# What size reel for pier fishing.



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

My buddy in London has a place in southern Florida around Fort Lauderdale which he goes out to about four times a year. He wants to do some fishing from the piers while he's out there. What would be a good size conventional reel to get? He’ll probably be using mono rather than braid and matching the reel to a 10’6’’ 1-5oz rod. Possible target species during the year could be pompano, cobia, snook, margate, king mackerel, mutton snapper, jacks, blue runners, ladyfish, permit, croaker, permit, spanish mackerel, bluefish, barracuda, tarpon, grouper, mangrove snapper and bluefish using live or fresh bait. I was thinking along the lines of a magged Avet SX or MXJ. Would these have enough line capacity. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

This is a pretty wide range of species to cover with just one setup. What will work for pompano and ladyfish may not be suited for king and tarpon. The Avets are solid reels and will perform very well. You could also look at a magged Penn 535 or 545, but they aren't quite as pretty as the Avets


----------



## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

kingfisherman23 said:


> This is a pretty wide range of species to cover with just one setup. What will work for pompano and ladyfish may not be suited for king and tarpon. The Avets are solid reels and will perform very well. You could also look at a magged Penn 535 or 545, but they aren't quite as pretty as the Avets


I agree...pretty wide range for just one reel...EXCEPT...get a reel with a quick change spool with a couple of extra spools (ala Jigmaster, etc). Different lines on each spool and change them as the fish that are biting dictate! 10'6" rod may be a little long for most piers, considering casting in a crowd, although I'm not familiar with the piers in that area. 8' may work better.


----------



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

kingfisherman23 said:


> This is a pretty wide range of species to cover with just one setup. What will work for pompano and ladyfish may not be suited for king and tarpon. The Avets are solid reels and will perform very well. You could also look at a magged Penn 535 or 545, but they aren't quite as pretty as the Avets


Thanks kingfisherman. I understand precisely what your saying. Later on he can also get a lighter setup for casting jigs for pompano but at the moment he just needs a setup that will be OK for most situations and which should be able to hold bottom when it's a bit rough and be able to avoid entangling with other lines in close proximity to him. The piers down there can get pretty crowded at times.


----------



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

sprtsracer said:


> 10'6" rod may be a little long for most piers, considering casting in a crowd, although I'm not familiar with the piers in that area.


Sorry sprtsracer - I should have mentioned he'll probably be also using on the beach on occasions. You're certainly right about the piers down that way getting crowded at times. Maybe I'm wrong but my thinking was that the longer rod will help cast past the mass of other lines and will also help with working around other lines on the retrieve.


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

sprtsracer said:


> I agree...pretty wide range for just one reel...EXCEPT...get a reel with a quick change spool with a couple of extra spools (ala Jigmaster, etc). Different lines on each spool and change them as the fish that are biting dictate!


I think sprtsracer has hit the nail on the head. I love my Jigmasters. Get two or three spools. Load one with ~30# braid and it will work for kings and cobes. Upgrade it to a stainless steel gear sleeve with HT-100 drag washers and you can get upwards of 20# of drag out of the reel. Another spool with 10-20# mono will work for smaller fish.

Evan


----------



## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

snowy said:


> Sorry sprtsracer - I should have mentioned he'll probably be also using on the beach on occasions. You're certainly right about the piers down that way getting crowded at times. Maybe I'm wrong but my thinking was that the longer rod will help cast past the mass of other lines and will also help with working around other lines on the retrieve.


I understand what you are saying...however, he can pick up a CHEAP rod for the pier (8' or below...as it will get beat up anyway) and get a decent rod for the surf. The other alternative is to get a 9 - 10' rod for both situations, but he should always look behind him when he casts, and he's limited to the "overhead thump" for casting style off the pier. For my money, I'd get two rods and switch the reel out between rods, based on where he's fishing.


----------



## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

Is he dead set on a conventional? I would almost think something along the lines of a Shimano Spheros 4000 would give you the most diverse set up to go from croaker to decent size tarpon. My basis for this statement? Catching everything from croaker/blues/pomps -->large snook/reds on mine and seeing my brother in law catch tarpon on his, having friends catch cobia on theirs.

Also, is he really fishing "piers" down there or is he also fishing bridges/docks/etc? Then rod length is a different factor.


