Ryoga

[Neale Bird]

Im looking at buying a Ryoga some time in the future over a Pluton as it will work out the same price for a superior reel...?
Just wondering if anyone has any input into what rod to match it up to? im thinking PE 2-3

Any advice and or comments for a rod or the reel itself?

[Andre van Wyk]

Hey Neale,

I just purchased a Ryoga Bay Jigger from Fishingbuddy, which was the best price ( and great service ) I could find on the net... still waiting for it to arrive as SPeedpost to South Africa is not quite Speed Post to the rest of the world, but will hopefully be here in the next day or two...

I was waiting and waiting to decide if I wanted one, after having been sent a link by David Sharples who had bought one... He has the regular Ryoga, which he has strapped the Jigging Arm and handle on to... I recently saw David in London before his trip to Seychelles and got to check out his Ryoga which he had matched to a little custom 5825 Ripplefisher.... and I was instantly sold... any resistance I had completely fell away and I pushed the button and gave myself a early birthday present!!!

The reel is incredible.... the regular version pumping out 6.5 kilos of drag, and the Bay Jigger a crazy 10 kilos!!! Its insane that such a tiny reel, and I mean TINY can push so much drag!!!

David  tested it out on his Seychelles trip and gave the set up two massive thumbs up... incredible power, super smooth, just awesome to fish with... I'm sure he'll find this thread and comment more first hand for you, but I know he said he didn't even come close to testing the limit of the reel or the rod, even battling some awesome Green Jobfish and other reef critters...

I'm planning to put mine to work against our Yellowtail Kings ( avergae 5 kilos sometimes up to 10 kilos ) here in Cape Town, SNoek ( Kiwi Couta, ours get a little bigger ) and Teraglin on plastics etc, and maybe even get bold enough to take it out to the deep and chase the odd small longfin tuna to 15 kilos or more as I know the reel could handle it... Of course it'll be coming with on any trips to warmer waters for those night time jigging sessions off the back of the mothership, and for fishing small jigs, medai jiggs and plastics too...

I'm hoping to match it to a custom RF like Davids, as its an incredible stick, and probably a Jigging Master 100 as well in the near future...

I'll drop David a message to check this thread out and share his thoughts with you.

Andre

[David Sharples]

I absolutely LOVE this reel. Jigged for a long time in Seychelles with it on the RF 5825 (which is also incredible) and it has pure winching power. Had some doggies up to around 10kg and loads of big jobbies, kerisi or kal kal, black jacks, rainbow runners etc etc and it totally monstered them. Cranking power.

Got mine strung with 20lb powerpro and that was fine but with the drag capability could go to PE2, think it takes around 230m. Wouldn't go PE3 as dont think it'll hold enough.

Highest reccommendation for the Ryoga, Ize jiggy handle and RippleFisher 5825. Solid.

[Andre van Wyk]

Mine just arrived in the post...... STOKED!!!! Along with 200metres of YGK Ultra PE 2....

David that meeting with you was bad for my back balance mate..... 

[Brandon Khoo]

Andre/David - does the jigger version cast like the normal baitcaster version or is it purely designed as a jigging reel?

[Duncan O'Connell]

Brandon

The Ryoga Bay Jigging reel doesn't have the magforce cast controls that the Pluton or Ryoga have.

In answer to the other questions about the differences between the reels, the Ryoga was designed for bass fishing and light jigging. The Pluton is a heavier duty reel designed to handle anything up to 50lb braid on stuff like impoundment barra, PNG bass, jigging etc.
The Ryoga has a light weight super alloy frame and side plates along with light weight alloy gears.
The Ryoga Bay Jigging has a stronger frame (same as pluton), a jigging handle and the magforce cast controls have been removed.
The Pluton has stronger forged and machined frame, stronger side plates and stronger gears. It also has the same cast control system as the Ryoga.

If you are after maximum strength and versatility (casting and jigging), then the Pluton matched up with an RCS jigging handle covers all the bases nicely.

Cheers

Duncan

[Brandon Khoo]

That was a fantastic summary, Duncan. Just what I was looking for. I was thinking of the Ryoga jigging model but looking at the line capacity, do you think that the maximum drag is an overkill?

I think that perhaps the Pluton in 5.1:1 with the option of the RCS jigging handle will give me both a heavy duty baitcaster as well as a light jigging reel.

[Mick Cunningham]

hey duncan ...

i would like to know can the RCS jigging handle  fit on the blacksheep ??

[Duncan O'Connell]

Hi Mick,

To the best of my knowledge the RCS jigging handle will fit on the blacksheep. We have fitted one on a Bluebacker and soon realised that you will some extra bits to make it work.

you'll need to get yourself the pluton handle nut, the handle nut retaining plate and and the little matching screw.

The part numbers are,
107, 108 and 109 on the Pluton schematic.

Hope that clarified mate,

Cheers
Tom

[Andre van Wyk]

Little update:

Just matched my Bay Jigger to a new JM 100 rod... awesome little combo, can't wait to test it out soon...

Will give some feedback when I finally get a chance to fish...

[Andre van Wyk]

Haven't had a chance to fish it yet, but got a few pics of the set up:



















So then I roped the missus into some early morning duties so I could shoot some load pics of the set up:

[Neale Bird]

Yes i definately want one, lets see what comes for christmas

[Hon-Su Chin]

Mmmmhhmmm.....looks like I might need to offload either my Blacksheep 250 or Conquest 300 Type JM and get myself one of these!!!

[David Sharples]

Dammit Andre what you doing to me that bay jigger version is so beautiful I think I need one of those as well as the baitcasting one!

That blue spool is hot.

[Andre van Wyk]

Dammit Andre what you doing to me that bay jigger version is so beautiful I think I need one of those as well as the baitcasting one!

That blue spool is hot.

David, you are completly to blame for this addition to my TAS vault... check out the thread on Sealine under "Ultralight Silly String Jigging Outfit", I blame you from the start!!! :-)

And just for the record, the Bay Jigger is waaaay hotter in the flesh than in the pics.... of course the little purple passion stick helps too!