[essexkenny]

Hi,

Yesterday Met a guy from the forum and bought a s/hand Slosh 20 from him.
Plan on using it for fishing snaggy marks and doing the odd bit of uptiding:boat: here and there.

I have a spool of 25lb Ultima F1 to put on it, and was wondering am I likely to be ok using this as is without a Shockleader??
I dont plan on powercasting with it, have an akios 656ctm for that lol :showoff:
There are a couple of marks local to me which are very tackle hungry (snaggy and mud ledges) with strong tides and can be weedy, and was wondering am I barking up the wrong tree doing this, or would I be better of loading it with 18lb line and a shockleader.
Also is 25lb line too heavy for uptiding??

Thank you :thumbs:

 

[Mr Fish]

Some will probably say use braid, but for the snaggy marks I'd choose 30lb mono straight through. 25 is a tad light for my taste when rough grounding.
But admittedly 30 is pretty heavy for uptiding (unless it's braid) so 20/25 max would be better for that imo.

Ideally you need two reels (lol). The 18lb and leader would be fine for uptiding, but you probably lose your gear every cast on the rough stuff.

Another thing to consider with a leader is it's not only for safety during casting (which for short distance rock fishing isn't such a big deal, you can cast 30lb all day safely) but for the abrasion resistance and ability to control fish close in.

If you've got a decent fish rolling about in the swell on rough ground, you want a bit of line (ie the leader) that'll take the punishment while your're landing the fish. 25 or 30 will still part pretty quickly if dragged around over rocks.

Likewise if a big fish comes to the side of the boat, it's not essential perhaps but it's a great confidence booster to know you've got it under control on a 60, 70 or even 80lb leader, and not just 25, which again will part fairly easily if it catches the boat wrong or someone else's line cuts across yours.

It seems a bit overkill to me, but many are loading up with heavy braid now for rough ground, up to 80lb or whatever, with a heavier braid leader, then lighter rig/snood components so they break first.

Suppose that would work for uptiding too, although all seems OTT, but might be an option.

I tend to have several sloshes (I do like them!) with different lines for different situations, but I realise you can't go out and buy a couple more just like that if money is tight. And when isn't it these days...?

 

[essexkenny]

It isnt really rock fishing as such, like lots of marks in your area lol but the sea bed is covered in roughly football sized rocks, and then drops off by about 25 foot plus at a few of the marks local to me (as part of tidal defences afaik). So its either cast out a short way into all the rocks, or absolutely blast one out with a lead lift on, and wind like something possessed to maybe get it back over the mud ledges without the line cutting in and the whole lots coming to a jam.

I'll get some 30lb line then I think and see how it goes for the shore fishing. For now its loaded up with 25lb, and am off out on a boat trip saturday so will see how it works out. I was thinking it might be a bit ott for uptiding because of too much tidal drag and having to use huge weights really.

I tried braid for both uptiding and shore fishing before and personally I didnt get on with it lol

Thanks for the advice

 

[Mr Fish]

Hmm, you might get away with 25lb then, although you can put a fair amount of pressure on 30 before it breaks.
I'd probably be tempted to use a leader if shore fishing with 25 - if you lose too much gear still, step the line up?

Re uptiding, I agree 25 could well be a bit heavy with the tidal pull on it. Then again, the pressure also beds the weight in once you've let a bow of line out, so might be ok?
I've always found it a bit of a balancing act with uptiding - too little weight and it keeps tripping out, too heavy a line and likewise.

Bit of a pain, but I suppose you could wind your lighter boat line on a spare spool and swap them over as needed, but irritating to have to keep doing it, I realise...