Spinning gear for tuna/yellow fishing?

[mybada]

Does anyone here use spinning gear for tuna/yellow fishing?

I’m a lefty and don’t have a lot of choices when it comes to conventional reels.
I currently have Avet SX for 20lbs setup and MXL for 30lbs setup both lefties of course.
But I’m getting tired of casting small anchovies and having nasty tangles while all others are fighting fishes. Yeah I suck at casting anchovies.  (Sardines are OK)

Anyways, I’m thinking about to sell all my conventional gears and getting good spinning combos.
I’m thinking about Daiwa BG30 for 20lbs setup and Daiwa BG60 for 25lbs setup and BG90 for 30lbs setup. I’m wondering how they hold up with tunas/yellows?
Anyone with similar setups w/ success?

All answers are appreciated.

[Ricky-Ray]

Does anyone here use spinning gear for tuna/yellow fishing?

I’m a lefty and don’t have a lot of choices when it comes to conventional reels.
I currently have Avet SX for 20lbs setup and MXL for 30lbs setup both lefties of course.
But I’m getting tired of casting small anchovies and having nasty tangles while all others are fighting fishes. Yeah I suck at casting anchovies.  (Sardines are OK)

Anyways, I’m thinking about to sell all my conventional gears and getting good spinning combos.
I’m thinking about Daiwa BG30 for 20lbs setup and Daiwa BG60 for 25lbs setup and BG90 for 30lbs setup. I’m wondering how they hold up with tunas/yellows?
Anyone with similar setups w/ success?

All answers are appreciated.

Sorry to hear about your tangles. It takes practice and alot of it. When I first started out I was birdnesting quite often. Here's a few tips that can help reduce your chances of tangles.

1. Before casting wet the line. Just go to the bait tank and dump a few scoops of water onto the line. Dry line will guarantee a "professional overrun".

2. When your casting watch your bait, just as it's about to hit the water put your thumb on the reel to stop/slow it down.

3. The Avet reels have a cast control system on there to help prevent backlash, take a look at the manual.

Above all else it takes practice. Tie a sinker on and start practicing in the backyard or go to the park if you don't have that much room in the backyard. Start with little underhanded tosses and then work your way up to tossing it a mile away.

Good Luck

[mrjonez]

i bought / used a shimmano baitrunner spinning reel with 25lb line last year for albacore. worked well. damn well actually. drag was pretty good, and you can flip the baitrunnner switch and it puts the reel in a controlled freespool. im going to try to load some spectra on it and hoping to use it for wsb soon.

[Brian_GSC]

The only time I use spinning gear with live bait is if I'm fishing 6# or less. I also use spinning gear when fishing for trout.

Conventional reels are much better, and are much kinder in the way of line twist. I have 4 bait-runner reels and for small fish they are fine. However I would never use them to go after yellows or tuna.

Another disadvantage of using spinning gear for tuna/yellows....the crews of the sportboats will more than likely look down on you. I am not necessarily agreeing with that attitude, I am just stating a fact. I have seen it almost everytime somebody has used a spinning reel offshore.

You can argue the point...you can say you caught xxx fish that weighed xxx. But honestly their stock in you will decline as soon as they see that reel. If you try to argue the point, your stock drops even lower. I don't recommend having "low stock" with a deckie when he is trying to gaff your fish! Don't get me wrong....I am not saying this is right. I am not saying ALL deckies or boat crews are like this. These are just observations I have had fishing on many different boats in our fleet.

Most of the guys that I have seen argue the point are east coast guys that have been transplanted out here and are still hanging on to east coast habits. This is not Florida dudes. ;)

My suggestion....practice, practice, practice. One thing to note is that you may have a mismatch with your rod and reel. If your rod isn't paired correctly with your reel no matter how educated your thumb is you are not going to cast well. Once you match up your rod and reel, go to your local lake and cast out some swimbaits with the same weight as a chovie. Have the mindset that you are just practicing, that way if you get bit it is a bonus! :)

[Ricky-Ray]

Next time you go to your tackle shop see if you can purchase a copy of Inside Sportfishing called Advanced Casting. Or see if your friends have a copy that you can borrow. Really great tips and techniques taught by Frank LoPreste and Randy Tousant. I think it run's about $20 bucks or so but well worth the money.

[sansou]

MyBada,

At around $220 you can get the Thunnus by Shimano. I have one left of the two I started fishing with for YT, as I just don't seem to use them as much these days...and tend to use them more and more barracuda fishing as I amuse myself tossing very light lures with them which I cannot do so well with a conventional yet. Perhaps that'll change when I get an Avet SX lefty and put #15 on it.

