QuestionI have fished for several years off the New Jersey shore (flounder, weakfish, bluefish) I am going to Myrtle Beach and looking into an 11hr. all day trip to the shelf. 150-250 ft. depths. I have an older PENN 209 level wind reel and medium rod, 20-30lb. should I need different gear, and what about an electric reel?
AnswerAloha Bill,
I would like more info on your planned fishing trip, are you going on a private boat or a charter? If you are going on a charter, they usually have tackle on board that you can use, (Sometimes they make you rent it). But there are some rather big fish out there. I believe from doing a bit of map research that you will be heading for a place near what is known as the "Charleston Bump" Here is some info on that area.
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/islands01/background/islands/sup11_bu...
Now a far as tackle goes you might be okay with what you have now, but as I mentioned above, there are some big fish out that way. I do not know if you are going to be trolling, or drift fishing, or anchoring up somewhere.
If you would please send me an e-mail at
[email protected] with more specifics, I might be able to help you prepare better. After all it seems that you are only going out for one day, & as the boy scouts say "Be Prepared". It would be a real bummer if you hooked into a big fish only to lose him because of too light of tackle. On the other hand nobody wants to spend a fortune on tackle for one days fishing. There are sevearl alternatives. But send me a note & I WILL get right back to you. I have only fished that area once, & we got lots of fish. Busted some tackle up, lost one big sailfish to a big Mako Shark. Caught Mahi-Mahi's some, Wahoo and Both Yellowfin & Bluefin Tuna's.
That was on a trip that we stayed out there for 3 days. When I go out fishing, I don't like to come back to land, unless of course the boat is filled up with fish. I hope to hear from you soon, if I don't, I wish you a good trip & I hope you have good weather.
PS. Forget the Electric reel, unless you are really going fishing everyday. I have several, but I fish all the time at depths between 600 & 1500 feet. We anchor down & hope we are in the right spot, else we have to move, which happens a lot. Here is a link to a photo of the type reel I use for Bottomfishing for my favorite fish the Onaga (Hawaiian Long Tailed Red Snapper)
http://www.pop-hawaii.com/commercial_fishing/BottomFishing.htm
"Keep DA Bait In DA Watah, Bruddah"
Randy "Onagafish" Perry
[email protected]
