Recommendations on cheap heavy popping gear

[regulated]

I did search but couldn't find too much on the subject. Sorry if it has been covered.

I love watching shows where thay are popping for GT's using expensive gear. I would love to try it some day but can not justify high end gear for my current fishing trips and would never even think about for popping which I would only do once in a blue moon.

Has anyone given it a go with a combo/setup up to the $250 mark. Even upgrading drag on a average big spin reel like a penn. I understand it would not be as enjoyable and will probably have a lot of losses and damage in the long run but anyone tryed a budget setup. Maybe even some knockoff reels from ebay.

I have caught some monsters on livies with a 7000 overhead with mono up cooktown but you cant flick poppers any good with them. The rush and fight from those suckers keeps dragging me back there.

Thanks for any info.

BJ

[fishingnut]

Im pretty sure there is a steve starling popping or jigging rod at bcf I seen a while ago for about $130ish? then you just gotta find say a stradic 8000 and your in the game

Cheers

[dhess]

I only have very limited popping experience, but from what I have learned there is no such thing as cheap yet effective popping gear.

Firstly you need a strong reel with strong drag and fast retrieve gear ratio.

Reel: At a bare minimum I would look at a Daiwa Saltist 6500 or a Shimano Saragosa or similar. Either will be around $280. Anything less is likely to get bent or completely destroyed on the first few fish.

Rod: As a minimum a shimano Tcurve GT special or a Daiwa monster mesh popping rod. Around $250-$300.

Line: Around $100

Total ~$650

Disclaimer: I may be wrong and it would be awesome to see something reasonably cheap that works.

Popping is very physically demanding and anything less than what I have listed just won't cast a lure or bloop a lure well, and will have you completely shagged after a few minutes.

A more typical $2000+ combo will be way easier to cast and fish for any period of time than the options I have listed.

I ended up taking the plunge and buying a highish end combo but unfortunately haven't had many opportunities to you use it.

My time will come this coming summer though. :evil:

[Bi_polar]

Dont rule out an American made 950 Penn Spinfisher.

Not as refined as a Dogfight but there has been thousands of big fish caught on them over the years.

[Shane69]

Should have bought my twin power 8000pg BJ. I bought it for that purpose but it was too heavy for me. Sold it for dirt cheap.

Im going to get another combo soon. Thinking of a Stella 5000 with 200 Jig tcurve Paul from IFISH uses something something similar. My mate has same set up and it feels nice. Its not too heavy either. Good for popping and jigging.

Hey Dom are you talking about the Saltiga Maverik 6500 with monstor mesh.

That was my mate Imy old setup. I think you bought it from him.that was a killer setup. He sold it because he needed money to buy bigger boat.

We fish together all the time lol.

He's looking to buy a 6meter plus plate boat now. I was telling him other day once he gets the boat wel follow Dom out to deep tempest and Barwon banks. Thats when he told me he knew you.

[dhess]

With regards to Penn Spinfishers the older series has a legendary reputation for being near indestrucatble. The newer spinfishers that cost $99 and are made in China have been getting less than stella (haha terrible pun) reviews. I haven't used either. Just being a keyboard fisherman. :blush:

Too funny Shane. Small world.

For popping I use the saltiga maverick on a FCL labo popping rod.

Unfortunately jig rods are completely useless as popping rods and vice versa. The monster mesh has held up ok so far jigging but am yet to give it a proper workout. I am a bit worried as I have heard reports about the older black coloured series randomly exploding. Probably need to get another saltiga with lower gear ratio's as a jig reel as the 6500H makes it hard work cranking up from the depths.

[sml6991]

id probably look at some okuma stuff

[Do$tylz]

It can be done I'm sure.

From what I kept getting (and keep getting) told, the cheaper gear can do the job. You'll just find that if you get onto a few of the bigger fish on your trips, your reel wont last.

Also re rods, angus didn't have a popping rod on our last trip and he pretty much gave up after a few tries. The rod just couldn't get the distance nor action to get the poppers working properly. So try and find one that is made for it rather than a multipurpose.

Keep in mind 250 for a combo is only the beginning.

[jeff f]

take a look at the fin-nor offshore reels

i use a 700 calcutta on a7' 50lbs tcurve bluewater overhead casting rod

[Ranger_ukr]

I have Shimano Saragossa 10000.

