Elec-tra-mate ??

Predator · 11-02-2005, 11:07 PM

First of all,Have to say this site is great.
Ok,I'm looking into doing some deep dropping and I've bought an electramate 620 XP drive for a 114H which has about 700 Yds of 80LB spectra.Bought it before I found this site.Was just wondering if anyone else uses electramate drives? Haven't noticed any threads on them.
Just a bit worried I wasted my money on a crap drive.
Thanks,
Chris

jerry · 11-08-2005, 10:45 AM

I used a 620 for a couple of months and did some serious dropping with it. Gears stripped in places and I relegated it to just a wire line rod. The 640xp is the one really designed for deep dropping. According to electramate the 640 has a slower retrieve speed and more power to deal with the constant pressure.
They are not bad units to start out with but I wonder about their longevity if you do a lot of dropping. If you plan on dropping a lot I would recomend the LP motors. There are some other good brands but none that I am familiar with. I have never had a problem with the LP's other than reel issues on the penn 12/0, but again I do a lot of dropping and something will eventually wear out.
As far as the 80lb, IMO thats a bit light for dropping. I use 200lb power pro or tuff line and I personally would not go below 130lb. Gives you sufficient line strenght to deal with those bigger fish, full traps or getting snagged and not breaking your mainline.

Good luck

fortylove · 11-08-2005, 02:40 PM

I used a 640 XP for a year or two it is a good starter reel for deep dropping. The 80lbs line I think maybe a bit on the light side. I would spool up with at least 130 lbs.

Predator · 11-08-2005, 08:26 PM

Thanks Guys, I'll order some 130Lb.I've never deep dropped before but am looking forward to trying it.Down here we have 600- 800 ft just half mile off the beach so Im gonna see whats down there. Jerry, What kind of depths do you fish in Jam?,what kind of bottom? and what do you catch ?
Chris

jerry · 11-09-2005, 08:01 AM

Hey Chris, I did not even see you were in the islands. Cool man. There was a boat here for the Port Antonio Marlin Tournanemt from Barbados called Shooter. They did pretty well here. Do you know of them?
We have the same deep water here in Jamaica. The edge drops off to thousands of feet. Our edge still holds a good amount of fish but the farther away from the commercials the better. Our best fishing is done at the offshore banks. Our banks are as close as 10 miles and some as far as 100. I fish between 200 and 1200ft depending on what species I am searching for. The shallower depths hold a black snapper that is a blast to catch and great eating as well. These blacks really school up and we can catch em fast. As we fish deeper we get into the yellow eyes, between 400-600ft usually. Thats another great eating fish and if you find them you can really fill the box. Deeper than that up to 1200ft we catch silks and queens. I love eating the silks but I love catching the queens.
I guess any deep drop fish is awesome. As far as bottom, I try to find good hard bottom. There are a lot of rivers entering the sea in Jamaica which makes for a soft silty bottom and I have never done well in those areas. Good luck down there with it and if you have any questions just drop me a line.
Any swording there yet?
Are you gonna use lights on your deepdrop?
Try a mixture of fresh bait and squid.

Flying Bajan · 11-09-2005, 05:09 PM

Yep, me and Chris know them all well... My old man and cousin were on the crew of Shooter. Narrowly missed winning the whole thing from what I hear...

Looking forward to getting back to B'dos in a few weeks and giving this deep dropping thing a shot on the newly "pimped out" Predator :-)

Jerry, thanks for the input.

Martin.

Predator · 11-09-2005, 05:24 PM

Thanks Jerry,
Yup, small world,the guy that owns shooter ,Paul is my boss & I know the other guys.They bought her in Fl awhile ago and are bringing her here.Hopefully I'll do some fishing with them , a 46 Bert sure beats my 25 Bert.
Thanks for the info.I Plan on fishing shallower till my 130 Lb arrives.I'll try just ouside what we call the kingfish(wahoo) bar and drift deeper.That is where the deepwater starts from, it drops from about 250 to 500 quickly then levels off to a gradual decent.
I ordered a Lp in green to try on the deep drop.Is this good colour for DD fishing?
Some friends of mine have tried swording a (very)few times and got a sword 2 out of 3 times fishing just about 6-8 miles off.I think theres quite a few around here but no one fishes them except the Long liners and they can't set that close 'cause if the current shifts thier gear will drift ashore.
Chris

Predator · 11-09-2005, 05:25 PM

Hey Martin whats up ?

