joelarbear

I've done a fair amount of fishing out of Gulf Shores/Orange Beach. I can't afford a boat for the 1 to 2 times a year I get to go out, so I'm stuck with the Charter captains. I just bought a Penn 330GTi Level Wind reel. I'm curious to know what type, brand and test of line you guys would recommend to string it with. I paired it with a Shakespeare Tidewater 6' stand up rod with roller guides. Iwould imagine I'd be bottom fishing most of the time with it, but I'd also like to troll with it. Any advice (other than to tell me my rod and or reel sucks) would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

joelarbear

Come on guys. I've seen a lot of great advice posted here while I was a lurker. Doesn't anyone have an opinion that might help me out?

whipper snapper

take it up to oucast and let them spool it with 30# ande. i think they are running a special.

joelarbear

What do you think about braid or flourocarbon?

FenderBender

Are you just planning on using it to bottom bump with while on the charter boats? What type of fish do you plan on targeting?

joelarbear

I would imagine that I'd be stuck with what the charter captain picks to target. Probably the near extinct Red Snapper and grouper. I'm looking for as close to an all purpose line as I can find. I'm not a big fan of monofilament because of the stretch issues, but then again, for trolling, a little stretch might not be a bad thing. It's been my experience, on the charters I've taken that bottom fishing with cigar minnows or cut bait is the norm. I'd like something a little more sensitive than mono. I had about decided on using flourocarbon line, but it's hard to find in higher than 20 lb. test.

FenderBender

Here is 200 yds of 30 lb Fluoro... hope ya don't get spooled with it

http://www.nextag.com/Maxima-Fluoroc...09/prices-html

Captain Woody Woods

pardon the apparent ignorance, but i dont understand why so many people try to "multitask" their reels. A reel I bottom fish with and a reel I troll with are COMPLETELY different. I don't ever look for one that can handle both chores. If you don't see yourself fishing that much, then I wouldn't even hardly worry about buying a whole bunch of expensive stuff. Most charter boats (the ones I work, anyhow) are outfitted with top-notch gear that is meticulously maintained. We often frown at when people bring their own gear, because it might be a bass pro shops special or wal-mart special, and it blows to hell and back as soon as a good fish gets on it. ESPECIALLY when people buy those pre-made leaders...oh my god if I ever see another customer bring one of those aboard I might just snap. If you're hell bent on buying your own gear, look at the fishing you are going to be doing PRIMARILY. Usually that will be bottom fishing, especially for novice anglers or the fair weather, weekend warriors. Especially if you don't know much about trolling. If you're wanting to learn a new aspect of the sport, invite someone who either A. knows a good deal about it (be it trolling, kite fishing, live-bait bridling, etc.) and B. has a lot of their own gear so you can become acquainted with it before you go drop thousands of dollars on gear you'll either A. never use or B. don't know how to use. Hope this helps.

Capt. Alex Pinney

you dont need flurocarbon on your reel.to expensive and pointless.. for that reel.. you need 30-40 pound ande..flurocarbon is only needed for your leaders..

FenderBender

As a fellow deckhand I second what the Blue hoo says about people who bring their own gear on charter boats... it is frowned upon.ESPECIALLY when people bring 6/0s full of power pro that have no clue how to fish and end up in the props 3 times in 8 hours... let me tell you i just love cutting that out of the propsat the end of the day:banghead