OT- Deep Sea Fishing

Brason

Just curious. Who else on here is a fisherman? I love it but just getting into it. I have gear questions for those that are more experienced than I am.

Gulfcoastguy

I used to do it 15 years ago but I never went more than 15 miles off shore. Keeping up a boat was to expensive for how much I used it . So I sold it and rolled the cash over into a house. 

kl8ton

@Sea2Ski can help! 

You just started an expensive endeavor. 

Brason

@kl8ton More expensive than BBQ? I live on the coast. I can get on boats mid week for pretty inexpensive. Am I kidding myself? I thing the cost of entry is fairly low. 

PoppasGrill

Gulfcoastguy said:

I used to do it 15 years ago but I never went more than 15 miles off shore. Keeping up a boat was to expensive for how much I used it . So I sold it and rolled the cash over into a house. 

I’m with you on this one, I spent five years making payments on my boat that I had less than 250 hours on. Sold the boat, and the tackle, paid for charter trip once a year.
Still love to fish, just found myself working to pay for boat, tackle, and accessories with no time to use it more than once a month.

Sea2Ski

@Brason it all depends on what you are looking to do. As with all hobbies, it depends if you are going to be the occasional participant, or going to go “all in” and have it partly define who you are.

Sounds like you might be getting on head boats or friends boats?  Offshore or inshore? Trolling or bottom fishing. 

Can you expand upon upon what your interests and thoughts are? 

Jupiter Jim

I have been fishing since a little boy, started with Dad & Grandpa fresh and salt water. Mom and Dad moved the family to West Palm Beach FL from Ohio when I was 6 months old, October of 1956. I have had 6 different boats from 12' to 28' currently have a 16' pontoon boat in Okeechobee FL. Every penny I have spent on fishing was worth it.......................... Offshore and salt water fishing is the best hands down but any fishing is a joy for the wife and I. Most of my fishing is now Speck fishing on Lake Okeechobee and Trout fishing in the creeks and streams of NC. I'm also a 100 % catch and release fisherman! I always let the fish go either in the water or the cooler!  Just in case you don't know definition BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand!

I say go for it, and Tight Lines Captain Jim

Little Steven

Jupiter Jim said:

I have been fishing since a little boy, started with Dad & Grandpa fresh and salt water. Mom and Dad moved the family to West Palm Beach FL from Ohio when I was 6 months old, October of 1956. I have had 6 different boats from 12' to 28' currently have a 16' pontoon boat in Okeechobee FL. Every penny I have spent on fishing was worth it.......................... Offshore and salt water fishing is the best hands down but any fishing is a joy for the wife and I. Most of my fishing is now Speck fishing on Lake Okeechobee and Trout fishing in the creeks and streams of NC. I'm also a 100 % catch and release fisherman! I always let the fish go either in the water or the cooler!  Just in case you don't know definition BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand!

I say go for it, and Tight Lines Captain Jim

Damn! I thought you were older than me. I once had a 32" sportfish on Lake Ontario with electric downriggers, tackle, fuel, maintenance and dockage. When I worked out the net cost I was about $354.00 Cdn. a pound for fish you couldn't eat. Was it worth it?  Hell yes!!!!

milesvdustin

@Little Steven why couldn't you eat the fish?

Spaightlabs

Guessing Mercury and/or PCBs

Little Steven

milesvdustin said:

@Little Steven why couldn't you eat the fish?

What @Spaightlabs said. They were gonna pave Lake Ontario at that time. Nice and clean now though.

GrateEggspectations

Not a fisherman by any stretch but am going fishing on the Pacific in Costa Rica about 25 miles out later this week. 

Brason

@Sea2Ski
I am getting on friends boats and sport fishing boats. I am mostly fishing for yellow tail and blue fin in the summer and bottom fishing in the winter. I am not considering getting a boat. Just some tackle. Mostly looking at getting some good used gear right now. Looking at the penn fathom line of reels. I have a few 7' rods and a 6' rod.

Brason

I got out, all saltwater, mostly full day boats with a 1.5-2.5 day boat thrown in. I try to get out 7-15 times a year.

Jupiter Jim

Little Steven said:

Jupiter Jim said:

I have been fishing since a little boy, started with Dad & Grandpa fresh and salt water. Mom and Dad moved the family to West Palm Beach FL from Ohio when I was 6 months old, October of 1956. I have had 6 different boats from 12' to 28' currently have a 16' pontoon boat in Okeechobee FL. Every penny I have spent on fishing was worth it.......................... Offshore and salt water fishing is the best hands down but any fishing is a joy for the wife and I. Most of my fishing is now Speck fishing on Lake Okeechobee and Trout fishing in the creeks and streams of NC. I'm also a 100 % catch and release fisherman! I always let the fish go either in the water or the cooler!  Just in case you don't know definition BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand!

I say go for it, and Tight Lines Captain Jim

Damn! I thought you were older than me. I once had a 32" sportfish on Lake Ontario with electric downriggers, tackle, fuel, maintenance and dockage. When I worked out the net cost I was about $354.00 Cdn. a pound for fish you couldn't eat. Was it worth it?  Hell yes!!!!

