Lets Talk Tuna Rods and Reels

Planning on collecting tuna gear for next year lots of talk out there on the gear. Lets hear what you are using for rods and reels and why??
 
I’ll chime in but take my advice with a grain of salt as I do only have one trip under my belt. But we just used 2 halibut rods with level wind reels, and 2 stiffer old 9foot salmon rods both with old wooden peetz reels. As well as 2 handlines. That setup worked well for us anyway..
 
Depends how much or little you want to spend-you can beat any Albacore that swims to the boat with a cheap Shimano TLD15 loaded with 30# mono easily enough-for rods lots of people use 7' Ugly Stiks or if you're inclined spend $400 per for Calstars and another $600 for Talica 16's.

Instead of throwing down large though look to used gear since unlike Salmon you'll only be using it a few times a year.

And lots of people use whatever they have for Halibut and that works 'ok'.
 
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Check on Washington bloodydecks site, There are some pretty good deals on quality tuna gear from time to time.
 
I use the tld20 on a $30 Sea-king rod alongside an avet mxj 2 speed reel seated on an Amundsen savvy captain for both trolling and bait and both work fine. I prefer handlines as it is less time from bite to blood letting but they don’t work on a bait stop. But, I only tuna fish once or twice a year.
 
I’ll chime in but take my advice with a grain of salt as I do only have one trip under my belt. But we just used 2 halibut rods with level wind reels, and 2 stiffer old 9foot salmon rods both with old wooden peetz reels. As well as 2 handlines. That setup worked well for us anyway..
And you landed over 20 tuna in short order with that gear? Hats off to you.
 
For your trolling gear most of the hali rods are fine. Eventually the levelwinds on reels used for tuna will fail and a conventional non levelwind is a better choice. If you were going to upgrade reels, the avets are hard to beat. The two speed models are also great when fishing deep for hali. The are very simple in design making them quite robust. The drags stay smooth and consistent year to year as long as you back them off for offseason storage. I have 9 or 10 avets now, all 4-6 years old with above average use. I finally took them apart this year just to clean them up and put some fresh grease and oil in them. They should be be gtg for a long time.
 
I won two Okuma Solterra SLX lever drag reels with 7' medium heavy Okuma SCT Tuna rods. Haven't used them at all but hoping to rig them up for hali and tuna. What type of line should I be putting on? Heavy duty braid in which pound test?
 
Planning on collecting tuna gear for next year lots of talk out there on the gear. Lets hear what you are using for rods and reels and why??
What Mike didn't tell you was he dropped $700 on Zukers, rabbits, divers, gangion, mono, etc etc. It was all highly successful but baby steps for us. Especially considering it's a once a year fishery. Its doubtful we will start buying tuna rods. We might buy another hali rod at some point but to be honest I preferred our old 8'6' downrigger rod matched to a 6" Peetz Reel......That and hand lines. The hand lines were very productive and they brought meat in quick and easy.
 
I won two Okuma Solterra SLX lever drag reels with 7' medium heavy Okuma SCT Tuna rods. Haven't used them at all but hoping to rig them up for hali and tuna. What type of line should I be putting on? Heavy duty braid in which pound test?
You don't need heavy gear for 15 lb fish. Sculpin was with me the first time i started getting them on heavy salmon rods and Islander reels. I go as light as possible. Depends on if you're meat fishing or sport fishing.
Yes, hand lines are very effective but i prefer catching my fish on a rod
 
cheap reels do not last, I had reels for years that used for Hali, after one tuna trip , they where all smoked. get avets!!! or handlines if your going to commit.
 
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Ya I agree. Cheap reels with inferior drags and retrieval gear ratio's are no good and won't last, especially when you can get into some 30 lb Tuna. They fight much stronger and faster than even a large Spring. No comparison really.

I've got 2 speed Avet JX 6/3's on 8' Shimano 40-80# heavy fast action rods. I use this combo for Hali, Lings, Sturgeon and Tuna. You want very strong drags with very fast retrieval and strong braid when you get into the bigger fish.
 
I agree with the Avet reels. I several that are multi species reels spooled with 50# braid. Use them for lings, halibut, Tuna, and can throw a mono top shot on if someone on the boat doesn’t like single action reels for Salmon.
 
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