Hey all,
I finished up a 46in extra-heavy carbon ice rod and have been looking for a reel to pair with it. For my heavy rod I made, I have a Nasci on it and absolutely love it but I’m wondering if it would be worth it to get a Stradic for the extra-heavy rod – I will be running 40-50lb braid with 6-8in tube jigs so it needs to have a solid drag system and enough capacity for jigging 150-200ft down. Thanks!
I know nothing about fishing for Lake Trout but Clayton Schick has been posting a bunch about it lately on Youtube. He talks about all of the gear he is using.
40-50 lb braid is overkill in my opinion. I run 15-20lb braid on a 2500 stradic. A 3000 stradic would be good too.
Thicker line is only going to catch more current and won’t benefit you in any meaningful way. It just means you’ll be limited to much heavier jigs if you want your line to stay vertical.
I got rid of all my heavy lake trout rods many years ago and now only use a 46″ medium action walleye type rod and reels for ice fishing. 14lb Fireline and 12lb floro. Caught a bunch of 20plus pound lake trout with zero issues. If I find myself deeper than 150 with lots of current I usually bust out the wire then. My best depths have been 90-140. But have had many great days inside 90 too.
What biggill said. 20 lb braid is plenty to catch any size laker.
You don’t need a Stradic although they are really nice reels. I have a shimano sienna 2500 (cheap real) on my frostbite slugger and have pulled up 40 inch lakers with it. You don’t need any special drag to fight lakers. If you are trying to lock down the drag on the fish you are going to pull hooks out and/or get the fish to roll upside down which ain’t what you want.
There’s a noticeable difference when there’s a need to winch the handle on a large fish. Try this on your reel. put like a 5# weight on the end of your line and try winching it up. Some reels struggle a lot more than others. The Stradic does a much better job vs the lower tier reels.
If you are winching in lakers your are going to lose fish. That’s the same reason 50+ lb braid isn’t needed.
Not trying to talk him out of a stradic. They are great reels. They just aren’t necessary.
Not necessary but the feeling of just winching with just one finger on the reel handle with ease just feels like cheating the fish in. That feeling. And you never have to go back to the big rod lifts and handle scramble method. Cuz you won’t find that necessary to do anymore. Well you still might do it because of old habits as it has become the norm. That feeling when everyone thinks you have a little fish until you reach down the hole and pull the huge one out.
Once you feel how stupid easy it is to winch fish in. You will just forget the struggles and heart pounding fish fight of old times. Those days are sort of behind me now. I just want to calmly and cooly winch them in and slowly reach in the hold to retrieve my fish.
20lb braid for me and I have been using a Daiwa Fuego 2500 for a few years.
I feel anything over that would be overkill for braid.
I do a flouro leader about 3-4 feet 10/12lbs. I really like that setup.
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