Reel for Bream & Whiting

[crazyjack]

Hi all, I am looking at buying a new reel and rod to target Bream and Whiting on poppers, HB's and SP. At the moment I have a Tierra 3000, Exceler 3000 and a daiwa HRF that I use for flatties, jacks, snapper (HRF for jacks and barra)... I have never targeted bream or whiting on poppers or hard bodies and would like some advice on what size rod, reel, string and leader to use? look forward to any advice I can get.
crazyjack

[NAGG]

Hi all, I am looking at buying a new reel and rod to target Bream and Whiting on poppers, HB's and SP. At the moment I have a Tierra 3000, Exceler 3000 and a daiwa HRF that I use for flatties, jacks, snapper (HRF for jacks and barra)... I have never targeted bream or whiting on poppers or hard bodies and would like some advice on what size rod, reel, string and leader to use? look forward to any advice I can get.
crazyjack

1500-2500 size reels ...Tierra , TD Advantage or Sol .... depending on your budget ( I like smaller 1500 & 2000 size reels) 6lb braid is plenty ..... & a Shimano T Curve 701 ..... This would be a pretty good set up. ( I have a Caldia ... not Kix & the T Curve .... It handles the typical 50mm poppers really well .... 30mm River2sea not so well ........ So I drop down to a 1500 Certate 4lb braid on a T Curve 702XL
Hope this helps
Nagg
PS ... If you have the $ .... A mate just picked up a new Luvias 2000 ..... very smick& light too

[breamnut]

already been lots of posts on this. just sroll down the page and look at previous posts on other pages

[Seahorse]

good old black queen
still get them for about $30

[imnotoriginal]

How much are you looking to spend crazyjack? I use a little sedona and it has worked beautifully for me over the years on a range of species. You can get them for less than $90 when they're on special. As breamnut said, there's been plenty of posts on this before, the search function might help as well as knowing your budget.
Joel

[crazyjack]

How much are you looking to spend crazyjack? I use a little sedona and it has worked beautifully for me over the years on a range of species. You can get them for less than $90 when they're on special. As breamnut said, there's been plenty of posts on this before, the search function might help as well as knowing your budget.
Joel

Hi Joel, Nagg looking at spending up to $150 for the reel but I am unsure how much for the rod... maybe a round the same or even less. I would love to spend a bit more on the rod but I am heading to Iluka in two weeks so have to save some pennies.... so have any idea on a rod? it needs to to be able to cast popper 30 -50mm Nagg what sort of money are the T Curve 702XL
(will post some picks from Iluka)
Thanks
crazyjacks

[TheSaint]

already been lots of posts on this. just sroll down the page and look at previous posts on other pages

So helpful..

[tunaticer]

for the whiting bream and flathead you will get good service from something like an okuma epix efs20 and a berkley dropshot 7'2" 2-4kg rod. Easy on the pocket and you will never break them on the fish noted. I use the same setup for snapper and spotty mackeral and performs beautifully.

Jack.

[imnotoriginal]

Hi Joel, Nagg looking at spending up to $150 for the reel but I am unsure how much for the rod... maybe a round the same or even less. I would love to spend a bit more on the rod but I am heading to Iluka in two weeks so have to save some pennies.... so have any idea on a rod? it needs to to be able to cast popper 30 -50mm Nagg what sort of money are the T Curve 702XL
(will post some picks from Iluka)
Thanks
crazyjacks

For under $150 you can get a shimano symetre or a seido (I'm a shimano man if you hadn't guessed). I've used the symetre in the 4000 size and am quite happy with its performance. The seido is relatively new to the market and I haven't had a chance to try one. Not too sure on the recommendations for the rod, I use a sicstik and while I like it for soft plastics it's a little too soft in the tip for popper fishing. I know fellas who like the raider rods, but I hate the collar they use to secure the reel to the rod. Good luck.
Joel

[NAGG]

