Bonefish reel question

[Upnorth]

I'm a rookie with saltwater on a fly, I currently have a 3yr. old Orvis Battenkil reel on an Orvis 8 weight travel rod. I am heading down to the Bahamas in March with a side trip to go after bonefish/anything on the flats. Just wondering, will those fish smoke that reel? I have been looking at some Old Florida reels, but didn't know if it was an investment I would have to make. Thanks.

[JoeJ]

If you are talking about the LA Battenkill I would think you will be fine. However the Old Floridas are very nice and a person can never have enough tackle.

[Guy]

The Orvis Battenkill is certainly up to the task. I have two 8/9 Battenkills and one 7/8 Battenkill, all standard arbours that I purchased back in the late 80's. All have caught their fair share of bonefish and the 8/9 has landed a 50" long cuda as well. Just make sure you rinse them well at the end of the day and then give a thorough cleaning when you get home. Despite over 15 years of hard fishing, my Battenkills still look good and perform flawlessly.

Guy

[Mark Dougherty]

Upnorth....how much 20lb backing can you reel hold ? If you can get 150 yrds on it with line you should be ok.....I have taken off 10-15 feet of line
from the rear of the (of course) to allow for a little extra backing ......post a report when you return.........

[Upnorth]

My battenkil is just the standard arbor. I really don't know the backing capacity, I think it is in the 150 range. I am probally going to buy an Old Florida, I have wanted a new reel with a large arbor for a while. What line do you guys recommend I spool up for bonefish? Your advice is definately appreciated.

[peanuts]

As you have an 8weight travel rod I would overload it by 1 and buy a 9 weight forward bonefish line and the nautalus l/a reel size 8 as this will hold 250yds of 20lb backing or 200 yds with a weight forward 9 floating line.
good luck

[rhino]

I am probally going to buy an Old Florida


i have a old florida no 6 made just like a copy of abel or tibor reels whith a few differences if you are going for super arbor may i suggest a ross big game reel if its a standard large arbor then good luck just for the money you could buy a ross and impress people me i would rather a old flotida instead of a ross i just do not like the new drags in the rosses

any ways good luck and tight lines rhino --123-3 --123-3 --123-3

[teflon_jones]

Your reel/rod setup should be fine. But if you want to spend a little dough, go for the Old Florida. :) I have an Old Florida 6SA and it did very well against the bones in the Bahamas last month, including an 8 pounder that went on a 150 yd run, then went another 50 yds 2 seconds later. :) The drag worked flawlessly, and I have nothing but good things to say about the reel.

I used an WF-8-F line and it did perfectly well. You'll probably hear a decent amount of recommendations about over-lining the pole (putting a 9 wt on an 8 wt pole), but I'm totally against this practice. If a pole is designed for an 8 wt line, then that's what you should use. A lot of people seem to support this practice, but in my experience it results in more difficult casting since the rod isn't designed for that heavy a line, and you have to put that much more power into every stroke to get the line out there. Even in the strong winds of the Bahamas, I had no issues with the 8 wt line. I could even have gotten by with a 7 wt if I wanted to. So stick with a good WF-8-F tropical fly line.

Bring along some tan sili leg gotchas too, the bones down there were all over that fly!

[danny]

so, teflon, you caught em up, huh? and you didn't even use jigs... good on ya! i think the nautilus reels are great, and the other less expensive old floridas seem good for the money, too. if you have $$$, upnorth, go with an abel super 8... or a tibor everglades. i have abels, they are great.