Hey Luke,
what length and strength rod do you run for big sbt, do you run a normal length popping rod say 7'6" to 8'3" or do you have a tuna specific rod and would that be shorter say 6'6" and sacrifice some casting distance to gain some better fish fighting ability with the shorter stick seeing that the fights are going to go some distance and the tuna is going to be slugging it out down deep?
Also are you using stella 18000 for working the lure or 20000 for fighting the fish?
Mick.
Hi Mick,
We are still experimenting.
I run a few rods, but ATM i'm using a Saltywater Tackle Race Point Special @ 7'6, 15kg max drag, line rating of PE8-10 and a lure range of 70g to 180g. I managed to throw 50g stickbaits a fair distance when i needed to downsize to match smaller white bait being chomped by the Tuna. It has a stiffer tip to help work poppers but still works stickbaits quite well - more designed for throwing heavier, sinking baits in my opinion but you can still get lighter, more sensitive stickbaits to dance with a little bit of finesse and patience to an acceptable degree. It's the trade-off, of being able to use both stickbait and poppers. At the end of the day, it's perfect for casting rear-weighted, dense stickbaits a country mile, fast - which is the aim of the game with Tuna.
I'm also using a Carpenter BLC83-40R-PM @ 8'3, 70g-200g and MAX Drag of 20kg. I don't plan to use it with that much anger but will also have that rigged for lighter stickbaits that need a softer tip to get their sensitive actions to work more effectively.
Luke