# Help on a Surf Casting Rod and Reel Combo



## jbchylln

Hello,

I'm new to Pier and Surf and would like to know if anyone can suggest some help on a good surf casting rod and reel combo. I bought a Loomis 12' surf casting rod (SUR1448C) a long time ago, and for a long time, I struggled with trying to select a good reel to go with this rod. I recently bought a Shimano Tekota 500 to go with it and had it spooled with Power Pro, 20 lb. test, braided line. After my first time trying this combo out, I quickly discovered that either I'm not doing something right, or this is the wrong reel for this rod. Casting distance was terrible. It seemed to be hindered most by the level wind and the magnetic brake setting. And on top of that, I doubt that my casting skills are anygood either.

I noticed after skimming through some of the threads here on Pier and Surf that the Penn 525Mag seems to be pretty popular for casting distance. Would this be the best reel to go with this rod? Also I noticed that the 525Mag doesn't have a level wind, which I do understand is a feature that ideally should be left off when searching for a reel that will give good casting distance....so what is a recommended technique to follow when reeling in "the big one" (or anything for that matter) and keeping the line spooled evenly back onto the reel? 

Any suggestions, help, tips, etc. that you can give would be greatly appreciated.


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## Railroader

With a non-levelwind, you must guide the line manually with your thumb, laying it on evenly as you retrieve. 

This sounds like a pain in the arse, but after a full day or two of fishing, it'll be second nature, and you won't think about it anymore.

No big deal.  

Welcome to P&S!


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## The Crew

Just about every manfacturer and retailer categorizes their gear by what you want to accomplish. Thats how I've done my preliminary research, then on here I've primarily asked what people thought of certain combo's.

If you are going to do pier and surf with the same setup then I'd strongly recommend staying at '9 and under for the pier. It should still give you plenty of distance in the surf. The Rods are also broken down by casting (conventional) and Spinning. Depending on what you want to spend there are a plethora of good ones, Penn, Shimano, Tica, Daiwa, Star, ..etc... Keep in mind what their ratings are for line (i.e. 14-40lb test) and how much lead they can throw (lure weight). Keep in mind some manufacturers "over-rate" their gear. (It won't handle what they say it will). 

On reels - the level winds to me are boat rods. Anything you want to cast for distance has to be free spooling. They work perfectly. Again same manufactures. The most popular would be Penn by far. However, they are all pretty much the same...Keep in mind line capacity. If you are content catching whiting and croacker type species then a lot of line is not a concern. If you want to catch something that's going to give you a run then more is needed. You should be fine with anything in the 250-350 range.

Be careful with that braided line it will cut off a finger or two. Very sharp and might be overkill for your needs. And a lot of the guys on the piers won't want you near their lines with braided. Pretty expensive too.

I hope this helps.


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## The Crew

*Really Great Answer to your Question*

http://www.stripersonline.com/Pages/Articles/article_conv_faq_BMul.shtml


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## Mark G

jbchylln said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'm new to Pier and Surf and would like to know if anyone can suggest some help on a good surf casting rod and reel combo. I bought a Loomis 12' surf casting rod (SUR1448C) a long time ago, and for a long time, I struggled with trying to select a good reel to go with this rod. I recently bought a Shimano Tekota 500 to go with it and had it spooled with Power Pro, 20 lb. test, braided line. After my first time trying this combo out, I quickly discovered that either I'm not doing something right, or this is the wrong reel for this rod. Casting distance was terrible. It seemed to be hindered most by the level wind and the magnetic brake setting. And on top of that, I doubt that my casting skills are anygood either.
> 
> I noticed after skimming through some of the threads here on Pier and Surf that the Penn 525Mag seems to be pretty popular for casting distance. Would this be the best reel to go with this rod? Also I noticed that the 525Mag doesn't have a level wind, which I do understand is a feature that ideally should be left off when searching for a reel that will give good casting distance....so what is a recommended technique to follow when reeling in "the big one" (or anything for that matter) and keeping the line spooled evenly back onto the reel?
> 
> Any suggestions, help, tips, etc. that you can give would be greatly appreciated.


The Penn 525 mag is an excellent reel for most situations, and worth checking out. If your new to conventionals there will be a bit of a learning curve. For leveling the line most will wrap the base of the left hand around the back of the rod just above the reel and then let the left thumb hover or hook on top of the line during retrieve. 

Of course you will need to level the line the first time you put line on the spool (unless you pay a shop to fill it for you). As mentioned it becomes fairly natural after a little practice. You may not get it perfectly level while fighting a fish, but take a look at it, and if there are bad humps in it, just give an easy cast back out and retrieve the line, paying attention to the level, and working it back and forth with the thumb. Get in the habit of winding in even layers. You can count the number of handle turns taken to make a pass from one side to the other and repeat this in both directions. In other words if I turn the crank handle 8 turns going left to right, I want to crank while leveling from right to left using the same number of turns (8).

THe best way to get use to leveling the line is to fill the spool yourself, instead of paying a shop to fill it for you.

The SOL article is OK, but more of a diatribe on why conventionals are better than spinners, since your already using a rod set up for conventionals, it is not particularly applicable to your situation, and I have to say I disagree on some of the staements made in the article.

