Okuma 8k Surf

[FishingWithAido]

Hi everybody! I bought an okuma 8k surf over this off season. I currently have it loaded with a whole lot of 20lb mono. I have seen people taking about using alot of 65lb braid and then a topshot of heavy mono. Supposedly it is strong enough to bring in medium sized sharks and heavy rays. Does anyone else agree with that? It's not a metal body reel but it is strong. I just wanna know if it would hold up to some abuse. 

[ProSkateFisherman]

It says on the okuma website that it can hold 700 yards of 50 lbs braid and nearly 800 yards of 12 lbs mono. It also says it has 40 pounds of drag. 40 pounds of drag on a spinning reel is absolutely ludicrous. If it isn’t metal, I wouldn’t dare go over 15, maybe 20. Even if it’s a more sturdy graphite frame. With that much line capacity, you only need 10-15 pounds of drag for most fish. The thing is with 50 pound braid on a spinning reel you won’t get as much distance as you would with 30 or 40. I only use 50 on my conventional heaver. If you’re fishing for sharks, you don’t need a 100 yard cast, especially at night, because they are 50 feet from the shoreline. I’d say If you want to specifically target medium-large sharks, get an 8000 size Penn reel or something made of metal. If you want to catch big big sharks, that’s a whole different story. I should also mention that holding onto your rod with a fish capable of pulling 20 pounds of drag on your line while using 20 pounds of drag will wear you out fast. I’ve done it before with a 6 foot sandbar shark. She was in heavy current and I almost lost my rod. I lowered it down to 10-15 pounds and fought the fish for an hour before losing it. So I think that it should hold up just fine for that. Loading a reel with 600+ yards of braid is expensive though. Put 300 yards of 50-65 pound braid on it with a lot of mono backing to fill it up. If you’re not specifically fishing for sharks or rays, put 300 yards of 40 or 30 on it with lots of backing. Only use as much drag as you can handle. The only way you could fight a big fish with 20+ pounds of drag for more than 30 seconds is if you were strapped into a harness.  I like suffix 832 for my braid, $32 for 300 yards, $60 for a 600 yard spool. Your reel will do fine. Hope this could help. Good luck

[FishingWithAido]

33 mins ago, ProSkateFisherman said:

It says on the okuma website that it can hold 700 yards of 50 lbs braid and nearly 800 yards of 12 lbs mono. It also says it has 40 pounds of drag. 40 pounds of drag on a spinning reel is absolutely ludicrous. If it isn’t metal, I wouldn’t dare go over 15, maybe 20. Even if it’s a more sturdy graphite frame. With that much line capacity, you only need 10-15 pounds of drag for most fish. The thing is with 50 pound braid on a spinning reel you won’t get as much distance as you would with 30 or 40. I only use 50 on my conventional heaver. If you’re fishing for sharks, you don’t need a 100 yard cast, especially at night, because they are 50 feet from the shoreline. I’d say If you want to specifically target medium-large sharks, get an 8000 size Penn reel or something made of metal. If you want to catch big big sharks, that’s a whole different story. I should also mention that holding onto your rod with a fish capable of pulling 20 pounds of drag on your line while using 20 pounds of drag will wear you out fast. I’ve done it before with a 6 foot sandbar shark. She was in heavy current and I almost lost my rod. I lowered it down to 10-15 pounds and fought the fish for an hour before losing it. So I think that it should hold up just fine for that. Loading a reel with 600+ yards of braid is expensive though. Put 300 yards of 50-65 pound braid on it with a lot of mono backing to fill it up. If you’re not specifically fishing for sharks or rays, put 300 yards of 40 or 30 on it with lots of backing. Only use as much drag as you can handle. The only way you could fight a big fish with 20+ pounds of drag for more than 30 seconds is if you were strapped into a harness.  I like suffix 832 for my braid, $32 for 300 yards, $60 for a 600 yard spool. Your reel will do fine. Hope this could help. Good luck

I normally used a bg8000 with 80lb braid for my sharing needs. I just so happened to get a good deal on this bad boy. It would be pretty great to have another shark reel to hand a friend at night. Other than that I'm not too sure what exactly I'd wanna do with this beast of a reel. It's wayyy too heavy for plugging and probably too strong for carp. I might have to smack a load of 50 or 65lb and just hope for the best. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by FishingWithAido

[Birdsnester]

I had an 8k a while back.  Under load the spool is very wobbly.  I would switch it up and use a conventional reel for sharks.  

Edited April 11, 2022 by Birdsnester

[dj1975232]

I have the 8k spooled with 17# Tritanium. It was my first big spinner. It handled bass, blues, and drum just fine and occasional rays but the wobbly under high tension comments are true.  I wouldn’t seek out sharks with it.  This is the reel that actually pushed me into conventionals for drum and sharks. 

[FishingWithAido]

23 hours ago, dj1975232 said:

I have the 8k spooled with 17# Tritanium. It was my first big spinner. It handled bass, blues, and drum just fine and occasional rays but the wobbly under high tension comments are true.  I wouldn’t seek out sharks with it.  This is the reel that actually pushed me into conventionals for drum and sharks. 

Is it the spool or the frame that is flexing?

Edited April 12, 2022 by FishingWithAido
Spelling

[dj1975232]

I'm sure there is "some" frame flex but mainly spool.  Because of the long cast slow oscillation spool, there is a huge difference in leverage on the spool in the full extended position vs the in close bottomed out position.

[animalbarrie]

Stick with the mono and see what it can do.  You won't know until you try.  

 

But if you are throwing weight and bait from the surf - consider a conventional set up.

Edited April 14, 2022 by animalbarrie