Advice with my setup

[Antony Wright]

Hi guys... newbie from sunny South Africa... nice forum you got going here!
Need some advice please, if someone would be so kind...

I'm off to Mafia Island for a trip of a lifetime - main focus will be GT Popping, Dog tooth tuna; but also will be doing a little jigging. I have the following equipment:
Daiwa Monster Mesh 8ft Popping rod, rated 200g, PE8 and 11kg drag.
Daiwa Monster mesh 5ft Jig rod, rated 400g and PE8 and 15kg drag.
Stella 10000FA with 100lb Berkley Whiplash pro
Stella 6000FA WITH 65LB Berkley Whiplash

My question is: Popping being my focus, which rod do I match with which reel?
I also have at my disposal a Saltist 50 Multiplier, Saltist 30 and Grandwave 50... some guys say using a multiplier for jigging is much easier...??

Got some beaut 130lb twisted leaders already made and some 120lb wind-ons...

Any advice and comments would be much appreciated...

[Brandon Khoo]

Hi Tony - welcome to the site

I'm not familiar with the location as I haven't been there but if the GTs are of any decent size (20kg +), you'd definitely be using the 10000FA. The 6000 is just too small and with 65 lb braid, I'd think you'd struggle to get much of that onto the spool at all. You can use 65 lb for GTs but you'd need a pretty friendly location to use that.

Actually, you'll struggle to get much 100lb onto a 10000 spool - 150m max, I'd think. This is really cutting it quite fine in terms of capacity.

On jigging, I better let someone else comment on the multiplier

[Antony Wright]

Thanks for the reply Brandon... actually, the Whiplash Pro I'm using - it's diameter for 100lb is 0.24mm -thinner than most. The 65lb braid is 0.19mm diameter. This Whiplash Pro is the stuff we use as backing on our reels where we fish Rock and Surf in SA. We land 100-200kg+ Bronze Whaler/Copper Sharks, Ragged tooth sharks/Sand tigers etc, from the beach! So I'm very comfortable with it's quality and strength. So on the 10000, I've got just short of 500m of 100lb. On the 6000, I have just under 300m.

[Antony Wright]

By the way... Mafia Island is in Tanzania, just south of Kilwa Ruins... Zanzibar

[Brandon Khoo]

Tony - I don't know of any braid where you can get 500m of 100lb onto a 10000FA spool. Admittedly, I haven't used Whiplash Pro but I've never heard of a braid this fine.

[Mark Stotesbury]

Hi anthony
the whiplash is ok to use but its a twisted braid so you nick it and it starts to unravel not good if a big and there are huge gts at mafia drags you over the bommies.rather look at ygk braid-600m or daiwa braid-300m spools these are woven and are a lot more forgiving on abrassion for what its worth.forget the overheads as they only average 7kg max drag .
PM me i am in cape town
cheers mark         

[Antony Wright]

Thanks for the reply... I know your name well Mark... I am Reefman on Sealine.co.za.
As far as Whiplash goes... the guys have had incredible success with it fishing R&S and landing BIG sharks off the rocks in the Transkei, Robberg, Beacon Isle etc... where all you have is rocks, rocks and more rocks...? It's interesting that you think it might not stand up to Popping and Jigging...? Eeeek. Better get myself some backup braid...

[Luke Wyrsta]

Thanks for the reply... I know your name well Mark... I am Reefman on Sealine.co.za.
As far as Whiplash goes... the guys have had incredible success with it fishing R&S and landing BIG sharks off the rocks in the Transkei, Robberg, Beacon Isle etc... where all you have is rocks, rocks and more rocks...? It's interesting that you think it might not stand up to Popping and Jigging...? Eeeek. Better get myself some backup braid...

Hi Antony,

It is also shockload that has a significant effect on the life of braid. A factor which I don't really think is tested as much in any other fishing application than popping and jigging. The braids you mention might be okay, however, they don't often rate a mention in popping and jigging circles (typically anglers that will go through just about every product no matter the cost just to find the best).

If you are looking for something without the price tag of some of the more premium lines, I would suggest checking out Tuf Line XP.

Good luck for your expedition! Sounds insane!!!! 

[Sachin Chaudhry]

Tuf Line,PowerPro or Izorline braid are all good. I hear the Tuf Line XP has the greatest consistency but then again I use 80lb Power Pro a lot and no complaints there. Tests at about 50% more than the breaking strain so that may have something to do with it.

[Antony Wright]

Thanks for the advice guys... but somehow I think I';m going to be the guinea pig with this braid... I have a sneaky suspicion that this braid was made and marketted sprecifically for the SA Shark fishing market, because if you do a search for Berkley Whiplash Pro on the Net, there is very little info on it... yet speak to any of the top SA Rock and Surf anglers, they will use nothing else. As to it's cost - it's almost double the price of Ultra Jigman, triple the price of Tufline XP - so we're not using it to save money, rather I'm of the opinion that it's the best there is, especially considering it's diameter- nothing to touch it. It's less than HALF the diameter of Tuffline for the same braking strain. 0.17mm for 50lb; 0.19mm for 80lb; 0.24mm for 100lb...!!!

Shyte I hope I'm not wrong here...

[B Hartman]

Hey Reefman

How was your trip Tanzania way ?

[Colin P]

Hi Antony,

I use 50lb test Whiplash Pro, with a 6 foot mono leader, when jigging for cod off the coast of northern Norway and when trolling big spoons for lake trout in Canadian wilderness lakes. It's brilliant for these applications because its small diameter allows you to fish deeper per ounce of jig/spoon.

I tried it in the Maldives when fishing small poppers and casting jigs for bluefin trevally and lost so many fish to coral and smash takes that I gave up using it for this sort of fishing. Now use Tufline XP for vertical jigging, Power Pro for casting and Jerry Brown hollow braid for popping.

That said, my wife hauled a 400lb sturgeon to the river bank on 100lb test Whiplash Pro with a 60lb test Berkley Big Game mono leader.

I'd be interested in your results if you decide to stick to Whiplash for GT.

Cheers

Colin

[Antony Wright]

Hi guys... snowed under with work, so I posted a report here about my recent trip to Kilwa...

Edit: this report has moved..... to here:

http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,39.0.html

[Jarrad Heritage]

Absolute awsome pictures and great read!!!!

Jarrad

[Pat Victorino]

Hi guys... snowed under with work, so I posted a report here about my recent trip to Kilwa...
www.africanaquatics.co.za/KILWA.htm

   Hi Antony,
              Congrats on your first successful trip to Kilwa & Mafia Island.Really detailed report and nice pics.Now i'm pretty sure you've got the popping bug and will be soon on another GT charter in some other faraway corner of the world.