Reel advice

[fishnfoool]

The penn fathom is a great choice. I'd go with at least the 30. The 30 isn't that big in size ( my opinion ) and it will handle yo-yo duties on the kayak fine. It will also be able to handle schoolie tuna and larger with the right line and rod setup.

[Oolie]

The sealineX star drag line is really quite good for kayak use, but I like to keep a lever drag or two for various reasons.


Among them is an old TLD 5 that was a gift, and a seigler type reel.


I have looked closely at the JX and SX as well, a lot of potential there.

[SoCalEDC]

The two reels you listed will be fine. If you plan to jig with it id probably lean star drag over lever for a few reasons: 1. castability although this is minimally different in modern reels. 2. the star drag "on/off" of the clutch IMO is much more convenient when working a yoyo or a jig than engaging a lever is (again IMO).

As far as drag rating goes, you don't need tons of drag even on a boat. Just set your drag to 25-30% of your (weakest) line rating (i.e. if you are fishing 30# leader you would fish 7-10# drag), pair it with a comparable rod (usually a good pairing point is to pick the line class right in the middle of the rod line rating (i.e. for 30# a 15-40 mono or 20-50 mono should be fine, i know daiwa and shimano are starting to rate rods in mono and braid, imo just ignore the braid rating its usually 2x what the mono rating is), feel it out and let the equipment do its work. Fishing your gear at max drag is just going to cause it to fail (especially on a lever drag where you end up sideloading bearings).

Lastly as far as speed of the reel goes, not all jigs are meant to be burned back, many of the popular irons like tady and salas were designed when the penn jigmaster was the popular reel, and that has about 30"/crank. The inches per crank is important but keep in mind that that number is calulated using a full spool, switching to braid from mono on those big reels is going to help keep that number high because your OD on the spool will be larger with the same length of line out. IPC is simply a function of Spool circumference*gear Ratio, therefore it fluctuates as line comes off and goes on the spool and the circumference changes.

Good luck out there man