Game outfit size for targeting metro Blues ?
Submitted by Seahorse7 on Sat, 2023-02-25 06:39
I'm looking for a few outfits to target blues in metro area, leaning twoards 50w reel on 24kg rollered straight butts, probably spooled with braid and mono top to get more length on, its for a smaller trailer boat. interested on any input on what lb to spool with and if 37kg/80w would be overkill or not? I'd rather take time and buy the right gear day 1 so i dont have to buy a second time as will be sizing boat up in the future anyway. Already going to fads, fishing dollies and tuna etc on smaller outfits and doing well, just want to give the Blues a crack when I'm out there and want to be able to handlle one if I got lucky. Thanks.
scano
Posts: 1246
Date Joined: 31/05/07
37kg is the way to go
At the recent PGFC marlin comp, one boat lost a descent blue because he was a bit under gunned with 24kg gear. You cannot predict the size of the fish (big or small specimen) that's going to hit your lure, so if you want to stack the odds in your favour to land that metro fish of a lifetime, go the 80w and 37kg line. Yes it's a bit more cost, but ultimately it's the better / safer option for landing the fish. Also descent game fishing gear like a tiagra 80w holds its value pretty well so consider it an investment, not an expense.
Billcollector
Posts: 2006
Date Joined: 16/05/09
37kg without a hesitation,
37kg without a hesitation, Tiagra and a bent butt standup rod, you never know what pops up and a good quality belt like the Black Magic. Backfill with dacron and a 200 metre topshot of mono.
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
I would be running 37 all
I would be running 37 all day.
Talica 50 hollowore braid with a 50m 37kg mono topshot. Much lighter than a tiagra 80 just doesn't have the tiagra growl when it gets smoked.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
robert1979
Posts: 224
Date Joined: 13/05/12
We have now lost 2 metro
We have now lost 2 metro blues on 24kg. Lesson Learnt, going to be fishing 37kg now :)
Seahorse7
Posts: 22
Date Joined: 27/09/20
Good advice and food for
Good advice and food for thought, looks like 37kg is the way to go. cheers fellas
Alan James
Posts: 2208
Date Joined: 30/06/09
...
I have a question for those who recommend 37kg rather than 24kg. Is it a line capacity issue or a lighter drag issue when fishing 24kg? Or perhaps a combination of the two?
I'm interested in hearing when and why you believe things have become undone.
Billcollector
Posts: 2006
Date Joined: 16/05/09
The extra drag pressure you
The extra drag pressure you can exert on the fish and to give yourself more chance of pulling the fish up by slowly driving away from it when it goes deep make a heap of difference between 24kg and 37. At strike on a 24kg you have 8kg of drag where as on a 37 you have 12.3 kg of drag .
Tiagra's are designed to hold the same amount of line for whatever class you fish, I think most brands are the same. From memory it was 700 metres of line.
Lastchance
Posts: 1272
Date Joined: 02/02/09
Interesting you say driving
Interesting you say driving off Blues to get them up. That has never worked for me, definitely has with Blacks but not with Blues.
Billcollector
Posts: 2006
Date Joined: 16/05/09
Quite a few trips targetting
Quite a few trips targetting blues at Rowleys and it was standard practice.
robert1979
Posts: 224
Date Joined: 13/05/12
I'll start by saying we are
I'll start by saying we are complete amateurs when it comes to bill fish. For us we had a pretty large fish on for over 3hrs. We arrived at a stalemate with the fish sitting deep, tried driving off, changing angles etc, eventually with a lot of drag we started inching it up, got to within about 50-60m and line let go - devestated. Then last weekend in the pgfc comp we had blue marlin take a lure and a lot of line, and as we wound in we never came tight. We are not sure what happened, it looked like the line was cleanly cut but can't think how that would happen. If it just snapped, maybe we were running a bit too much drag to start with made worse by being half way down the spool? Either way heavier line class from now on. Hope that helps.
CooperTrooper
Posts: 4
Date Joined: 19/11/22
Devastating when that
Devastating when that happens!!!
Would be interesting to know how you where rigged (knots, line, terminal tackle, drag setting)?
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Had a real nice one in the
Had a real nice one in the comp last week crash dive and die. 24 just wasn't enough to lift it.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
CooperTrooper
Posts: 4
Date Joined: 19/11/22
That sucks!!!What hooks were
That sucks!!!
What hooks were you using?
resurgence
Posts: 573
Date Joined: 23/04/14
Probably 37 to be safe
37kg is the safer bet. Drag at strike is not really a concern, it's more the ability to run a heavier drag during the fight if need be. Shorter fight times equal healthier fish on release.
Having said that - we've tagged a few metro blues and lost another near the boat (probably bill-wrapped) - all on 24kg. Estimated sizes 160-180kg range. If you are going to run 24kg you should also be prepared to drive the boat a bit harder to chase down the fish.
EDIT to add - if you plan on fishing Exmouth in the future 37 will be useful there, you definitely don't want 24kg at Exmouth targeting blues.
davewillo
Posts: 2258
Date Joined: 08/09/16
I was with Dodgy in the PGFC
I was with Dodgy in the PGFC comp and there was nothing that we could do on 24kg. Actually had it to sunset trying to slowly drive the fish up but no dice. I think with the size of metro blues that 37kg is the way to go. It is very rare to see a fish in Perth waters that is small.
PGFC member and lure tragic