Rockfish Setup?

I am trying to get my gear together for rockfish season.  I have an ugly stick 7' Medium action rod and an abu garcia ambassadeur royal express reel.  Will this setup work for rockfishing?  What kind of line should I use and what kind of jigs?

Many recommend a 7' MH rod and 20# test. This would allow you to use the larger metal jigs, like diamond jigs, that work so well for rockfish.

I think your current set up might be okay for plastics with lighter jig heads.

I like to have 2 setups for rockfish.  One with 20lb spectra for use with lighter lead-head type jigs and live bait rigs, and another with 30lb line for use with diamond jigs exclusively.  Diamond jigs snag alot, and the extra 10lbs is enough to yank them free of most snags.  Heavier diamond jigs are also easier to free from a snag.  Just lifting them up and letting them drop against the hook a few times is enough to free them usually.

I use 4' 50lb leaders for all my rockfish rigs.  That allows you to handline fish aboard safely and holds up well against abbrasion.  Diamond jigs are especially bad about hooking your leader and chewing it up.

It really depends on what kind of rockfishing you plan on doing.  Blues and blacks tend to be somewhat pelagic and you can have a lot of fun with just a bass rod throwing light (1/4 - 1 oz jigs).  If you're planning on fishing for large lings and some of the more demeral rockfish like vermilons, chinas and coppers you need something that can handle bigger fish and heavier lures.

My personnal setup is to take out two rods.  One a 7'6" Shimano Clarus Heavy-Fast rod with a Shimano Corsair 400 with 15lb test for light jigs up to an once or so.  I also take out a  7' Uglystick (BWC2201) with a Penn 320 GTi and 30lb test.

Of coarse don't forget that while rockfishing you're only allowed to fish with one rod at a time.

Brian

I personally don't like to use anything over 20# in a kayak.  I have a hard enough time breaking that off.  With 30# it's almost like an anchor and in swells, I don't like the anchored feeling.  It's worse in a 2 man kayak and even worse when we're both snagged up.  Any tricks of the trade you bottom snaggers want to share as to how to efficiently bust off your line when snagged?

-Allen

Point the rod straight down and reel it up tight as you can at the bottom of the swell, then hold the spool.  The swell will lift you up and break the line.  Spectra is easier to break due to it's low strech.

Yup, that's what I try to do.  I find that I have to do that multiple times to get all the scope out of the line, even then there is enough stretch to make things difficult.  I've been meaning to switch over to spectra on my bottomfish rigs.

-Allen

You should switch.  Great thing about spectra is it holds it's strength over time.  The 35lb spectra I caught my sturgeon on has been catching fish for 3 years now.

Thanks for the info guys.  I think for now I'll put 20lb spectra on this setup and try some lighter jigs.  Maybe when my budget allows I'll buy a 7' MH and a larger reel and fill it with heavier line.

Here's a little different perspective, my 3 rods:

7' ML bass rod combo'd with an abu 5000, loaded with 4 lb Ande
- 30 lb. leader and under 2 oz tackle and but I have used as much as 8 oz and landed butts on this rig (15 lb line though)

8'6" ML mooching rod paired to an avet sx, 8lb Ande
- I'll work the 3-6 oz tackle on this rod

7' fenwick seahawk md action rod with a Newell 229, 20 lb Ande
-6 oz up
 
Let the drag do its job

Josh,  what's your preferred brand of spectra?

-Allen

i think all the braided lines are made in the same factory and then sold to the different companies who put their own name on them.  as use a fin-nor spinning reel with 30lb power pro on a 7' ugly stick. the rod is a little soft for rockfish, but it is perfect for salmon.

for the most part, spectra is spectra.  Different brands are different colors, so I don't think they all come from the same plant, but the fibers in it are the same and the performance seems consistent.  I've used spiderwire, power-pro and gorilla braid, and can't really say much about the difference between them.  

Alex has some fusion line on one of his reels (spectra coated with plastic to make it stiffer/tougher) I don't like that stuff, but it may have applications around piers or something where it'd tend to get abbraided.

For fishing deep rockfish you want maximum thin-ness to get to the bottom with less weight.  (less weight, less jigging elsbow) You need the strength to pull your lure free of snags, not to fight the fish.  I leave the drag at 1/4 to 1/5 the breaking strength and that gurantees a fish will never break the line.

i like to use 2 to 3 ounce heads painted white and they have little eyeballs on them.white single tail jigs .copper scampis(double tails).5 or 7 inch swimbaits any color .also i like to use a 3 way swivel with a 12 inch leader and a  2 ounze ball weight with a 8 inch leader with a hook and use a bag of frozen anchovies .you can get this all at the fishermans wherehouse .i think you have one there in sac.

my set up

progear classic 551 reel 30 pound mono on a 7 foot tigerstick ( brand new havent used it)

abu 6500 reel 20 pound mono on a 7 foot fenwick  (model hmxt70h)also brand new havent used it

laters    

For what it's worth...

I use a 7-foot graphite / glass composite rod rated for 15-25# line with 20# Momoi Diamond in a Shimano TR100-G reel (with drag upgrade ala Alan Tani).   This setup is nice and light in the hand and the reel is narrow enough palm the reel when jigging (at least with my big mitts).  My rods are all customs, but a similar off-the-shelf rod would be a Calstar Graphiter 700L.

For an inexpensive and durable rod, an Ugly-Stick Tiger is hard to beat.

I sometimes go to a 7-foot E-glass 25# setup for heavier jigs in deep water or faster drifts (i.e. 6 oz swimbaits or 6-8 oz diamond jigs) with 25# Ande.

I agree with PolePole in my preference not to go over 25# line so that you can break off snags without a lot of trouble.  I find that less than 20# will abrade too easily so that you have to constantly re-tie.  I don't do a heavy leader for abrasion resistence, I just check my line frequently and retie as necessary.

The only down side to spectra is the need to have a mono leader at the end and the maintenance of that.  I just sort of like the simplicity of Mono.  To each their own.

I primarily use 3 oz and 6 oz jig heads with swim baits... I go to 6 oz jigs in deeper water or when the drift is swift and will often use a 7" swim bait along with a piece of fish belly meat (saved from previous catches) to entice the bigger lings.  

For diamond jigs, it's good to change the hooks out to either a bronze treble (so it will bend if you need to retrive your jig from a bad snag) or a single siwash hook (for less likelihood of snags).