Set Up For Surf

[max pwr]

Been getting out with some mates lately chasing some tailor and such, been using a borrowed eggbeater and surf rod with some cheap 25lb mono. Seems to me that I could cast further with a light sinker on my little sp rod with 6lb braid. I am thinking of buying a lightish 10-12ft surf rod with a 3500 or 4000 sized reel and loading it with 15-20lb braid. Theory being it will cast a lot further than a reel with mono and hopefully a lot less drag in the surf.

Also considering a 5-10 metre trace of 20lb mono just to give a little stretch to the line.

Anyone got any experience with braid in the surf? Is my idea sound or am I way off with the fairies?

Or can someone give me some suggestions as to a good cheapish($100- $200) surf rod and reel combo. Cheers.

[Schmuck]

Braid is fine in the surf, but not really necessary if you're just throwing out pillies. If you were planning to do any spinning with slugs then it becomes more important.

If you wanted to stretch the budget there was a decent combo was for sale on another forum for $300 (Daiwa Emcast 6000 w/ Daiwa Sensor Surf 12' 15-30lb).

[tangles]

I tried it a few years ago, and you're right, the braid does cast further. Problem I found was because braid floats it got swept around by the whitewash worse than mono. I also find that the stretch of mono makes it harder for head shakers like tailor to shake the hooks in the surf.

As Schmuck said, braid would probably be better suited to spinning slugs but I haven't tried it. Give it a go with your smaller rod before forking out the dollars. I've seen plenty of people catch tailor off the beach with a 7ft rod.

Cheers.

[jeff f]

go to annaconda and check out thier mojiko surf cannon rods

there a quarter of the price of the diawa ones i love mine

i use it with a diawa emcast sport 4500 and 25lbs braid casts a mile

the whole set up cost under $250 new

[Keen-as-fisho]

Not a fan of using braid in the surf. I was using 20lb fins yellow on the penn 6000, which I also use as my heavy boat rod setup. I found that I was getting too many knots in the line, because of casting so hard to get the baits out far, so IO have gone back to mono, 20lb platypus.

As Jeff said about the anaconda surf rods, dad just got one, 12 foot cannon matched with a daiwa crossfire 4000. He reckons its the bees knees on tailor.

[max pwr]

Thanks heaps for the replies guys. I think I'll take your advice and make a trip to anaconda. I have some 20lb braid on another reel so I'll swap it over and give it a go anyway. The fact that they've named a surf rod "the cannon" has got me sold already

[robtarr]

been using braid in the surf for years since it came out - started with the Berkley Fireline product which is still good even after it pales in colour and fluffs a bit and then their XDS in 25lb mostly which copped a bit of flack but I found OK - it has a bit of stiffness that some of the finer dyneemas lack that can get you into trouble with air knots or sticking to the spool at the end of a long cast if you're using an overhead. In a strong current the braid comes into it's own requiring less lead to hold bottom due to reduced drag but will get you into trouble if there's weed drifting through as it tends to wrap itself up in the braid rather than slide down on mono especially at night when it's harder to keep an eye on things.

with any fish on it's important to keep tension on the line but I wouldn't go to anything more than about a rod and a half of leader to provide shock absorption and reduce the wear on your finger when casting if using a spinning reel.

at the end of the day it's all about your preference and budget - you need to try it out to see what works best for you but I've found the extra feel, line capacity on the spool and casting distance delivered by braid wins over the thickness and elastic stretch of mono

cheers Rob

[rosstralia46]

if you want a cheap surf rod bcf sells a 12ft rod thats called a big gun surecatchonly forty dollars

[katfish]

my choice; daiwa heartland 12 foot 2 piece, 12-20lb. $200. 3-4000 eggbeater. daiwa in 3000 shimano in 4000 ( daiwa has larger spool diameter than shimano/ reel size). larger spool helps reduce wind knots. 15-2olb finns works fine. I use a swivel in my rig, as I believe, the mainline-leader knot does snag and or causes the line to slow down through the guides, causing the braid to catch up with the leader, starting the knot. swivel off main line, (10 turn locked blood knot) 40lb mono leader ,( 1-1.5 metres) onto sml/med snap swivel, 30- 65gm raider/knights. check leader after every fish, if it looks sus, then replace. thats my tailor rig of choice.light enough to throw 60gm lures for a couple of hours+session. will deadlift 3kgs+ fish no worries off the rocks. tailor hit lures aggressively, fight clean until you get them in the shallows. this is when you have to be on your toes. they will violently try & shake the lure from its mouth, & leave your lure on the beach.

lure fishing for tailor, isnt everyone's cup of tea. if you have caught tailor on lures consistently, then you'll understand why Im hooked,

once you get set up, am always keen to head up to Noosa north shore on weekends. best to get there earliest on the friday morning, depending on tides. this gives two full days fishing + finding best campsites that are close to a night, high tide gutter.

this works for me but may not for others. cheers

[SouthEast Fishing]

My personal preference setup is a 13,6 wasp (short butt )by wilson with a 6 to 7000 size spinning reel with 20lb mono also with 40lb trace small swievel if any at all. This is perfect for long casts braid is great but i tend to stick to the old sckool. Its what i was bought up on and it'll handle all fish\tailor from the surf or rocks. I would recomend the longer rod as it'll will get you more distance (slighty rigid with little bit of a soft tip but not to soft you want plenty of backbone incase that 14pounder hits like a frieght train and they do)

I find if i go any heavier with my line i loose distance in casting for me 20lb is great and you can fit a tone on a decent sized spinning reel

Andrew