If your new to conventionals I would skip the use of braid entirely until you get your casting technique worked out- mono is much friendlier when dealing with birds nest and learning to control the spool.


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## jbchylln

Thanks for all of the help and tips so far....please feel free to provide more insight!!!! :fishing: 

I have a low-profile, bait-casting reel and rod combo that I use when I go fresh water fishing, and it sounds like the same sort of scenario is used when surf casting, just on a larger scale. I think my biggest concern will be manually level winding the line. The technique described by Surf Cat sounds like a good one to start with, but the one question I have with that is, will that same technique be ideal when using braided line? Sounds like one could cut their thumb if using braided line. I know you suggested using mono, and I probably will do that starting out, once I obtain a good reel without the level wind, but I prefer to use braid when salt water fishing being that I've hooked blue fish before that have bitten through my mono, and have had one even break a hook.  

I'm diggin this forum thing....this is good stuff!!!! opcorn:


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## Mark G

*interesting indeed*

For the record I have had bluefish bite thru my braid on spinners, only takes a nick and the braid is done.

At any rate braid is a little tougher on the thumb as far as leveling goes, especially if the line is taught while reeling in a decent sized fish.

I know some like it, and I don't want to get into a whole braid/ mono debateopcorn: 

but I only use braid on spinners and smaller levelwind abus for lure fishing, where I don't want to deal with non level wind reels. For my heavers and heavy weight and bait fishing, it's strictly mono.

You'll have to get used to throwing heavy weights on large conventionals, it is not the same as freshwater gear, the reels behave differently and the rods do too, to some extent. 

When casting large surf gear- reel control and smooth delivery (casting Technique) become ultra important


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## jbchylln

Speaking of spinning reels......can anyone recommend a couple of spinning reels that are great for long casting distances?


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## CrawFish

Railroader said:


> With a non-levelwind, you must guide the line manually with your thumb, laying it on evenly as you retrieve.
> 
> This sounds like a pain in the arse, but after a full day or two of fishing, it'll be second nature, and you won't think about it anymore.
> 
> No big deal.
> 
> Welcome to P&S!


That's very true. I becomes second nature to me that sometimes I caught myself leveling the line on the levelwind reel.  :redface:


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## dsurf

*Distance Spinning Reels*

Speaking of spinning reels......can anyone recommend a couple of spinning reels that are great for long casting distances?

jbchylln, there is a library of information on this site addressing that very question.....search away!


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## barty b

CrawFish said:


> That's very true. I becomes second nature to me that sometimes I caught myself leveling the line on the levelwind reel.  :redface:


 yup,I do it too


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## jbchylln

Thanks to all for the valuable info you've shared!


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## The Crew

dsurf said:


> Speaking of spinning reels......can anyone recommend a couple of spinning reels that are great for long casting distances?
> 
> jbchylln, there is a library of information on this site addressing that very question.....search away!


Penn Mag525 is the best.


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## Surf Fish

BigEdD said:


> Penn Mag525 is the best.


Why?


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## Cdog

jbchylln said:


> Speaking of *spinning reels*......can anyone recommend a couple of *spinning reels* that are great for long casting distances?





BigEdD said:


> *Penn Mag525 is the best*.


Last time I checked, my 525 was a conventional reel.


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## dunedevil

Hey jbchylln, I may not be the smartest fisherman in the world as far as knots and the like, but 40 some years of pier fishin have taught me one thing, and that is don't spend a fortune on gettin a lead weight to hold a live bait in the water. Now I am not saying that you go and get the cheapest crap out there, I'm just saying that you should be able to spend about $190 to $250 and get a good rod and reel combo for slinging lead off of a pier, or beach. There is a place on E-bay called Catfish supply that sells a good heaver rod for around $100 bucks, and it has fuji guides on it and it has extra heavy action which will whip a 6 to 8 oz. sinker about 150 yds. I would then pair it up with a Diawa sealine 30 shv reel and with some practice, and a little tweeking (to get the reel adjusted to where it won't backlash on you) you should be ready to be a bonafide pier slinger with the best of them. If you don't mind spending a little more money than that, see if you can find an old Penn 980 mag reel. These things are worth gold today, and they threw like a dream, and rarely backlashed unless of course the pier manager took out the casting magnets on you without you knowing!! Yes this did happen to me and I practically blew up my reel!! Realize that this is just to have an anchor rod in place. You still will need to get a short stiff rod, and a reel similar to a Shimano TLD 25, or any of the Penn reels around a 3/0 or larger will do. I fish a Diawa LD 25 and it is soooo smooth, and it holds a ton of line. The LD stands for lever drag, and it is a nice drag to gradually increase or decrease the drag on a fish, unlike the old star drags that seemed to not change the drag tension once they got some age on them. I don't know if this has been much help to you, but I've had some of the best teachers instruct me and I used to think that you had to have the best of everything in order to stay trendy, but all it did was cost me alot of money. It took me years to learn that the old stuff was made better than the new stuff coming out today. Good luck and tight lines for you!!


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## sinisterfins

Welcome to the board ! Now drop & give US 20 !


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## Mark G

sinisterfins said:


> Welcome to the board ! Now drop & give US 20 !


Another victim of an ancient thread


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