Coffee Grinder for YT?

[THE DARKHORSE]

You'll shoot your eye out!




Short version: If you value your time and would like to know my honest opinion of using modern spinners for catching surface-iron Yellowtail---skip all the superfluous information I wrote below and simply read the last comments on both of these previous posts.
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Originally Posted by THE DARKHORSE

"newell 338,trinidad 40, or torium 20



Whew...thank goodness for the change in weather because my arms couldn't take much more. Being that it's my first day off work in a while, I'll bite .


Unless these are reels you already own...I'd suggest keeping your options open.

#1 The Newell 338: This reel has outstanding free-spool and is the go to reel for most deckhands on the West Coast. So if you're trying to fit in wearing your folded down Extra Tuff boots---go for it! Besides the great free-spool and looking cool aspect, I think most guys still use this reel for the easy service associated with it. It's easy to breakdown, easy to put a couple of drops of speed X on the bearings and most sportboats carry extra parts for these reels, too. Personally, not my favorite reel but obviously capable of doing the job. In my professional opinion, this is not a wise choice unless you are already casting at an expert level.

#2 Shimano Trinidad 40: This would be my go-to, straight 50 lb mono, yo-yo iron reel for sixty pound Cedros Island Yellowtail over heavy structure with forty guys standing shoulder to shoulder. It's too big and heavy, in my opinion, for a local surface-iron reel. It's an awesome reel, but the last one I'd pick out your reels you listed. I feel the same about the Torium 30; it's too big and heavy. Not to mention, the spool on Torium 30 is a little too wide. I know this because I used to have a Torium 30 on one of my Uluas, but eventually switched to the Torium 20.

#3 Shimano Torium 20 : It's a fact, you can cast farther with a Torium 20 due to the perfect height and width of the spool. Which is really what you should be considering when you purchase a reel, specifically for casting iron with a long rod. A few other reels that have this same perfect height and width of the spool are the Newell 338, Daiwa Saltist 40, Daiwa Sealine 40...to name a few. Enough of that, back to the Torium 20: this is the reel I used to love on my jig-sticks. Those days are over, though, and I'll tell you why. For one, I've broke the anti-reverse bearing on the Torium 20 over thirty times (a.k.a. The Knuckle Buster!). I've not only got the scars to prove it, but I'm pretty sure I fractured a finger in the process, too. It was swollen and hurt for five months, but I only go to the doctor when I can't stop the bleeding or can't breathe .

Not only that, but you need to be an engineer to service this reel yourself. For the guys that can do it, or are stubborn enough to do it...good for you. I'd rather go fishing myself. When you open this reel, it's a cute little mechanical bomb. And be prepared for springs and $h!^ to go flying everywhere. This is when I pack all the little parts, I can find, into a brown bag and send it in for service by a professional. If you insist on buying this reel, at least, put in a double-dog anti reverse and save your fingers!

If you're buying a conventional reel to cast surface-iron, for the kayak...I'd suggest picking up one of two reels. The first is a Daiwa Sealine 40. It's free-spool is just as good as a Newell 338. I can cast this reel just as far as any deckhand with a Newell (so can you with practice). It's durable as hell and takes abuse and keeps on ticking. It's got the perfect height and width as mentioned above. It's $109 at Squid Co. and I bet Charkbait has it on the cheap, too. It's easy to service and I've never had bloody knuckles from fishing with locked-down drags on bruiser Yellowtail with it. I'm man enough to admit that if the color scheme matched my four jig-sticks a little better...I'd have it on my jig-sticks, too. Unfortunately, black and gold would clash with any of my beautiful girls so it's not an option for me. The annoying clicking sound when you wind kind of bugs me, too (same for the Newell).

I use the Daiwa Saltist 40 on all my jig-sticks today. I've caught hundreds of Yellowtail on these reels and never broke the anti-reverse. Not once. Having bloody knuckles is a choice, apparently, so I'll leave that up to you. While this reel doesn't quite have the free-spool of the Sealine (I'm talking a tiny fraction of loss in free spool here). This reel is made to pull hard and is built a little better in my opinion. It's easy to service, doesn't make that annoying clicking sound and is priced below the Torium 20. They look like a tight mini-skirt on my beautiful girls, too. Which is important to me because I fondle them daily.

If you want to spend a little more and know that you're going to be distance challenged, I'll add another option. The Avet JX with Magic Cast. This reel is bullet proof, made for fishing heavy drag, easy to service and from what I've heard casts well. The only downside to this reel is you'll have to service it a bit more frequently than either of the Daiwa reels I mentioned. Not an issue since it's easy to do it yourself, though. The Avet LX would be the same as a Torium 30; too wide for efficient, repetitive casting and winding.


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If you know you're never going to be able to cast, long distance with control...don't rule out the coffee-grinders with spectra. Looking cool is an option; one we all face as the individual we choose to be. Remember, above all, catching Yellowtail on the surface-iron is much, much cooler, than simply looking cool.
In the words of Andre 3,000: " What's cooler than cool? Ice cold!"

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Originally Posted by THE DARKHORSE

Being that you already own those reels, I'd suggest practicing with the Shimano Torium 20 (that's if, the free-spool is in perfect working order?). At least the Shimano has a spool tension dial on the reel to aid in your learning curve. Once your casting in the 60-80 yard range, consistently without back-lashing, I'd switch to the Newell for those additional 20 yards.

Like I said, I wouldn't suggest the Newell unless you're already casting at an expert level; as there's no spool tension knob. It's the way it should be; incredible free-spool with no breaks. The Newell is hard to beat (free-spool wise), unless you're catching big Yellowtail on the surface-iron with heavy drag...all the time. Or, plan to fish the surface-iron with spectra (this reel isn't made for that kind of stuff). If you're doing either of those things--- the drags just go out when the entire ocean erupts in front of you. Which isn't a big deal either if you have two jig-sticks on board, like me .