----------



## cannotlogin (Sep 1, 2008)

snowy said:


> My buddy in London has a place in southern Florida around Fort Lauderdale which he goes out to about four times a year. He wants to do some fishing from the piers while he's out there. What would be a good size conventional reel to get? He’ll probably be using mono rather than braid and matching the reel to a 10’6’’ 1-5oz rod. Possible target species during the year could be pompano, cobia, snook, margate, king mackerel, mutton snapper, jacks, blue runners, ladyfish, permit, croaker, permit, spanish mackerel, bluefish, barracuda, tarpon, grouper, mangrove snapper and bluefish using live or fresh bait. I was thinking along the lines of a magged Avet SX or MXJ. Would these have enough line capacity. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.




That is a lot of different kinds of fish, you will need different tackle for say snapper then tarpon. I would get 2 setups, one a small spinning setup a 40 size good reels would be the Shimano stradic,Quantum boca and cabo,penn slammer/spinnfisher,daiwa advantage,etc with a '7 med or med heavy rod in the 17 or 20 class.

And you will need a bigger center pin such as a, diawa sealine/saltist,or shimano tirioum for tarpon,kings,etc. And for grouper you need a hole other class, a short stiff rod with a center pin wiht heavy braid.


----------



## surf rat (Jun 30, 2004)

*Shark boy*

Calm down. You are asking silly questions one post and giving silly advice on the next. I'm not sure what to make of you. Aren't you 12 years old. I take it you read a lot about fishing.


----------



## cannotlogin (Sep 1, 2008)

surf rat said:


> Calm down. You are asking silly questions one post and giving silly advice on the next. I'm not sure what to make of you. Aren't you 12 years old. I take it you read a lot about fishing.


No I am giving good advice in a silly way, the plain facts are good. If you are fishing for tarpon,kingfish,cobia,etc you will need a differrent rod and reel then say ladyfish, ladyfish is good tarpon bait, that is what I am getting at. And yes I read a lot about fihsing I got my first book on it when I was 4 or 5. Please do not look at me and think I know nothing about fishing, I have fished for 9 years. Everyday I search for info via the web on fishing, and ask questions on here and many other fishing boards. I don't fish for little layla fish I use layla fish for bait(no really they make great shark bait).

PS:I call lady fish Layla fish, don't ask why I just do.


----------



## ddratler (Oct 14, 2007)

i know the piers down here and fish them quite often
a long rod like that is tough to fish on a crowded pier but i have seen longer being used
like someone mentioned before i would buy a shorter rod for the pier and one reel and just swap rods when he wants to fish in the surf.
my guess is hes looking for an all around bottom rod for the pier, get a daiwa sealine 30 x or shv, they cast far, are very durable, and have a good solid drag.
put on either 150 or 300 yrds of 20-30lb power pro backing and to the reel with 2o-30 lb line, any one would work.
this way hell be able to catch the regular fish that are biting without being to overkill, and will have plenty of line if a big cobia, permit, kingfish, or tarpon decide to take your bait
:fishing:


----------



## surf rat (Jun 30, 2004)

*Shark boy*

I think you may have potential as a young Jedi. We will have to get you out on the shoals Drum fishing on the boat the end of April to see for sure. You must bring an adult with you, no offense.


----------



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

Thanks for all the great response guys. I’ll try and address some of the issues you’ve raised individually as best I can. I know there is no one perfect setup for the situation I have described but am just trying to determine what the best compromise would be.



jhmorgan said:


> Is he dead set on a conventional?.


Yes for the time being at least jh. He's learnt to cast on my Abu Mag Eites over here so sticking with a conventional at the moment would be best. To be honest a fixed spool would be a good option for the ease of changing to a heavier or lighter line but he’s never used one.



jhmorgan said:


> Also, is he really fishing "piers" down there or is he also fishing bridges/docks/etc? Then rod length is a different factor.


.
Piers and to some extent beaches but mainly piers – Anglins and Pompano Beach specifically.



ddratler said:


> i know the piers down here and fish them quite often
> a long rod like that is tough to fish on a crowded pier but i have seen longer being used
> like someone mentioned before i would buy a shorter rod for the pier and one reel and just swap rods when he wants to fish in the surf.


