Good tackle, equipment keys for effective angling

Having effective tackle and a boat with room for anglers to move around are important to successful inshore fishing.

Guide Ricky Kellum fishes out of a 22-foot, center-console Jones Brothers Bateau a bow-mounted trolling motor.

His tackle has changed over the years; he now prefers longer rods and stronger line and leaders. He prefers a 7-foot-2, medium-action, fast-taper Bass Pro Shop Carbolite spinning rod and Shimano 2500 Series Stradic reels spooled with 10-pound Sufix braid and two feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon leader.

Kellum no longer uses swivels; when he began guiding in 2007, clients would reel up too far, pulling the tiny barrel swivels through the tip guide.

“When they’d cast, they’d ruin the eye tip with that swivel going through it,” Kellum said. “So now I just tie leader to braid with a Uni-Knot. I’ve never had one slip free, even fighting a bonito, but you have to cinch down the lines slowly; if you do it fast, the braid will burn right through fluorocarbon.”