Home Forums Fishing Saltwater Albacore reel

Gentlemen,

I have the oportunity to go fishing a lot this summer. My host tells me we will go after albacore and other fish in that weight class. Maybe you experienced boys and girls would help me decide which rod, reel and line to purchase for these festivities.

Thanks in advance.

Spend some time doing some research on the Coastside Fishing Club forum, as well as their articles. I'd make a recommendation here, but I've only gone after Albacore once, and everything I know came from Coastside members. I will say that trolling gear requirements are very different than for flylining live bait, so you might ask your host what you'll be doing.

coastsidefishingclub.com

Regards,
Scott

Field and Stream gives the following guidelines:
"Again as many anglers will opt for a 30-lb rated 5 1/2-foot stand-up rod. Albacore are perfect fish for 4/0-sized graphite two-speed reels as well as the Penn International 30 II. Most trolling reels of this ilk carry up to 600 yards of premium 30-lb mono."

I am a Shimano fan and have several of the following combos for striped bass and bluefish in Narragansett bay. I'd put a TLD 20 or a 25 on a nice 7' 25 - 40lb Tallus rod. Links to photos of each below. I like P - Line Extra Tough (green) 30 pound test.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...dex&indexId=cat601985&hasJS=true

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...dex&indexId=cat600379&hasJS=true

Are you talking false albacore or Longfin albacore big difference in recomendations?

We catch false albacore up and down the coast in Late July and August. We call them "Mushies" because they have mushy meat only a cat could love. They're little five to seven or eight pound footballs. We fish for them with light spinning rods with 12 of 14 pound line and fluorocarbon leaders and swimming plugs and spoons.

My recommendation was for Albacore tuna - long pectoral fins - tasty.

10 to 12 weight with a Bauer M5 reel and 350 yards of 30# backing should do the trick.

Rob , I knew what you were talking about. I'm just around the corner from you . I was asking the guy who started the topic.The ones you refer to are Longfin Albacore and are usually found offshore If he was talking about false ablbacore/mushies/bonita near shore then I would recomend something different. How will you be fishing for them Ringman trolling or casting? 30 lb class tackle for the longfins is about as "Ideal" as it gets for fish in the 40 to 60 lb range and can be a lot of fun. For the inshore variety casting to them a real in the 8-12 lb class spooled with one of the braids and a top shot of mono would be a lot of fun. If you want to troll them on lite feathers/ squid skirts and tins then shimano makes some good conventional reals . The Tekota(?) 600 series is a good bang for you dollar not knowing what your budget is.For the inshore rods I prefer Loomis and Lamiglass all of my offshore rods are Calstar blanks and built to spec.

Wildone, since you made the distinction after I recommended something, I thought I had to clarify what I said. In no way did I mean to challenge your knowledge. I saw that you were from Long Island and thought I had to play a little catch up for Ringman.

No chalenge felt Rob . I was also just clarifying for the original poster . I did not know if he knew the difference or not . I had assumed you knew just by your recomendation. What kinda boat you run?

I've got an "06" Sailfish 218 with a 150 Yamaha 4 stroke. I was shipped the boat with a ton of problems, got into it with Sailfish pretty good, but now everything seems to be working right. It's good on gas and I can trailer it, but I've got to pick my days outside the bay.

Two outfits, one an eighty pound outfit, Senator 6\0 couldn't go wrong with. You need to horse the trolled fish in hard and fast so the rest of the school will follow. Once the fish are under the boat a twenty five or thirty pound outfit for throwing jigs and live anchovies. Senator 4\0 would work but be a little over kill, a smaller reel would be better. Depends on your budget for the smaller reel, if money is not an object you can buy some real nice lightweight reels that will handle an albie.

Take your twenty pound outfit out in the back yard and practice casting a clothespin with no weight so that you can flip a flylined bait away from the boat a little ways.. There is a technique for casting a live anchovy, if you can't find it I'll try to explain it to you.

Good luck, there is no fishing like tuna fishing.

Oh ya, if you are on a party boat let other more experienced guys take on the trolled fish, if you lose that fish the school will scatter and you will become a pariah on the boat.

I live in KS, but I've done an offshore San Diego 8 day Tuna trip and I fished for tuna out of Venice, LA. I bought a lot of my reels from Campbell's out of Australia back when the exchange was 50%. I have Penn Internationals, but I believe the best 30-40# reel is the Shimano Trinadad 20. Backed with a good 50# Spectra braided line that is about 1/4 the diameter of Mono, you can fish 30 or 40# top knot on a 7' 20-40/50# rod. I could not afford one now, but it is high speed and casts like a dream. Daiwa Sealine X or Saltist 30, Newell 332 or 338, and Penn are good lower priced high speed 30/40# reels.

For 50/60# top knot, the Shimano TLD 20II is your absolute best bang for the buck in a 2 speed reel. The 20 is the same reel as the 30, but holds less line. By being narrower, it is stronger, but lighter. Back it with 65# Spectra and use a it on 6 1/2' 40-60/80# rod.

Calstar Grafighter are my favorite rods. Killer rods. Sometimes you can find a custom rod maker to wrap you a Grafighter blank cheaper than a new one. Johnny at Big Game International did 5 for me. I also have Seeker Blacksteel rods. They are a bit softer than Calstar and are super tough.

Check out Allcoast.com for a Tuna fishing board. Cabela's and Bass Pro are my local catalog stores. I also recommend Charkbait.com. Good luck.

George