Yes the piers can definitely get a bit crowded but as his house is only about 10 minutes walk away so going down for a couple of hours early in the morning or in the evening and missing the crowds would be an option.



ddratler said:


> my guess is he’s looking for an all around bottom rod for the pier


Spot on but it would be nice if he could also get a bit of distance from the beach on occasions. Maybe I’m asking too much?



ddratler said:


> put on either 150 or 300 yrds of 20-30lb power pro backing and to the reel with 2o-30 lb line, any one would work. this way hell be able to catch the regular fish that are biting without being to overkill, and will have plenty of line if a big cobia, permit, kingfish, or tarpon decide to take your bait


Great idea ddratler - hadn’t thought of that. This goes a long way towards answering my original question regarding reel size.



shark123 said:


> I would get 2 setups, one a small spinning setup a 40 size good reels would be the Shimano stradic,Quantum boca and cabo,penn slammer/spinnfisher,daiwa advantage,etc


This will come later shark. In the future he'll need a spinning setup for casting goofy jigs but at present we’re talking about bottom fishing with bait or maybe freelining live bait.



sprtsracer said:


> I understand what you are saying...however, he can pick up a CHEAP rod for the pier (8' or below...as it will get beat up anyway) and get a decent rod for the surf. The other alternative is to get a 9 - 10' rod for both situations, but he should always look behind him when he casts, and he's limited to the "overhead thump" for casting style off the pier. For my money, I'd get two rods and switch the reel out between rods, based on where he's fishing.


The two rod solution would be ideal but I don’t want to advise him to get a rod the quality of which I’m not sure of although I take on board your point about a rod getting beat up on the pier. Over here we fish off piers and harbour walls with 12-13’’ rods with just an overhead thump. Naturally we don’t buy them especially for piers – they’re just our beachcasters which we take along to the pier and tone our casting down accordingly. The big casts are reserved for the relatively empty beaches. In fact on some piers because of safety concerns you are only allowed to cast underhand. A shorter rod would of course be more suitable for the pier but the most dangerous people on the piers over here are usually the ones carelessly slinging mackerel feathers (sabiki) anywhere they like. What length rod they have doesn’t matter much. I’m sure you guys have your share of idiots like that over on your side of the pond.



kingfisherman23 said:


> I think sprtsracer has hit the nail on the head. I love my Jigmasters. Get two or three spools. Load one with ~30# braid and it will work for kings and cobes. Upgrade it to a stainless steel gear sleeve with HT-100 drag washers and you can get upwards of 20# of drag out of the reel. Another spool with 10-20# mono will work for smaller fish.


Yes this would be a good solution Evan. I wasn't familiar with this reel before - I expect it is of reasonable quality as otherwise it wouldn't have been suggested. The drawback is of course that it hasn't got mag brakes. If I go for a mag reel the choice pretty much narrows down to an Avet or Penn.

Thanks again guys.


----------



## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

Mono line
Not only do I recommend it but I use it.Penn 555GS with a $1 magnet glued in.The 545 GS is good to but I can wrap my thumb around the 555 easier.
You can cast it from the piers or beaches in S Fla where distance isn't near as important as it is further up the coast.You can still get a 100 yard cast with 4 oz easily.
You have line capacity for tarpon or even a lite drag on a kingfish run.
The Avets are good reels but I would stay away from lever drag reels from a pier.
For tarpon he needs a reel that will hold at least 300 yards of 20lb mono.


----------



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

BentHook said:


> The Avets are good reels but I would stay away from lever drag reels from a pier.


Thanks for the suggestion on the Penn BentHook. I'd be interested to know why you think a lever drag is not suitable for a pier?


----------



## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

snowy said:


> Yes this would be a good solution Evan. I wasn't familiar with this reel before - I expect it is of reasonable quality as otherwise it wouldn't have been suggested. The drawback is of course that it hasn't got mag brakes. If I go for a mag reel the choice pretty much narrows down to an Avet or Penn.
> 
> Thanks again guys.


Not sure what you guys call it over there, but the Jigmaster is also a Penn reel...specifically...the 500 (M or L, depending on whether it's a plated spool or alluminum spool, respectively). It is very easily magged. You can get one in very good shape for around $30 or so on Ebay. He could even have it shipped to his FL address. Extra spools (alluminum) run about $20 or less on Ebay. This reel is tough as nails! Look for the older ones, made in the USA. There is info in the bible on magging it, as well as a thread I started in the Open Forum.


----------



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

Cool sprtsracer - will look into it. I'm not sure that they ever marketed the Jigmaster over here.


