First Boat Fishing Trip

the_shams · Post by **the_shams** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:46 am

Hi all! I'm new here

I'll be going for my first boat fishing trip soon and pretty excited about it. I wanna ask for suggestion for rods and reels match with a budget of not more than SGD400. Location will be changi waters at daytime, the boat will be drifting.

At the moment i am looking at those from daiwa and shimano with auto bite n run system. Any good recommendations on them?

I'm totally at a lost to get a boat rod though. Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated

Oinkie · Post by **Oinkie** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:56 am

Is it a spinning or casting setup?

I presume you are talking about the spinning setup. This is my personal recommendations. Get a size 4k reel (comparable to Shimano) or 3.5k daiwa reel at least the reel can handle at least size 8 casting sinker.
At least a pe 3 rod. I use a braided 30lb line. Size 4 6 8 size sinker anything more than that I will go and sleep. If the setup too light then you may end up tiring yourself and eventually you may not enjoy the offshore experience.

For your budget you can get a reasonable good setup. Try looking around the tackle shops in Change they should be able to help you. Try pairing the rod and reel together to get a feel.

Enjoy shopping. Alternatively you can go to the local online tackle shop like startackle.com to compare the price.

Post by **Peace** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:19 pm

Hi the_shams, welcome to HLF.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by auto bite and run system, are you talking about baitrunner reels? You don't really need this for Changi drifting, drifting itself does help set the hook half the time but it's always good to have your hand on your rod to give it a good hard strike to ensure the better hook sets. Baitrunner has extra components which only adds more weight, so think through if you really need a baitrunner reel.

Another consideration you need to take account into is whether you want this set of tackles for only Changi water or able to cover other places as well such as Southern Islands. Generally, a PE1-3 rod with Shimano 4k/Daiwa 3k will do nicely while PE2-4 Shimano 6k/Daiwa 4k for Southern Islands. The difference is mostly due to the depth and stronger current that requires your tackle to handle heavier sinkers. So while a heavier setup can cover more applications, the lighter setup can let you fish more comfortably (lighter in weight) in Changi area.

For rods, you might want to look into Golden Mean Earthshaker, Daiwa Monster Mesh, Shimano Jigwrex, all in range of $200 plus. For cheaper rods, you can look into Eupro rods, ATC Vortex or one of my favourite, the Penn Power Sea Ranger that only cost $50 dollars.

For reels, you might want to go look at Daiwa Exceler/Oceano/Phantom J, Shimano Aceration/Biomaster, ranging from $100 plus to $200 odd. For cheaper reels, you can look at Shimano Nasci and Aernos XT or Daiwa Revros MX .

the_shams · Post by **the_shams** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:00 am

Thanks Oinkie and Peace

That really helps alot. Didn't know what to get initially but now i can zoom into some options here. Thanks alot guys!

Oinkie · Post by **Oinkie** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:50 am

Hi

Peace had already spoken and given you some idea of what you want. I would suggest that you do some homework check out the rods and reel combo. Also no forgetting to add in the other components like lines, sinker, tackles. Go down to tackle shops and check out what you want. For me I would go to the tackle more than once to see what options do I want. I will not commit the tackles on 1 visit alone. Happy shopping do update us what you got.

Cheers

the_shams · Post by **the_shams** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:56 am

Greetings!

Yup, been going around to tackle shops to look at the different rods and reels and comparing prices.

How do i check if braided lines can be used on the rod/reel?

Will definitely update you guys once i've got my hoot

Cheerios!

Post by **Peace** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 7:18 am

It's actually pretty hard to tell as many rods don't specify what types of rings are used in their guides. Taking fuji guides for example, their aluminium oxide rings are capable of using braided lines(not sure if they have lower grade rings than that). However, it can still wear off after a long time of use especially if you fish in water with high sedimentation or do not clean your braided lines after use. The silt, dirt and salt crystal stuck on the braided lines can increase the friction between the rings and the line that will eat away the rings and subsequently damage the line as well.

So if you want something more resistant to cuts, choose rings with higher hardness. From on top of my head, I think the hardness level goes aluminium oxide>hardloy>alconite>SiC>gold cermet. (in hardness increasing order) Alconite should be the best bang for your buck, they're light, pretty hard and affordable.

Post by **sgpu** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:12 am

drum reel would be more suitable for my money.

when you release the bait to the bottom, it would be so much easy freeing the drum and braking it with your thumb. easier control. but with a spinning set up, most time releasing your lang kong rig, you end up with your leader catching your main line.

besides, drum reel has that bite and go feature too.

although a baitrunner spinning reel can be use for surf cast fishing but it is very heavy to carry onboard for bottom fishing. http://www.shimano.com/publish/content/ ... unner.html

Post by **Peace** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:20 am

Yes, it's easier to control the releasing of line when lowering the bait to the bottom with overhead reels. With spinning reels, you probably need to hold the line to slow down the descend or engage the reverse wind to control it.