Is it ludicrous.....

[Alistair Barnes]

to have a PG and XG reel?   Doing a fair amount of jigging at the moment with a 10,000 PG and throwing the odd popper around but with not much success.   However there are a few dedicated popping trips i am going to do and am thinking of buying a 10,000 XG to go along with it.   

    My question is what do most poeple do, do they just make use of one reel or do the benefits of having an XG reel mean it is worth having in the long run?

Tight lines....

Al

[Scott Maybury]

haha you will probably get a pretty varied response...I think a lot of it depends on how much of a tackle junkie you are, how much of a budget you have and how often you will use them for the different purposes...a reel each for different purposes is certainly far from ridiculous compared to what some of the guys on here would have

I have a 10000FA and 18000SW for popping and a 20000FA and 8000FA for jigging....I find popping with the low gear reels is a fair bit of extra work over the course of a 5 or 6 day trip, and I like to have two rods rigged with different size/types of lures so having two each of each different gear ratio works well for me

If I was on a tighter budget I could probably get by with just the one larger reel and more re-rigging (or less lure changes), probably a high speed one because I find jigging with those easier than popping with a low speed reel....I am fortunate enough that I don't have to make those decisions, but that is really what it comes down to

[Jamie Moir]

I found on my last trip to exmouth, and not specifically targeting GTs, that you think you can keep up by just turning faster but really you're doing 120% of the work for none of the love. A few of the guys into popping on FW have commented that you think you're keeping up, but the guys with the faster reels are getting all the strikes.

Again, either because I don't have that much money, or because I'm not targeting GTs, I've bought two cheaper reels, one fast and one slow

As a side note I do a lot more jigging for demersals than popping for anything and don't jig with a fast reel, it can really screw with your style.

[Alistair Barnes]

Thanks guys, looks like there is a benefit to having an XG reel.   I'm loving the jigging but missing out on seeing the strike makes me want to give popping a decent crack at.

thanks....

[Luke Wyrsta]

Another important factor in surface fishing in particular is the ability to remove slack/belly from your line a lot quicker.

[Andre van Wyk]

I have a 10000FA and 18000SW for popping and a 20000FA and 8000FA for jigging....

Seems you and I have similar tastes Scotty... I have the exact same set up of Stellas, except that I have a 20K FA spool on my 10K FA series, and I have a 6000FA with 8000FA spool on it for my lighter popping work as well...

I must admit that I am a tackle tart of note, but at the same time, having the right tools at hand for the job does make a world of difference, and having two rods set up, whether one stickbait and one popper, or 2 of each or whatever, its a fantastic luxury to be able to switch between the two...

Also means much less down time in between, if you have to change reels between popping and jigging set ups, or bust offs etc... sometimes that bite window is so narrow, and you have to capitalise on it, especially when you have forked the cash out for a trip, and are only there a limited time...

[Scott Maybury]

Haha even more similar Andre, I also put 20K FA spools on my 10K, I have one locked on it with 100lb braid and a spare with 130.....