Good Evening,

I am new to this board and would like to hear your thoughts on the following. I fish in an area about 60 miles due west of Key West called the Dry Tortugas. We mostly bottom fish in 100-200 feet of water and I am looking to purchase a conventional reel that will handle 50 lb ANDE monofilament. I have been considering the AVET 5/2 and the new John Baker offerings. Let me know what your thoughts are on each reel and which one you would purchase considering the need.

Thanks
Mac

avets are great reels, but i dont own any.


if you aks me ,,,, penn

I think the Avet HX with 5/2 gears is a great reel. However, I wonder whether it is appropriate for the kind of fishing you are planning. The issue is this: With a high gear of 5.4 to 1, you'd have speed but little power so it would be a chore to crank of 2 or 3 pounds of lead which you might need to do if you are fishing 200 feet deep in current. The low gear, 2.4 to 1, has lots of power, but no speed at all. That said, if you rarely fish with more than a pound of lead, the HX would be great. I say all this because I would love to use an HX for hlaibut up here in Alaska but the gear ratio just doesn't work.

What kind of fish you fishing for? Avet makes several fine reels and unless you are fishing for something that is going to try to rock you you may not necessarily need a 2 speed reel. There are 2 speed reels which have lower gearing than some others and although it isn't a 2 speed you may want to check out the Penn Baja special. Good luck in your search and I'm sure you'll find something to suit your needs as there are PLENTY of quality of fine reels on the market these days. I know it's a daunting task deciding which to lay out your prescious dinero for. Tight lines!

I echo the Baja Special recommendation. It is plenty of reel for most of the halibut we catch up here and has what I think to be a good bottom fishng gear ratio. Plus the Charkster is selling them for an unbelievable price. Get one and fill it with 65# spectra and you'll be all set.

Tim, I love fishing in and around Key West. We try to make it down there every couple of years. Nothing better. I have been to the Tortugas once.

I live in TN but I own three Avets. I love them. I think the JX two speed is just what the doctor ordered for you. Being able to punch it into low gear will help pull those groupers out of their holes. These reels are rock solid.

Thanks Guys, I appreciate all your comments. I still haven't made a decision yet but I am getting closer.

I fish for and have caught Mutton Snapper to 23 pounds and have seen them in excess of 25 pounds but not as an every trip occurence. I also target the Grouper family of fish catching Red Grouper to 15 pounds and other larger species of Grouper to 45-50 pounds. I am targeting a reel that can lay on at least 25 pounds of drag fishing 50 pound monofilament. I know the ratio of drag to line is a little excessive but I either get their heads turned in that small but crucial pick up time span or they rock me up and game over. The smaller Baker reel is very appealing in that less is more as far as I am concerned. It has only three or four main pieces that look fairly indestructable with some smaller subassemblies that also appear to be very well crafted.

I am going to call this reel "Einstein" because one of his more memorable quotes says something like "Build it as simple as possible and no less" which the concept behind this reel appears to follow.

Hi Tim,

I live in Tampa and make that same trip out to the Tortugas several times a year on the Yankee Capt's. The challenge we have out there is that you have to "win the fight" in the first 10-15 seconds or the fish will tie you up in structure. The Muttons will wrap you around fan coral and the grouper will "rock" you.

Star drag reels are preferred (not the only answer, just preferred) because you can lock the drag down and still maintain free spool -- essential for mutton snapper, where you put the bait on the bottom and keep the reel in free spool to feed the bait to the snapper.

I fish 30 40 and 50 lb on these trips. My reels are as follows:

30lb: Daiwa Saltist 40 (6.4-1) on a Seeker WC 670. This is my Yellowtail Snapper and general light rod. I have a standard Penn 113H as my back up.

40lb: Penn 113H with a Tiburon topless frame and Accurate 4.0 gears. This year I'll be bringing an Accurate 870 to do this, but the Penn will be in my reel bag as my all-around back-up.

50lbs: Penn 113HN "Baja Special" with 50lb mono backed with 80lb braid. My back-up here is a Shimano TLD 20II that I've "cleaned up".

As you can see, there's only one lever drag in the mix. An Avet LX 2-speed will work (I have a friend you uses them for 40 and 50), but they're inherently harder to use since you have to get the lever from "0-60" almost instantly and you loose free spool when you max out the drag. Other reels that are popular are:

Daiswa's Saltiga 50, and Sealine 400/450

Newell 533 (4.6-1)

Shimano Trinidad and Torium 30 & 40 (TN only)

Feel free to PM me with questions. The Baker Reel looks neat -- buy out in the Tortugas you're a long way from servicing!

Tom

Just a thought......if you like Ande (And I do) what about a Torque 200 full of Ande 80 braid with a 40 lb. mono topshot? Star drag, bulletproof, and smaller and more comfortable?

quote:

Originally posted by Tim:

quote:

Originally posted by Tim:
TGriff,

Thanks for the post. I am glad I found another Florida boy on this forum. It makes talking fishing easier when everyone has experienced first hand what Gulf fishing is all about. You have quite the arsenal. I fish a little simpler in that I use 12 or 20 pound test to flat line for Yellow Tail snapper when the conditions are proper. I bought a CHARKBAIT Avet LX (low speed) thinking it would be a good choice for bottom fishing but after I spooled it with 50 pound I started thinking I might be pushing the reel a little out of its league. So I started looking around for something a little beefier. I called the CHARKBAIT technical assistance office to inquire about the Baker model 4 reel and left that call feeling that this reel will be a great 50 pound bottom rig. It has been fished/evaluated quite extensively by CHARKBAIT employees who have taken Yellow Fin tuna and other large hard fighting fish with it. They actually tried to do all they could to "Break" it and it simply took all they threw at it without protest. I have high hopes for this reel should I go that route. I only wish it was available in dull old black. Just my preference. I am trying to schedule another Tortugas run in November on either the Yankee Fleet, Fishfinder or the Andy Fleet. Guess I'll take a look at some of the other suggested reels prior to making the call.

Agate,

Using Braid, Spiderwire, etc on some of these boats is strictly forbidden. I guess the mates have some issues when they are trying to un-hang those trapped on the bottom or when dealing with Bird Nest tangles.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tim,

sorry, didn't know.You have a lot of very good advice from this post, however, so I'm confident that you will find what's best. Tight lines!

Banning Spectra on the charter boats is a mistake.

quote:

Originally posted by Keta:
Banning Spectra on the charter boats is a mistake.

The problem with braid/spectra is the type of fishing that's done here in FL on our "long-range" boats: it's primarily bottom fishing using 4-8oz of weight, though sometimes up to 16oz when the current is running hard. There is little or no "flylining" of live bait on these trips.

If you have a mix of folks using both braid and mono, you end up with diffrent "sink-rates" and the anglers using mono will sink slower and drift into folks using braid -- nice mess.

The other situation is that when one guy catches a fish and is bringing it up, he runs against someone's rig with mono and cuts him off or tangles up with him or 2-3 other anglers -- again a mess.

How do the west coast long-range boats avoid or deal with tangles?

Tom

Part of it is surface fishing, to be sure, but the average Pacific long-range boat is over 85 ft. long and fishes 24-28. If you truly fish 48 people on that boat, no wonder you have tangles!

My recomendation would be for the Penn 113HN aka Baja Special.

I use one up here in Northern California for fishing Pacific Halibut and big Ling Cod the butts are fished from 150 to 500 feet of water and the Lings up to 180. The reel was loaded with 80 Power Pro and I've since dropped to 65#.

It has operated flawlessly for me so unless you are thinking of a 2 speed go with the 113HN you won't be sorry.