By Tim Moore
This summer, I was determined to get out off the New Hampshire coast to Jeffery’s Ledge in search of cod, haddock, and pollock. I hadn’t had time to go the previous two summers. So when I was offered the chance to head out with Capt. Lawrence Dennis (Capt. Larry) of Hardcore Anglers Fishing Charters, I jumped at the chance. I was hoping that with any luck, we would be able to get on some fish, and I would come home with some tasty fillets for the freezer. I also saw it as an opportunity to see if my new SG lever drag reel, made by Release Reels, was as good for ground fishing as I had read. Well, I was in for a treat.
Our day began at 5 a.m. when I met Capt. Larry and two friends (now affectionately referred to as “The Doubler” and “Seagull”). We headed out through Portsmouth Harbor and were immediately met by four -to- six foot seas. Ninety minutes and a few bruises later, we were at Jeffery’s Ledge. Luckily, as soon as the tide turned, the seas calmed and remained calm all day. The plan was to drift, but the current was too fast, so Capt. Larry dropped the anchor. To my surprise we were on fish, a lot of fish. I had my SG reel and The Doubler and Seagull were using more traditional Penn reels. I quickly hooked a cod jig to my line, pulled the lever on my SG reel, and was on the bottom in seconds. A few more seconds and I had a fish on. I began cranking the fish up and, to my surprise, the spool was rapidly filling up. I had reeled a nice codfish up through 160 feet of water in seconds. I was in shock.
I looked over and noticed that The Doubler had hooked up. Capt. Larry removed my fish for me and my jig was on the way back down. As soon as it hit bottom I was on again and cranking back up. When I got my second fish to the surface I noticed that The Doubler was still cranking up his first fish. This pace continued for about six of the eight hours we were on the cod fishing grounds. A highlight was when a bluefin tuna grabbed my catch on the retrieve and began stripping line out at will. Had it not been for the monofilament cod rig I had switched to, I am confident that my SG reel would have handled the fish with no problems.
There were two obvious stars of the day. Capt. Larry is one of them. He is a top-notch captain. He put us on fish and never stopped working. He is good at what he does and I highly recommend him for ground fishing and striped bass trips; he also offers tuna fishing trips. Capt. Larry can be reached through his website at www.HardcoreTuna.com.
The other star was my Release SG reel. They have a 6.2:1 retrieve that hauls in 38” of line per crank. They are machined out of solid aluminum, not cast, and contain Boca ABEC #5 ceramic bearings that offer zero corrosion and less rolling resistance. The ten position lever drag detents and preset drag knob give anglers a wide range of drag settings all the way up to 30 pounds. Oh, and did I mention they are made in America? To back it all up, Release offers a lifetime warranty. On paper these reels are impressive. On the water they are mind blowing. SG stands for small game, but don’t let that and the 3.75” width fool you. The reel is capable of handling some pretty large fish. They recently also released (no pun intended) the LG (large game) model and surf (casting version of the SG) at ICAST. Check them out at www.ReleaseReels.com.
Tim Moore is a lifelong resident of New Hampshire, pro staff for Clam/Ice Team, Vexilar, and Maki Plastic, and owner of Seacoast Guide Service. You can contact him at Tim@SeacoastGuideService.com
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