brysky

hook through the eye socket out the back?

Hello, I've become a fishaholic as of late and quickly moved from a penn captiva 5000 on a M rod to a penn 950ssm on a MH rod but I am now thinking about getting the Avet Quad T-RX 30W for the bigger fishing. my current set up is a Penn 950SSM with 30lbs momoi's diamond line on a 6' MH shakesphere ugly stick. heading to the bait shop after work to maybe put 50lbs on it instead. I live in Sarasota, Florida which is on the gulf coast a bit south of Tampa. the only fishing I do is every weekend I go out on my friends 16ft jon boat and we hit up the "sarasota bay" which is a inlet since his girlfriend doesn't like big waves. But we have managed to go out in the gulf a few times trolling for grouper. Now with that said I am wondering if my current setup is enough (I am thinking it is from the advice friends have already given me) or should i go for this bad boy and not have a doubt in my mind about losing a fish and it gets on my hook. (yes i know a reel alone will not make me catch fish) Does anyone have this reel or has used it and can give me there insight on it? I am not worried about the $750 price tag. I just am tired of my line snapping on fish after long fights (yes i know it takes skill too, but this reel will surely help) anyways thanks in advance for the help, Bry

Thanks a lot, I was looking at the 30W

I am thinking about getting a Avet Quad T-RX 50w or 30w and a bigger rod and sell off my small 20lbs setup and go for gold, thanks for all the advice so far. if i were to get the avet, any ideas on a rod to match that?

thank you for the advice, i wanted to go back yesterday but it was stormy so we didn't want to take the boat out. someone else i was talking to mentioned maybe a bull shark... At least i know my knew fishing spot for early night time, guess i will set up a bigger rod and have it ready, and use a smaller one to catch a lady fish to use for bait as posted above... this should be fun, if i do end up catching my monster i will post pics. oh yeah, the snook in my avatar was caught at that bridge but put up a much less fight.

Tackle Used: Rod: Shakesphere "Ugly Stick" 6'6 MH (30-50lbs.) Reel: Penn 950 SSM (30Lbs./300yd.) 4.6:1 ratio Line: Momoi's Big Catch Diamond Line 30lbs test (clear) Hook: Gamakatsu 1/4 oz. round jighead Bait: Berkely "Gulp" 4" Natural Shrimp Knot: Uni knot for the jighead to the line Location: Sarasota, Florida under a bridge on a 16" ft johnboat. between 9:30-11:00pm est. 10-30 feet water depth, water temp in mid 60's Now my buddy and I have been fishing these bridges a few weeks now and were using a lesser setup and kept getting our line snapped when trying to reel in what we though were just snags... well we got tired of that so got something better. So last night we dropped his girlfriend and her brother off after a day of fishing in the bay and him and I went to our bridge spot. He and I are catching a bunch of lady fish between 8inch-2feet, but start to notice that they are jumping out of the water as if being chased themselves instead of chasing something. So I cast in just ahead of where I saw two jump and it was right in the pilings of the cent of the bridge for boat traffic. I let the line sink before starting to slowly reel with a slight jerk every couple turns, but as soon as I could turn the reel a second time I had a huge jerk on the line more then a lady fish so I thought I must have gotten snagged. Now the diamond line has a breaking strength of 56lbs I think. So I was thinking I would just try to unsnag before I would cut it. But my line was bending my rod and moving a bit and I knew then I was in for a fight. I fought it for about a hour and 15min give or take 5 min. I let the drag out at first pretty loose and then towards the end I tightened it, I knew it was a fish and not a piling because it was moving on me and when I was making headway on it bringing it up. Now it didn't move very much. after about a hour of fighting my friend mentioned he told his girlfriend we would be down and have the boat loaded and heading home by 10pm it was already 10:15pm so I start to try to rush myself and tighten the drag even more and reel the bad boy in. The line ended up snapping... I will never know how big or what it was, the only things I can think of is a channel cat or what I think it was, is a Jewfish. I was half tempted to have my buddy hold my pole and jump in and swim down my line while I was still fighting and find out what it was (bringing a knife with me) now I am guessing what I did wrong was that I tightened my drag to much and/or my line wasn't strong enough. Are there any tips you guys/gals have for bringing something like that in, I heard some people just let the fish sit for 15-30min so it relaxes again and then reel it in. I am not sure if I should just put like 50lbs. test on my reel instead even though the recommended max is 30lbs. It just pains me deeply that the line snapped. Any and all tips will be thankful even if it is bad or good, constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you, Bry