Since you have a Daiwa Sealine 50 already (which has great free-spool as well), that's just another option for you. For me, even though the Daiwa Sealine 50 has great free-spool, it's a little too wide (same width as the Torium 30). Remember, each cast will be a direct result of how well you wound the line on. It's just more challenging to wind the line on perfectly with a wider spool. It's also more challenging to wind your line on perfectly with a reel that has a low gear ratio---if, you're trying to wind fast. Which is common on a lot of jigs to make them swim properly. For that reason, I prefer not only the perfect height and width of the spool, but a 6 to 1 gear ratio.

In my opinion, the ultimate goal should be training your thumb to adjust to each swing. While spool tension and Magic Cast will help in the early stages of learning to cast---eventually, you should be casting with no breaks on the reel at all.

Above all, like I said in my previous post---it's about one thing: catching more fish. And the surface-iron is a great tool to achieve that goal. While I have all conventional reels, without breaks or magnets used on any of them, my eyes are forever open when it comes to catching more fish; the sky's the limit!

I still like to think, I improve every-time I'm on the water. And if a twenty-foot, hot pink, upside down coffee grinder with spectra can cast 200 yards---you might see me swinging one before it's all said and done.

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.Longer version: If somehow, someway, all the guys banging Yellowtail on a regular basis...using the rods and reels we use isn't motivating enough...blaze your own damn trail. And I mean that in all seriousness without one iota of a hidden slam directed at you. I fish with a Seeker Ulua because I absolutely love that rod. I fish with a Calstar 100J and 10' Super Seekers because I love them, too. I love fishing them when casting from the deck of a sportie and I love fishing with them sitting in a kayak as well. If you learn how to cast standing up on a sportie, dock, pier, football field etc, you'll typically lose about 10% of that distance casting while sitting down. Which isn't crap if you can cast a mile standing up! Now, which is often the case, with anyone enticed by fishing spinners from what I've seen---if you can't cast for $h!t with a conventional reel standing up---than forget about it, if and when you're trying to cast sitting down! These are simply the facts, but use that information however you like. The Yellowtail and I are stoked if you never take the time to learn how to cast properly (unless I'm spending eight hours spotting schools of fish for you ). Short casts with bait rods or giant backlashes using your $400 proper jig-stick, lead to one thing: more fish for me!

So, obviously, you have two choices. One option is to learn how to cast and quit blaming the rod and reel your using (this advice is for the guys who already own the popular West Coast jig-sticks and proper reels: Calstar 90J, Calstar GG90J, Calstar 100J, Seeker Ulua 93H, Super Seeker bla bla bla, etc). That said, you'll have no idea of your true potential if you're trying to cast some, nonsense, 7' bait set-up; or nonsense 8' bait set-up for that matter! Some blanks are specifically designed for casting optimum distance; some clearly are not. Same for using properly sized reels, proper jigs---so on and so forth. All of which is completely, worthless, over priced crap if you don't ever practice casting in the first place, though.

The other option is to buy "a higher end spinning reel and popping rod" (crazy $$$ from my research). I've been researching this for clients lately and have been grossly disappointed in the market as a whole. After putting guys on school after school of Yellowtail---only to watch these guys blow their shot at a trophy fish---over and over and over again---I'd be the last person on the planet right now telling you not to buy a freakin' spinner! From what I've seen there's a ridiculous gap in the market and I can't believe for the life of me why Calstar and Seeker (for example) haven't jumped on this.

The same way you should be paying attention to the guys casting over one hundred yards, in the bow of a sport-boat, with the pre-mentioned jig-sticks---I looked to the Japanese guys using top of the line "popping rods" with spinners for my starting point in my research. These rods are sick, no doubt, but you could buy a brand new Hobie with less money than the rod and reel these guys use. I'm talking about one set-up!

Almost all the blanks and rods designed for spinning tackle, that I've either found on the internet or that I could find locally---in my opinion, completely suck for catching Yellowtail. They're either a short rod with the proper rating (30-60 lb), or some terribly unbalanced surf-rod blank with complete junk components. From what I've seen locally and on the internet, going custom wrapped is pretty much your only option if you're interested in a quality product designed to handle the task at hand. A friend of mine recently showed me a 8' spinning set-up with spectra that cast a Tady 45 seventy yards with ease. After checking out the blank a little more closely---brand, line rating and such---while it could no doubt put that jig in the proper spot with ease---it would be no match for the local crop of fish. Kelp paddy, rat-yellows, is one thing; thirty pound class, pissed off fish in heavy structure is another! Why in the hell isn't there a Calstar 90J on the market with larger titanium guides and a reel seat, designed for modern day spinning tackle? I'm thinking something along the lines of a Calstar 690J, due to it's whippier tip, would be perfect for a West Coast spinner (I'm not a fan of this blank for a conventional reel jig-stick, though). The same question goes for Seeker? In my humble opinion, it makes no sense. The obvious answer using my limited education---would be lack of demand on the West Coast.

Unfortunately, having a job that somewhat relies on a guy being able to cast when we get our shot---after trying to create that shot for ten hours, I'm all for guys buying a proper spinning set-up! As long as there's guys who can't cast, or simply can't cast when they actually come face to face with a full on 'foamer of feeding fish, or a Football field sized school of free-swimming fish---there's a time and place for having a nice spinning set-up if you asked me. Which is the reason why I'll be rockin' one here soon as well. While my time is incredibly inexpensive, it's valuable to me.