Hi Joel, Nagg looking at spending up to $150 for the reel but I am unsure how much for the rod... maybe a round the same or even less. I would love to spend a bit more on the rod but I am heading to Iluka in two weeks so have to save some pennies.... so have any idea on a rod? it needs to to be able to cast popper 30 -50mm Nagg what sort of money are the T Curve 702XL
(will post some picks from Iluka)
Thanks
crazyjacks

Crazy .... I paid $200 for the T Curves ( both 702XL & 701) ...... They are much better than the raiders IMO.
Another rod ... a little cheaper is the Starlo Stix tournament pro Litespin (7'3")
a cracker of a rod ( split grip).... I had one for about a month ... Then snapped it in the garage door ... along with 2 other rods Nagg

[budge]

In my opinion fishing poppers or unweighted plastics over shallow flats or weed banks is a real finesse style of fishing where a lot of the time you are sight casting at fish. In saying that my thoughts are that it is important to have a rod that is capable of throwing light weight lures a fair distance so I would be looking at rods in the 7-8 foot category. The other decision with rods of this size is whether you want a single or multi piece rod, just keep in mind how you are transporting your rods, size of your rod lockers etc. I am a daiwa guy so in your price range I would be looking at something like a heartland HLA 763LXS or tierra TD-TR 701LXS/TD-TR 702LXS.
For the reel I prefer to stay down in the 1500 size its all you really need in regards to line capacity for this style and keeps the weight down. I normally buy my reels from japan, I use freams kix for my light stuff, but depending on your negotiation skills I think you could probably pick up a tierra 1500 or a exceller plus 1500 (which is quite similar to the freams kix) for your price range. Remember that buying combos you can most of the time get quite a decent discount don't be afraid to ask.
As for line and leader for flats I use 4lb braid and 4lb fluoro as there are no real snags in these areas but you can probably get away with up to 6-8lb leader which will help if you get onto a decent size flathead or trevally. Good luck with it, its a fun style and results can be quite rewarding as very few anglers actually target these shallow flats and weed bank areas.

[tibor01]

I just recently purchased a Daiwa Airity 2000 for my whiting fishing and it is absolutely brilliant. Its nice and lite, casts like a dream and is saltwater safe. I ended up matching it to a Daiwa Battler Taurus rod which is rated 4lb-8lb. Its one of the best combos that I own. You should still be able to track one down but I wouldn't think that there are too many left.

Regards,
Aaron

[Tangles]

Alvey 5' with 6lb on a 8.6' light heritage rod, very nice combo along with a Daiwa CY200 4lb braid on a very light plastics Pleuger rod, fish with both and Alvey combo still doing the business with yabs

[Keechie]

Crazy .... I paid $200 for the T Curves ( both 702XL & 701) ...... They are much better than the raiders IMO.
Another rod ... a little cheaper is the Starlo Stix tournament pro Litespin (7'3")
a cracker of a rod ( split grip).... I had one for about a month ... Then snapped it in the garage door ... along with 2 other rods Nagg

hey nagg your going to be spewing when you hear about this but i got my t-curve xl 702 2-4kg spin rod for 80 bucks at ##### all sports brand new it was reduced down about 5 times with a $80 sticker on it so i quickly grabbed it ran to the counter and bought it.

[oldboot]

Id have to agree that a smoothed and lubed, bakalite spool 4" to 5" alvey on a black queen with 6LB mono takes a lot of beating fishing whiting & bream with bait....I have a rig like that that I love to bits & it cost me less than $100 hook line & sinker.

BUT
not for poppers.
the action of the black queen is just too slow and its tooo floppy for accurate casts.

I picked up a berkly drop shot for $45......Shop soiled & I've mounted one of my little okuma zeons on it........it is just delightfull........I've only dry cast it, but... its nice, light & casts straight & looooong.
Something like that would be the go for poppers, soft plastics of small hard boddies.......

cheers