Big fishing reels, what do they cost?

I was watching these people who pay a kings ransom to go do some heavy duty catching, and they had these very large, black (carbon graphite?) rods, whith large gold colored reels. About as big as a medium-sized coffe can.

The only thig I've really ever used to fish with, was the Zebco 202 kit that my Grandpa bought for me for my 8th birthday.

Obvious comparisons are similar to a Yugo to a Rolls Royce.

I know different items draw different pricing, but on about an average, what does one of those fishing rigs cost? I know it's more than a buck-49.

Figure on a 130 pound class rod costing about $1,200 for the reel, another $600 to $800 for a custom bent butt rod and about $200 for line. So your in the neighborhood of $2,000 a rod, give or take a few hundred. For an 80 pound class figure on about $800 for the reel, $300 to $500 for a bent butt rod and about $125 for line, about $1,300, give or take a little. A 70 pound setup should go about $1,000, give or take some and a 50 pound set up around $700. You can go cheaper by getting factory made rods, and less expensive reels, but these are probably good numbers for Penn set ups.

I remenber the first time I fished for "big game", and saw those rods and reels. The boat owner looked at me and said, "son, if you're going bear hunting, bring the big guns, leave the little one's home", and he was right.

John

"Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?.."

I just finished a couple of rods for a client in Bimini - specialized for heavy shark fishing - $900 just for the components.

You can run accross a lot of items like campers and even autos and boats at a very cheap price. The only problem is you have to spend a lot of time looking. I have 3 grand young grandchildren and I have picked up some great fishing grear for pennies.

About the best deal I have ever run accross was a free paperback of the "Last Days of Elvis" that I sold on Ebay for $25.

It helps to be in a Big City area, but there are some great bargains in rural areas.

A lot of offshore blue water types use custom rods - speciality rods for specific fish that can cost as much as $2,000 each depending on the combinations of reel seats, roller guides and custom fitting for grip and the like.

Reels - if it was gold, it was probably a Penn International - 80TW is about $700 or thereabouts. There are reels that cost much more but they are hand made, hand machined, two speed gearing, etc. Those reels can really add to the cost of a rig - like $2,500 and up.

So at a base level, non-custom off the shelf rod/reel combination for blue water, figure any where from $1,000 to $1,300.

Sure looked like fun, though. Some of those Marlin fought like heck, well, they all did, but the huge ones looked like they'd take more of a toll on the fisherman, then they would on themselves.

Gene Kearns wrote:

Usually we fish TLD 25's and 30s with a standup rig, we have caught Sail, tuna, Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi), etc. Lots of fun. We fish Tiagra 50's for Wahoo and Swordfish and they are fun but you don't feel the fish as much. We use a belt or a chair depending on the fish. Moving into 80's and 130s you are mostly limited to a chair (OK, you macho types might be able to handle a 130 with a belt but most of us can't)

We have also had times where we miss targeted an environment. We got a BIG tuna hit on a tld 25 once and the tuna spooled us staight down. We were fishing the edge in Bimini and the tuna went off the edge into several thousand feet of water. We cranked the drag past the 30% safety zone and it finally took the last bit of line and broke off. We have caught many Tuna in the 25 to 70LB level with TLDs so I expect this one had to be >>100LB.

A good TLD 25 rig with quality graphite rod with roller guides will be about $500. 50's with Tiagra or Penn Internationals will hit 800-1200, and 80's or 130's will be 1500 to 2500 ++++

Sport fishing magazine had an article a few years back that claimed the average Marlin in the US cost $25,000 each when caught on a large sportfish. (including boat expenses, gear and boat depreciation etc)

Cheaper to charter in an area like venezuela where they are more plentiful!!!!

Well, for the most, but not for all.?

I think I'd best stick to crappie, bluegill, and catfeeesh, with a worm and a Zebco.....