Trolling Rods for Albacore, Baja, etc....

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With the arrival of the Albacore and Bluefin this year, I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on choosing and building a trolling rod for Albacore and other Tuna. This rod will also work quite well for panga trolling in Baja.

The length that works best for trolling is around 6 feet. Some people like rods closer to 5 1/2 feet while others prefer it a little longer, in the 6 1/2 foot range. If you are fishing with a single speed reel, I'd suggest staying with the shorter length rod. Conversely, if using a two speed reel, you can go with the longer length.

The reason for the differences in rod length is that with two speed reels you have a low gear that you can really crank on and with the longer rod you can apply that pressure over a longer lifting arc, thus retrieving more line and keeping heavy pressure on the fish. Consequently with a one speed reel the gearing is quite a bit higher and the extra leverage provided by the shorter rod is needed.

Most of the open party Albacore boats require you to fish with a minium of 50 pound test line while trolling. It's not that the fish actually require that pound test to land them, its just that on an open party trip there will only be a team of 4 to 6 people trolling at any one time. These trolling teams will rotate on a timed basis or when a fish is hooked and landed by the trolling team. The secret to catching all types of tuna is to realize that these are school fish, and that the school will stay with the hooked fish. Anglers who are not trolling have a better chance of hooking fish if the trolling hook-up is brought swiftly to the boat.The drag needs to be set tight so that the school can be gotten close to the boat for the other anglers to drop live anchovies or lures back to the fish. If you were using 20# line while trolling, the hooked fish would stay back a long way behind the boat, and the other anglers would not have a chance to hook up. Also, lighter line means a better chance of the fish getting free, and a lost troll fish means a lost school.

So we have narrowed the rod to the 5 1/2 to 6 foot range with a line test of approximately 50 pounds. On private or charter boats without live bait, you can drop down in line test to whatever you desire, although I don't recommend going below 30 pound test.

If building your rod, I recommend building it with an aluminum gimbal so that if you do hook up with that record Albacore or a Bigeye you will stand a better chance of landing it with the stronger aluminum gimbal. Rear handle lengths from the pin radius of the gimbal to the rear of the reel seat should be in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 inches. Hypalon foam is the preferred material for this part of the handle as it goes in and out of rod holders without getting torn up like some of the EVA type foams and cork do.

Albacore and Baja type trolling rod blanks are available from various manufacturers, among them Calstar and Seeker being the main suppliers. Other manufacturers supplying blanks in this catagory include Lamiglas, G. Loomis, Truline, Cape Fear, Kencor etc... I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Again we are looking at blanks 5 1/2 to 6 feet in length with optimum ratings in the 80-100# range. The most common line ratings for rods that fall into this bracket are 30-80# and 40-100#. If you plan on using this rod for Albacore and or Baja trolling, I recommend going with the 30-80# range of blank. This will work best for 40-60# line. If you are looking for a rod to use for Albacore again but also with the idea of using it for trolling on a long range trip at some point, I would recommend going with the 40-100# range of blanks.

These blanks would normally fish in the range of 50-80# line which is what you need for long range trolling which is typically done using 80# line.

Some of the model numbers that work for these ratings in the Calstar 5 1/2' model 30-80# range, the 655H,6455H, GF755H, 655TSSL, and Baby Boomer, while the similar Seeker models are TS55H, TSF55H, 655H,6455H, CTSF55XH, CTS55H.

Moving up to the 6' blanks, Calstar has the 660H, 6460H, GF760L and Seeker has the TS60H, TSF60H, 660H, 6460H and the CTS60H. The next class up are the 40-100# 5 1/2' class from Calstar are the 655H,6455H, GF755XH, 655TSS and the Boomer Jr. and Seeker offers the TS55XH, TSF55XH, CTS55XH, CTSF55XXH, 655XH, and the 6455XH.

Lastly the 6' 40-100# blanks which Calstar has to offer are the 660XH, 6560XH and the GF760M and the comparible Seeker blanks are TS60XH, TSF60XH, 660XH, 6460XH, CTS60XH, CTSF60XH.

Again there are many other blanks out there that fit these needs but I am just giving you the most popular and readily available models.

When we are choosing a reel seat, I recommend using an aluminum one (AFTCO, Perfection, Stuart, ProGear are the top choices, followed by Lakeland). If you are on a tight budget I would recommend using the Fuji Heavy Duty series. It works very well if properly installed, even though it is a graphite composite.

Foregrips on this type of rod tend to lean towards the 14" to 16" standup style. This is a personal preference, so choose what feels and looks good to you, I personally prefer using hypalon as a material rather than EVA as it doesn't get as slippery with fish slime. It is a little heavier and slightly softer than EVA, but I prefer the feel of it when I am fishing. Again this is a personal preference item, so use what you like.

Types of guides that can be used for this type of rod vary tremendously. The best and most popular are roller guides suitable for the line weight you are fishing. Roller guides are made by a few select manufacturers, the most popular being AFTCO, followed by Pacific Bay, Stuart and Fin-Nor. There are some other imported guides of varying qualities that are not as readily available as these.

AFTCO makes roller guides that cover line weights from 2# to Unlimited, I will be using them as my models. The lightest weight and newest (3 years old) are the Lightweights which have a graphite composite frame with pure titanium rollers and line guards. This series of seven guides starts with a double foot #6 with the rest being single foot in reducing sizes down to a # 1. They come with line guards in silver or gold.

This guide works excellent for our trolling rod when fishing on a private boat in the lighter weight lines, from 2# to 30#, it also casts exceptionally well.

The next step up are their regular roller guides, the "R" series rated for rods from 16# to 50# test. These start a trend with most of the heavier guides following their lead. The frames on these are stamped from nickel silver with a round shaped frame, and with finishes ranging from chrome, (H) hard chrome, (B) black chrome oxide, (B/G) black chrome oxide with gold titanium nitride rollers or (G) gold titanium nitride.

Next we have the heavy duty roller guides, the "HD" series, rated for rods from 20# to 130# test. These are the most popular for the type of rods we are working on. These guides can be identified by the triangular shape of their frame. Also, the new wind on series, "WO", could be used as they are rated for 30# to Unlimited. If you are building a combination rod to be used for standup long range fishing using 60# to 130# test, these could be the guides for you, as they have exceptional knot clearance for heavy, bulky double lines.

If you're on a tighter budget, you can forego the roller guides partially or completely, but I do recommend at least having a double roller stripping guide (rear) and roller tip. The guides in between are usually the Perfection WCG series (unbraced frame) or WCGR (braced frame). The next choice is going with the Fuji LR(L/S)G series of guides. These are a good choice, but not a great money saver, as they are a little pricey. No matter which direction you choose to go, I still recommend using a roller tip, just call me hardheaded.

As far as the number of guides go, it will depend on the length of rod you are building or buying. For the 5 1/2 foot length rods I would go with no less than 5 guides. For the 6 1/2 foot rod, I would recommend 7 guides. Many people like to increase this by one. On wrapping the guides, I would definitely underwrap the guides with size "A" thread. For the overwrap we normally use 2 layers on this type of rod, which is called a triple wrap on the West Coast. Cover this with 2 to 3 coats of a high quality polymer rod finish and optional color preserver and you will have yourself a standup trolling rod you can be proud of.