Is there a rod/reel you can jig for salmon and lingcod? + overall reel/rod questions.

[Whole in the Water]

Not necessarily. You can pay a lot of money for a high modulus graphite rod and it can snap very easy. What the rod is made off and how well it is made is what matters more. Glass/glass mix, or carbon fiber mix rods can be more durable but can be a bit heavier then more fragile pure graphite rods.

The key is to match the right rod for the application and price you are willing to pay. All rods must be treated with care. Pulling them too hard out of the down rigger when under a lot of tension, yanking too hard to set a hook or throwing around the boat can break many rods. A lighter touch when using the rod will make it last longer. Ask me how I know

 

[Claymaker]

never put any real thought into the breaking point of a rod. If the rod has a chance to break then I am doing something way wrong as an angler. The reel is meant to take the bulk of the strain of the fish with the drag that is set by the angler. If the angler chooses to set the drag too high then the rod has a higher possibility of breakage. If your line doesnt give, but the rod does then you are using a line rated for a much heavier rod.

 

[wdlfbio]

Many of the newest super light weight, but powerful slow pitch rods are quite fragile too. High stick them and they will make one heck of a snap as they break. Don’t high stick them and they’re terrific.

 

[RiverBoy]

Many of the newest super light weight, but powerful slow pitch rods are quite fragile too. High stick them and they will make one heck of a snap as they break. Don’t high stick them and they’re terrific.

this is an excellent point . i tell my friends not to “ “bassmaster” the fish and keep the fight low almost right on the gunnel. the trick with these slow pitch rigs is the line retrieval of the reels and the torque of the shorter rods.

 

[Califbill]

I like a level wind for jigging. My all round setup is not cheap, but lands Yellowfin tuna to 40#. As well as good jigging and casting setup. Lexa 400. Forget which model, but depending on reel, 5.1 to 8.1 gear ratio. Mine is paired with a Phenix Abyss 808.

 

[PEETZcanada]

Many of the newest super light weight, but powerful slow pitch rods are quite fragile too. High stick them and they will make one heck of a snap as they break. Don’t high stick them and they’re terrific.

Never really had that type of problem with any of the brands and models that I generally choose to buy. Most slow pitch rods are developed and constructed to actionize, retrieve, desend and battle the fish with the butt and reel held in a fairly level horizontal mode of action.

The only slow pitch I have ever broken was my favorite at the time, a super light weight Shimano Tescata. I put the rod down to tail the fish for a planned release, as I did, it took another run and the top side of the rod slid against a cleat and broke 8 inches down. 100% my fault.

 

[spring fever]

Purpose built lightweight carbon fibre slow pitch rods are tough and very capable BUT the have a flaw-they can be easily shattered by a knock on a sharp edge such as dropping them on an aluminium gunnel-treat them like glass-lay them down carefully or put in an upright rod holder.

 

[acrowe]

I mostly jig. I like to catch salmon and lingcod. I am not a total expert but I am reasonably successful. For lingcod where I am going to use a 14oz or more swimtail, I have a trophy xl heavy jigging rod, and a Penn squall reel. I rig it with a lot of 60lb braid. I find it works very well with the heavy jigs deep.
For salmon I have 2 shimano talavera type J rods, one with an ABU 6500 and the other with Shimano Triton speedmaster 6-1. I am using 20lb braid which gets down very quickly and is quite strong enough for any fish I hook (I released a Chinook that was probably about 40lb last year). If I was getting a new roll of braid I'd get 30lb as 20lb seems fragile on any edges of anything. These rods work great for me with jigs butterfly or otherwise as large as I ever use for salmon. They are sort of overkill on smaller salmon even though they look very light.
When I jig for coho, I use a Daiwa baitcasting rod and shimano reel (also with 20lb braid) it actually has enough power for managing big fish that must be released quickly (I have hooked quite a few decent chinooks in 20' off kelp beds) but isn't much fun with big jigs deep.

I also have an inexpensive jigging style spinning rod with a good size Penn spinning reel (with 20lb braid) that I give to people coming out with me who don't have much fishing experience except casual freshwater. It works well as well.

