Surf rods. And reels

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  • davsco

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 21, 2010
    8,607
    Loudoun, VA
    Back in the '60's I was down in Savannah and watch some real gutsy youngsters fishing for sharks. They staked their rods in the ground and then paddled INNER TUBES out with a big chunk of just dead chicken about 100 yards from shore. The chicken were dripping blood the whole way.

    instead of gutsy i'd prob say f-in stupid! tell you what though, paddling out bloody tuna heads with ginormous hooks in them a few hundred yards in the pitch black of night was pretty friggin eerie. and yeah, landing a kayak in the surf at night is another thing...
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    The best night shark fishing I had was when they first build the cement pier in Destin, Florida. The pier was lit and you could watch makos, sandbar sharks etc. slowly circling the pylons. Destin was a nice, sparsely populated place back then. :sad20:
     

    pleasant1911

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 12, 2012
    10,224
    Getting into surf fishing this year also. If you want to cast farthest, you ll want a conventional or casting reel. There is a learning curve, and you do not want a bird nest on the beach at night while your buddies are catching fish. if you do spinning reel, you get get non sealed, sealed or fully sealed .

    I bought a few reels this season. dawia saltist 8000. Its a huge reel but super smooth and its nice. Tsunami 5000. its not as smooth as dawia, but its sealed. its not fully sealed. shimano stradic 4000. its like the saltist, but half the size and is super light. I think its smaller than a saltist 4000, which would be comparable. I like the tsunamis customer service. I had an issue with handle and they emailed back with 30 minutes. and got it resolved for me. I would look into the tsunami shield and its only $100. I would of gotten the 4000, but it did not come with the ball handle. the ball handle comes in 5000+. if you want a bailless reel on a budget. I think penn has a spinfisher vI 4000 and 6000 which are bailless for $130-150. If you shop around you can get a bailless spinfisher V 6000 bbl, for about 100 dollars on amazon. I heard penn is nice but can be bad. its hit or miss with them sometimes. I bought the penn spinfisher V 6000 bbl, with 3 year insurance which was $5. but my friends told me to return it, it was a nice reel. out of the bbls for penn, I would get 4000 because its smaller and more ergo. for the reel seating.

    Rod wise, you can spend any where from 60 and up. I bought a cheap fublink rod off of amazon. Its okay and comparable to ugly stick of the same size. If you want to spend a little more, tsunami air wave as mention above is nice. They also have air wave elite. The difference between those two is elite is a blank rod. its probably what you want for "faster" action. the blank is 70/30 split or 60/40 split as regular rods are 50/50 split. st croix mojo is also a nice rod. You can also get off shore bass pro rod or ugly stick. They are pretty nice for the budget. you ll want to go 11 foot and up for the surf and shorter rods for the jetty such as indian river in DE. I have fublink 12 footer, my old penn rod 9 footer and mojo 11 footer. I think airwave elite and mojo surf are basically the same, but airwave elite is 20 dollar cheaper.

    Lines can get expensive. I bought cabelas braid. it was cheaper but cabelas brands were always good to me. and bass pro will spool it for you for free. Walmart has cheap braid. power pro 300 yards is 20 dollars. at bass pro its 30 dollars, but they will spool it for you. I bought spider wire braid 15 lb for my stradic 4000. 300yards for 13 dollars. I spooled it myself. its not as tight as getting it spooled but, did not want to pay extra at bass pro. depending on the size of your spool, you might need more or less than 300yds. then there is amazon. They have cheap lines brands that are not available at the stores. Kastkings seems like a nice company. I got some free line from for taking a survey. I am sure other lines are nice also but i dont think the power pro, berkley, spiderwire, etc are any cheaper on amazon than bass pro. and if your paying that price might as get it from walmart (cheaper, but you have to spool it yourself) or bass pro where they will spool it for you for free.

    cheapest set up would be around 150 - 180 for reel and rod. The level above it would be 400 -500. and expensive would be 700 and up. If you go the cheapest route, I would go tsunami reel and ugly stick or a fublink rod off of amazon :). You can also go dawia bg and a cheaper rod. Lamiglas was selling their surf rod which cost 400 for 200 on clearance, but I did not buy it and still kicking myself. keep checking.

