Sturgeon help

[Bill Tetley]

Rod: Brutus 11' 10"
Reel: Espira DoublePunch 6500
Line: 25 Lbs Fluoro

Caught a sturgeon last night in Michigan and it took me over 6 in-game hours to reel in. I wasmainly using trying just keeping tension to wear it down, jerking then feeling, and even (please forgive me) the rapid right click while reeling. Any suggestions on how to land this monster fish quicker?

[noneya2]

Drag setting 11 ?

[Syd Khaos]

Use at least 30lb test line for sturgeon. The 32lb braided is the best option.

I use the exact same rig for superheavy float-fishing. Brutus 11' 10" and the DP 6500, but I use either 30lb or 32lb braided on it at all times.

Takes me about 8-10 real-time min to reel in 40lb sturgeons. With 25lb test your not gonna be able to (safley) crank your drag up to a point where you can break the fish and make him swim direction you want.

[Deconstructed]

You don't need to use line rated higher than the max drag of your reel. In fact since your max drag is still the same (unless you went max which would just break your reel) you are not applying any additional pressure to the fish at all.

Really simple, keep RMB down at all times, period. Just reel when the fish gives you some room to do so, should take you no more than 5 minutes to land almost any of them.

"Just reel when the fish gives you some room to do so":

If you have not already done so turn on pro angler indicator so you can see the line, rod and reel indicators separately. When a fish is stripping line you should only be reeling when the pressure on your reel is less than that on your rod, otherwise it will just strip line faster.

[Syd Khaos]

Originally posted by Deconstructed:

You don't need to use line rated higher than the max drag of your reel. In fact since your max drag is still the same (unless you went max which would just break your reel) you are not applying any additional pressure to the fish at all.

Really simple, keep RMB down at all times, period. JUst reel when the fish gives you some room to do so, should take you no more than 5 minutes to land almost any of them.

But you CAN apply more pressure on the line/fish with higher test line.

If running 20lb test then you can only turn the DP 6500 drag up to about 3/4 when 35+lbs fish in on....any higher and you will go into the red and pop the line in a heartbeat. I know...did this exact thing with first sturgeon I ever hooked.

With the 32lb test braid I can crank the DP6500 drag up to 2 points from max, and this hardly puts the line into the orange....no instant wear. Fish will strip less line during its runs, making for a much shorter fight.

I strongly disagree with keeping RMB held the entire duration of a fight. Keep it up most the time, but soon as the fish slacks a bit you should drop tip of your pole to get extra line in. Then go back and forth taking line in till fish starts to run again. This is big fish reeling 101...create slack to take in when there is none via pole possition.

[Deconstructed]

Originally posted by SydKhaos:

Originally posted by Deconstructed:

You don't need to use line rated higher than the max drag of your reel. In fact since your max drag is still the same (unless you went max which would just break your reel) you are not applying any additional pressure to the fish at all.

Really simple, keep RMB down at all times, period. JUst reel when the fish gives you some room to do so, should take you no more than 5 minutes to land almost any of them.

But you CAN apply more pressure on the line/fish with higher test line.

If running 20lb test then you can only turn the DP 6500 drag up to about 3/4 when 35+lbs fish in on....any higher and you will go into the red and pop the line in a heartbeat. I know...did this exact thing with first sturgeon I ever hooked.

With the 32lb test braid I can crank the DP6500 drag up to 2 points from max, and this hardly puts the line into the orange....no instant wear. Fish will strip less line during its runs, making for a much shorter fight.

I strongly disagree with keeping RMB held the entire duration of a fight. Keep it up most the time, but soon as the fish slacks a bit you should drop tip of your pole to get extra line in. Then go back and forth taking line in till fish starts to run again. This is big fish reeling 101...create slack to take in when there is none via pole possition.

No you can't, one away from max is one away from max which you can set your drag to with 25lb test. If you're running 20 lb with 26.5lb max drag then sucks to be you. 30 or 32lb line you cannot apply any more drag than with 25lb test.

You can strongly disagree with RL as your point of contention all you like but this is not RL. A heavy sturg is almost always exerting max pressure, if you are letting RMB go the amount of badly timed attempts to to do and the resulting stripped line will just make your fight longer.

