Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques
How much 80lb Tuffline will fit on a Stella 20k
Angus Hulme:
On a related note, why do people need more line capacity for GTs? For instance, I hear a lot about you guys interchanging your Stella 10000 spools with the larger 20000 spools. Do GTs run long? From my limited experience, the brutes have rubbed me off with a lot less than 100 metres of line in the water. :'( So, what I am asking is....do you need 350+ metres of line on your spool for GTs? Or is the extra capacity to assist in longer casting, to provide versatility, or what?
Also, why do GT anglers use massively heavy braid (that far exceeds the drag capabilities of the given reel they are using? Is this for abrasion resistance? Because I would have thought that it would make no difference what PE you were using, if that line touches the coral or rocks, it's gone anyway? :-\
Excuse my ignorance here, but any info on the subject would be appreciated.
Cheers
Angus
Luke Wyrsta:
--- Quote from: Angus Hulme on December 11, 2008, 12:33:53 PM ---On a related note, why do people need more line capacity for GTs? For instance, I hear a lot about you guys interchanging your Stella 10000 spools with the larger 20000 spools. Do GTs run long? From my limited experience, the brutes have rubbed me off with a lot less than 100 metres of line in the water. :'( So, what I am asking is....do you need 350+ metres of line on your spool for GTs? Or is the extra capacity to assist in longer casting, to provide versatility, or what?
Also, why do GT anglers use massively heavy braid (that far exceeds the drag capabilities of the given reel they are using? Is this for abrasion resistance? Because I would have thought that it would make no difference what PE you were using, if that line touches the coral or rocks, it's gone anyway? :-\
Excuse my ignorance here, but any info on the subject would be appreciated.
Cheers
Angus
--- End quote ---
Hi Angus,
You have made some valid points here, but yes, there are some reasons for the questions you present...
1. The STL10K spool is significantly smaller in capacity than the STL20K spool. The reason why most anglers choose to use a 20K spool is so that they can use PE10/12 on the higher-ratio body of the 10K.
2. Most GT's don't make huge runs. If they do make a significant run, you are at good odds of getting busted up much sooner than later. Mind you, hook onto a 60kg+ GT and there is definitely the possibility of being spooled 200m+ of line.
3. You don't need 350m+ of line. In general, you can get away with a minimum of 180 metres. Have a few bust ups and you can start to reduce your capacity markedly when you have a thick diameter line on - this also means that your casting distance will suffer.
4. There are good reasons why heavier braids are used. For me, the most important thing is resistance/tolerance to shock-load. Having a big GT strike while driving hooks in can generate a huge pressure spike not only causing braid to fail but such forces have also seen many a reel and rod to explode spectacularly. Not only that, under high amounts of pressure in addition to forces from angler, boat, fish and water drag - it can be incredibly easy to 'ping' lower B/S braids (e.g 80lb). I have even 'pinged' 130lb braid which I previously thought was almost impossible to do. In general, I have found thicker diameter braids to cope much better with shock-load than those that are thinner. PE10/12 is not used all the time either, it is generally reserved for murderous terrain, or when exclusively hunting GTs in excess of 40kg.
Hope that helps :)
Luke Wyrsta:
--- Quote from: Angus Hulme on December 11, 2008, 12:33:53 PM ---
Also, why do GT anglers use massively heavy braid (that far exceeds the drag capabilities of the given reel they are using? Is this for abrasion resistance? Because I would have thought that it would make no difference what PE you were using, if that line touches the coral or rocks, it's gone anyway? :-\
--- End quote ---
Irrespective of being a sensible decision or not, don't forget that some of these top-end reels CAN be locked up and palmed to effectively generate more drag/resistance than the drag system can generate itself.
Angus Hulme:
Thanks Luke, some very well made points there. Truth be told, I hadn't thought of the idea that repeated bust-offs can really eat into your line capacity, so the more line you start with, the better. The reason I asked the above questions is that I may have the opportunity to purchase an unused (but superseded) Stella 10000FA, and I am really weighing up whether the extra expense of a larger spool is going to be required, before I decide whether to buy the reel in the 1st place. Strange way of deciding, I know. :P
After a recent series of GT failures on my Spheros/monster mesh outfit, I am leaning towards purchasing this reel and combining it with a decent GT stick so I can give myself the best chance next time.
Thanks again for your very informative comments.
Travis Heaps:
Its a catch 22 isn't it - use heavy PE and get busted off less however when you do get busted off you lose a greater volume from the spool. Or use lighter PE, you get busted off more but lose less volume each time.
I personally think the 10000 spool is big enough - GTs are strong but they aren't going to outrun a billfish over any distance, any popping is generally done from a drifting boat and as such if you hook a monster GT that for some reason does the bolt into clear open water the skipper should have plenty of time to get the boat following the fish before you even get close to losing 180m or so of line (even if you do hookup immediately after a 80m cast).
I can see sides of the points made by everyone however, as usual there's no straight out correct response, just horses for courses. Being the occasional angler i'm more than happy to run my 10000 spool Angus.
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