    But overall, rather than what gears to get I would be more interested in the type of tackle and the type of "game" your targeting. Having nice gear is nice but having the right tackle and reading the water is far more important. Its like how 10 percent of fisherman are catching all the fish.

    best wishes to you. you should be out there now, before the trophy season. you just have to catch and release
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Well young fellow, it appears you have thoroughly researched the subject and are on your way to becoming a good surf fisherman. If you are anywhere near Annapolis/Davidsonville, I have a Penn 11 footer in good shape I would happily let you have. It's well kept, I just not able to surf fish anymore. PM me if you are interested.
     

    rgramjet

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 25, 2009
    2,962
    Howard County
    I like 10' rods with baitcasting reels. I like the clickers and the challenge of slinging the rig as far as possible.

    I love surf fishing. I've not been to Cape Henlopen or Assateague yet. I'd love to spend a weekend at either.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Back in the '50's and '60's, my family only used baitcaster reels as spinning reels were considered "suspect". :lol:

    Those reels were mounted to heavy bamboo laminated rods so you had to have some muscles to throw them around. We also learned how to thumb the spool or wind up with a birds nest.:sad20: There were no magnets in the reels then, not in the ones we could afford anyway but we managed.

    While I fish with light spinning tackle today, I still believe than nothing can beat a baitcaster for distance if the fisherman knows how to use it. ;)
     

    Rab1515

    Ultimate Member
    Patriot Picket
    Apr 29, 2014
    2,081
    Calvert
    I typically do an 18" wire leader and run 20lb braided.
    My plan is to use a 1.5" sch40 barrel and 4" sch80 for the blast chamber. I would also place a thin rod at the reducer bushing so the "chum cube" couldn't fall into the blast chamber.
    The "chum cubes" would be frozen in 1.5" sch40 w/end caps. The leader would be on the muzzle side when firing.

    Any size bait will do if you make a newspaper ball and load it before the bait. Newspaper will give you lots of pressure and lands about 10 feet away, with pretty much no shredding. I worry about using the same diameter PVC as a mold, if your using a "combustion" potato cannon the barrel tends to develop surface waves/bumps with the heat, nothing major but might be enough to shatter the bait or over pressure the spud gun. when i make spud guns i put a threaded coupler at the reducer so i can swap barrels if i choose.
     
    Any size bait will do if you make a newspaper ball and load it before the bait. Newspaper will give you lots of pressure and lands about 10 feet away, with pretty much no shredding. I worry about using the same diameter PVC as a mold, if your using a "combustion" potato cannon the barrel tends to develop surface waves/bumps with the heat, nothing major but might be enough to shatter the bait or over pressure the spud gun. when i make spud guns i put a threaded coupler at the reducer so i can swap barrels if i choose.

    I'm planning on compressed air, as most of my surf fishing is in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Combustibles (hairspray, ether, et al) are pushing the legality limits to the extreme in that situation.
    Sch80 pipe will be used, so I'm not too worried about pressure- I can't see a bicycle pump delivering enough pressure to even get close to rupturing sch80 PVC. I am also planning on adding a union where the blast chamber transitions to the barrel. I can stow it more easily and the O-ring would become my weakest point in case of over pressurization.

    I'm picturing this...
    Schrader valve (@ 90* into cap & pipe) 4" cap-> 4" pipe-> 4"x1.5" reducer-> 1.5" union-> 1.5" ball valve-> 1.5" barrel

    I like Rab1515's idea for newspaper as wadding.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    I'm planning on compressed air, as most of my surf fishing is in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Combustibles (hairspray, ether, et al) are pushing the legality limits to the extreme in that situation.
    Sch80 pipe will be used, so I'm not too worried about pressure- I can't see a bicycle pump delivering enough pressure to even get close to rupturing sch80 PVC. I am also planning on adding a union where the blast chamber transitions to the barrel. I can stow it more easily and the O-ring would become my weakest point in case of over pressurization.

    I'm picturing this...
    Schrader valve (@ 90* into cap & pipe) 4" cap-> 4" pipe-> 4"x1.5" reducer-> 1.5" union-> 1.5" ball valve-> 1.5" barrel

    I like Rab1515's idea for newspaper as wadding.

