GT rods in the US

[Joey Tun]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a newbie to GT popping. By reading what is posted on the forum and the web site here, I learned a thing or two I did have my first successful GT popping trip in the Bay of Bangel recently.
So special thanks to Luke and all the members for educating me.

Now, I'm bitten by the GT bug and I'm considering a new GT popping outfit. I live in the US Mid-West and the locations I have occasional access to varies from Hawaii to Bay of Bangel & Andaman Sea (and sometimes Caribbean for tarpon etc.).

I'm struggling with 2 things.
First, how heavy of an outfit I should plan for given the fact that the locations I get to fish varies a lot? (I'm debating between new Sella 10000SW or 18000SW). Most of the time GTs I'll have access to will be at most 30kg class (mostly in 15kgs or less). Yes, Hawaii have some heavy weights but the population of really large GTs seems to be pretty small.

Second, finding a good matching rod! Being in the US, the domestically available models are very limited (I found something called Ocean Tackle International <http://www.360tackle.com/home.php?xid=f59a0e6d8b0081abac29dc2d882a9f59>
, and Daiwa USA has a couple of popping models). None I know much about. The upside is warranty support & lower price. I do have access to Japanese models through Angler's Pro Shop in New York. And the Carpenter SP's seem to be really nice. The only thing that got me thinking is they have zero warranty support in the US.

So any advice would be greatly appreciated. One other thing I do want to ask specifically, if I go with a Carpenter SP (say Heavy or ExHeavy model), how likely is it that I might break it in actual fishing situation (not talking about accidents or mis-use like high-sticking here). Have any of you broken Carpenter SPs before or heard of breaking?

Thanks
Joey

[Pat Victorino]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a newbie to GT popping. By reading what is posted on the forum and the web site here, I learned a thing or two I did have my first successful GT popping trip in the Bay of Bangel recently.
So special thanks to Luke and all the members for educating me.

Now, I'm bitten by the GT bug and I'm considering a new GT popping outfit. I live in the US Mid-West and the locations I have occasional access to varies from Hawaii to Bay of Bangel & Andaman Sea (and sometimes Caribbean for tarpon etc.).

I'm struggling with 2 things.
First, how heavy of an outfit I should plan for given the fact that the locations I get to fish varies a lot? (I'm debating between new Sella 10000SW or 18000SW). Most of the time GTs I'll have access to will be at most 30kg class (mostly in 15kgs or less). Yes, Hawaii have some heavy weights but the population of really large GTs seems to be pretty small.

Second, finding a good matching rod! Being in the US, the domestically available models are very limited (I found something called Ocean Tackle International <http://www.360tackle.com/home.php?xid=f59a0e6d8b0081abac29dc2d882a9f59>
, and Daiwa USA has a couple of popping models). None I know much about. The upside is warranty support & lower price. I do have access to Japanese models through Angler's Pro Shop in New York. And the Carpenter SP's seem to be really nice. The only thing that got me thinking is they have zero warranty support in the US.

So any advice would be greatly appreciated. One other thing I do want to ask specifically, if I go with a Carpenter SP (say Heavy or ExHeavy model), how likely is it that I might break it in actual fishing situation (not talking about accidents or mis-use like high-sticking here). Have any of you broken Carpenter SPs before or heard of breaking?

Thanks
Joey

  Hi Joey,
            GT popping is very addictive and also extremely expensive especially if u really get serious about it.There's just no end to spending as we have to keep up with new gear and upgrading tackle frequently is defiately a must.

 Go with the Stella 18000.I'm from Hawaii so i agree with u on the limited opportunities to pop Big GT'S.Years back it was very productive but the last few years seen a major decline.Most monsters have all come out by slidebait at night.They seem to come in at times during the dark hours but disappear daylight.

 I'm not familiar with the USA Daiwa & the Ocean Tackle International so i'll leave it for someone who used it to comment on it.A bunch of top rod manufacturers offer limited or no warranty on their products and with the cost of shipping you're better off praying it doesn't fail you.
 I own a ton of rods and a few of the SP series from Carpenter.Their light and i like them for med-large GT'S.I haven't broken one and would say it's not easy to do so.

 E-mail me if i can be of further assistence([email protected])





       

[Jay Burgess]

I've got the SP78H and I've landed GT's to 30kg on it. They're really strong rods and I've put some serious drag through it (much more than it's rated to). I would think that the likely hood of you breaking one through proper use would be quite remote.

[Joey Tun]

Thanks Guys. This is helpful.
Joey

[Brock Arifovic]

i have to agree with Pat & jay, the Carpenter rods are very strong so good luck breaking 1 on a fish, apart from the SP range maybe you should look at the WV range of rods if there are any still available to buy, it just depends if you you are using stickbaits, bloopers or both really have to be taken into account as both methods are very affective. The rods can handle more than they are actually rated to. please PM me if there is anymore i can help you with.

[Brandon Khoo]

Joey, the SP rods are excellent but like anything else out there, they will break if you overload them. That said, it takes a fair bit to overload a SP78UHL and I wouldn't be capable of it. I have heard of a couple of the heavy SPs breaking in the past 12 - 18 months in places like Oman and New Caledonia but these guys are really going a bit crazy; and I pesonally think its excessive; 170 - 200lb braid and trying to lock up on a big GT. You'll get away with that approach for a small fish but with a big, big fish, something is going to break and it isn't the fish. It will either be the rod, the reel, the line or the fisherman