Rods and reels

I've been going back over old posts here searching for rod and reel info, and made a list of possibles. Then I went out and check the stack of fishing loot in the shop. Hmmm, two Berkeley AIR IM7 buzz Ramseys, 8 feet 6 inches, extra heavy casting, rated for 3/4 to 3 ounce lured and 15-50 pound test Trilene. I'm thinking one of these would work OK as a starter inshore/salt rod, even if a bit light for 4-6 ounce jigs. Reels on these rods: an Abu Ambassadeur 6600 C4 loaded with 15 pound Maxima, and an Okuma Convector line counter with the same line on it.  Digging even deeper into my past, I found an old Penn Del Mar 285M loaded with lead core line for the one time I fished Odell Lake for kokanee about 20 years ago.
Obviously, if any of these reels are up to snuff for the salt, I would want to change out the line to 20 pound Spectra. Any thoughts, advice or experience with any of this tackle would be appreciated.

... two Berkeley AIR IM7 buzz Ramseys, 8 feet 6 inches, extra heavy casting, rated for 3/4 to 3 ounce lured and 15-50 pound test Trilene. I'm thinking one of these would work OK as a starter inshore/salt rod, even if a bit light for 4-6 ounce jigs. Reels on these rods: an Abu Ambassadeur 6600 C4 loaded with 15 pound Maxima, ...

I've been using a 9' IM7 extra heavy with an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6601 C4 for a couple of years in salt and fresh from shore.  The combo works fine.  I have it rigged with 50# PowerPro.  I plan on it being my heavy rod on the yak when I start fishing.  I may decide later I want something stubbier. 

A little advice on the braided line - in my experience I prefer to go with even heavier braid, just because the smaller diameter stuff is just so deadly - in terms of getting line cuts.  I would bump up to a minimum of 40, then use a good length of shock leader to your main leader...  my 2 cents.

That rod sounds like it should be stout enough for most purposes to me, I don't own anything that heavy...  You after halibut?

Some things to think about when it comes to line weights and kayak fishing. As line weights go I have yet to find the need to go heavier than 25# when kayak fishing. We just don't have the leverage to break line heavier than that since the kayak has very little resistance. Because of the little resistance people have landed massive fish on line in that class. Kayak fishing and boat fishing are very different in that respect. Also it's nice to be able to break line if the situation does get a little sketchy.

Z

  Agree with Zee,.. Stuck a rock with 20 lb PP direct to jig ,  surge day with some reverb wash, almost hulied twice before finally got lose.  That was in the big Trident to...

hence, the shock leader (of lower line wt)   the shock leader breaks easier, but you get the advantage of a strong mainline that cuts the water better than mono...

I've caught a 40"/~40lb halibut (see my avatar) on 20lb PP a couple of times. (Once was on a charter boat.)

I do have some 30 on a rod I might be likely to use on a power boat. Otherwise, I agree with Zee and RevoRoy. The bonus with the 20 (as opposed to 40 or greater) is that it cuts through the water even better!

hence, the shock leader (of lower line wt)   the shock leader breaks easier, but you get the advantage of a strong mainline that cuts the water better than mono...

Yep, I always use a shock leader.  Starts at 10-15 feet with a Uni-Uni splice to the PowerPro.  I started using the 50# PP for abrasion resistance shorefishing on Maui.  There's lots of coral out there.  Also the Hawaiian shore fisherman use techniques called dunking and slide-baiting.  It is something like mega-drop-shot without working the lure.  Mainline to swivel/stop-ring to heavy leader with a baited hook for dunking and a stop ring for slide-bait.  From the swivel/stop-ring comes a heavy weight on a lighter leader.  Cast as far as you can, let the weight fall to the bottom, then snug up the line, hang your strike bell, and let it sit like that for hours, sometimes over night.  If you are slide-baiting, you set your rig as above then bait a hook (octopus) on strong leader with a clip on the tag end.  You then clip the leader to the mainline and the bait literally slides down your line to the stop ring.  Some slide-baiters use a light line on the bait clip so they can retrieve and rebait. 

About half the time when you retrieve or get a strike the weight breaks off.  Some weights even have wire barbs to get them to hook into the coral and stick.  Also in Hawaii you can set more than one rod, so usually I have a heavy rig out dunking and a lighter rig whipping.

I've tried dunking here with no success.  I think it might be a viable technique but with the single rod limit, it means after a cigar and a couple of beers I get bored.