Whisenhunt Electric Reels

[Tackle Time Bait and Charters]

We've been kicking around the idea of Electric reels for the Lady Dee. The boat is wired with 12 plugins for electric reels. Would use them for Halibut, Deep Water Bottom Fish,& Tuna. Any input. Thanks Gene

[skein]

Seems funny to me - but then most new ideas do. Who do you see as your audience?

Skein

A friend of mine in Ketchikan has a badly injured arm and uses a electric conversion on a Penn Senator.

I think they would have some advantages when fishing for halibut at over 100 fathoms.

[Sensei-san]

Are you sure that the electrical system can take the amperage draw of twelve reels? Granted that not all twelve will be cranking at the same time but several of them will and it adds up to a whole lot of amps being drawn off the batteries.

Have you also looked at miya epoch and electramate reels? I realize that Whisenhunt is in Portland and would give you a helluva charter deal on twelve reels but both miya epoch and electramate have been at it for a long time.

For bottom fish and halibut electric reels are nice. Especially for senior citizens. But you would have to train people on how to use them. Most people can figure out a conventional reel but learning how to use an electric may take some time.

I don't know about using them for tuna. I would rather use all handlines and skip any rod and reel if I had to use an electric reel. Reeling in tuna definitely slows down the catching and electric reels would take away from the actual fighting a tuna.

[Fishplay]

Gene,
I have a couple electric reels that I use for halibut. One is an electra-mate 612H. The other is homemade from a Lincoln Continental power seat motor. They are both mounted to 6/0 Penn Senators. Both work really well; the LC model is a little slower but has plenty of power.
These reels come in really handy on the Oregon coast where we fish at 100+ fathoms. I also fish some spots in BC that are considerably shallower but very short drifts so there is a lot of reeling. I love them and would not be without.
There are drawbacks. There is a learning curve with these reels. They are extremely powerful and you can actually staighten hooks or even rip good hooksets right out of the fish. This can be avoided if the operator is cognizant of all the factors. Number one being of coarse the drag tension. If you are reeling at the same time a fish decides to run and the boat begins to rise with a swell, you had better have the drag right or something is going to give. The reels are not instant off when you release the button. There is a transmission in motion and so there is a little lag time. This also becomes an issue for rod tips. My 612 is fast so you had better be paying close attention when your terminal tackel is close to the rod or you will snap the pole at the tip. On recovery I like to loosen the drag tension so it is just tight enough to retrieve the gear with out sliping that way there is a little room for error.
The reduced recovery time translates to more time fishing which means a great deal to me but I have found some fisherman just don't grasp the instructions on use!
[img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img] Not sure they would be an asset on a charter boat.

As for the Wisenhut; I've used them also and do not care for them. There design allows you to use the reel both electric or manual. Meaning the handle stays in place. This can be a problem with finger pinching and also I've seen long hair get tangled in it! :shocked:

My recomendation would be Electra-mates or Precision Auto Reels.

Hope this helps.
Greg

[Fishplay]

If you were halibut fishing you may very well have everyone reeling at once. You may not want to fish electric from all 12 spots. Her is the specs sheet on the electra-mate. Looks like 5-30 amps normal load per reel motor depending on which model was chosen.
http://www.elec-tra-mate.com/specs.htm

[skein]

Keta,

Like you, I have a couple of friends who are physically handicapped and an electric reel would make all the difference. Same thing goes for some of our senior citizens. I just couldn't picture 12 of them being used all at once.

Englund's sells the Electramate, and they play to pretty good reviews. They mount right up to several different Penn models, so that's probably what I'm going to go with. I just hadn't thought of them outside the handicapped use.

Electric downriggers are something else I'm looking at. This summer I was fishing with a friend who is 80 and while I was fighting a fish, he was cranking up the downriggers - from 120 feet. I was pretty worried about him by the time he got both of them up.

Skein

[Uglygreen]

Electric reels are illegal in Oregon... (i think)...
Check regs...

UG

[ 10-24-2002, 06:39 AM: Message edited by: Uglygreen ]

[Deepslayer]

If they are illegal in Oregon they don't enforce it very well. I must have ehard at least twenty boats with them on, halibut fishing this year. There is no mistaking that sound on the ocean.

[Tackle Time Bait and Charters]

Thanks for the input. The Lady Dee has 6 8-d batteries, 3 on each bank. With 130 amp alternators. Thanks again Gene

[Miss B Haven]

This came up before and I went through the regs. There is nothing I could find that states they can or can not be used. There is verbage about fixed reels or gurdeys not being allowed for sport, but nothing on electric. :whazzup:
I belive that this has changed sometime in the past. I am dang sure the regs use to be that you had to have a handcapped fish permit to use an electric reel in this state. Thye must have removed that restriction.
Either that, or I'm blind in which case I need a handicapped Liscense anyway! :whazzup:

[ 10-24-2002, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: Miss B Haven ]