Your so right about the cost per pound! when people found out I had a boat and in fact caught a lot of fish the comment was usually wow you get free seafood. I usually just smiled.

r8rs4lf

Brason said:

@Sea2Ski
I am getting on friends boats and sport fishing boats. I am mostly fishing for yellow tail and blue fin in the summer and bottom fishing in the winter. I am not considering getting a boat. Just some tackle. Mostly looking at getting some good used gear right now. Looking at the penn fathom line of reels. I have a few 7' rods and a 6' rod.

The fathom line is great for the money. If I didn’t have so many Newells, I might consider one. I am looking to buy a Penn VISX this year for one of my United Composite rods. 

Are you in SoCal? It sure sounds like it. I do the same via party boats. Going down to Oxnard on Friday for an overnight for rockfish and lingcod on the Pacific Islander. 

DoubleEgger

I like the Avet reels... 

Sea2Ski

Not sure about So Cal fishing - never did it, so I do not think I am the best person to make recommendations. We do mostly trolling and chunking for tuna up here, and we will occasionally jig. I think you do a lot of jigging out there. Again, not sure....

With that being said, not having a boat allows you to spend a bit more with the equipment should you choose. For bluefin, I believe you guys get consistently larger fish 100-300 lbs, but I do not believe you get the giants. For these fish, go with reputable reels with notoriously stable drags. Fin-nor, Penn etc... We have several Penn internationals for blue marlin trolling setups and swordfish. For other rods, we have mostly Shaminos: Thunnus and Saragosa spinning reels for casting and popping, and TLDs (single and 2-speeds) for trolling and smaller tuna.  If going for the smaller fish (tuna up to 50 lbs) avets reels are great for the money. For rods on the headboats, I think I would go with the Black holes. I believe they are all still standup models and put the hurting to big fish. Freaking tough rods, and fantastic for jigging.  Not cheap, but neither are your trips. Give them a call, great guys to deal with. Otherwise, check out some custom rod builders in that area. You might be surprised at how inexpensive you can get a custom rod in the length and action you want and feel most comfortable with. This is what we ended up doing. The measurements for fit are perfect for my short "t-rex" arms. Most rods have a butt length that is not comfortable for me when fighting a larger fish for an extended time, and I am talking 45 mins - 1 hour plus. But usually we can move the boat to the fish; on a headboat I am not sure they will chase fish. You want a rod you will be very comfortable with when fighting a fish for a long time. Holding it for 5 minutes is nothing. Get something that fits you right, and you will be happy the fist time you settle in for a long fight.

Before spooling up, check with your headboats regarding braid. Some do not allow braided lines on their trips because of the mess when a tangles occur - then you can not use your own equipment. Double check before signing up on a trip, or plan accordingly by having a backup reel without braid.

Just a few thoughts for you...

TideEggHead

As if living the BGE life isn’t expensive enough, welcome to another endless money pit! I mostly bass fish and fish inshore but I do love getting offshore when I can. In my experience with fishing gear, you get what you pay for. Also, I’m a big proponent of letting friends have the boats. Sounds like you’ve figured that out too haha. I’m a fan of shimano spinning reels.

JethroVA

Penn or Shimano reels.  I have no experience with any others.  The old Penns never die if you give them a little love. 

Brason

@r8rs4lf
Yes I live in Orange County. I like to go out anywhere from SD to Chanel Islands. It just depends on who I'm going with and what we are going for.

NPHuskerFL

@fusionhq

r8rs4lf

Brason said:

@r8rs4lf
Yes I live in Orange County. I like to go out anywhere from SD to Chanel Islands. It just depends on who I'm going with and what we are going for.

I just purchased a UC 76 Predator today. Going to be my 60# stick. I'd like to put an Accurate Valiant 2 speed 600N on it because of the light weight, but I'm still waiting for some reports from the long range guys on this reel since it doesn't have dogs. That AR and no dogs worries me. So for now, I'll just put my 600 2 speed Dauntless on it.

SteveWPBFL

We do, when possible, offshore at the sailfish capital of the world, Stuart, FL, where even I can catch them!

fishlessman

i dont know how you can offshore fish with one reel   offshore on my boat i bring a penn senetor 10/0, a diawa gold sealine 30(looks like a penn international gold series, never seen another one)  a finnor tycoon 12 lever drag, 2 finnor ahabs spinning, a seamaster mark 2 dual mode for 10 wt fly, and an ari t hart s3 set for 13 wt. i have more but thats what i bring for a typical day. prefer the spinning reels for everyday casting and would set them up with braid nowadays, they have mono on them right now. i jig and troll mostly with the little finnor tycoon, backing is thin braid but its topped off with old school dacron for deep jigging. have cast flies with the seamaster at fish bigger than the boat, my boats 19 feet. have had giant blufins and makos literally tow the boat around, none of my tackle is big enough for that. 

YEMTrey

Have family that live in La Mirada.  One of my cousins fishes out of San Diego with this outfit: http://www.excelsportfishing.com/

YEMTrey

RockyTopDW

I’m landlocked in knoxville, tn.  I bass fish a few times a week and fish a weekly tournament here.  I get to the coast a few times a year for the salty stuff.  I checked a bucket list item off a few years ago with a big tarpon.  I  went to the chandeleur islands this past summer with 8 buddy’s and a charter.  We stayed there for 2 nights.  The best morning we had was 57 specks & reds in 3 hours. All on top water.  Only 6 of us were catching them.  I’m going back next year!  I got a replica of the tarpon.  It was 107lbs.