Putting Together My NEW Plugging/Popping Rig! I'm Even Spooling The Line!

Using Okuma's HCS Plugging/Popping Rod w/a 14K Cedros Spinner & Spooled By Big Water Line Spooler by Sportsman Innovations!

I got Okuma's NEW Hawaiian Custom Plugging/Popping rod. At 8'3" these 30/70 split rods are the best in materials & price that i've seen in years. Also received the NEW Okuma Cedros 14000 Spinner for 2020. But i also needed line. So Soft Steel Tackle sent me their monofilament & braid to try with their fluorocarbon leaders.

But ran into another issue. Retail tackle shops may not take kindly to their customers bringing in foreign line to spool on reels not purchased at their stores. I can relate & understand this. So Sportsman Innovations came to my rescue with their new 2019 release of their Big Water Fishon Line Spooler w/all accessories. I had to learn how to work this spooler by doing, didn't make too many mistakes on my first dry run. Thank God.

I decided to go all 65lb braid on the reel. If i went 50lb i could've casted farther & have plenty of line for blazing runs. But i'm a big guy, i busted 50lb braid before by plugging 3.5oz plugs hard for distance. I think i made the right choice by going all 65lb. I couldn't find my portable line counter but i could tell that spool took way over 300yds. I'm using ball bearing swivels with roughly a 18in 85lb fluorocarbon leader, for now.

I got recent confirmation that i have a back-order of Band of Anglers FL (floating) & SLD (Super Long Distance) lures coming in soon. I still have a couple dozen misc lures that'll keep me busy until then. I'll post below a link for those tackle shops to dedicated anglers on how to get a Fishon Spooler. They have smaller units but the one i got came out this summer for surf casters & pluggers. The company says this unit accepts spools up to 12K, but it still took my 14K spool with room to spare.

What makes this spooler special to me is no manual cranking. If you're forced to crank you'll have to add shims so your line stays even. Also no power drill as a power source. To me that's not a true power spooler. These are space savers and inexpensive to purchase & mail. Much cheaper then those bigger units over a grand with high shipping. Or a used unit on eBay that may fail also with high postage. A local tackle shop saw my pics on this unit & is interested in one.

Right now i can't sleep. I figured out how to use the spooler. I have the best plugging rods i've had in years that was endorsed by a local tackle shop & rod builder. And i have the new Okuma Cedros Spinner. It has a new proprietary housing on all 3 sizes. Strong & light weight. The new Cedros 8K is 3oz lighter then the new Blue Azores 8K. No aluminum housing. And the new rod with the 30/70 split has backbone for large GT's or most large hungry fish.I want to go out and play with my new toys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Soh51vbz8