Hi Graham - if there is something you particularly want, let me know and I should be able to source it for you.
I don't know what kind of swivels they use on the Odyssey but I think that the guys tend to opt for pretty serious terminals and I think their swivels would be no exception. For our purposes (popping and jigging), the Owner crane swivels at size 2/0 will be plenty enough.
Rod length is a compromise. You probably have't read someof my older posts but I have often said that when I am casting, I wish the rod was 9 feet long but when I hook a fish, I wish it was the length of a jigging rod! That pretty much sums it up. I like my popping rods between 7.5 feet to 8 feet in length irrespective of what type of vessel i am fishing from. I just find it the best compromise for me. Mate - I didn't think any fish could put the hurt on you! How many people could claim that on their first popping trip ever, they broke the magic three figure (on the old scale) mark?!
Wire on jigs for doggies. You're not going to find much consistency on this topic and some people have pretty strong views on it! I personally do not like using wire and won't unless there are bloody mongrel wahoos around but what I do suggest is to rig the assist hook using split rings and a swivel instead of standard assist cord (unless you have zylon). Zylon won't save you from wahoos though. You'll find that if we are trolling stickbaits that the guys will probably use a small segment of wire.
I( have once in the past ended up rigging about six feet of wire (the stuff that you twist and burn) on my jigs to teach the wahoo a lesson. I didn't think they would touch it because of the black wire but it didn't put them off at all. In fact, one of them snipped it off at the swivel eventually. You can't win with wahoo........
