Fishing gear

[dandmtritt]

I'm in the process of buying a boat and I wanted to ask what you guys like for tackle. I'm in kodiak and will be trolling and halibut fishing so which rod and reel combos do you guys like? I have a couple penn senator reels for halibut but would like to get all set up before next summer for family visiting and for myself. I have no idea where to begin with the trolling stuff. The boat comes with electric down riggers but what poles and reels work best as well as line.

 

[BrownBear]

You might stop by Mack's and talk to Jesse, the manager. He boat fishes a lot and can let you handle different models while you're talking. He definitely knows his stuff.

As specifics on rods and reels, I'll have to go out to our boat and read off model numbers for you.

One thing for sure on Kodiak, especially with guests on the horizon:

You want lots of rod racks to stow extra rods and protect them from damage, because you'll likely end up fishing with several different types of rods over the course of the day. We have our boat set up to stow 15 rods! Yesterday we trolled with the downriggers, cast spoons with light spinning rods, jigged with light jig rods, then soaked hunk-o-bait with heavy rods and circle hooks. With four of us on board, that was 16 rods for the day. Some of that you can make do by using multipurpose rods, but at the least you'll need lighter trolling/mooching rods as well as rods that can double up for halibut jigging and hunk-o-bait soaking. Multiply by the number of folks fishing.

 

[Quiet Fisherman]

For trolling the okuma blue diamond rods coupled to okuma magda pro reels are my new favorite. Excellent value. About $110 bucks a setup. These could double as mooching and light jigging rods in the beginning. Spool it with mono backing to spectra to short mono top shot!
QF

 

[Dan in Alaska]

If I didn't fish Cook Inlet, where heavy sinkers are required, I would skip the heavy-duty stand-up rods altogether. I would run good 6'6" jigging rods (Seeker BCBW659H is my current favorite) for all bottom fishing - halibut, ling cod, and rock fish. And, I'd have a set of 8' or 8-1/2' trolling rods. I am currently running cheap Daiwa Wilderness rods. I'd like to upgrade to the Shimano Talora trolling rods (or Seeker equivalent) , but my cheap ones refuse to die.

I like Avet JX or LX reels on the jigging rods and Shimano TR-200's on the trolling rods, both with 80# braid.