Shimano 3500 baitrunner
… continued from Offshore Fishing Adventures
shimano bait runner-spinning reel 3500
I was using a Shimano 3500 baitrunner reel. The Captain told me that I should use a bait runner because it was my first time fishing for saltwater fish and it was probable that I would catch a real fighter.
Out in Washington I stuck to fly reels because the fish I caught out there weren’t very large, nothing usually more than a 19 in and 4 lbs. So when fishing for trout, using fly reels was better.
The feeling was unbelievable. After turning off the bait runner, I hardly needed to give a good tug like I would do with a fly fishing reel. Instead, the fish pretty much hooked itself. This particular reel had a tension setting on it, which was an added bonus because instead of letting her run and having to reel aggressively, I set the tensioner so that she could run and slowly wear out without snapping the line and without killing myself!
And then I saw her! I was drawing her up to the surface close to the boat, her beautiful yellow fins practically winking at me. I was addicted. It was at that moment; when I had finally brought in my very first yellow tail tuna fish, that I knew that offshore sport fishing was way more exciting then fly fishing in a river or game fishing for bass in a lake.
She had fought with me, I had fought with her and I won! I would like to say it was my skill that ultimately caught that beautiful 20lb. yellowtail but it wasn’t. Captain calls it beginners luck. I say that while some skill was obviously effective, ultimately it was the fishing tackle and a great rod and reel combo.
I don’t think I would have won the battle if I had been using a fly reel as a beginner saltwater angler. I aint never had a fish take off to fast or put up a fight like this baby did. After several trips later, having a plethora of sand bass, barracuda, albacore, yellow tail “skipjack” etc. under my belt; the next step…