Question? Popper setup for Central America

[norcal]

Hello everyone, sorry if this has been discussed but i am heading down to Central America (Panama) for a while and I have one trolling setup but I would love to bring a spinning setup for fishing off the beach and tossing poppers into bait from a boat. Any suggestions of what rod and reel would best suit my needs????? My budget is no more than $200 for the whole setup, so what should i be looking at?


thanks in advance


J.M

[PCH]

I think you are going to have a tuff time finding a set up for 200 bucks that will hold up to the fishing here in Panama. I would say you could pick up a pen spinfisher reel, just about all tackle shops have them. They run around 150.00 bucks. For a rod, try the penn power stick plus ( I beleive thats the name ), they run about 60 to 70 dollars, and they are a good quality for the price. Good luck. To be set up really well, you need around 800 to 900 dollars. Ouch!

[tap]

I agree with Paul. $200 won't get you much to fight Panama fish with. The drags and power drives need to be tough and the rod needs some backbone. I don't use spinning gear. The Shimano CTE 700 and 400's are standard for me spooled with 65# and 50# Power Pro Spectra with 6' leaders of 100# and 60# P-Line. You need to put at least 18#+ drag on these fish when you're popping the rocks for amberjack or cubera and other snappers. Roosterfish, bluefin trevally and some others won't generally "rock" you as much and you can get away with a lighter drag. The 7' Calcutta rods are rated 40-50#. Good poppers include the Yo-Zuri Surface Bull GT, Surface Cruiser and Sashimi's. They aren't cheap and a handfull of these alone will eat up your $200.

Tony Pena
"The Roving Angler"

[kinembe]

800-900 dollars for a spinning reel? c'mon.

and the way the post reads, you plan on throwing into baitballs, which will produce mostly jacks and the occasional rooster. throwing those poppers at rocks will be another story, but again, you'll be fine with a couple hundred dollar setup.

the spinning reels on my boat are shimano baitrunners and i have caught literally everything from blue runners to blue marlin on them and the ones i have right now are over a year old and still work fine after dozens of sailfish, roosters, amberjacks etc. and yes even caught a blue marlin about 250 pounds(25lb mono) on one of the 6500's.

you can get a combo with baitrunner 4500 or 6500 for unser $200 in almost any decent tackle store. baitrunners are not necesarily the only way to go, i use them because i like shimano equipment, but most of all, the way i work, i find the baitrunner feature an absolute must. point is, a couple hundred should get you a decent enough set up...spool it with some 50# braid and you'll be good to go.

here are a couple pictures of me at play with a baitrunner 6500 combo that costs about $170, i think you'll agree that they do the job...

the fight...


...the result...


...nuff said?

[PCH]

800 to 900 dollars for a combo (what I prefer, stella). Looks like the baitrunner does a good job for Chris. Check one of those out. Good luck!

[johndtuttle]

Then again you could go soda can and spark plug plus the cost of the line......like real Pescadors do.

I would say that Shimano Bait Runner or Pen SS Series would be adequate unless as tap and others suggest you really need stopping power on a Cubera or Yellow Fin Tuna (bigger than schoolie).

Chris (Kinembe) is right on too, just remember, you get what you pay for, at the low end especially, though the high end can also charge a premium. Sometimes a story of a blown up reel is as memorable as a landed trophy, u decide.

[squirtis]

You can get away with some pretty basic gear for throwing poppers from the beach for jacks and stuff. I recommend braid on whatever you get with a flouro leader. The Yozuri Gt Bull's work great, but for jacks and stuff from the beach your basic heavier crocodile or similar will work fine, just make sure it has enough wieght to get pretty far out past the breakers etc.

As far as from a boat, the baitrunners will work fine in the pedasi area...lots of schoolie tunas and the like...

If you go out to the islands near us or coiba or canales or hannibal/montuosa you stand a good chance of getting rocked!

If you are hear for a couple of weeks you should be fine. If you are fishing them hard alot they simply won't last.

Chad has fried numerous baitrunners, stradics, sustains ($299), and everything in between.

The only thing that has held up to date is the Stella's.

Again if your more inshore and more in pedase or beach throwing the baitrunners will be fine.

Good luck!

[sandfish]

I bought my wife a Shimano spinning set up for around 200$.A Sedona 6000 reel 70$, a S.E. 7' 15-30 rod 110$, 65# spectra 25$. She caught rosters to 52#,cubera snapper, tuna and many other fish without a problem.It's not what I fish but it got the job done.

[norcal]

Hey thank you all for the advise!! I appreciate all the input. I am going to shop around a little and se what i can find. again thanks, this has been a big help...


jeff

[tbuckshot]

Originally Posted by squirtis

You can get away with some pretty basic gear for throwing poppers from the beach for jacks and stuff. I recommend braid on whatever you get with a flouro leader. The Yozuri Gt Bull's work great, but for jacks and stuff from the beach your basic heavier crocodile or similar will work fine, just make sure it has enough wieght to get pretty far out past the breakers etc.

As far as from a boat, the baitrunners will work fine in the pedasi area...lots of schoolie tunas and the like...

If you go out to the islands near us or coiba or canales or hannibal/montuosa you stand a good chance of getting rocked!

If you are hear for a couple of weeks you should be fine. If you are fishing them hard alot they simply won't last.

Chad has fried numerous baitrunners, stradics, sustains ($299), and everything in between.

The only thing that has held up to date is the Stella's.

Again if your more inshore and more in pedase or beach throwing the baitrunners will be fine.

Good luck!

Curtis, I even got ROCKED on the Stella and a locked down drag on a medium sized cubera on a rocky shoreline. The difference--I got the cubera out of the rocks with constant pressure, only to straighten two of the 2X mustads at the boat! Sometimes ya just can't win, right?

[squirtis]

Originally Posted by tbuckshot

Curtis, I even got ROCKED on the Stella and a locked down drag on a medium sized cubera on a rocky shoreline. The difference--I got the cubera out of the rocks with constant pressure, only to straighten two of the 2X mustads at the boat! Sometimes ya just can't win, right?

How true Tom..

I will give ya a shout when I get home next week. Just wrapping up a few things right now. I imagine I will make it down to my Dad's sometime before I come back down to Panama!

[tbuckshot]

Gimme a call, Curtis. Caught 6 redfish on a fly day before yesterday. Might be fun. You still have my card, right?