[BigGlover]

Ive found that when I fish for them,they run out then come back fairy easily after a few minutes, until you get to about 35ft out, then they get stuck, almost as if you are trying to pull them through iron railings that are too narrow for them. Theydo not move from this possition, if you stop reeling they just stay there, if you reel in they just stay there. Eventually after a number of hours (RT) they may pop through the imaginary railing and you can land them. Has this been fixed?

[JeppeH]

Originally posted by SydKhaos:

Originally posted by Deconstructed:

You don't need to use line rated higher than the max drag of your reel. In fact since your max drag is still the same (unless you went max which would just break your reel) you are not applying any additional pressure to the fish at all.

Really simple, keep RMB down at all times, period. JUst reel when the fish gives you some room to do so, should take you no more than 5 minutes to land almost any of them.

But you CAN apply more pressure on the line/fish with higher test line.

If running 20lb test then you can only turn the DP 6500 drag up to about 3/4 when 35+lbs fish in on....any higher and you will go into the red and pop the line in a heartbeat. I know...did this exact thing with first sturgeon I ever hooked.

With the 32lb test braid I can crank the DP6500 drag up to 2 points from max, and this hardly puts the line into the orange....no instant wear. Fish will strip less line during its runs, making for a much shorter fight.

I strongly disagree with keeping RMB held the entire duration of a fight. Keep it up most the time, but soon as the fish slacks a bit you should drop tip of your pole to get extra line in. Then go back and forth taking line in till fish starts to run again. This is big fish reeling 101...create slack to take in when there is none via pole possition.

Now it is 25lb test he was using and not 20lb as you have as an example. As a matter of fact, if you have 25lb test on the dp 6500 you can fish on drag 11 without the line breaks.
I dont know lb, but I do know kg so I will take it in that (still 25lb and dp6500).

The dp 6500 has a max drag of 12kg, divide that on the 12 drag settings it has you get exactly 1 kg of drag on each setting. This means that on drag 11 it will generat 11 kg of drag, the 25lb test is 11.3 kg. So the line will hold up. Now if you were to put the dp 6500 up on max drag, then yes, it will snap.

Now if you were to put on one of those strongest test lines 30 or 32 lb (or wathever it is. They will also hold for drag 11 on the dp 6500 and they will hold for drag 12 as well (theoreticly), but your reel will probably not hold for that.

So bottom line, 25lb or 30lb line on the dp 6500 doesnt matter in terms of how much drag you can generate. The only difference I guess is that the stronger line wont wear and tear as much as the 25lb does.

[Capt_Mac_141]

Balance, Balance, Balance with "line" as the weakest link to avoid unnecessary damage to rod / reel combo, as recommended in the 3.0 update as follows:

UPDATE 0.3.0 COMING IN 30 MINUTES! BRACE YOURSELVES!
10 MARCH - ALEX
Hey there!

The game-changing Update is almost here! We have put a lot of effort in delivering it and you should know - fishing is now addictive as never before. Things shall be tuned but we are sure that current update will change the way you fish!

Read the updates with attention!

Additional tackle parameters
New parameters influencing casting mechanic
1) Rod Casting Test
2) Lure Weight
3) Lure Windage
4) Line Thickness – visibility factor in Fish AI increased
5) Reel Type (cast reel or spin reel)
6) Line Type (braid or mono/flur)
7) Min Cast Weight (of lure) for cast reels
New bobber params enabling unique sensitivity and lifting capacity for each bobber type

BALANCE YOUR SETUP WISELY! THE SETUP IS ALWAYS A BALANCE NOW!

HEAVY LURES CAN BREAK THIN LINE AND IF THE LINE IS STRONG ENOUGH AND YOU CAST A STONE-HEAVY LURE YOU MAY DAMAGE A LIGHT ROD.

STRONG LINE REQUIRES A STRONG REEL AND MAY SAFE YOU FROM THE INITIAL STRIKE OF A FISH BUT BREAK YOUR REEL IN THE LEAST APPROPRIATE MOMENT.

IDEAL CASTING DISTANCE DEPENDS ON PUTTING THE RIGHT LINE, LURE, ROD AND REEL. IT ALL MATTERS!

BOBBERS NOW SINK IF YOU USE A TOO HEAVY BAIT. READ BOBBER MAXFLOATWEIGHT PARAMETER.