# California Sharkin - Long Distance Casting



## sawoobley (Jan 11, 2010)

One of my goals for 2011 is to catch a 4-5' shark from one of the beaches here in Orange County, CA. However, I have to keep in mind that I may hook into one of the huge bat rays that we have lurkin around here.

My question is: which rod should I purchase to accomplish this goal and which rod will also allow me to practice some amateur long distance casting for fun on a field?

Here is what the DFG recommends for California beaches:

For heavy bait fishing or “plugging,” try a 10- to 
12-ft rod rated for 2- to 8-oz casting, with 
spinning or conventional reels. The reel should be 
capable of holding 150 to 200 yds of 20- to 30-lb test line. 

Here is my current line of thinking with the rods:

Rainshadow (50/50 split)
SUR1508F 12'6" 15-40lbs 4-12oz .980 12.0 Mod/Fast 15.1 H

Breakaway HDX - Rated for 20-30lb, 4-8oz

I realize I am a newbie and jumping in way over my head but who cares? I figure I can get set-up, practice a bunch and head out to the ocean and fish away. If I cannot get it to work for me then I can sell my set-up and minimize my losses. I already have a plugging rod and I'm only going to get one more set-up for now so I am trying to figure out which rod would be the best all around (universal) for what I want.

I was thinking of getting the rainshadow off eBay from Derek @ Gus's Tackle if I could get a 50/50 model from him or get a used HDX.

When I go sharkin in my area I was thinking I would at least use a 3oz pyramid sinker + bait and probably use 4 oz+ most of the time.

For the reel I was going to go with a Penn 525Mag off eBay again from dwjrfish or try and find a Daiwa Sealine-X50 SHA so I could spool more line on the reel.

I'll be fishing from the shoreline. I don't plan on kayaking out and dropping my line. I could wade out a bit but I would prefer to do everything from the sand. 

Thanks in advance...


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

A couple of questions.

How much total payload (sinker + bait) will you be casting? 
What is your current experience casting heavy payloads with a "long" rod?

I can help you with advice, I can also hook you up with a nice rod that will fit your needs. Click on the board sponsor banner at the top of this page.

Tommy


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## Jeremy Schrader (Feb 7, 2009)

I can vouch for the 6 to 10 it will be a sweet Shark rod


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## sawoobley (Jan 11, 2010)

Tommy said:


> A couple of questions.
> 
> How much total payload (sinker + bait) will you be casting?
> What is your current experience casting heavy payloads with a "long" rod?
> ...



I'm not sure what the total weight would be but here is the set-up.
Sinker= 3-5oz pyramid sinker, ~2-3 ft wire leader, 1/2 mackerel, circle hook (8/0?) + swivel.


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## sawoobley (Jan 11, 2010)

What is your current experience casting heavy payloads with a "long" rod?

No experience, but willing to take the time to learn.


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## sawoobley (Jan 11, 2010)

I like what everyone says about the HDX and it seems to be a good fishing rod.

I was also looking at the rainshadow since the rating says it can throw heavy and its rated to 40lbs. There are some huge bat rays around here (100lbers) that you can hook into, so I wanted a rod that I could put some muscle into and not worry too much about it breaking.


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## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

You'll need a looooonng cast to get to the big sharks out there. Wade out like 100-200 yards, till you get to waste deep water and cast. 

If you do hook into one, I think the 525 will be too lite. You'll want at least a saltist 30 or 40 for line capacity. 

I think a 4 or 5 ounce weight would work if you cast over the breakers. 6 or higher would be best. 

You can cheat and wait for the leopard sharks to spawn in San Diego. I think they come in close then, but they're not much fun to catch. They're pretty much dog sharks (for the east coast readers). Won't get a good run like from a bitter. And working a good sized bitter isn't for newbies. 

I would try fishing for corbina and halibut first and then work your way up to sharks. That will help you learn to cast without murdering your fingers as well as work fish. And you won't have to wade out so far to catch fish. I used to fish San Diego a bunch and don't remember seeing anyone catch a shark of any real size to it from the surf. The biggest was a four foot angel shark and that was from a spear fisherman in La Jolla Cove. He swam out a bit to get it. 

I'm not sure if things have changed much from when I was there, but not a lot of people surf fished and so there weren't many helpful fishermen to give advice through the growing pains, certainly not like on the east coast. But hey, if you can make it work then have fun with it. You might want some tuffer line too because there are tons of reefs and rocks off shore to cut your line and snag a bottom rig. And then there's the giant pieces of kelp floating around. 

good luck


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

sawoobley said:


> I'm not sure what the total weight would be but here is the set-up.
> Sinker= 3-5oz pyramid sinker, ~2-3 ft wire leader, 1/2 mackerel, circle hook (8/0?) + swivel.


Ok, I have 3 rods up to the task. 

12' 3-7
13' 3-6
13' 6-10

The 12' will be a great all around fishing rod. It will not provide the all out distance that an _experienced caster _ would get from the 13' models but it is a wonderful rod that does a lot of things well. For a guy just starting out it would be a great all around choice. 

The 13' 3-6 is outstanding at placing medium payloads at distance. The rod has a lighter tip that gives great bite detection with a powerfull butt and midsection. Like the 12', it does a lot of things well but requires a little more skill to get the best out of it.

The 13' 6-10 is what we call on the east coast a "heaver" or and 8nbait rod. It will throw a heavy payload a very long way and has the back bone to land big fish. For an all rod that will handle most any big fish from the shore, AND cast far enough to get to them, this is the one. It is thin (butt diameter 22mm), light and very powerful. 

Here is a pic of a Red Drum caught last month ..










And a coupel of me fighting a LARGE (100lbs+) ray back in Sept...



















One of the rod logo










Hope this helps,

Tommy


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## Bocajettyrat (Dec 8, 2010)

Here in South Florida there are alot of shorebound shark fisherman. Take a look at this site. http://www.southfloridasharkclub.com/foro/ Go threw the site and I'm sure you will get some good info on shorebound sharking. I and others around these parts use a 13' Breakaway HDX spinning or simalar spinning rod paired with a Fin-nor 9500 loaded with braided line 60# and up with heavy mono shock leader then wire to cast to/catch blacktips and spinner sharks in the size range you are talking. I cast with 4oz and a large hand sized chunk of blue fish or blue runner for bait, or free line live blue runners. Let sit and fish on. Mr. Tommy that rod you got the ray on is a good looking rod. Its got alot of backbone and looks like it would take down 5 foot blacktip from the beach with ease.


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