70 vs. 80

[dunn6253]

Would appreciate your input on this. Would I be better off buying a 70 or and 80 for chasing bluefin tuna out on stellewagon bank and the surronding areas? The idea is to first shoot for schoolie bluefin, then maybe possibly get into the giants. The plan is to have about four 50wides, and then probably two either 70 or 80's. Any input on one over the other?

[Current Affair]

80's would be your best bet.

[Current Affair]

Dunn,

My opinion is to go with the 80's preferably a shimano tiagra. Most your schoolies are going to be from 40-300lbs and your giants are from 300-900lbs so an 80 is your best bet. A 70 is fine for schoolies but giants its a little light. Hope this helps.

[gman]

go with 80's

[paul708]

if i was going to target BIG fish, and had to choose between a 70 and a 80 ..and was going standup, the hotrodded 70 would be my choice. if it was just cranking in from the chair or gunnell i would get a 80

[austin ensor]

80!! bigger is better!!!!

[Sterling]

Paul's got a good line of thinking on this.

Are you going standup? If so, I too would take the 70 over the 80. There is a substantial weight difference between the two and in my opinion the extra line that fits on the 80 isn't worth the weight stand up.

[dunn6253]

The idea would be that if it is 80's that we get, then they most likely will be fished out of the swivel rod holders. The 70's may be standup, but we may also put them on bentbutts and put them in the gunnel also. Most likely going with penns. Found a place where we can purchase penn 70vs's for about 100 off retail over every other place looked on the net. Thanks for all the input.

[mrfishy]

throw 800 yards of 100lb braid with a mono topshot and you'll be set with those 70 vs's

[Tuna Meltdown]

Dunn I do exactly what you are describing. I fish Stellwagon and the areas around Stellwagon for Bluefin all season. On my boat I run 4 Shimano Tiagra 50W LRS and so far I have one Penn 80VSW. If I had to do it over I think I would have bought a Shimano 80 but thats another story. With that I can deploy a 5 rod spread which is pretty impressive for a 25' Boat. The 50's should be able to handle most tuna to 400 pounds. Maybe even bigger than that but I try to rig all my gear IGFA compliant so I can fish tournaments with it. I also carry a couple of heavy spinning outfits and new on the boat this year will be 3 Shimano jigging setups. 2 with Accurate 665's and 1 with a 10000 Stella. This Butterfly jigging is something that you will be hearing alot about this coming season. Good luck with your purchase and what is the name of your boat so I can give you a shout on the radio?