good selection of rods is the other side of the country.

Thanks for mentioning John S Locker, I'm actually subscribed to his chanel and have a very similar setup (slightly lighter rod) for blues. I use Cabo 80s for all my rock/beach fishing anyway, but theyre abit heavy to drift with. I tried it in Sept out of penzance and it's not as nice as my smaller 50 size reel to hold for any duration.
I hadnt actually thought much about that rod for drifting, it's a trough action, fixed spool rod and about 8ft so may well do the job perfextly, I'll have a play with some heavier leads on it when I get a chance and see how it handles them. Thanks for reminding me what I already have and maybe saving me a few pounds in the long run.

Any other suggestions are more than welcome as I'm currently going lighter with alot of my boat gear to make it more fun so will be after an uptider when I find the right one.
I like fast action rods normally and usually prefer a j curve over a through action rod. But again, thinner is better and I'm also going smaller and lighter with my reels as I've switched to braid and can hold more than enough lone for any fish in our waters on a 50-60 sized reel.

 

[Tournamag]

Hi all, abit of an odd question.....

I'm after a heavy spinning rod and reel for drifting for pollack (wrecks and reef) and wrasse over reefs. Will be mainly on the south coast, maybe north Wales too.

Ideally I'd like a slim handle on the rod and a metal body fixed spool reel.
Weights will be upto maybe 12Oz.

My current setup is a Penn squadron 2 20-50g spinning rod and a Quantum Throttle 50 fixed spool with 30lb chinese braid.
It's amazing fun with this setup but the rod struggles with anything over 6-8oz and as much as I love using this rod and reel, I know I'm pushing it with those weights.

All ideas welcome.

Decent uptider will do the job ive a Shimano Twin power 4-10 which used for that when was over in ireland either gills/shads or lures also was right out in channel off Newhaven .
Go with decent braid 8 strand or 9 Like Daiwa J braid etcaround .25'ish? And the better higher strand braids catch far less tide flow than 4 strand esp if loose woven and avoid braid if not rounded as some come up more flat which not only has poor abrasion resistance but flaps about in the tide and twists also.
Rods like the Twinpower and Daiwa CWU/TDU have more progressive tips that flow far better which for uptiding don't bump lead out and for fishing with braid are what you want as absorbs lunges so don't get hook pulls/snaps.
When was red gilling used my Shimano TLD5 lever drag with 20lb braid or Shimano speedmaster 11CFS had that with 20lb braid casting sabikis with my ZZiplex bass rod works well.

Not sure why you need Two house bricks and the kitchen sink on the end? most i ever used was 5-6oz with those set ups in 200ft odd of water out in shipping channel as if going over 8oz might as well go back to the old boat fishing style!
Only time used heavy was up out of Whitby Pirking which is just brutal fishing and have so many around you so have to keep lines right!

But if want to stick with a lure rod want the Bluewater types

 

[Craig]

Thanks for the reply tournamag, you've hit the nail on the head! In hate fishing heavy weights and only do so as we usually have 8 of us on the boat and I then need to use what everyone else is to avoid tangles. But like you said, I'm going to try some thinner braid and lighter leads this year as it is the line that catches the water and requires the heavy leads. Plus it's no fun fishing 10-12oz of lead when some of the fish are only a pound or two, you barely know they're on the end.

 

[Tournamag]

Thanks for the reply tournamag, you've hit the nail on the head! In hate fishing heavy weights and only do so as we usually have 8 of us on the boat and I then need to use what everyone else is to avoid tangles. But like you said, I'm going to try some thinner braid and lighter leads this year as it is the line that catches the water and requires the heavy leads. Plus it's no fun fishing 10-12oz of lead when some of the fish are only a pound or two, you barely know they're on the end.

If you get to end of boat thats facing down tide you can fish lighter and bounce lead well away from boat i used to trundle it down tide.
Fat line was the issue all had years back with mono! Agricultural equipment!