This year is way different due to restrictions but it won't stop anglers being ready for their chance to head offshore and target these huge fish. In this week's article I wanted to touch on what type of gear is required to target the "barrels" and why you need that.

The rods used to target bigger pelagics such as Tuna look very different to conventional rods. Game rods, as they are commonly called, are typically short, around the 5ft-6ft length which allows the angler more pulling power as there is less rod to load up.

They're also lined with roller guides which have ball bearings inside the roller. Why do they have these?

Well basically when mono line that is typically used while chasing these fish runs over a non-moving surface it creates friction and can damage the line as it heats up.

With the aid of roller guides and tips the friction and possibility of line wear dramatically drops due to the movement of the rollers.

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Unfortunately this means maintenance needs to be carried out on the rollers to stop corrosion.

Moving down the rod you'll notice a relatively long foregrip which helps while fighting big fish for long periods of time and allows the angler to have both hands on the front grip if needed.

The longer grips are also used to help lay the line on the reel when retrieving as game reels don't have level winds on them.

Moving further down the rod you'll see that these typically have an aluminium reel seat which is very good at not flexing under pressure and is still extremely light.

They have a double lock feature on the tension nuts that make sure the reel isn't going anywhere in a fight.

Majority of game rods these days are running either a slick butt or carbon rear grips which is because of the rod being in a rod holder and having a lot of pressure on them at any one stage.

If you put an EVA grip on the rear then you'd find it got damaged very quickly and would need replacing after a few trips.

Finally on the end of game rods there is a thing called a gimbal butt which is a light weight piece of aluminium or plastic that is glued to the bottom of the reel for anglers to place in a rod holder or a fighting gimbal and have the reel stay in that one spot.

It's the one question that I get asked a lot in the shop - what brand of reel should I be using?

It's such a hard one to answer but the one thing I usually tell customers is spend as much money on the reel as you can afford as this will make your experience a lot nicer.

So what makes a Shimano Talica or Tiagra, Penn International or Okuma Makaira any better than the cheaper reels?

It comes down to a few variables and features that really put these reels into their own bracket and class.

All these reels have the ability to fish some pretty insane drag pressures and not slip which is one of the biggest differences in high-end game reels and mid-range.

So what does a game reel look like and why does it look that way?

The first thing that people usually notice is the actual physical size of these workhorses but they are this big for one reason and one reason only and that is to fit as much line as possible on them which is sometimes needed when chasing barrels.

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They are typically spooled with 24-37kg mono line which compared to a braided line is very thick and so a large drum is needed to take that amount.

So how much line do these big bangers hold?

Well typically when we're spooling up a reel they get anywhere from 500-700m of line depending on the size.

These game reels also have lugs on the top of the reel which are used to mount to a harness during a long fight and this allows the angler to use their legs more and their arms less.

A lot of these new-age game reels have a two-speed setting on the reel which allows the angler to drop back from say 3.1:1 gear ratio to 1:1 which allows the angler to get line back when the fish is holding deep or in some instances when the fish die and you have to wind up a dead weight.

The lures that they tow around these days are a big part of why so many get caught compared to years gone by.

These lures are called skirts due to their close resemblance to the clothing.

The colours, swimming action and size are all so close to the bait they are feeding on it almost looks too good to pass.

The last couple of seasons have been dominated by redbait pattern lures as this is what the fish are feeding on.

The shape of the heads also have a big play in how effective they swim and a lot of anglers are switching over from a pusher style head to a subsurface, bullet style head that allows the angler to troll the lure faster and get more action out of it.

Typically when people are talking about sizes of lures they are anywhere from 6.5" right up to 12" or bigger.

With a big lure comes a big hook needed and there isn't too many more popular hooks these days then the Owner Jobu's.

These hooks have stood up year after year and stay sharp even after multiple fish.

The size of main line has been ticked off but what about leaders?

Well a wind on leader is used and usually is around the 20ft mark and is attached to the main line via a double.

At the end of wind on a snap swivel is used to attach the leader with the lure and makes for quick changes if needed.

When selecting a snap swivel I strongly suggest a roller bearing swivel as they don't rust as quick and swivel a lot easier.

For the main leader size anywhere from 80-300lb leaders are used to wrangle the beasts from the deep.

I hope this gave you some idea on what and why the anglers who target these great fish do so and we can all get back to it soon enough. Until next week take care and look after each other.

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