[Tall Steve]

I am looking at starting to expand my surf fishing equipment cache.

I notice that most people seem to start with small reels and start to buy bigger ones after they get spooled by a freight train or two. I figure that I might as well skip the first step and skip the frustration.

What I am curious about is what are the biggest reels you can cast effectively. I do not have a kayak so I will be casting all baits.

 

[Freshwaterman]

Starting Casting

A big casting rod and reel combo is 12-ft Tica or Ocean Master rod with a Diawa SL40 or Penn GS545 reel. Load reel with 25# mono with 30-ft of 60 to 100# test abrasion leader (depending on casting weight).

This will handle nearly 100# shark from the surf.

My favorite surf rod is a 10-ft 6" Breakway with a ABU 6500 CSM. I use 15# test with a tapered 17 to 70# shockleader to cast FishBites, Lures and finger mullet for fish up to a bull red. I use a Penn 525Mag or others a Diawa SL20 with 17 to 20# test on this same rod for 50 to 100# fish.

I think you will better enjoy the lighter 10-6 and Sl20 reel for a starting application and then move up to the heavier rod and reel.

 

[gundoctor]

I am looking at starting to expand my surf fishing equipment cache.

I notice that most people seem to start with small reels and start to buy bigger ones after they get spooled by a freight train or two. I figure that I might as well skip the first step and skip the frustration.

What I am curious about is what are the biggest reels you can cast effectively. I do not have a kayak so I will be casting all baits.

Depends on your casting ability.
For me anything larger than a GS555 is worthless as a casting reel.
A lot of people do very well with 4/0 or 4/0W Penns and a few can even cast a 6/0W. There are a very select few that can cast even larger reels. Just make sure whatever reel you are trying to cast has a aluminum spool, chrome over bronze spools are too heavy for good casting and plastic spools won't hold up.
The heavy 12ft rods by OM, Tica, Breakaway, and the 11' 6" Pinnacle are all good casting rods. The Breakaway is about double the money.

 

[shrky2413]

I have 3 12' OceanMasters. One with a Penn 3/0, one with a Daiwa 50HSD, and one with an Okuma convector. I would have no problem with a 4/0 or 4/0 wide and I am gonna try a 6/0wide on them. Gundoc is right about the brass spools. I had a 6/0 with a brass spool Igot rid of cause it casted like ****. I used to have a Daiwa 400H that casted every bit as good as my 50HSD. There a many, many choices out there. The 555GS that GD mentioned is also an awesome reel.

 

[Bigfish_04]

If you are on a budget a 10 or 12' ugly stick rod works well. They work well with wide spool reels. I put a 6/0 on a 10 and it handled the weight and bait very nice. But breakaway is my favorite rod right now. I also threw a 9/0 on the 10 ugly stick just to see if it was possible. They are very stiff. But get the rods and reels you can handle.

 

[Skavatar]

the biggest casting reel i have is a Penn 45 GLS. i've tried casting my 6/0 but only got about 10yds with it with a 5oz weight LOL

 

[shrky2413]

I could cast my brass spooled 6/0 around 40yds with good conditions and a 8oz weight(usually got about 30). I am gonna get a couple of 6/0 wides as soon as I can afford to. I can't wait to see what I can do with them with magging and a little practice.

 

[psalty]

I guess I'm old fashioned but I still like my 309 with my 10' ugly stick.

 

[shrky2413]

309's are **** good reels, I prefer to remove the level wind though. I have a 10' UglyStik and I love it. In fact I can still cast it better than my 12' OM's. Unfortunately I havn't got to fish with my OM's near enough yet.

 

[KingKilla]

I like wide 4/0's

555gs penns, 3/0 Penn senators, and Daiwa 50HSDs are really nice as well. They are smaller than the wide 4/0s and easier to cast.

Skavatar...try that 6/0 with more weight. I throw 9 ounces plus bait with my wide 4/0s and 6/0s. It probably totals out to 10 or 11 ounces. If you want to throw a big casting bait just reduce the size of the weight so that your overall weight is about the same. I can throw half a large skipjack and a 5 or 6oz weight just fine. Your not gonna win any casting competitions with a bait that large, but you can get it out there. It also depends on the rod you're throwing. I'm casting 10' Harrington 552s. Some rods can't handle that much weight.

 

[Sponge]

Newell

The newell reels cast very good and are very light weight.

 

[Beachcomber]

555gs

I swear by 555gs's and OM's or Tica rods. I also have a couple of Tsunami rods ($60) that show up at academy sometimes and have never had a problem with them. The GS is great for high speed and line capacity. Also a graphite reel which tends to hold up better in the saltwater.

 

[Bigfish_04]

I have seen those Tsunami rods. The one i was going to get was 10' and very thin. It was very heavy but light. The 12' all-star is what im getting for my my 9/0