Shimano Calcutta 700S & 400B Baitcasters for Light-Medium Popping?

[Roy Skea]

Hi All, I am new to this site. I am going to Bazaruto (Mozambique) in May for a 9 day trip. GT's are prolific there, and I have previously caught and released a number of small GT's (and a variety of other Trevally species up to 8Kg's on 10wt Fly-gear). On this trip, I am also taking my all-round tackle to try popping for GT's. This will be mostly from the side

I have a Shimano Calcutta 700S with 300M of Whiplash 50lb Braid under 150M 35lb high abrasion mono, and a 400B with 300M of 40lb Sufix Braid under 25lb mono. My rods are a 13.5' rated at 4.5oz cast weight and a 10' Spinning rod rated for 8Kg line. Both have good backbone with reasonably soft tip-sections. I expect that this will be "under-gunned", and will probably get spanked by the larger fish......however, it is not the buses that I am after.

In terms of lures, I also have a large collection of Halco Roosta 135's, a few Haymaker 195's, and a few Halco Max bibless minnows, together with a bunch of Aubrey da Gama Chizel Head plugs in 4oz.

In South Africa, the Halco's are "reasonably" priced, the Yo-Zuri's are horrendously expensive, and premier rods and reals are exhorbitant!!!!

Has anyone used the Calcuttas for popping, and how did they fare.

Regards, Roy

[Brandon Khoo]

Roy, nearly all anglers tend to user spinning reels for popping. Using an overhead can be hard work. If I remember correctly, the big Calcuttas can put out about 7kg of drag max. For 50lb braid, you should be able to get away with that - just. You can always exert more pressure with your thumb.

You should be able to get away with chuggers and stickbaits but trying to work a pencil popper with a Calcutta will kill you! I've used my baby Calcutta Conquest with small poppers for estuary species like barra or mangrove jacks and even a chugger is hard work. For a nine day trip, You might think about investing in a spinning outfit if you can afford it. You will find it much easier to fish with.

[Roy Skea]

Hi Brandon, thanks for the response. What I am trying to do is to have as much of my tackle as multi-functional as possible (this is a budgetary constraint) eg I wish that I could load up on a few Stella Reels and Carpenter Rods, but the costs preclude this. In SA, this gear is HUGELY expensive. 

For a heavier Popping/Chugging setup, I am considering getting a new rod built on a slightly cut-down CD Graphcast 5 Blank, and matching this to the Penn Torque 200 with 50 or 65lb braid. I am still a conventional baitcaster type, and the Torque 200 seems to fit the requirement regarding drag, retrieve and capacity. I would think it should also be up to some deep jigging (on this trip no more than about 60M-80M), as well as for floating out big livebaits for non-edibles from the side. This setup will also come in at slightly less than a third of the cost of the above example..............

Does this sound feasible, or am I smoking my socks?

Regards Roy



 

[Ash Neale]

Roy, the torques are a fairly heavy reel so any long sessions casting may prove exhausting bro, the daiwa salty would be a better proposition in a star drag. But i think what brandon is saying is that an all round spin out fit will never be out of place on any trip. You can have that flexability of piffing big,medium and small lures with no probs. I use both spin and O/H for all aspects and sometimes if it does'nt feel right i'll swap. But weight is my biggest issue with O/H oufits as they can induce fatigue. My thoughts.
Ash.

[Brandon Khoo]

Roy, I think Ash summed up my suggestions on this. Overheads have their place but for long spinning sessions particularly with fast action lures, a heavy spinning reel has no peer. You don't have to spend the money required for a Stella or Saltiga. A Penn Spinfisher coupled to a heavy spin rod (Penn make these too) will do the job competently for not a lot of money. If live baiting is a big part of the equation, you could look at a baitrunner from Shimano.

You will find that a spinning reel is simply much easier to spin with over a long period.

[Roy Skea]

Thanks Guys, valuable input.

time to get some prices and get a nice spinner reel......Mmmm, Penn rods also sounds attractive.

Will keep you updated on progress, and come May - hopefully some pics of good GTs

Cheers, Roy

[Brandon Khoo]

there are always a few places that will do a deal on a big Spinfisher for well under $200. Why don't you give Neil at Jones Tackle a call and see what he can do for you.

In terms of rods, there are a heap of rods out there that will do the job at a reasonable price.

All of that said, don't go loading the outfit up with 80lb+ as you will overload what the reel is capable of fishing with. If you want to fish really heavy braid, you unfortunately have to consider spending a lot of money.

[lonhro]

When I went on my fishing trip last year a couple of the boys got some cheap spinning outfits for under $300. it was a Shimano spheros and a pioneer rod from memory. its a 2 piece butt joint and a really stiff rod.  The reel is fault less for the money great value.

Hope this helps

[Stephen Polzin]

All of that said, don't go loading the outfit up with 80lb+ as you will overload what the reel is capable of fishing with.

This is very true.  My neighbor was using his 850 spinfisher last week and while he's got 80lb braid on it, no matter how hard we screwed down the drag knob it wasn't getting close to the sort of drag he needed.  Handled some great fish well in open water but got bricked in a flash over some rough country. 

[Chris Young]

I remember reading something years ago that Jack Erskine used to do a drag upgrade on spinfishers where he used to  machine the underside of the spool & put a huge disc drag in there, he used to catch marlin on those reels

[Brandon Khoo]

that's true, Chris. Jack Erskine can customise a Spinfisher's drag and increase the level of pressure it can handle quite significantly. I'm not sure what level he can take it to but it would be a big improvement. About the only question I have is whether the reel, from a structural perspective, is capable of handling the stress imposed by 15kg+ drag. I don't know as I have never used one with an upgraded drag.

[Ash Neale]

There are plenty of mid range options these days other than the penns, even Tica do a metal body reel that will pull 12 kg of drag these days, they're not top $$ but they would do the job.The  Daiwa opus bulls in the 6000 with a price tag of $150-170 would also be a very good option. They are just a couple Roy.
And as far as rod go Azagaie do a 7' 24 kg spin rod that is pretty ballsy, all for about $100-130 like brandon said if you cant find anything in S/A call neil, and you may find even with freight its cheaper over here.
Ash.

[Jay Burgess]

G'day Ash have you seen the Opus Bull rods?? From memory I think they're rated PE-2-5 and I was thinking of a 7' model for light-medium popping.

[Mark Stotesbury]

Hi Roy
smoking some swazi red not socks brother: esp when it comes to the graphcast.
drop me a PM and we can get together am in cape town
cheers mark

[Ash Neale]

Not yet Jay, just getting back into daiwa's gear. Saw the monster mesh's though, they look good.
Is 7'6 Pe4  to long/light?
Glenn was in yesterday and got some stuff and his rod sorted too. Think he want's to show you his new Blingage 
Ash.