I used to jig with 10' mooching rods and single action shimano reels and monofilament in the 80s growing up. when I moved back to the island I used those for jigging and found they are too inefficient getting up and down and jigging for me to regularly fish salmon effectively, though I prefer a single action when you are into a fish. I still use those with downriggers - but I rarely troll.

 

[Jean Paul Carufo]

I'm trying to ideally find a rod and reel combo I can jig both salmon and lingcod. I posted a while back about an entry-mid level jigging rod. I took the advice and got some used gear. I ended up with a UglyStick Tiger Lite 6'3 50-100 braided, 4-7oz lure and a UglyStick 7' Medium rod 10-50lb 4-7 oz lure rating and an older Penn 330 LD Lever drag reel. I ran 80lb braid on the reel.

For this season we have been fishing for lingcod in a location off Haro Straight which has a quick current and around 150-230' I have been using 14-16oz jigs with swimtails. I have noticed that these do a decent job to keep up with the current BUT I do find them a PITA to bring back up when I am down 200' and redrop to keep them straight up and down. My thoughts on this was to switch to a lever drag with a 40"+ type of retrieve per reel. Last night though I decided to check out a different location with less current and was able to use a 6oz jig and swimtail. It was like a night and day difference in jigging but also the speed I could reel the jig up. It took very little time when I was in 100-120' of water with a 6oz jig vs 14oz. Though I only caught small ling/rock cod and was targeting larger fish.

1. Will a new reel make a difference or do I need to get my reel serviced?
When brining up the 14oz jig on that older Penn 330 LD it seems to almost slip as I reel, it is obviously heavier and I cant reel it up as easily as a 6oz jig and re-drop. I'm wondering if I get a new reel will that issue go away or is that just a problem that exists with larger jigs on level drag reels and this is normal? I know with a larger fish on there it feels like its also taking longer to bring it up and obviously because its heavier and you cant just pull a fish directly up The gearing on that reel is 3.7:1 (I have not tried to service this reel). I'm trying to figure out if a new reel will have a constant retrieve rate even if something on the other end is heavy, obviously I know I couldn't turn the handle as fast and if it's a fish it may pull etc.

2. Is there a reel / rod combo I can use for both salmon and lingcod?
In trying to find out if there would be a rod I can use for both salmon and lingcod I wonder if it is possible when trying to use it on those larger jigs? I can see it being a possibility to setup a salmon/ling rod with 50lb braid and then a top shot but is that realistic? Using fluorocarbon leader for the jigs in the 2-8oz jib/swimbaits but is it possible if you move to heavy jigs (14oz) or is that really going to be classified as a ling/halibut setup and I need a different rod/reel setup for jigging salmon?

3. Which rod?
In a lot of reading it seems like people recommend the Shimano Trevala rods for those butterfly jigs and salmon but when looking at the lure rating the only one that supports 12oz is the TVC66H 80-200 line, heavy, M. Fast action. I had also received recommendations on the Amundson Savy Sumo 6'6 rod with a line rate 100-200, heavy power, M. Fast action for lingcod.

3. Reel for salmon/lingcod?
I was thinking a Penn 30 Squall or Fathom 30 lever drag both around 18-20oz, the Fathom has a lot more drag to it 23lb strike, 28lb vs 13 on the squal. I know this will work for lingcod will this also work for Salmon?

Thanks for the inputs!

One suggestion, totally outside what equipment you are using, is find a 'Current Table' for the location(s) you are fishing. There is a period 'around, but not exactly corresponding to' the slack 'Tide times', both high and low, where the current slows way down and possibly stops. Those time are significantly longer and more significant during the Neap Tide (quarter moon) series. These periods of slack current will allow you to fish more straight up and down with much less weight. For years, we fished around Port McNeill for Halibut. We only fished the four days over the Neap Tides and only the hour or so on either side of the 'low slack current'. We were able to bounce a 1 pound Lucky Jig, in up to 400' of water, with 30 pound braid, straight up and down. Once the current started to increase and the scope of the line started to make it hard to stay on the bottom, we knew were done until the next low slack current later in the day. We found that the fish were much more active then too, as they didn't have to fight the current to feed. Just a thought that might make your bottom fishing more enjoyable. Usually, the only time we needed to reel up our jigs was when there was something pulling and pounding on the other end . By the way, that's the salmon bite time too. jc Tuna Maru