The motors on the 4/0 sportsman models burn up. I love the 345 GTI with the motor. I like the weight, and the retrieval speed. OTM and I have landed many large fish on the 345’s. We keep the drag hammered down, and spooled with 120 braid. I have a new toy that I love. It is a Precision Auto Reel with a penn 114H, 200 lb braid. It works great in 500’+ for Tilefish. I hauled 3, 30+lb Gaggs with it back in June from 250’
I like that manual override on the Whisenhunts. Those new Daiwas have the same convenience plus the screen telling you amt of line let out, etc. I have not heard much about them in actual use though. I am interested in trying one of the Daiwas because they look like they’d be a lot lighter weight. I will call around today and see what kind of prices I can get them for. Elec-tra-mates are hard to get any deals on unless you buy used. Not enough of them really made I don’t think. Who knows…
I can vouch for that thing too. All those little fish went home with me. Phin kept the yellow tail he caught and me and the boys were up that night cleaning fish and getting them in the freezer.
The boys were amazed. Flying fish were everywhere. One dolphin/porpoise almost jumped in the boat on the way out. Landed about 5 feet from the boat. They were everywhere on the way out. As Phin said, it was a hot, hazy day. Skinneej did us good too. I like that boat…nice ride out and back. They are still talking about it and yes, they will have a story to tell when they get back to school in a couple of weeks. Not a bad day at all for a maiden voyage. They were amazed at how fast the bite happened as soon as the bait hit the bottome. VERY cool.
The boys put the first grouper in the boat after I made the proclamation that the first one would be mine. 2 minutes later they hauled one in. I didn’t catch a single one. I did catch an AJ awhile later that cramped my forearms some.
It was a really good time with really good people. Phin I’ll post some of my pictures a little later on. Do you guys want your faces in there or leave them out? Don’t want to scare off the paying customres.
Skinnee…thanks for the ride out with the boys. You guys are great.
“Do, or do not. There is no ‘try.’” – Jedi Master Yoda
Our pictures are all over the dubya dubya anyhow. Put that picture of me casting for bait in the shrimpin forum as a bogus preseason report. Don’t mess it up now.
The double team on the first grouper was cool indeed.
I like that manual override on the Whisenhunts. Those new Daiwas have the same convenience plus the screen telling you amt of line let out, etc. I have not heard much about them in actual use though. I am interested in trying one of the Daiwas because they look like they’d be a lot lighter weight. I will call around today and see what kind of prices I can get them for. Elec-tra-mates are hard to get any deals on unless you buy used. Not enough of them really made I don’t think. Who knows…
I like that manual override on the Whisenhunts. Those new Daiwas have the same convenience plus the screen telling you amt of line let out, etc. I have not heard much about them in actual use though. I am interested in trying one of the Daiwas because they look like they’d be a lot lighter weight. I will call around today and see what kind of prices I can get them for. Elec-tra-mates are hard to get any deals on unless you buy used. Not enough of them really made I don’t think. Who knows…
Please tell me more about the daiwas, tag a long…
Luke 8:22-25
The rod and reel together only weighs 5.5 lbs. It’s a star drag with a handle, so it is ready as soon as you hit the bottom. Mine are spooled with 900 yards of 100#pp with 50 yards 50# mono backing. It is a levelwind, although it has a scary-looking worm gear. The 8 hour battery is smaller than a VHS cassette. It automatically stops 1 meter from the rod tip so neophytes won’t ruin your rod. It has adjustable jigging modes. They also double as our dredge rods, as we routinely pull double 36" six arm dredges with 50+ ozs of lead and 9" paddletails (which create A LOT of drag in the water)from the forward angled rod holders on my Parker. Not a hiccup. The power lever is infinitely adjustable so you can change your retreive speed instantly. The japs have been catching tuna and swords on them for years. We have miya-epochs, kristals, and electra-mates on our big boat, and they suck compared to the new daiwas. The rod, reel, and 8 hr battery will run you around 1500 bones. The manual is basically worthless because most of it is in Japanese, so it does take some trial and error.