i rig them through the head with the jig head coming out the back so it looks as if it is swimming in the water when i reel and i reel kind of slow with 2 small jerks every 3-5 spins of the reel handle... ok any future questions i will just pm, thanks again

ok thanks a bunch, we will have to try that out this weekend when we go. will let you know how we do, also do you think the 950 with the MH ugly stick would be good for bridge fishing with maybe a 3 or 4 inch berkeley gulp shrimp "natural" on a 1/4 or 1/8 oz jig head be good or a bit over kill? i have been using the M 6'6 ugly stick with a penn 5000 captivia for bridge and using a 1/8oz with the 3inch gulp shrimp and catching anything from small lady fish to ok size snook. i know that there should be grouper or something larger in the pilings of bridges and stuff so not sure if the smaller rod can handle it. Also, we were thinking about renting a bigger boat, one with a cabin and gully so we can stay out for a week or two and go down to the keys in april or may for mahi mahi, marlin and sailfish or drive down and rent a boat once there, we don't want to stay in a hotel, rather just go and stay on the water... any suggestions on a type of boat we should be looking for?

from what i have been reading on different sites is that you can troll at about 4-5 knots around the reefs and it should lure a grouper out... what is the difference between trolling and drifting? for king fish don't you have to go out pretty far? we are in a 16 foot john boat with 2 12 gallon tanks, not sure how far out we can go.

Thanks again, I went to a local fishing store to get line put on, and talked to the owner about stuff. he put 30lbs diamond line on the 950 he also suggested i get these "magnum stretch 30+" trolling lures for grouper and king fish. So I guess I will have to give those a try... I am just unsure what to look for to find where those type of fish are, going to try around the artificial reefs and such i guess. thanks again for the help

thanks a bunch, I put that line on while out on the boat since I was having problems with it prior. I have really become addicted to fishing more then ever these past months since my best buddy bought a boat and him and I have been going every weekend. with the 950 I am thinking about using a 30lbs big game or trilene from berkeley with a 50 or 60 lbs leader of berkeley vanish... I have been reading a bunch of forums and such but can't find anything to local around my area, would love to know some of the killer big"er" game spots since we can't go to far out for anything amazing like king fish in his 16 foot jon boat.

thank you guys for the quick replies, I was just worried since I bought it from a company on Ebay. Will bring it to a bait shop later today. I got it to match my medium heavy Ugly Stick, I live in Sarasota Florida which is on the gulf coast a bit south of Tampa Bay. So I have a small 6'6 Medium ugly stick with a penn 5000 captivia for smaller fish, caught this snook pictured below with it, but I want to go out in the gulf more and catch bigger stuff. I used 20 lb spider wire with a 40 lb berkly vanish leader at the time, but the spider wire kept leaving me with bird nests so i took it off completely.

Hello, I am sorry that this has to be my first post on this forum, but i recently purchased a Penn 950ssm and it arrived today. I am concerned that it was damage and unsure of how it is supposed to look when it comes out of the package. I wouldn't really say it was factory sealed since the only thing that kept the box closed was a small clear circle sticker. now down to my problem, on the reel handle assembly it looks as if it is loose and not on correctly and that the handle is itself is not on right either. here are a few pictures of what i mean, in the first you can see the gap between the base and the handle assembly itself and the second, the handle. Is this the way it is supposed to come or is it broken and I should contact the company I got it from, I am sorry for the question but I am new at the "bigger" fishing thing and used to smaller reels and such. Thank you in advance.