boat rod and reel

can anyone give me a pointer as two what class of boat rod i should buy and recommend a reel to suit, will be fishing around the kilkeel and carlingford area's with the occassional trip to the north coast. will be hoping to catch huss conger spurdogs etc also hoping to have a bash for tope later in the year. budget isn't a real concern as i like to have half decent kit.

Hi vin
if youre after spurs on the north coast you will be fishing deep water and strong tides. my favourite rod for this is a fladen maximus 20 - 60 solid carbon. it has superb bite detection and also handles the big leads. the new diawa saltist twin speed reels are brilliant for deep water as well

Budget no problem? Excellent......

In that case I'd be thinking of 2 different setups -

1) light gear setup for usual depth/tide conditions to get maximum sport out of the fish: say a Abu Suveran 12-20 with an Avet SX loaded with 20lb braid, and
2) a heavier rod and reel to deal with deeper waters/faster tide runs/ heavier leads: a 30-50 lb class rod (Abu Suveran again, you'll have a matching pair! ) and a Shimano TLD 20 loaded with 30 or 50 lb Braid. (Avet do bigger reels too but apart from the SX I've no experience of them, if you want to be really flash and match up reels as well as rods.)

For braid I use Berkley Fireline myself. Very strong stuff for it's rating.

If you're phoning around the mail order shops for a quote on 2 setups like that, don't forget to haggle..... They'll be ready to do a deal with you, times that are in it.

personally i dont use 20lb braid, its more fiddly and breaks unpredictably if
the rig gets snagged, its often weaker than the rig knots. i reckon an avet sx sized
reel will cover you for all braid applications, it can hold 300m of 40lb powerpro,
so that will be ok for most depths.

why would you put braid on a tld20, this reel is huge and the only
application around these islands i can think of would be to put 300m of
30 or 40lb mono on it targetting blue or porbeagle sharks

personally i dont use 20lb braid, its more fiddly and breaks unpredictably if
the rig gets snagged, its often weaker than the rig knots. i reckon an avet sx sized
reel will cover you for all braid applications, it can hold 300m of 40lb powerpro,
so that will be ok for most depths.

why would you put braid on a tld20, this reel is huge and the only
application around these islands i can think of would be to put 300m of
30 or 40lb mono on it targetting blue or porbeagle sharks

Trick is to have backing on the reel, any old cheapo mono will do, then top it off with the spool of 300m braid. I'd hate to use 30 or 40 lb mono in anchored up in deep water/fast tide with big leads, the thin diameter of braid is it's greatest advantage there. On second thoughts, perhaps the TLD20 is a bit overgunned, the TLD 15 would be handier.

That Fireline is seriously strong stuff, it's actual b/s is far in excess of it's stated b/s.

would the shimano charter special 1000ld be a suitable alternative to the tld 15 as i'm new to multipliers and think the level wind might be useful for me?

one thing which is useful if you plan to fish in deep water is a 6 to 1 gear ratio,
otherwise on a reel like the charter special its a bit more of a pain winding up

i never use level wind and dont notice the occasional need to move the line from side
to side

i also run 6,1,1 reels for deeper water but now i have found this winch im looking to use for wrecks

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8.0:1!

Is it a two-speed?

OP - personally, I'd go for the TLD 15 over the Charter Special, if only to match up my TLD 5s and 10s.

i also run 6,1,1 reels for deeper water but now i have found this winch im looking to use for wrecks

Didnt you read the rules of the site? It say's no pornographic images

i also run 6,1,1 reels for deeper water but now i have found this winch im looking to use for wrecks

I think you might need to go to the Gym for a year first before trying to pull anything bigger than pouting off a wreck with that thing.

The Avet's are brillant reels but 8.0:1 ouch

i also run 6,1,1 reels for deeper water but now i have found this winch im looking to use for wrecks

Didnt you read the rules of the site? It say's no pornographic images

it got past the mods on site the have good taste

i also run 6,1,1 reels for deeper water but now i have found this winch im looking to use for wrecks

I think you might need to go to the Gym for a year first before trying to pull anything bigger than pouting off a wreck with that thing.

The Avet's are brillant reels but 8.0:1 ouch

a buddy of mine landed a few big cod in norway on one of them im looking forward to it

go with 50lb braid as its not unusual to hook a skate when fishing deep water.

took a wee trip to belfast angling centre today for a poke around , had a good look at the penn waveblaster range , anyone using these ? if so what are your opinion's . would a torium 14 be compatible with say the 12-20 ? using 30lb braid .