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Guys, I'm in the process of putting together a couple of rods for use with down riggers to troll for stripers on Lake Cumberland. I am considering buying a couple of Shimano SpeedMaster IV reels (available from Bass Pro Offshore Angler).
What do you think? What do you use? Any comments or recommendations will be appreciated.
I have used a lot of penn reels, and not the top of the line, they have always oerformed well when used for trolling. What I'm using now is a couple of high yardage older garcia reels are that are probably 25 yrs old or better. As long as they have a free spool lever and clicker they will work for down rigging. If you have the money the line counter reels by diawa are darn good.
I have Shimano Tekota Line counter reels and they work great. I would recommend the Line Counter for sure Tek500LC is all you will ever need. I use these for striper and grouper fishing in Florida and they work great. I own 9 of them and never a problem.
I use the same reels for trolling, down rods etc.
[QUOTE=Boone;340533]Guys, I'm in the process of putting together a couple of rods for use with down riggers to troll for stripers on Lake Cumberland. I am considering buying a couple of Shimano SpeedMaster IV reels (available from Bass Pro Offshore Angler).
What do you think? What do you use? Any comments or recommendations will be appreciated.[/QUOTE]
I use the Shimano Charter Specials.They hold plenty of line but best of all the drag works smooth and dosent over heat and tighten up causing the fish to break off. That ha cost me some fish with other reels. Nothing like a monster striper ripping off line for 30 to 60 seconds to get your heart going. Goodluck on your fishing.
Longer rods with more flexible tips are specifically designed for downrigging. This allows a much larger 'bow' in the tip when attached to the downrigger weight. When the striper pulls the line from the weight, the straightening of the rod takes up a lot of the slack line. If your going to rig up strickly for downrigging for striper, this type of rod would work better. Personnal opinion of course.
The rods I use are G-Loomis HSR-932C extra fast action Mag-Heavy 12-25lb for down rods and plainer boards. For trolling I use G-Loomis BBR-966C mod-fast action Mag-heavy 25-45lb, these rods are quite a bit stiffer and handle the extra drag and weight well. Both in 8' length, the G-Loomis is going to be a bit higher than other but super nice rods. The shimano Tekota reels again are a little more costly but are super smooth and flawless action, well worth the money.
Abu 6500 series reels worked well for me. Downrigging and planer boards. Also work fine for casting, though I mostly use the 5500 series for throwing plugs/jigs. Ugly stick Tiger downrigger rods. 8 foot, medium action.
Andrew
Boone,
As long as its a high capacity reel with line counters, you'll be fine. Just make sure you settle in on true down rigging rods. They have a lot of bend in them for a reason. When released, the rods stand up and help snap the slack out of the line. Otherwise there is a lot of slack which gives the fish time to get off or start a run.