The BG4000 will work no problem. I’ve got one with 30lb braid on a swimbait rod that has put plenty of fish in the boat. Load it up with some 30lb yozuri superbraid or J Braid and you will be good to go.

That setup put a 29lb bluefin in our boat last year as well!

 

Great! I'll get a couple soon. What's your favorite style, color, and weight of jig? If that's not too personal.

 

Oh, I see you said swim bait. Use jigs with that setup too?

 

Here are a few of my favorites. The first 5 are for speed jigging. For vertical/speed jigging the shimano flatsides and copy’s are king. The purple 112g is my favorite size and color. Followed by pink of the same size

I also use purple, pink, blue, and green in 112g-168g depending on the day. I seem to have better luck with the smaller sizes but depending on the drift I will go heavier to stay vertical. The 80g nomad streaker also works well for speed jigging.

The next 2 are a shimano flatfall and a random slow pitch jig. I like 80g-120g for this profile. Great on a slow pitch rod or to cast out and let sink.

The last 3 are Coltsniper/casting jigs. 60g and 80g are my favorite sizes. Purple, blue, green, and pink again for these.

 

I actually swapped that reel over to a jigging rod for next season. I put a slightly heavier reel on my swimbait/casting jig setups to balance the rod better.

I have used the 4000 before on a jigging rod and didn’t have an issue.

 

i’m not sure how big 4000 is but the largest albacore I’ve ever seen (51lbs) came on a BG 20 with 20 pound mono on my boat. Fish weighed on a certified scale the next day.

 

Now that's impressive!

 

I have a Daiwa BG5000 that I haven't managed to break yet on albacore. No idea on the BG4000, but suspect it'll work until it doesn't 😂 😂 ...

If you really want to go smaller/lighter, I'd look into the Shimano Spheros reels. They are smooth, powerful, and so far have been indestructible for my use. I've landed several Bluefin up to nearly 100 lbs with the Spheros 8000 size spinning reel (comparable to the BG4500 in line capacity).

 

I have Shimano Tranx 300 and 400, Daiwa Lexa 400s, and Saltist 4000 and 4500 for jigging. Most have 30#, 1 has 20#, and 2 have 40#. 99.9% of our albacore (or our fish in general) aren’t going to make 100 yard runs. Very few drop jigs below 200’. 250 yards is plenty. I prefer thinner line so I have less drag and can spend more time fishing vertically.

 

Wow! Thanks for the wealth of information!

 

Great thread.