Just got myself a new Stella 20000 FA. I do alot of chunking for yellowfin. Previously I used the Thunnus 16000 with the bait runner feature. How do you chunk with the Stella...open bail? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
you have 2 choices. open bail and it can be a bit of a problem trying to close the bail when a tuna picks up your chunk. that said i prefer to do it with the bail open. the other is to loosen your drag and tighten it back up when the fish picks up your chunk. with this method you need to remember how many twists on the drag takes you to the proper drag setting for fighting you fish. both will work. you might try closing your bail while your line is coming off at 30mph to get an idea of what your up against. be careful if your dealing with spectre as you can easily loose a finger or severly cut yourself in the bail closing senario....rick
my next chunking rig will be spinning.. If you yank the rod up, after the fish starts running (with the bail open).. it should give you a second's time of slack in the line. then flip them bail and point the rod at the fish to let the hook set properly. count to 3 and slowly raise the rod and start your battle... hope you have eyelets on that spinning rod to hook a harness to... chunk fish are the meanest SOB's out there (another reason I prefer to topwater fish.. hehehe )
Rick and Ronnie, and Seagull: I am planning to use my Twinspin 30 and Calstar 700XH for chunking using that exact advice--as I recall at one point, I think Rick advised to close the bail while you are whipping the rod back down--that makes sense. Currently I have one spool with 250 yards of JB 130 hollow, and would propose to set the drag at about 30 pounds. Do you guys feel that would be enough line/drag to stop, say, a 100 pounder without getting spooled. I have caught 4 on the chunk so far--two around 70 pounds and a couple in the 50 area--but that was with the ATD 50W and I don't have a feel for how much line they took out. I know on some drifts, I let out a huge amount of line, but I think most of the catches were less than 100 yards from the boat. So do you think 150 yards would be enough for their runs, or would I be better off with 300 yards of 100 pound at 25 drag or even 350 yards of 80 at 20 pounds? Thanks. Russ
Russ, Yeah, that'd stop him. If you've got 100 yards of line out when he hits of 250 capacity, your drags gonna be somewhat higher when you flip that bail up, maybe 40 or 45 lbs. That Calstar is gonna be in a big bend or making a loud noise when that happens. Go with a little lighter line and more capacity and a little less drag. There is really so much better gear, which you already own, to chunk with. A lever drag also lets you come up on the drag easy, flippin that bail on the spinner is gonna make a lot of drag in a hurry. JMO, while it can be done, I wonder why unless there's a shortage of rod holders available. Fred
the only problem i see with the spinner is that when you close the bail, the drag engages instantly, rather than the pressure coming up gradually with a lever drag, and this shock could pull a lightly hooked fish, and/or break a leader if it's worn or your knots were not great.
How do the guys that jig with spinners do it when the bite is on the fall of the jig... Point rod tip down and shut the bail quickly at the same time.
the only problem i see with the spinner is that when you close the bail, the drag engages instantly, rather than the pressure coming up gradually with a lever drag, and this shock could pull a lightly hooked fish, and/or break a leader if it's worn or your knots were not great. yeah but in a land before time everyone used star drag reels for chunking
Point rod tip down and shut the bail quickly at the same time. same. line usually just stops and gives you a little slack from the quick slam. then you can flip your bail and set the hook hard and hang on!! i wouldnt flip the bail on 30 pounds of drag though.. you might have the pole ripped out of your hands. 25# and know how far you can twist it up to put the heat on th fish if you can hang on to the spinner. I have no experience, but this would be a problem for me as I am not a big person I would rather start about 23# and know how far I could twist the drag knob to push 30#.. i would also have to be harnessed into the lugs if I pushed 30# or bye bye rod
I lower the drag and then tighten it once the fish is hook. I agree that flipping the bail doesn't work as well and may lead to lost fish? just my 2cents.. nick a
Catch and keep, when the line flies off get to pumping and flipping quick, and hang on to your pole, that sounds like a deal bub!!!
What is the benefit to using a spinner for any reason but to acheive casting distance without a backlash (assuming you can't cast a larger conventional well, which I cannot)? I just don't see any benefit at all. You don't have two speed capability. You don't usually have the line capacity in comperable weight/drag capacity. You have the reel and line on the bottom, which for me has caused problems during a tuna shuffle. And you have to mess with the bail. I guess I can see it if you were limited to only one outfit AND wanted to cast the big baits well, but if you could have more than one, why do you use a spinner for chunking, jigging, freelining, bottom fishing, etc., etc.? Am I missing something? I love my spinner for the casting, and use it a lot because that's what I like to do for tuna, but for ever other situation I have found a 2spd conventional to be much better.
I am with you Jig! Do not like the feel of jigging with a spinner. I don't like spinners at all really. I only have one now because I won a free rod. I have an avet jx 2 speed that I can cast pretty much as far as my spinner.