The large size Thunnus will do the job fine for the firecrackers and maybe a hair bigger....but beyond that, it's really not the best thing to bring on a cattleboat. If you fish private boats, you'll be okay. Drag is decent but not great. It's basically a luxury & beefed up version of the Shimano Baitrunner series. I've actually caught good size YT on them in years past (maybe #30+/-) but it's a chore (much more rod pumping needed) and consequently takes longer than with a conventional with same lb test.

The Thunnus (meaning "Tuna" in latin) was designed for what you're looking for. I personally would NOT recommend you give up on your conventional lefty reels.

On the very high end there are some excellent high performance spinning reels (e.g. Van Staals) that'll do fine for YT/Tuna....but it's a bit pricey considering all you have to do is spend a little more time learning a conventional.

Good luck.

[ahi]

There are many spinning reels capable of taking on and catching tuna and yellowtail. Just like other gear, it depends on your budget and what you're willing to spend. You asked about spinning gear and NOT how you will be perceived by your fellow anglers or sportboat deckies. On the East Coast and the Gulf states, people use spinning gear to take on tunas and amberjack which are similar to yellowtail...

The bigger Shimano Stellas can put out over 40 lbs of drag and been used to take on 100 lb tunas. Same for Accurate twinspins, Van Staals, etc. The price range for those are $700+. The amounts go down from there...I will be using a Quantum Cabo 60 and 80 this summer on my charters (my charter, my choice...lol). For a 2 dayer, those should work fine. Seeker has factory Super seekers spinning rods that can handle 30-40lb line and Calstar has up to 970 spinners.

The Daiwa's you mentioned should be capable of taking school sized fish. If new, they should be ok; if not, have the drags checked out. I recommend closing the bail manually instead of turning the handle. I would also suggest using more spectra and a shorter mono or flouro topshot to eliminate the coiling on the line.

IF you have conventional gear already, like others have mentioned, practice should pay off. The gear you mentioned is pretty good; to sell it and invest in new equipment is something I'd hold off on until you get more time on the water for practice.

Good luck.

[weldinorfishin]

spinning gear should be outlawed on yt or tuna trips....

[Ricky-Ray]

I recommend closing the bail manually instead of turning the handle. I would also suggest using more spectra and a shorter mono or flouro topshot to eliminate the coiling on the line.

IF you have conventional gear already, like others have mentioned, practice should pay off. The gear you mentioned is pretty good; to sell it and invest in new equipment is something I'd hold off on until you get more time on the water for practice.

Good luck.

I agree with Ahi on closing the bail manually. If you turn the handle to close the bail it will add half a twist to the line. Using spectra will give you the extra line capacity if your spinner can't hold alot of line.

Above all else, practice, practice, practice.

[ToadsToadsOnly]

There are many spinning reels capable of taking on and catching tuna and yellowtail. Just like other gear, it depends on your budget and what you're willing to spend. You asked about spinning gear and NOT how you will be perceived by your fellow anglers or sportboat deckies. On the East Coast and the Gulf states, people use spinning gear to take on tunas and amberjack which are similar to yellowtail...

The bigger Shimano Stellas can put out over 40 lbs of drag and been used to take on 100 lb tunas. Same for Accurate twinspins, Van Staals, etc. The price range for those are $700+. The amounts go down from there...I will be using a Quantum Cabo 60 and 80 this summer on my charters (my charter, my choice...lol). For a 2 dayer, those should work fine. Seeker has factory Super seekers spinning rods that can handle 30-40lb line and Calstar has up to 970 spinners.

The Daiwa's you mentioned should be capable of taking school sized fish. If new, they should be ok; if not, have the drags checked out. I recommend closing the bail manually instead of turning the handle. I would also suggest using more spectra and a shorter mono or flouro topshot to eliminate the coiling on the line.

IF you have conventional gear already, like others have mentioned, practice should pay off. The gear you mentioned is pretty good; to sell it and invest in new equipment is something I'd hold off on until you get more time on the water for practice.

Good luck.

Ditto.. Im a conventional guy myself but I've seen a bunch of videos of guys jigging for Huge tuna,GT, Amberjacks on spinning setups. Even though its frowned upon by many guys here on the West Coast. But the guys in the south, back east, Hawaii, Japan, Australia just to name a few hold their own with all the big game on Spinning gear. I might actually go try it out this year in Venice. Looks fun... If you still got faith in conventional though my opinion is Trinadad reels are really easy to cast and hard to birdnest with try that route. The avet takes a little longer to learn with the awsome freespool they have. (Search Youtube "jiggin for tuna")