I plan on fishing for Tarpon off a private pier in the Florida Keys. I know the rod is a bit short but I have to travel with it and I have a kayak on site to paddle out my baits.
There are so many options available for rod and reel choices that I’m not sure what to chose.
My budget is around 130 dollars.
Much better outfit than the Okuma you were thinking of buying. Go for it!
UPDATE: FYI: As you get a heavier and heavier rod for Tarpon or other big gamefish (like Jewfish/Grouper, Etc), it will be harder for you to chase the most COMMON Inshore species that are in the Keys- Snapper, Grunts, small Grouper, occasional Yellowtail & ‘Cuda.
Can you catch a Tarpon in the Keys off a pier? Yes.
But they aren’t there all the time. OR they will turn their nose up to your bait.
Ask yourself- Do you want “action” or a big catch? How many days do you have to fish? You could easily fish for days and not catch a Tarpon. And once you do hook into one, because you don’t know what your doing AND your fishing from shore, you’ll either get spooled or he will cut you off…..you may never even SEE the fish once it’s hooked.
Realize- 80% of the time, when you hook something that large from shore (whether it’s a Tarpon or Jewfish), it gets cut off…….
Typically you have to use a 60-100LB shock leader when fishing for Tarpon. Do you know how to tie that type of rig? Are you familiar with the term “bowing”? Do you know you need a $50 tag for Tarpon? How much research have you done on this subject?
Personally, if I could take only one outfit, it would be a 7-8’ MH Spinning outfit with a reel spooled with 170 yards of 15LB Berkley Big game Mono (or 10/40 Power Pro Braid). Why? You can catch a wider variety of fish with that outfit, (including Tarpon and Shark if your lucky).
Check these links out-
– http://www.discoveringfloridakeys.com/florida-keys-bridge-fishing.php
– http://www.floridasportsman.com/features/0902_snapper_fishing_florida_keys_bridges/index.html
– http://www.floridasportsman.com/sportfish/0007_tarpon_at_a/index.html
– http://www.floridagameandfish.com/fishing/saltwater-fishing/fl_aa050903a/
I am currently in MN and I watch tourists do this same thing with Musky. Everyone wants to catch a Musky when they go on vacation in MN. 90% of them go home without catching ANYTHING “worthy”, because they set themselves up to ONLY catch trophy Musky & Pike. Personally, I like to catch “something” when I go fishing……….
However, if your dead-set on the “big boys” go with what James suggested. You’ll get 30% more drag out of a Jigmaster and that might be enough to land a Tarpon from shore. Thumbs up to James- he gets my vote for best answer.
Sounds good to me. Just get some good line for it.
Good reel choice, i dunno if its was you but i recommended the Emcast to a guy wanting a good surf-fishing reel.
The Bigwater is a nice rod also, Great value for money:)
The Ugly Stik Tiger rods are also very good and really there isn’t much between them and the Bigwater.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shakespeare-Ugly-Stik174-Tiger-Rods/739642.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=/catalog/search.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dugly%2Bstik%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=ugly+stik&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products
Err… I don’t think I want to go after tarpons with spinning outfits. Since your budget is around $130, I’ll recommend this Penn 500 combo: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Penn-Jigmaster-500L-SL174070CR-Combo/14649603?sourceid=1500000000000003260410&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=14649603
This is how the combo looked like: http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/pennfishingtacklecompany95011slammr7-1pc500ljigmastr.aspx
The reel is more powerful than the Okuma Classic and it will be a lot more durable. The one piece rod that came with the combo won’t be the best rod available but it could handle up to 40lb test lines. Since it was a fiberglass rod, it will not be that sensitive and it will be on the heavy side. But, fiberglass rods got better fish fighting qualities than graphite rods and fiberglass rods will handle big fish easier. This combo is a very popular rental rod/reel combo for many fishing charter boats. It is inexpensive and durable. It could handle rough handling and abuse and it will get the job done. This time proven piece will kill that Okuma combo and that Shakespeare/Daiwa combo.
On that first link provided, you should be able to see that you could purchase the combo online and pick the item up in the store. This means you don’t need to travel with a rod and reel on your way to Florida. All you need to do is find a store near where you stay. You could either ship the rod back to yourself or get rid of the rod in Florida and fly back with only the reel. For $130, you’ll get reel, rod and line. If you look hard enough, I think you could find the combo locally for around $80 to $90 dollars. The best price I’ve seen for this particular Penn combo was only $75.95.
PS: The reel by itself was between $65 to $80 new. The difference between the reel that came with the combo and the reel by itself – a cardboard box and sometimes a small tube of reel lube. The cardboard box will increase your reel’s resale value by $5 to $10. A 1/2oz tube of the same reel lube costs around $2.99 to $3.50. A 2oz jar of reel grease (from the same company) costs about the same; reel grease plus synthetic oil costs about $5.00. Needless to say, the rod is worth more than the cardboard box and the reel lube combined. 🙂