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

As sprtsracer said, you can easily mag the Jigmaster and turn it into a controllable and castable reel. I've magged one of mine for beach casting to sharks and I'm planning on magging my other one as well. All you need is mags, washers and epoxy.

Evan


----------



## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

why you think a lever drag is not suitable for a pier?
I'm going to wing it here as I don't have the instructions in front of me for setting the drag.I have a Avet SX 2nd generation.
You have 4 settings once the drag is set in free spool.I'll list what my settings are.
free spool 
bait 1lb
strike 7 1/2 lb
full 12 lb
I use this for casting off the beach.If I were to add more drag in the bait setting it would cut down on my casting distance but would give me more drag on the STRIKE and FULL settings.The idea with lever drags is to set the drag and don't mess with it.
With a star type drag,you can move up or down in drag settings without losing any ability to cast the same distance.
Fishing from a pier for large fish(cobia,tarpon,kings and cudas) is a whole different ball game from a boat or beach.You can't muscle a big fish in on a pier while he's still green.He will head straight for a piling and it's game over.You have to wear them out which takes time with a lower drag setting so they pretty much come in tired and on top of the water.
You could bump a lever drag up to 3lbs on bait and increase the overall drags aswell but then it wouldn't cast near as far off the beach.
You were looking for an overall conventional reel but there really isn't one.A spinning reel is about the best solution for his fishing needs and this is from a conventional guy.Especially if the reel came with an extra spool.


----------



## seajay (Dec 18, 2005)

Bent would you not cast a Conventional in Free Spool? I know Archie loves his and yes they are supose to be well made. Never used one myself. So the Avets only have 2 pre-set drag positions? So from strike it will only go to full drag?


----------



## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

I wish we could get alantani to school us all on lever drags.
A conventional reel has separate settings for the spool tension and the drag setting.The SX has one adjustment knob for the drags and adjust from 1 to 12.As you adjust the drags tighter the spool tension also adjust tighter.
If I put the spool in "free" (lever all the way down) and adjust the knob on the side of the reel it spins very freely and if I turn it to a 3 or 4 setting the spool doesn't turn as free. So, one way or another it does adjust the tension on the spool.
One example was when I got the reel new about 5 years ago, I wanted to do a spin test to see how it compared to the famous ABU 6500 spin times.With no line on the reels I spun them both and waited,I think the ABU went for 2 1/2 minutes,the AVET was still going so I spun the ABU again.I think the Avet got just over 5 minutes spin time which was truely amazing at the time.But, it was way too fast(for normal people) for casting without adding magnets.
There are four postion settings,FREE,BAIT,STRIKE and FULL.Sliding the lever forward you will fill the reel click into postion when it gets to one of the settings.I tried to move the lever half way between strike and full
and it did increase the drag to 10lbs.But, I'm not sure it will stay in that postion when fighting a fish or if it were bumped.
One other thing I noticed about the lever drag reel,it is a little harder to wind in then a star drag reel.It's like it has tension built in.
So the Avets only have 2 pre-set drag positions? So from strike it will only go to full drag? 
They have three if you count the bait postion.I could adjust the bait to 2 or 3 lbs of drag but that will also increase the rest of the drag settings.It would also cut down on my distance casting from the beach.


----------



## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

I spent many a day on the pier fishing with Archie.That was when he was a stay at home mom-dad. He always got there late,probaly because he was taking kids to school,nursery or just changing diapers.I remember when he brought that Avet out there,he was like a little kid on XMAS morning.They are nice reels and built tough but it's hard to beat a 525mag that has what you need right out of the box for most surf fishing.
My last two Penn 555's I bought were used at C&H lures on the discount table.They wanted $15 each but sold me one for $10 and the other for $15.
They Clayton Kirby's king reels that had a lot of mileage on them and some boat rash but were well serviced.
I think I'll e-mail alantani and get his take on lever drag reels.


----------



## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

BentHook said:


> One other thing I noticed about the lever drag reel,it is a little harder to wind in then a star drag reel.It's like it has tension built in.


This is a common issue with lever drag reels BentHook. Higher drag settings create a lateral lateral load on the bearing causing the handle to become increasingly difficult to wind.


----------



## kingchaser34 (Jan 20, 2009)

they are right about the jigmasters you should definitly have something with extra spools so you can adjust to what the fish are doing


----------

