can you use a Ripple Fisher GT 79R

[Stephen Callus]

Hi all   
 

i am a new member and just getting into this type of fishing. i am a fit 49yrs old ya an old fart, i cycle 6hrs a week and do a bit of gym work to keep fit. I have been fishing for a lot of years manly for marlin, yellow fin, king-fish, etc from my 5.2 Kevlar cat tournament.  I have fished the Swains in the past and bought a stella 20000FA and a T-curve 400 deep jig spinning rod and caught my first GT and i was hooked. This trip in September its of to lizard island, Bathurst Islands and 10 Ribbon Reefs for 12 days staying aboard the Doreen 2, it has two 6mt run abouts.   I have read a lot from this informative forum and have decided to may be order the Ripple Fisher GT 79R from Nomad. My question is would  the stella 20000FA go with this type of rod and can you use this outfit for other type of fishing when you are not targeting GT`s such as live bait for kings, trolling stickbaits for yellow fin etc.
i would appreciate any comments or advice from the forum.

 

[Brandon Khoo]

you will be able to use the 20000 with the 79R although the gear ratio isn't ideal.
GT rods aren't usually of much use for too much else. That's not to say they cant be used, they are just are not the ideal piece of equipment.

[Stephen Callus]

thanks  brandon for your honest opinion do you think that the stella 10000 would be a more reel suit to the ripple fisher gt79r. will i think maybe i will just use the charter boat gear. i would like to change the t-curve for a ripple fisher  Amberjack 55 Jig for the stella 20000FA so i could use it for other fishing i can do. would this combo be alright or could suggest something else that would go with the stella.
cheers

[Brandon Khoo]

For one trip, I'd stick to the 20000 and make do. I don't really see the point in spending the money on a popping reel you will use for one trip. You just got to wind a bit faster!

On the jig rod, the Amberjack will feel nicer to use than the T Curve but won't do anything the T-curve doesn't already do. You ask for other recommendations - this is hard without knowing what type of jigs you like use, what fish you are pursuing and what you want to spend.

[Stephen Callus]

i like chasing king fish, dolphin fish, tuna as for price range i am open,  also  brandon the type of braid you would use when jigging does it differ from casting poppers.

[Santosh Shanmuga]

HOTS one pitch slider!

[Stephen Callus]

hi
santosh were can you find this rod in aust
cheers

[Brandon Khoo]

Stephen, I can only suggest that you work out what it is you specifically want the rod for and then find a rod that is designed for those characteristics. Jig rods are a lot more specialised than you may think and if you are going to spend a lot of money, then you really should make the effort to ensure that the rod suits you. A rod that you can use for dolphin fish would bear no resemblance whatsoever to a rod for XOS kings.

I'll give you an example of what I mean. Santosh has suggested a One Pitch Slider. This rod comes in two models, the H and the XH. If you were looking for a rod for deep jigging for Kings where you needed 500g jigs, You'd completely oversaturate the H and would be beyond the manufacturer's recomended jigging weight on the XH.

In addition, Hots jigging rods like the One Pitch Slider and Wei World, due to their build construction, are ultra light but it also means you need to be an experienced angler and to watch your rod angles more than you would with a rod that had a large percentages of fibreglass in their construction.

The one pitch slider has been designed specifically to work long sliders like the Nagamasas or Otokos. Is this what you're looking for?

If price is no object, then you're in the fortunate position where you can look at anything including a full custom Fisherman with Cermet guides or an Atomic Sword from Sevenseas. I think this only makes it all the more important that you ensure that what you buy is suitable. I've seen too many people buying rods that don't suit them or the purpose that the rod is made for. You won't see much change from $2,000 for some of these and then I would probably suggest you look at getting two different rods for different purposes.

On the braid, I understand that YGK's Ultra Jigman is the same braid as Ultra Castman but I have no idea on the other brands like Varivas.

[Marc Towers]

 hi steven,

 I am no pro by any means but i purchased the RF 79R rod, and matched it with a saltiga extreme maverick 6500 reel/100 lb/PE8 SMP line - obviously the higher gear ratio for popping / working lures. I also use tihs outfit for fishing fairly small livebaits (bonito) for spanish mackeral, sailfish, smallish marlin (up to 300 lb's) etc - it performs fine for this work from my limited experience, but as Brandon says, i am sure there are better designed outfits for this sort of work...

 Cheers, marc.

[Stephen Callus]

thanks Brandon again for your valuable  input, i only want a rod that you can utilize, just like marc suggested about the 79R.

[Brandon Khoo]

Ok, as a starting point then, I'd suggest you just get the 79R. This coupled with the 20000 will give you an outfit you can use for popping. The gear ratio of the reel isn't ideal but as I mentioned earlier in this thread, you can get by with it. The same reel coupled with your existing 400 T-Curve will be fine for jigging, trolling live-baiting etc. If you find you like this outfit and simply would like a nicer jig rod, you will find the Ripple Amberjack which you are already considering a very forgiving all round jig rod. If you want a jig rod that is going to be able to handle a fair bit of abuse and be okay as a multi-purpose rod for trolling etc, check out a Ripple Yaku. This model is predominately glass and is very forgiving, not to mention strong as. The only downside is it is heavier than a graphite stick but compared to a 100% graphite stick, it will handle an enormous amount of abuse.

[Stephen Callus]

Hi Steven,
 
You may re-collect you got in touch with me a few weeks ago about the RF79R's performance for more diverse types of fishing - i.e. live-bait fishing for marlin etc.
 
Well, i have just got back from another fishing trip to the Mitsio islands in Madagascar, and this was another successful outing. there were of course other fish, but what may be of interest to you is the rods performance in one instance.
 
I was using the RF79R together with a saltiga maverick 6500 s-extreme reel, loaded with PE 8 varivas SMP (100 lb b/s). We had had a lot of success with GT's so we decided to have a go for marlin - because of the high visibility of the SMP line we put on a top-shot of 10 or so metres of 150 lb nylon shock leader, connected to the PE line with a standard jigging nylon/braid knot.
 
Anyway, we got a couple of skipjack and put them out as livebait - we had a take on another rod but no hook-up, and then what we think was another fish decided to take the skipjack on the RF outfit..We managed to hook-up and the fight was on...
 
It turned out after about an hour and a half to two hours of fighting the fish that it was hooked in the flank, not the mouth - this was making things hugely difficult, as the marlin would just sit under the boat, and continue to make short runs fairly deep..added to this was the fact it was not a particularly small fish - about 500 lb's.
 
Anyway, i can say the rod was tested to the limit - the drag was on max, we tried to dead-lift the fish from pretty much dirrectly under the boat etc - and it stood up to all the abuse..for over 5 hours....!
 
Attached are a few photo's of the rod in action and the fish for your interest.. If you would like any further information, or if RF would like to consider Madagascar as another destination to test its tackle, let me know - the last trip i caught GT's to over 50 kg's, one over the 60 kg mark - so there are big fish here.......!
 
Cheers,
 
Marc.