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Just picked up a Calcutta 400B.. Can anyone tell me if I picked up a good Reel. Gotta 7'11" Okuma Heavy action rod to go with it. Did I make a good choice? OHH by the way.. Pick up a Wood Lunker Punker to go with it...;) Don't know much about the Big swimbait set ups...
You can't go wrong with what you got there. You can start worrying about upgrading once you start catching some big fish, something I need to do!
Decent reel try to upgrade the drags to carbontec's for a little more drag pressure I think they cost like 10 or 15 bucks it will do the job.
Good luck out there.
the calcutta 400 has been a staple reel for big plugs since it came out. good drags, line recovery of about 24" per handle turn and the newer power handle make the reel a solid choice for sure. while upgrading to carbontex might be a great solution to increased drag pressure for the long run, i wouldnt worry too much right now as the stock drags are more than capable of handling the larger stripers. im still running stock drags in one of my 300 and one of my 400TE's and have not had ANY issues even on stripers to 33 pounds. definitely a GREAT upgrade for the future, but you will without a doubt be fine for now.
the okuma guide select series is a solid choice as well. for a starter rod this will do everything you would want it to. later on down the line you will understand what you want in a rod and may or may not want to upgrade.
ive been fishing the big baits since 96' and up until 2 years ago i wasnt too impressed with the rods i had at my disposal. i went from fishing flipping rods to calico rods, to allstar rods, to calcutta series shimanos, to loomis, to shimano crucials and never really got what i really wanted in a rod. i jumped on the Dobyns bandwagon maybe 3 years ago and have not looked back. definitely something to look at for future reference.
all i can say for you as a novice is to just go out and chuck the big stuff and have fun. starting out, take EVERYTHING you see and feel with the big bait and log it into your memory. remember angles of casts, where you got bit in relation to a structural or cover location and cadence of retrieves. this will all be usefull to you in the future when it all finally "clicks". after that you will just "KNOW" where to go and what to do. its a great feeling.
i hope you find this style of fishing extremely fun. its the coolest feeling to chuck big baits on heavy line; get bit and reel a tank to the boat!