p-line, mono and leader question

I bought a Penn 340 GTI and 6/0 rod combo at a garage sale, I am going
to be fishing for kings, jacks and snapper, with a occasional shark or
2 for fun in the Gulf of Mexico.
I've researched it through a couple of buddys that visit cobo twice a
year and the i-net and have come to the decision of a base wrap of 40
lb mono tied to 500 yards 65lb p-line spectrex tied to about 100 yards
of 65lb mono for shock absorbence tied to 5 yards of 65lb florocarbon.
Am I nuts? sure sounds like a lot of knots. Am I going the right
direction?

Thats a pretty big range of species. The rig is fine for trolling for
kings with probably straight 40lb mono. I dont think you need spectra
for anything that youre doing. Sounds like youll be on reefs mostly,
so I would put on some 50lb, for bottom fishing for the snapper, with a
steel wire leader if youre doin the shark thing, or the jacks (amber or
crevelle?). If you want kings, I would either use that setup for
trolling like I first mentioned, or get a seperate set-up for
fly-lining live or frozen cigar minnows, herring or hardtails. Its
hard to get one rig to work for the assortment youre talking about.


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WFOTuna
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can this setup handle a 60 lb yellowfin? We'll be fishing rigs and
wrecks.. with some trolling. I've been out with reelpeace a couple of
times but like most charters, they only let ya use their rigs.

It seems like it would work out okay, but again, you would need a
completely different line setup for doing that as well. I guess if you
had a couple hundred yds of spectra backing (100lb) Jerry Brown, then
about 150 yds of 40lb topshot mono. Then you could troll for kings,
fish for Amberjack off the wrecks/reefs, and even troll or cast to
larger yellowfin tunas. I wouldnt try that reel on any pelagics bigger
than 80lbs, but thats just because I dont know the lbs of drag that the
reel can exert. It seems like your setup would be just fine for what
youre wanting to do, but to answer your first question, try to keep it
to as few knots as possible, spectra to mono (knot 1), and mono to
leader/swivel (knot 2), and thats it! Kings are extremely line and
leader shy, so less is more in that case. Yellowfin could be hardware
shy as well at times, unless the bite is wide open.


--
WFOTuna
This message is sent through an NNTP Gateway and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of WestCoast Sportsfishing or its owners.

I troll for Kings or whatever, with 40# (lots of people use only 30) and a
4-6' dark ss solid leader and a ballbearing snap swivel.
For bottom fishing I believe the super braid line offers an advantage being
so much smaller in dia and harder to see. (I think the actual dia of the 50
to 80# I use is between that of 12 to 20# mono). Usually I use a few feet
of anywhere between 40# to 100# mono leader but several species can bite
through any mono. I don't expect to hook any 60 to 80 pounders however!
LD
wrote in message
oups.com...
I bought a Penn 340 GTI and 6/0 rod combo at a garage sale, I am going
to be fishing for kings, jacks and snapper, with a occasional shark or
2 for fun in the Gulf of Mexico.
I've researched it through a couple of buddys that visit cobo twice a
year and the i-net and have come to the decision of a base wrap of 40
lb mono tied to 500 yards 65lb p-line spectrex tied to about 100 yards
of 65lb mono for shock absorbence tied to 5 yards of 65lb florocarbon.
Am I nuts? sure sounds like a lot of knots. Am I going the right
direction?

IMO a level wind reel is a disaster for strong/fast running fish like a
yellowfin. A 113 Penn with 40 lb mono will do a much better job. Look on
ebay, they're cheap.

wrote in message
oups.com...
can this setup handle a 60 lb yellowfin? We'll be fishing rigs and
wrecks.. with some trolling. I've been out with reelpeace a couple of
times but like most charters, they only let ya use their rigs.