Electric Reels

[eeshaw]

Are any of you folks aware of electric reels for deep sea fishing? I didn't even know they had them until I saw a story on a stolen one in Florida. I looked them up and holy cow are they expensive! They appear to be a deep sea item that rich people or charters use. I just hadn't heard of them.

 

[KMixson]

I have worked on a commercial fishing boat a few times when I was young. They had reels about 2 foot in diameter and a car leaf spring as a rod with a block pulley on the end. They were rigged with steel cable for line. There was a 12-volt starter motor driving the reel with a v-belt. They were not into playing the fish, they were into getting the fish in the boat and getting the line back out ASAP.

 

[LDUBS]

I saw one used by one of the boats (Pinwheel) on the Wicked Tuna TV series. Seems I saw it on one episode only then back to the big conventional Penn reels.

But when they travel down to the outer banks, they troll using this strange contraption like the one KMixon describes.

I still have the episodes set up to record, but don't think I've watched any of the last season (or two).

 

[Chad D.]

We use Daiwa Tanacom 750 electrics for halibut fishing here in Oregon. They’ve been a game changer when fishing 600’ to 800’ deep. Where we used to let baits sit for over 30 minutes before checking or moving, we now pull up and scoot over a couple hundred feet if we don’t see action in about 15 minutes. We cover a lot more ground, and a bait check with 48oz. Of lead is no longer an arm burning experience.

Not super cheap at ~$600, but nothing about ocean fishing is…