[Drop Bear]

10 hours ago, Ranger_ukr said:

I have Shimano Saragossa 10000.

Nice one mate and welcome to the forum. Have you caught any GT's on it? Got any pics? 

[Ed.]

Yes, welcome to the forum. This thread is quite a few years old and originally the first poster asked if you could catch GT's on cheaper gear, but might as well keep this thread going for those who might be interested in this style of fishing.

In my opinion, you can catch GT's on pretty much any sort of average spin gear, (not talking about game reels/rods) and some will fish better than others, however the moment of truth is if you hook up to a larger fish, that is when you will wish you had a better/stronger setup which usually equates to more dollars being spent.

For instance, many decades ago, I got on to a hot bite up in Dampier W.A. I was baitfishing from the shore for Barra with a Daiwa PMF57H Baitcaster and a Daiwa 20lb baitcasting rod and about 200yards of 25lb maxima mono, a school of smallish GT's came past and I landed about 3 GT's about the 8-12kg's  and lost quite a few others. That reel only produced about 5.5Kg drag. Had these GT's been medium sized models, say about the 20-45kg size, there is no way I would have landed any of them on that gear in that area, so moral of the story is generally bigger is better if you want to have any hope of catching the larger fish.

For myself I recently purchased a Penn SSVI8500LL reel and a Shimano Anthem SW 7'9" PE8-10 rod as a GT setup, total cost was about $530 excluding braid. That in my opinion should be able to handle medium sized GT's up to about the 20-35kg size (conditions permitting),  these would be about the average in the medium size fish. If I fishing was in an area that had larger than that specimens swimming around or near bommies/reef walls then a stronger reel would be better,  something with a larger drag capacity such as the larger Twin Power or big Makaira  spin reels as you may have to skull drag them away from such structures. You might be lucky and land one with lesser gear, but luck will play a big part in whether you do land one or not. GT's grow to massive sizes and recently an 70kg GT was caught off the top end of Morton Island, a fish that size would be very rare, and luck always play a big part when dealing with large fish.

So if anyone is thinking about getting into GT popping then my advice would be to get a middle of the range setup first without spending really big dollars to see if you like that style of fishing, as it can be hard tiring work casting with a heavy outfit and using heavy popper lures over and over again. Don't forget to get a good rod belt as well. Just my 2 cents worth!

[natang]

When I was uo in Innisfail I used to use a Daiwa Pe4-6 spin rod and I think the reel was a Daiwa saltist 6500 the combo cost me like $300 but was marked at $200 for rod and at least $280 for reel but I haggled a bit with BCF and got braid added to it for free. It was stolen apart from the reel which was hidden a few years back... so can't give exact details... But it worked well out of Mourilyan Harbour

 

[GregN70]

 

The cheapest stuff I could find was;

Rod -  Diawa Saltist BW (82XH SPIN) 8'2" 2pc But Join, PE8 rated. $129 MoTackle

Reel - Rapala Type-R 7500, Full Alloy Rotor & Body, 18kg Drag, (4.9:1 Gear) $189 MoTackle

And then of course youve go briad too. But I reckon those above would handle most situations and all for about $318.000

 

 

[Junky]

Fin Nor lethal series of spin reels will get you going. 

Andy from Andy's fishing and wild cook on YouTube uses one and brains the GT's with it. 

[BennieAqua]

Andy hardly catches GT’s over the 20kg mark in his videos. The setup he uses is strong but heavy, that’s probably the biggest compromise you have to make once you try to get a setup on the lower scale of the budget. 
With reels, in my experience saragosas last just as long as stellas. I own both, but even though the Stella is a nice piece of kit, the price/quality ratio is definitely in favour of the saragosa.

 

 

[Drop Bear]

On 29/09/2021 at 1:41 PM, BennieAqua said:

Andy hardly catches GT’s over the 20kg mark in his videos. The setup he uses is strong but heavy, that’s probably the biggest compromise you have to make once you try to get a setup on the lower scale of the budget. 
With reels, in my experience saragosas last just as long as stellas. I own both, but even though the Stella is a nice piece of kit, the price/quality ratio is definitely in favour of the saragosa.

 

 

Good to know Bennie,

I don't have any Stellas. One day I may grow up...