# I'm trying to be careful



## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

not to pick up the addiction so these are just some questions, yelp, questions, that's all, just questions that I'm curious about. I promise, I'm just kinda interested in knowing. 
Yeah, that's it, I've got uh i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t..that's all. 

As some of you recall in the last chapter of "Intheswamp", he visited St. George Island and tarried on the the beach posing as a championship, professional surf fisherman with his $40 Fred's rod-n-reel combo...well $50 I guess with line and all  ...anyhow, Intheswamp cruised the beach striking terror in the heart of whiting, bluefish, stargazers, giant sharks (er, nope, that shark was in Destin...Intheswamp's shark was 2' ), etc.,. 

Now, mind you, these are just questions 'cause I'm curious...just curious!:fishing: 
Remember, it's just thuh i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t !!!

So, let's say, if a fella wanted to get maybe, and this is, of course just a "maybe", a tad better rig for surf fishing on the gulf, primarily the area from St. George Island to Gulf Shores, AL would something in the line of a Penn 650SSM be a good "catch-all" surf fishing reel? I'm also looked at the 550ssg which I understand would be a lighter-duty reel. The 550ssg is listed with a capacity of 12 LB/275 YDS...can it handle 17LB???...I know it'd cut down the capacity, but will it work? Any thoughts on these reels...hypothetically, of course.

Being as it would be sporadic trips, mostly down in to the Destin/Ft.Walton area, a quality reel would last this fella a long, long time and would not burn up not if, but when the "big'un" gets on the line....somethin' tells me the "Fred's Special" would be smoke with a big'un on it!  All of this just because I'm curious...I'm not really serious here, nope, nary a bit, nada! But, just curious about whether one of these reels would get me in the ballpark...hypothetically, of course!

Oh, and since we're just curious...what would be a good rod to match up with these reels. Nothing outlandish, but utilitarian. Utilitarian...sounds pretty good, kinda like something you *really* wouldn't want to buy, eh? Out of curiosity, you know, just curious, yelp, inquiring minds want to know, yeah, that's it, Looking for something that would max out at probably 5oz (4oz would probably do)...can't really see needin' much more than that in the Gulf up our way...

I'm just tryin' to broaden my education here...you know, hypothetically, of course....

Does the man seem nervous?

Ed


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## DVO (Mar 22, 2004)

If your preference is Penn, then I would buy an American Made like 7500 SS or 6500 SS(spinning). Those ssg and ssm are Made in China and reliability is ????. For the same cost as 7500 ss or 6500 ss, I prefer Shimano Spheros 8000 or 6000, they are lighter and a lot smoother. For Rod, if you don't want to spend more than $75.00, then I would look into Tsunami Trophy, Penn Spinfisher. They are excellent rods for a reasonable price, and perfectly to throw 4-5 oz. I love 11' , 2 pieces, but if you can handle 12', I would go for it in case you need a little more distance. I hope this will help.

PS. I saw this on ebay, you may be interested.


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## tnturtle (Jan 10, 2007)

Give a man a fish and he will eat.Teach a man 
to fish and and he will go broke spending all his
time and money on gear and expeditions.:fishing:


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## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

DVO said:


> If your preference is Penn, then I would buy an American Made like 7500 SS or 6500 SS(spinning). Those ssg and ssm are Made in China and reliability is ????. For the same cost as 7500 ss or 6500 ss, I prefer Shimano Spheros 8000 or 6000, they are lighter and a lot smoother. For Rod, if you don't want to spend more than $75.00, then I would look into Tsunami Trophy, Penn Spinfisher. They are excellent rods for a reasonable price, and perfectly to throw 4-5 oz. I love 11' , 2 pieces, but if you can handle 12', I would go for it in case you need a little more distance. I hope this will help.
> 
> PS. I saw this on ebay, you may be interested.
> 
> ...


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## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

tnturtle said:


> Give a man a fish and he will eat.Teach a man
> to fish and and he will go broke spending all his
> time and money on gear and expeditions.:fishing:


<chuckle> 'bout right, 'bout right...


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## Fisheadgib (Jan 7, 2006)

I live in Fort Walton Beach and happen to frequent the area's that this person is just mildly curious about. We use 10# tackle for pompano and whiting with 3 oz of lead the majority of the time. I use 14# on my 6500's and 525 with 4 to 5 oz of lead. I've got several 20 & 25# heavers that I usually use around the jetties and on the beach in summer. Whatever reel this guy chooses, 250 to 300 yds of line is usually sufficient around here. I don't like to recommend specific reel models as there's alot of preference involved. I will recommend this guy avoid the low end Penn's as the quality has really dropped. I have several of the old Penn powergraphs that have held up for over ten years. They were made in China but were of decent quality. We have a couple of the new captiva's and they are flimsey crap. Shimano and Diawa both make some decent reels in the lower price ranges. Hope this helps that curious guy.


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## tnturtle (Jan 10, 2007)

One might consider the Daiwa Emcast Sport 4500.Also,IMO Tica makes good rods and reels
at a reasonably low cost.opcorn:


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## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

Thanx for the feedback Fisheadgib and tnturtle.