    Are you using the PVC pipe as a air bottle? BTW, My "bicycle pump" for my PCP air rifle can pump to 3200 psi. :innocent0
     

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    Rab1515

    Ultimate Member
    Patriot Picket
    Apr 29, 2014
    2,081
    Calvert
    I'm planning on compressed air, as most of my surf fishing is in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Combustibles (hairspray, ether, et al) are pushing the legality limits to the extreme in that situation.
    Sch80 pipe will be used, so I'm not too worried about pressure- I can't see a bicycle pump delivering enough pressure to even get close to rupturing sch80 PVC. I am also planning on adding a union where the blast chamber transitions to the barrel. I can stow it more easily and the O-ring would become my weakest point in case of over pressurization.

    I'm picturing this...
    Schrader valve (@ 90* into cap & pipe) 4" cap-> 4" pipe-> 4"x1.5" reducer-> 1.5" union-> 1.5" ball valve-> 1.5" barrel

    I like Rab1515's idea for newspaper as wadding.

    Gotcha. never done a pneumatic one before, so I am unaware of chamber size requirements; if it is anything like the combustion ones i would go up to a 6 inch pipe 12-18 inches long, and a 6 inch reducer bushing, bushings take up less OAL and can be internally threaded. If i recall correctly there are different valves that open faster than the ball ones that might be worth looking into, or maybe using a bigger diameter ball valve to allow a faster dump. Something like Schrader valve (@ 90* into cap & pipe) 6" cap-> 6" pipe-> 6"x 3" bushing-> 3" ball valve-> 3''x 1.5'' threaded bushing-> 1.5" barrel. Freeze bait in 1 inch or 1.25 inch PVC and use newspaper wadding. You could even put the valve on the barrel and have multiple pressure chambers. Sch80 will be fine for 90-100 PSI. You should mount the reel to the barrel so you don't even need a rod. :party29:
     
    Gotcha. never done a pneumatic one before, so I am unaware of chamber size requirements; if it is anything like the combustion ones i would go up to a 6 inch pipe 12-18 inches long, and a 6 inch reducer bushing, bushings take up less OAL and can be internally threaded. If i recall correctly there are different valves that open faster than the ball ones that might be worth looking into, or maybe using a bigger diameter ball valve to allow a faster dump. Something like Schrader valve (@ 90* into cap & pipe) 6" cap-> 6" pipe-> 6"x 3" bushing-> 3" ball valve-> 3''x 1.5'' threaded bushing-> 1.5" barrel. Freeze bait in 1 inch or 1.25 inch PVC and use newspaper wadding. You could even put the valve on the barrel and have multiple pressure chambers. Sch80 will be fine for 90-100 PSI. You should mount the reel to the barrel so you don't even need a rod. :party29:

    A gate valve will open much faster, but I'm concerned with longevity opening @ 90-100psi. A brass ball valve or butterfly valve will dump plenty fast- provided I have a good seal in the barrel. Maybe even modify a sch80 ball valve to have a long handle.
    Going from 6"-> 3"-> 1.5" will reduce pressure and velocity. There will be a very short window of high pressure gas- hence the need for a decent seal. I'm hearing what you're saying about a 6" chamber.
    The union behind the ball valve serves as a safety mechanism- the O-ring will blow long before sch80 pipe. In my experience, unions are always the first thing to leak w/excessive pressure.

    Caveat- My experience is with fluid dynamics, not pneumatics. I work with water under high pressure every day and think the principle should be similar enough for what I'm trying to do.
     

    rbird7282

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 6, 2012
    18,535
    Columbia
    A gate valve will open much faster, but I'm concerned with longevity opening @ 90-100psi. A brass ball valve or butterfly valve will dump plenty fast- provided I have a good seal in the barrel. Maybe even modify a sch80 ball valve to have a long handle.

    Going from 6"-> 3"-> 1.5" will reduce pressure and velocity. There will be a very short window of high pressure gas- hence the need for a decent seal. I'm hearing what you're saying about a 6" chamber.

    The union behind the ball valve serves as a safety mechanism- the O-ring will blow long before sch80 pipe. In my experience, unions are always the first thing to leak w/excessive pressure.



    Caveat- My experience is with fluid dynamics, not pneumatics. I work with water under high pressure every day and think the principle should be similar enough for what I'm trying to do.



    A ball valve (like the one in the video) would be the fastest opening valve.
    One thing with PVC is try to not keep it pressured for an extended period of time, (I mean weeks on end) as it can fail.


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