Video: 1000 lb giant with 450g Black Hole

[kilsong]

After I was introduced to Black Hole 'Nano Carbon' rod two years ago, I've seen enough what the rods can do. Even so, I was extremely impressed when Capt Brad brought a 1000 lb giant within one hour on 45 - 55 lbs drag using 5' Black Hole Cow Special factory rod.
However, I had a confidence the 450g rod could handle a giant because Greg landed a 773 lb giant with a 4'8" custom 450g Black Hole last year.

Watch this video to see how 11.8 oz light 450g BH Cape Cod Special shows its strength for 1000 lb giant.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0405jjRw36o

[Tunaman]

Wow kil its hard to believe any rod much less the snoopy variety can handle the sustained weight of a fish that size. Can't wait to get one big on one of my own custom bh rods. Thanks for the video.

[-Æ-]

Great job Kil! Is that the black hole jigging blank 450G?

[kilsong]

Wow kil its hard to believe any rod much less the snoopy variety can handle the sustained weight of a fish that size. Can't wait to get one big on one of my own custom bh rods. Thanks for the video.

You'll see the bend of action of 4'8" custom Black Hole Cape Cod Special on the next video.
I landed 600 - 700 lbs giant on standup using the rod. I cut 8" from the tip. I gives much more stiffness to the rrod and I never felt giant overpowers the rod.

[kilsong]

Great job Kil! Is that the black hole jigging blank 450G?

It is 5'0" Black Hole Cape Cod Special factory rod.

[kilsong]

I am leaving soon to fish giant in PEI again tomorrow.
I am going to use Everol reel this time.
One is 7.5/0 reel and the other is 6/0 reel.
7.5/0 is like narrow 80 and 6/0 is like narrow 50.
I don't have no problem to get 45 - 55 lb drag from 7.5/0, but we have to modify 6/0 to get such a high drag.
The rod to be matched with the reels is 5' custom Black Hole Cow Special 3rd generation.

[SeaBiscuit]

Amazing accomplishment both in terms of tackle engineering as well as angling!

I understand that the PEI waters are cool and that these giants have a reasonable chance of survival after catch and release, however, given the poor state of the fishery (true giants) and the tremendous increase of C&R activity on smaller and smaller tackle, I feel that these fish would be much better off to stay away from PEI.

Cheers,
SeaBiscuit

[kilsong]

Amazing accomplishment both in terms of tackle engineering as well as angling!

I understand that the PEI waters are cool and that these giants have a reasonable chance of survival after catch and release, however, given the poor state of the fishery (true giants) and the tremendous increase of C&R activity on smaller and smaller tackle, I feel that these fish would be much better off to stay away from PEI.

Cheers,
SeaBiscuit

Fishery management is too complicated for me. Just enjoy fishing report.
My concern is not the weight and thickness of a rod, but whether the rod can take 45 - 55 lb drag for giant.

[kilsong]

I insisted my regular fishing buddies to fish giant at least one in their life time.
But it was not easy because they can not fish multiple days because of their works.
So they asked me to book a charter only one day.
It is a tough fishing trip which very few can do it. We drove 15 hours from NJ to PEI, fished all day and drove right back to NJ. But they all were so happy at the end of the trip.

When we went out of North Lake Harbor yesterday ( Sept 19), there were several herring boats working. However for three hours, no boat could hooked up a giant which is very rare. Capt said it was because herring boats worked all night and giant ate herring all night. By noon, things became normal and giant started to show up under the boat.

herring on the screen


As long as herring are there, giants are there. Fortunately all commercial herring boats are in small scale as you see in the picture.


Once giant were marked heavily, it didn't take long to have a tuna on the line.
The giant we caught and released was in 900 - 1000 lb range and it showed power.
My friend, Choi, Park and Yong fought together for 1 1/2 hours

Choi started






Park's turn






Fishing job by Yong









5' custom Black Hole Cow Special 3rd generation

Ralph and myself decided to cut 8" from tip of 7" Black Hole Cow Special III to make ti stiffer. While observing the fight, I felt the tip was a little too stiff.
Cutting 6" from the tip instead of 8" could give a little soft tip action while giving enough lifting power and backbone.
Compared to Braid' Giant Power Play stand up rod, the tip of the custom BH is much stiffer.



Avet EX50W-2 reel


I was going to use Everol reels for this trip, but Yong wanted to test his Avet Pro EX50W-2.
I am not a fan of Avet small reels for jigging, but this reel really impressed me to fight a giant.
I fought giant using Okuma Makeira 80, Penn 80 and Shimano Tiagra50W before.
When I touched the spool of EX50W after a long run by a giant, I was surprised it was just warm. When I touched the spool of Tiagra 50W, it was red hot on the first trip. The drag of EX50W was very nice. In fact, all drags of reels I used were very smooth except Makeira 80 which Capt Tony sent back to Okuma and Capt Tony said the reel has performed beautifully since he got it back.

Fighting belt

We used Braid's Power Play fighting belt/ harness and Black Magic fighting belt/harness.

I recommended Braid's Power Play harness/fighting belt, Smitty's Spyder harness/Extra Large Big Game Belt and Black Magic fighting belt.

I got bruise on my lab after fighting giant solo using Braid's Power Play belt for three days in PEI on my last trip I barely worked even Braid's Power Play has the heaviest padding among three. It tells you how much giant give pressure to your lab. Light padding belt is No No.
Harness with only strip is no good for giant either. In my opinion, Braid's Power Play harness is simply the best in the market for giant.
Line

200 lb Jerry Brown Hollow and 200 lb leader line was used.
Capt told me that the minimum line you can use in PEI legally is 130 lb.

Jigging in PEI
This is second time I tried jigs without hooks for giant.
As you as you throw bait, giant take the bait within a few seconds. It means there are lots of giant under the boat, But strangely, they didn't touch my jigs.
I can not understand why they just ignore jigs while they attack popping lures.