Well, it looks like there's a mystery line in the sand as for how big or small you would want a rig. Too big...not much fun fighting the fish in, too small and the fish has all the fun. As I recall...Intheswamp took a little Garcia ultralight spinner on about a 5' rod with him to St. George. His idea was to try and catch some baitfish on the beach with it. Using 6# line with a short 17# leader he caught several whiting and enjoyed it. And...if that 2 pound shark had've got on there...well, it'd have been a whole different story to tell! 

Anyhow, since I'm looking (hypothetically, of course) at a single combo to handle mostly what I might bump into out there I'm thinking in the line of a 10' rod and something like the Daiwa Emcast Pro 5000. BPS has a combo deal with the Daiwa Emcast Plus 5000 and a 10' Ocean Master Surf Rod OM10SS for $150. Link is: 

The reason I'm looking at the 5000 is that it has a little more capacity than the 4500 but weighs the same, but is a few ounces less than the 5500. I've heard folks mention that the OM rods are decent rods...nothing high-tech, but decent.

...all hypothetically, just 'cause I'm curious, yeah, curious, uh-huh, that's it,...

Ed

...those Emblem Pros sure seem nice, though.


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## Mr Tempo (Nov 5, 2002)

I bought an Emblem Pro last year, and I love it. I put it on a 10' Tsunami rod.


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## JeremyUCF (Jan 26, 2007)

I second Emblem Pro/Emcast Sport reels, I bought an Emblem Pro about 3 months ago and absolutely love it. Mine is on a Diawa Eliminator 15' thats the only thing I regret as its a bit too long of a rod.


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## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

Thanks again for the replies. I'm still agonizing (hypothetically, of course) over the Daiwa reels. Is the Plus worth the $20 premium over the Sport and is the Pro worth the $50 premium over the Plus?:--| 

In general for reels... Does the line capacity that is in the middle of the reel's range denote anything special...like maybe it's the "design" test# for the reel and the other's are "acceptable" test #'s? For instance, if the specs for a reel state "14/410, 17/310, 20/240" would this denote that 17# line was the "design" line, but that 14# and 20# are acceptable but maybe not optimum for the reel?opcorn: 


Also, regarding rods...

Ocean Master: OM9SS 9' 1-3oz 15-30lb
Ocean Master: OM10SS 10' 4-8oz 17-40lb
TSUNAMI: TSTSS-902MH 9' 1-4oz 12-25lb

If a fella figures the most weight he will heave is 4nBait would this overload the OM9SS too much? Would lighter weights like 2nBait be to light for the OM10SS? Looks like the Tsunami might be the best choice. ????

I'm just thinking one of the 5000 reels and one of the 9' rods might be the best combo...hypo...yeah, you got it. 

Ed


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## KodiakZach (Mar 16, 2005)

I like whatever Jettypark recommends


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## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

KodiakZach said:


> I like whatever Jettypark recommends


Speaking of Jetty...I figured he'd be putting in his .02 worth here. The last post I see of his is from 2 days ago. ????


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## sinker man (Jun 16, 2006)

As far as which model reel to buy I would let your track record for maintaing the ones you have determine that. If you are going to just toss them in the back of a pickup or whatever and not rinse them off after use then by all means go the cheap route.


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## sinker man (Jun 16, 2006)

Really and truthfully for the section you listed my reel of choice would be a Spheros 4000 filled with 10lb test line and a 10' salmon rod rated for 3/4 to 2oz . If ya just gotta mess with sharks then get a full fledged shark rig. Otherwise you will miss out on just about everything but the sharks. Also noboby mentioned the shimano baitrunner series.


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## Intheswamp (Apr 12, 2007)

sinker man said:


> As far as which model reel to buy I would let your track record for maintaing the ones you have determine that. If you are going to just toss them in the back of a pickup or whatever and not rinse them off after use then by all means go the cheap route.


I'm thinking that no more than I will be fishing (maybe once a month?) that the Emcast Plus would be all of a reel that I'd need. And yelp, I rinse'em when I'm through fishing.

Ed


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## jettypark28 (Jun 23, 2006)

*I am back*

 i got put in time out for 
"Racial Epithets remarks" I still havent figure out what i saidopcorn: but i must have gotten one of the old timers really upset, and they told on me maybe someone will pm me, and let me know what got me "Ban" for all those days....Zach thanks for bringing my name up Ed there are two schools of thought here. Some guys (Zach) like the medium poles and rigs...and then there guys like me, i like bigger reels, stronger line and big old stiff poles and just make a fight out of it I have never belive in fighting a fish too long, but thats just me. And i don't look down on guys that like to fight the fish on the lighter stuff. That being said, my .02 would be to get something that you can use for just about anything...(and thats pretty hard) 9ft rod should handle beach/piers, with reels you cant go wrong with any shimano reel. My weapon of choice is the 6500 baitrunner But there is a purpose for everything......You have to decide what type of fishing you are going to be doing. Thats the reason why some of us have 10 or more reels and poles.....to be able to handle most fishing. And if you are going to fish just once in awhile, then you might be better off just getting one of those combo. But in fishing it does hold true.....You get what you paid for if you do decide to get the entry combo rigs, just keep them clean....and you should be okay. I hope i didnt upset anybody with my opinions tonite..... well maybe "Zach" for using those little baby poles


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