Currently, I'm running a 9' gl2 (10lb-30lb) with a shimano tekota 600lc for jigging. After 5 hours of nonstop jigging, my left arm was about to fall off. The tekota 600lc is overkill since its packed half full with 30lb braid. I'd like a smaller reel.

I am right handed and would like to use my dominant arm (right) so I need a left hand reel.

I'm looking for a small profile left handed reel with a fast retrieve and direct drive option. The reel needs to hold 200-300 yds of 15-20lb braid. I've scowered the internet and found these:

Penn mag 10 or Penn 109s
Abu Garcia 5001C
My buddy runs a shimano bantam 1000 however they didn't make them left handed.

I was hoping you gentlemen could offer some advice on old reels, new reels etc. I would really like the direct drive option since it makes mooching/jigging much easier. If not, tell me why and whats better. I'm open to suggestions at this point.

Thanks a bunch!!

PS: We had some success off Point Definance landing 2 of 5 blackmouth, a 9lb and 16lb.

Ambassaduer 6501 C3... it holds 245 yards of 14 pound mono, so it would put you in the range you want with braid... you can also use this reel on a river steelhead and salmon fishing, its an excellent casting reel, has a wider spool tho than the 5500 and 5600 series reels... so if your hands are bigger, you will love it... my brother runs this reel on a 8-17 GL2 and loves it... just a little big for me, but i can still use it effectively...

the reel is around 80 bucks...

I've spent countless hours making those damn Darts go up and down.

I think that a slightly shorter rod might reduce fatigue more than a different reel. At least it sounds like you are probably using a stiff enough rod that you aren't losing a lot of energy just loading and unloading the rod.

I use Diawa Luna's (300 series) and Abu Revo Toro's on almost all my salt rods. The high speed Toros seem to be getting harder to find while the Winches seem to be more commonplace. Get the high speed reel for those kings that get hooked and then come straight up.

Good luck! I'm looking forward to July. A king grab on a dart is one of my favorite things in the world. Stupidly addictive.

Your reel won't make jigging easier but a shorter rod will may a huge difference. The longest rod I use for jigging is a 7'6" in a 10-40 fast action. Even shorter would be okay but I think a bigger stroke is more appealing for kings and when you get shorter than 6 or 6'5" you end up working just a hard as you are with your rod now trying to get the travel.



You need to make leverage work for you, not against you.


Any high speed reel with 250 yard capacity will be fine... Saltwater rating preferred and I run 30# braid to a swivel with a six foot 30# fluorocarbon leader. If your leader material is stiff your jig will tangle less.


The best part is when the monotony is suddenly interrupted by coming up tight against the weight of a fish and having it go bezerk. Good times.


Good luck text here...

AP beat me to it.



Dammit.

Great minds, JTD.

Agree with JTD on rod lengh, braid size, and swivel onto fluoro. I have two 7'6" rods (both "Back Bouncing" rods that are perfect for jigging). The downside is once you hook a fish, you're landind ratio is going to go down . If I'm jigging 2 1/4 oz darts, I'll often get away with using a GL2 HSR 1024 for this reason.

Thanks guys for your input. The leverage idea is a great point which I didn't consider. Shorter rod = less fatigue. Why didn't I think of that. That aside, I'd still like to use my dominant arm. I hate switching. If I fished a ton year around, I'm sure I could get good with both, but I don't.

I'll take a look at the daiwa luna and abu revo toro.

The short burst strokes worked well yesterday for kings.

However, there is a guy out there who has fished many many years, we call him jiggaboo, who uses a shorter rod and a very large jiggin motion.

I'll have a boat next year to get dialed in. Tough jigging straight up and down with two people in the boat.

I was running 30lb power pro with 40lb mono. Regular swivel on top and #5 sampo ball bearing swivel on bottom with two saswash 4/0 hooks back to back. I bend the dart eyes sideways and slide the mono through them along the body of the dart. That way, the fish can't use the dart as leverage.

The Gamakatsu G Stingers work great for me off the lead eye- less tangles is a good thing but I used verticle jigs for fifteen years before Stingers ever came out and factory rigging worked just fine before.

I've actually wanted to try this. Cheaper than my route. Next time!

As said by JDT and Kaiser you don't waant much rod bend on the upstroke when jigging and I've found that a BBR(back bouching rod)is perfect. We used them exclusively for halibut, fishing 8 oz Pt. Wilson darts. As spoken by Kaiser they is a certain joy when a king picks the dart up. I've ben dropping darts for halibut and would notice the line laying on the surface with the line counter at 150' fishing 300' depth.

lots of good advice above. i like a line counter reel so i can put my gear "in the zone" if i spot something on the fish finder. i use an older 8'0 shimano heavy action back bouncing rod.

i've been putting a swivel on the bottom split ring of my jigs, and crimping a siwash to that. keeps the fish from twisting the hook out.

Berkley makes a rod in their "air" series thats perfect for jigging.

They're either 7'6" or 7'9" and rated 15-50lbs. One piece,with a nice fast action

If you look around you can find them for $50-60.

Mine have Abu 5500s on them.

I second Avet. Secondary option would be a Calcutta TE LH.

Even though I'm right handed, I HATE RH reels. I too want the rod in my dominant hand at all times. As such I've been on a personal quest for the past year to find the best LH reels in the market...and the selection is horrible. In fact, there are no LH reels w/ line counters on the market period.

Avet is the only company to make a serious left hand model where the reel is built in true left handed config - rather than a right handed frame that's been modified to be left handed. They also come in two speeds as well as the "Raptor" version with twice the drag output.

While a shorter rod will help fight fatigue the most - it's not the only answer. Shaving off a couple of reel ounces makes a huge, huge difference at the end of the day. Do the math...if a reel weighs an extra 2 ounces then one pump is 2 ounces. Two pumps is 4 ounces and three is 6...so-on and so-forth. It adds....which is why I resemble Arnold...;)

Tight lines,

NickD90

Thanks guys!

This was my daughter's first fish on a jig. I had taken them to Tahuya to crab and brought a couple rods along to kill time. While the kids were swimming, I was casting away and missed a fish. That was enough to pique my daughter's interest and, while I was rigging the second rod, she had a light hit. I told her to lift it one time higher, pause, and then give it a smaller flip.

When the jig came to rest the rod was nearly ripped from her hand. At first she thought she had the fish under control, then all Hell broke loose. Line ripping, chasing the fish around crab pot bouys... all three kids jumping around the boat... it was chaos.


and of course I didn't have a net.


When that fish first flashed in the sun about three feet under, it looked like someone lost a dressing mirror and all three kids gasped.


She and I were both pretty proud of this fish but for completely different reasons.

Ever since, she is a believer in jigging.

Great story. The last king I hooked almost ripped the rod out of my hand. It's rediculous the amount of force they hit those jigs with.

Oh-

It was on a 7'6" Berkley IM7, Calcutta 400 with 30# Power Pro yadda, yadda, yadda as described before. The dart was a 2 1/2 oz herring model in lime green.


Pictures always add to a thread and I figured it would add some life to this one and the fish are available NOW.

Do you find with the abu revo toro retrieve ratio of 6:4:1, you struggle bringing in darts above 6 oz?