rods and reels for the top end??

[coucho]

Hello to all the tackle rats out there.
Me an a couple of mates are heading up to Cape York later this year with intentions of chasing barra, queenies jacks etc in the creek and mackerel GT’s and queenies off shore and I am looking for some advice on reels and rods to take along.

I have sort of narrowed it down to three out fits I want to take

One will be a baitcast combo used primarily for throwing hard bodies around the snags and when I come home it will be used most likely as a plastic rod for snapper
I have narrowed the rods down to either
1. a pen pinpoint tournament 5’6” 8kg or 10kg
2. a berkely drop shot 6’2” 4-8 kg
3. a shimano raider barra mauler 5-8kg
Or 4. starlo stix tournament flatcast 4-8 kg
Any thoughts on any of these or other good rods below $150-200 would be most welcome
This I thought I would like to match to either
Diawa saltist Hard Rock Fish
Diawa bayard (for the extra line cap)
Diawa tierra
diawa team advanatge
or
shimano curado
or calcutta
Will most likely run 30lb braid while up north with 60lb leader and drop back to twenty for snapper when I come home. Again any comments welcome

Next outfit will be a spin outfit for lighter plastics on the flats targeting queenies and the like this is where I start to get really unsure of what I am looking for. Again, when at home this rod will likely be used for snapper and will want to cast fairly light jig heads
What I am thinking is
1.Shimano raider Barra spin 5-10 kg
2.starlo stix mid spin 3-6 kg
3.diawa tierra 7’ 2pce 8-14lb med action
Or penn pinpoint 3-6 kg
The big question here for me is would these (apart from No.1) handle 30lb braid and 60lb leader with a rampaging GT or queenie on the end or are they simply too light???
Also what reel should I put on it
I am thinking either
Shinmano stradic either 4000 or 5000
Diawa exceler (can someone explain the difference between the plus and the da)4000
Any thoughts on other spin around the 200 mark? And would these handle the scenario above and couple with above rods ok

These last combo I will be takin will be a large heavy spin rod for popping for GT’s and mackerel I have no idea what to look at here as yet any thoughts or advice will be welcome. but I am thinking I will be running 50 lb braid with 80lb leader

Sorry for such a long winded post but all input advice or comments on the above would be most appreciated.
Regards and thank you in advance
Coucho

[coucho]

no bites??

[BR65]

Mate, I know for a fact the 5' 6" pinpoint baitcaster will do the job, I use a couple of 56BCH models for impoundment barra, and Ive used one fishing the run off in the Mary up in the territory, no dramas at all, and a good stick for the price

[Free2Fish]

Hey Coucho, I wouldn't mind hearin from the more experienced on this was well.
There are some older posts if you want to search for them. It would seem that the Penn Pinpoint and the Calcutta or the Curado 300DSV, are pretty widely accepted..... for about $400. that is only from research. Bees knees seems to be be Egrel and Shimano Chronarch - That's be about $k
Come on dudes, help Coucho out!

[BarraBandit]

Looks like you have a good idea on what you need... Just keep one thing in mind, I say it all the time... DONT go underguned, bigagest mistake of most people.

If you need another really good low profile baitcast reel... look at the Revo Inshore by Abu... 24lb drag! Or for a slower one (good for barra) try the Revo Winch, also with 24lb drag... well worth the $$$'s!

If you are going to chase really big GT's a heavy rod is what you need... I use a 8-12kg.



Good luck and I hope you catch a big one!
Bandit.

[coucho]

Hi free2fish I can tell you I have done heaps of searches on here as well and read plenty about all this gear.
I also had a bit of a play with some of the reels I mentioned last weekend and was impressed with some and not so with others.
I had a play with the Diawa Tierra which I found to be quiet a nice reel and impressed me somewhat. Absent from the Diawa line up at the shop where the HRF and the team advantage So I never got to have a play with those but I was quiet impressed with the lunar from diawa for a barrel style reel as well.
I had a look at the Curado and to be honest wasn’t that impressed with it while the drag is said to be good and it has great line capacity for a low profile I found it bulky and the steel spoil while being deep is quiet heavy resulting in a high inertia which would make casting light lures or plastics difficult. Definitely something I want to keep in mind as I may end up using this reel for bream and bass in the future.
With the Barrel reels shimano Calcutta was quiet nice but I think the luna was much nicer (also dearer)
ABU revo stx was absent from the shop
So I guess from the what I saw I will be having a fiddle with a diawa HRF, team advantage and a Abu revo stx as well as having another fiddle with a tierra but I think if the HRF matches up as well as it should with tierra it will come down to that or the abu revo stx.
Once I have my chosen reel I will put it on the rods mentioned and see what feels the best from that line up
Haven’t had a big play with the spin gear as yet but will next time I am in Coffs

[coucho]

Thanks bandit
will definitely be takin a heavy spin rod in the 8-15 kg range to run with 50lb braid as we want to targett Spainish and GT's as well not sure what reel to put on that one as yet though.

[mattooty]

Coucho, see if you can find one of the old model spheros's in 18000 size. They're hard to find but dirt cheap if you can get them and can get upgraded to a stella drag/handle, replace bush with bearing and you're laughing. I know of 2 guys that took them to fiji and popped up gt's, wahoo, spanish and big reef jacks without the upgrades and said they performed fine. They were running 80lb braid.
I've had mine for a few years and got a fair few longtails and jew and its still smooth as!

[Magella]

Mate all good gear you have selected but one bit of advice I would give you is between the group of you buy a ugly stik for around the $70 and and ABU 6500c as a no nonesse back up .
I know a lot of people will say there is better gear but the cape is remote, Graphite rods do get broken easier in transit, reels do play up, the ugly will take a pounding and most tackle shops up north have spares for ABb 6500c

Cheers Foxie

[nickstock]

Magella summed it up perfect.

I have a 5foot 6 inch live fibre 6-8 kgs and a 6500 abu loaded with 30 pd braid left in the Car at all times. It is one of the cheapest, no frills outfits you can buy that will handle Barra, Jacks , Threadies, Queenies ect.

You could get away with only two set ups but my three would be as follows-

The above baitcaister combo - Live fibre / abu 6500 Flicking lures, live baiting ect

A 10 -15 kg 6'6, live fibre spin rod with a 4500 sized real (again I use a shimano bait runner for their no frills reliability loaded with 30 - 50 pound braid.

And my optional extra set up would be a spin rod of around3-6 kgs and a 2-3000 sized threadline real. This sort of outfit is awesome around snag free beaches and sandy creek mouths catching Queenies for sport. I would load it with 10-15 pound braid.

Where abouts are you heading as the Cape various a shiteload.
Cheers,

Nick

[coucho]

Thanks guys
foxie we will be takin some back up gear just lookin for some main gear atm lookin at buying it now and givin it a good work out before we go so I am used to it through and through before we get there.
Nick we are headed for wiepa I would of thought 10-15lb braid would of been on the light side for queenies??? that was the idea of the mid 30 lb braid spin rod.

[nickstock]

It depends on what you idea of sports fishing is lol. A mate landed a 11 kg Queenie on 2 kg Braid in Darwin. Just followed it around in the boat ect. Not my cup of tea but I have caught some ripper queenies on the flats on 4 -6 kgs braid. As long as you have the capacity on the reel and there is not snags, you can fish as light as you want.

My logic is when fishing for a feed, fish with appropriate tackle to land most fish ect but when fishing for sport/ fun (Queenies) go light tackle and have a challange!

Also not every fish you will catch will be a 6kgs plus queenie ect. There will be plenty around the 2 kgs mark which are a sinch to land on 4 kg braid