gear questions for tuna/ shark

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

With a 22' I wouldn't lose sight of land unless it's blue bird conditions and flat calm... but that's just me. I'd also invest in a kicker in case the 200 craps the bed while out.

Raft, epirb, etc as mentioned. Buddy up with another vessel if you decide to actually venture off. Also, think about investing in a charter to learn the ropes. The cost is worth it 5 fold in regards to tutorial.

Electronics? Big difference between going to the mud hole or the Chicken Canyon!Radar,epirb,raft, and most of all experience! No disrespect but i don't think your ready for off shore and a 22' boat is the bare minimum.

[bowhunter]

I have 2 50-80 stand up rods with penn 6/0 and 50lb ande on them.Would let the pair go for 200.00

[dfish28]

With 22... mudhole, maybe chicken on the best day, but I wouldn't recommend, first thing is figure out your exact gpm... and divide that by your usable fuel and leave 1/3 for unexpected conditions so basically see how far you can get on 40 gallons, then return and hopefully still have 40 left for reserve in case... a 22' boat is not for the canyon in my opinion, but there is still a lot of fun inside if you look in the right spots at the right time, I would look into threshers at this point, as others said - SAFETY FIRST, gear wise, 50's with 120# braid backing to a top shot of your liking, I would personally do 200 lb braid to top shot but that's me... best of luck!

[Capt Sal]

Ok here is what an old grumpy salt has to say.First of all you don't need to spend a fortune.Used big game reels are a dime a dozen and your not going after giant bft.A 22' boat is good for the slough, little Italy the Princess wreck etc. That is as far off as i would go.Here is the 69 question ,how much exp. does the capt. have and does the crew have any exp.at all?? When things go wrong panic sets in and inexperienced people panic worst Because this is a step up in boat size it does not mean off shore.I am happy for you getting a bigger boat but dicretion is the better part of valor.This is my opinion and mine alone and i wish you the best but NO FISH is worth risking your life for.

[klark2008]

Yea my experience is somewhat low for fishing offshore.I went tuna fishing in the canyon like 12 years ago with my uncle on his friends boat. I got one small tuna. and they caught a decent shark. But I was the kid on the boat so they were not really teaching me much. Mostly when we fish we are not much farther than just out of site of land. Until now our boats were small, except my old 28 ft bay liner. I didn't take that rust bucket out far though. I have had boats for a while. my last boat was a 17ft proline CC. We would take it out of sight of land also. Never really had any issues except bad weather few minor mechanical things I fixed on water. We are not planning on going right out for tuna at the canyon. I still have to learn my boat. learn the gas consumption. get a kicker motor and lots of other stuff. This post is really just to see what other guys are doing so I can get advice for whats to come. I got this boat so we can fish outside a little farther and more comfortably. My guys experience for the most part is equal to mine with my one buddy more of a mechanic than I am. The 3 of us have all been through some really bad situations. We can handle stress and bad situations pretty well. Im not to to worried about either of us panicking. (although I have never been on a sinking boat in the middle of the Atlantic ocean with chum slicks and hungry sharks) we are all chipping in for good safety gear. I still have to save up to update my electronics. We played with the idea of booking a tuna charter but with having to buy all this other needed stuff we cant afford to. I also thought about trying to find a willing person on here that would be willing to take us out on there boat or come on mine to teach us,but I really dont want to burn all that fuel to find out this person is a nit wit who just wanted to get away from his wife for the day. We really are taking it serious. I hope you guys are not thinking oh hear is another jackass cruising around look out. It has always been something we wanted to do so we have to buckle down and do it right. Thanks for all this input we really appreciate it a lot. please keep it coming.