Another night at the Wall

[seatech]

First off, Perry answer your phone this could have been you...

Last minute deal last night as I needed to test out my trolling motor repairs before this weekends SWBA tourney. Scrounged up a crew and off to "The Wall" we went.

First hour was just WFO on big sandbass and 2-3lb calicos, too many to count and most like this




Moved down the line a bit and then Mike is just hammered, 65lb Spectra on the Curado 300 with an Extra Heavy Crucial rod bent in half. At first we are saying "Ah, your on the bottom", but then he starts making headway. After a good 5 minute battle, we see this MONSTER head pop up behind the boat and I am thinking easily a 10lb calico !!

Wrong, it ended up being this bad boy!!!!



First Ling Cod on the Kupuna!!!

Mike went to lip it for a photo and we told him to take a look inside before he did that



Released to fight another day.

The bite pretty much shutdown after that with only a few fish over the next 3 hours.

75% of the fish were on swimbaits last night, not too much love for the creature baits.

TM worked great and another nice trip out to The Wall.

All pics taken with the new Optio Waterproof Camera, I'm diggin' it!!


Ed

[Robert]

Sweet pictures Ed! Awesome sandies and that lingzilla is a friggin toad! What kind of camera are you using. It takes great pictures, that's for sure! Thanks again for sharing!

Robert

[seatech]

Robert,

I picked up the Pentax Optio W30. Very nice small waterproof (to 10 feet)
7MP digital camera, even takes movies with sound.

Very reasonably priced, I picked mine up for $259, no tax, no shipping and they even threw in a 512MB memory card (which isn't too much storage at approx 2MB per photo).

The only thing I do not like about it is the standard digital camera delay when you press the button to take a photo, but it's a much better alternative to dropping my digital SLR camera in the agua.

Ed

[Piranha]

You mentioned the 300 Curado. I've been lookin at the Curado 300dsv. It has a higher capacity spool than the regular 300. Supposed to be excellent for fishing like you did last night! Saltwater bay and coastal fishing, general freshwater bassing! Anyone have any feedback/ regarding experience with the Curado 300dsv. Thanks,Piranha

[PerryC]

Jerry,
Good to see you out and around again. I recently picked up one of the Shimano Curado 300 DSV's and have used it bassing. I think it's the best casting reel I have in my arsenal. I have a few older Curados which are real nice also. I also have one of the Diawa Coastal reels that is also a very, very nice reel for the $ of about $120. I think the Curados have the edge, but they also have a heftier price tag. I'm looking at getting one of the 200 series also, they are that nice. Hope this helps,
Perry

[Piranha]

Thanks Perry, I've been searching for the lowest price! NIB price! Can't seem to get below $185 + shipping! Financewise, I may just have to get another Newell. They gave the Curado 300 dsv a very strong and complete review at this link! Piqued my interest. I'd read about this reel on the TKF board.

Shimano Curado 300DSV review

Here's the conclusion of the review!



Conclusion: When it comes to advanced engineering nobody does it like Shimano, while a larger Curado may not seem as interesting on paper as an entirely new-fangled reel like the Calais 4x8 DC, the reel absolutely makes sense. The Curado 300DSV was born out of necessity for a more ergonomic reel that blends excellent casting performance, high line capacity, and high speed retrieve without sacrificing power into one complete package. Shimano didn’t just throw Curado 200 guts into a slightly bigger frame coupled with a high capacity spool. They looked at the application itself, asking anglers what they wanted most from a high capacity baitcaster, and the answer they received was…”no compromises.” Shimano doesn’t ask crossover anglers or saltwater fishermen to make any sacrifices as they implemented oversized drive and pinion gears, seriously souped up the Dartanium drag, and tweaked the overall ergonomics to appeal to both types of anglers. Could this series get any better? Perhaps further application specific design. If they offered the Curado 300DSV in a lower speed 5.0:1 gear ratio the reel would also excel at deep applications (of course some of our editors are waiting for the left handed model as well), but for now no other reel offers the best of both worlds like the new Curado can. The Curado 300DSV completes a sweep of awards for the lineup, and is the only reel series in TT history to win an award in every size, simply because the 100, 200, and 300 size reels are all unique and capable of standing on their own merit. If you pursue big freshwater species, or are a saltwater angler looking for the sleekest combination of speed and power ever found in a high capacity casting reel….your search is officially over.





My big boy has beeen killing the halis from the beach, but you need a reel that will throw a light crankbait. He's a C/R guy. My halis aren't so fortunate! He has the older Curado, Newells ,and Calcuttas. Newells cast great, also. I think the Curado 300 dsv will do this better! Most surf hali fisherman use a heavier spectra(15-20 lb. test) because it 's soft, very small diameter, and very strong! I don't wanna leave a $16.95 crankbait hooked on one of those sandbags off Cherry Beach! I've been fishing with 15 lb. spectra on my Corvalus 200. I got my last legal hali(28") off Oscar's Whaler on that Corvalus on a plastic swimbait and it kinda felt good knowing that I wasn't gonna get broken off! That hali swam right up to my fillet knife! I thought it was magnified by the water it came in so easy. Oscar said "nice one." When I got it aboard I realized Oscar was right, no measurements required! The reviews I read recommend a small monofilament backup. Some people wrap a piece of duct tape around the spool! Does this help the casting? Prolly just gets rid of the warts! Thanks, Jerry.

BTW< I watched a party boat captain throwing from a Daiwa for catfish at a local lake, and he could FLY that lure! It was just short of incredible! There's an island about 500-600 feet out and he was stopping his bait right next to it!

[PerryC]

Piranha,
I think the bit with the duct tape and mono on the spool is to help the line grip the spool on the bottom layers. I know spectra is very slick compared to mono. I also know how it is to get a backlash out of it in the dark

At Cherry Beach, we used Krocs and did well. But some of the guys I saw were getting smelt from the nearby pier then using long rods to catch halibuts from shore using live bait. We used to fish with frozen anchovies also and a few halibuts came up using those. Hope this helps,
Perry

[seatech]

I have 2 of the new Shimano Curado 200 HSV (high speed) and 1 of the 300's reels.

For bay fishing the 300 would be overkill (IMO) but the 200 HSV is great for ripping swimbaits and crankbaits in the bay.

I caught a just under legal WSB today on the 300 and was able to pull it thru about 20 yards of kelp, after an initial 50 yards or so run. Very good oversized (compared to the 200) drag on this reel and line capacity.

Ed