80's or 130's

[Current Affair]

What are your thoughts? I usually use 2 Tiagra 80 Wides while marlin fishing. I know this is good for fun fishing but in a kill tourney should i use 2 130's instead? I think the extra comfort of 130's is a plus when tournament fishing exspecially when big momma blue comes a knocking. What would you use?

[Nobody]

realisticly what is big mama gonna be ? What I'm trying to get at is if most of the big fish in your area are 450 to 500 your 80's will be fine . If you told us possibilities of Granders are common place then 130's are the ticket.

[SeaMent]

realisticly what is big mama gonna be ? What I'm trying to get at is if most of the big fish in your area are 450 to 500 your 80's will be fine . If you told us possibilities of Granders are common place then 130's are the ticket.

DITTO!!!!

[whitey]

Fill your 80 wides with 130 Spectra and mono top shot and they will handle any fish you hook into.

[Current Affair]

Nobody,
The minimum size blue for the white marlin open is 500 pounds. So the size of the fish would be from 500 to 800lbs. I know 80's will handle anything up to 1000lbs but that would take a while. Granders are a possibility but very rare.

realisticly what is big mama gonna be ? What I'm trying to get at is if most of the big fish in your area are 450 to 500 your 80's will be fine . If you told us possibilities of Granders are common place then 130's are the ticket.

[Tunaman 1]

80's are more than sufficient

[Nauti Natured]

Fill your 80 wides with 130 Spectra and mono top shot and they will handle any fish you hook into.

How much top shot?

[whitey]

1,000 yards of spectra with a 100 yard mono top shot is plenty.

[micchip]

i agree that with the spectra the 80 is more then capable but would it then be tournament legal ? IGFA rules ?

[Roddy Hays]

I know this is good for fun fishing

What's fun ? Losing fish because you were using 80's when TUTU showed up, or drinking at the bar at days' end looking at a couple of release flags ?

Me, I'd rather catch the fish and look at the flags. Use the 130's and their line capacity but treat them as 80's. Once they're in the chair you'll never notice the difference but you'll never be sorry you weren't using them.

BUT - here's the rub. Most big fish are lost at the boat. The 80's will indeed handle most of them, but 400lb or 500lb leaders won't. If you're fishing anywhere where a blue over 600lbs is a possibility, you want to be using 650 Extra Moimoi x 28' leaders all the time. A lot of pros fishing big-fish country go even heavier, and some even use 6' cable hook-lengths. Some truly huge blues have been lost over the years from biting through heavy leader.

If you need convincing, run your mind back through the years and see how many beeg fish have been lost in the Bahamas, for example. Brought close to the boat on 80's but let down by that damn leader or the hooks.

Bottom line, if cost is an issue, stick with the 80's but buy some decent leaders, some Hays Hooks and a nice pair of wiring gloves !

Oh - don't even contemplate the Spectra. If you're using it for blues it's an accident waiting to happen. You don't need it so don't use it. It's also not legal in most scenarios.

Hope this helps.