Calcutta 400D opinions and personal experience

Questions about Saltwater Fishing

Calcutta 400D opinions and personal experience

Postby Maddiesdadie » Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:11 pm

Hello Larry and everyone,

I've been thinking about picking up a Calcutta 400D with the Phenix Inshore Assassin 806L for some wading light surf fishing. I usually do all of my surf fishing with spinning gear and recently I've switched to a low profile bait casting for the surf while I was in Japan for business trip. I was there for a little over 3 months for work and was bored out of my mind after work so I made trip to the local bait shop and ended with the Shimano Exeence DC casting reel and a matching Exsence 8' rod. I love the set up very very much and fished for what the locals call sea bass which reminded me more of our Stripe bass. Now that I'm back in California I wanted to step up to a little heavier set up it still light compared to my spinning set ups. I'm thinking of the Calcutta 400D and the 8'6 Phenix Inshore Assassin 806l because of the moderate action it will load the lures a bit better for me. The set up I got in Japan are rated for 5g-25g so let's say up to 1oz and this Phenix rod I believe is about 1 1/2 oz. I choose the set up so I can pull double duty for inshore in the kelps and salmon too when I'm not in the back bays and wading. The lures I use range from 1/2 to 1 1/2 oz being the max so my question is will the Calcutta cast this range well and how will the rod handles it. I have friends who swears by theirs and have landed large yellow tails and halibuts in SAn Diego with theirs. Please let me know and hear it from people who owns these products and most importantly the Calcutta 400D. Thanks Larry and everyone in advance.
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Re: Calcutta 400D opinions and personal experience

Postby dahlberg » Sat Oct 19, 2013 9:35 am

Hi M
I don't have any experience with the rod, but the reel should work fine. Only issues for me is lack of a clicker and needed to take the reel half apart to adjust the anti-backlash adjustments. Out of the box two of the anti-backlash blocks are engaged. If you are after distance you need to use only one or maybe none depending on how much line you have on your reel, how heavy it is, decay rate of the lure, action of the rod, weight of the lure etc.

I totally turn off the anti backlash and click in all the blocks. But have what the engineers have told me is my own unique problem. Often, when making super bomber casts with 2-4 oz streamlined lures and a good rod, the spool rpm's get high enough that the centrifugal force pops the blocks back out again! I'm putting everything I've got into it and each successive cast gets shorter and shorter after they start popping out. Drives me nuts. And when I just simply remove them, inevitably someone picks up my rod and gets the backlash of the century!

Good luck,
L
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Re: Calcutta 400D opinions and personal experience

Postby MNPHATS » Tue Nov 05, 2013 6:38 pm

As an avid/frequent surfcaster in Baja, I'm wondering what the benefits are of bait casting? (I started with a 9'/Curado combo.) The last few years I've switched to spinning gear 11-13' rods and various reels, and all are preferable (due to greater casting distance.) thanks.
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Re: Calcutta 400D opinions and personal experience

Postby dahlberg » Wed Nov 06, 2013 4:01 pm

I agree that there is no doubt spinning is more preferable for more surf applications. Line capacity, distance and sometimes speed needed to beat the curl with your lure.
About the only place i prefer my baitcaster is jigging for giant snook or mid-sized tarpon in the big surf at river mouths.
L
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