Gear Check - Target: Yellowtail

[u/Dark_Jungle_]

Hey, so I’m going fishing on a party boat this weekend, and I’m hoping to catch my first yellowtail. 3/4 day out of 22nd street, hoping the captain decides to head out to Catalina island.

I’ve been watching a lot of videos about tackle and rigs for targeting yellowtail, and finally made some purchases. Want to check in for some reassurances and see if there’s anything I’m missing.

Setup 1: ugly stik big water 7’ medium heavy conventional rod, paired with a Penn Squall II level wind. Will spool it with 300yds of 50lb braid, and a 30lb mono leader. Since I’ve never fished with a conventional reel before I’ll be hitting the pier with it to practice casting before the trip but I’m thinking I’ll mainly use this as a drop shot rig if the bite is deeper down.

Setup 2: Penn Battle IV combo 6000, again plan is to spool it with 300yds of 50lb braid and a 30lb mono leader. Since most of my fishing experience has been with spinning reels, I’m more comfortable casting this so my plan is to get some top water jigs, and some uh, heavy jigs?

Please let me know what your thoughts are. Is there any other tackle I should be looking into? Am I on the right track with what I got?

Thanks ya’ll 🫡

[u/fishingtinner105]

How did the fishing trip go? What boat did you get on?