New rod and reel
 

Well gents, after going to a tackle shop and getting my hands on some reels I decided to go with the avet mxl 5.8. I spooled it with 275 yards of 65lb spectra. Hopefully that will handle anything that I hook up with.

As for a rod I went with the shimono teramar 8' jig/bait rod

nice setup. rod is a bit long for kayak use IMHO. i'm currently moving over to rods under 7' because of tangle issues with rods behinds me when big fish start doing circles.

Nice setup dude! Those rods are sweet. I take an 8' rod out with me and a couple just under

Wow, great reel/ rod set up.

Many, many guys use 8 foot rods. :D

I was told to get a 9 footer for casting surface irons for YT.. not sure if that's such a good idea


I have the mxl 5.8 only with spectra and mono topshot on a 7' calstar, wanted to go with a 100% USA setup, great reel.

:yt:9's can be tiring to cast for any length of time. I (had 'Calstar'') cut down a 540 to 9' for me 'now called a 530'=30# (very fast taper) for me but have had "my butt kicked by a :yt:, an old Seeker SJ 85=8'6"=25#(more moderate taper and much slimmer without sacrificing backbone on the lower end) "My Fav" surface iron stick :drool5: ! I don't really know of any other 30# surface iron rods 8'+.
See if you can find a trueline BOR36C I've always wanted one. It's a 20-40# med-fast rod.
Just my $.02
FFY
I've heard a 270-8H can be used for a '25# surface jig rod' although I don't know too many people who've done it.