Flying Bajan · 11-09-2005, 06:57 PM

All's well Cement... Can't wait to soak a bait and not have to look at a helicopter for a while... :-)

jerry · 11-10-2005, 08:30 AM

Predator, I have only used white lights on my DD. I use those clear plastic, ice cream cone shaped lights, pretty cheap. I have not tried a colored sword light as yet. Just afraid to lose a $40 light to sharks or a snag. It is brighter though so I may give them a shot tomorrow. Gonna try and get out before the next tropical wave kicks up our seas.

Predator · 11-10-2005, 09:01 PM

Thanks, Jerry, I bought one of the small strobe cones today too in green.
Hopefully get fishing soon. A wave just passed through here last night /yesterday,, turned north,should miss you.
What a hurricane season huh ?
Chris

jerry · 11-11-2005, 08:50 AM

Unreal man. I have never seen conditions like this. Ususally by this time of year there are at least some cold fronts that give us a few days of calm. Nothing now but tropical wave after wave. Dying to get out on the wahoo bite. Really hot right now. Saturday though is calling for 4-6 and then getting up to 6-8 as the day heats up. I am getting too old for that but I need some fish bad.

Flying Bajan · 11-11-2005, 12:39 PM

Hey Jerry,

We've got some Wahoo tournaments coming up in B'dos. I'll be fishing with Chris on Predator... You should organise some of the fellas from Jamtown to come down for our big international billfish (primarily)tournament in march or april.

We get quite a few of your countryment down here for the Barbados Rally Carnival (motorsport) each year and they always have a ball. No reason the fishing crowd should be left out :-)

Perhaps Chris can sort you out with some contact info for the Barbados Game Fishing Association ?

Martin.

megabites · 11-13-2005, 07:58 AM

Hey fellas whats up you all should know by the name who it is. just got back this morning from Martinique. Poor fishing for us but one fish landed was 446lbs so they did not do so bad. few other releases and thats about it crossing was not sweet as chris could look out and see the sea this morning you would know it was fun. bumpy ride home. we were going to pull a mold craft super glo on the way home but never got it out. anyway glad you all found the site i been looking around at it for about 9 months but only joined the other day. anyway im out for now
tom

Flying Bajan · 11-13-2005, 12:30 PM

Yeah Cuz,

Sorry to hear about the lack of fish, but then again, that seems to be the norm in Martinque...Everytime I've been there, the fishing sucks, but the "other benefits" are great ! :-)

Anyways, time to stop hijacking this thread... :-)

See you in the Wahoo tournament ?

Martin.

jerry · 11-14-2005, 07:33 AM

Hey Martin, when are the wahoo tourny's? One of the organizers of our marlin tourny has fished in barbados the past couple of years. I only fish marlin tournaments if i get chartered, just lost the bug for driving all over the ocean for a fish or two. :shock: Now my love is wahoo, gotta love that bite man, yellowfin tuna, swordies, deep dropping, give me any of that over dragging lures all day.
We got out sat, had 8 wahoo in the box by 9am and decided to hit the snappers, too dam rough though. We got a dozen and decided to call it quits.

megabites · 11-14-2005, 07:46 AM

Might fish the tournament in the small boat but big boat is out of the water for a while. sounds like jamaica has alot of fish around it. when are you coming home?

Predator · 11-14-2005, 11:48 AM

[quote="Flying Bajan"]
Anyways, time to stop hijacking this thread... :-)

Good Plan ! :idea:

And if you read above you would see when he's coming home & he also does have an e-mail adress of which I'm sure you're aware.

Predator · 11-14-2005, 12:01 PM

Jerry, here's a link to our club website,,showing all the tourneys,
Cheers, Chris

http://www.barbadosgamefishing.com/t...28210E7509010C

11-02-2005, 11:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	Elec-tra-mate ?? First of all,Have to say this site is great. Ok,I'm looking into doing some deep dropping and I've bought an electramate 620 XP drive for a 114H which has about 700 Yds of 80LB spectra.Bought it before I found this site.Was just wondering if anyone else uses electramate drives? Haven't noticed any threads on them. Just a bit worried I wasted my money on a crap drive. Thanks, Chris

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11-08-2005, 10:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
jerry Hooked Up Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Jamaica Boat: 35ft Contender Best Catch: they are all good Occupation: Operations Manager Posts: 355	I used a 620 for a couple of months and did some serious dropping with it. Gears stripped in places and I relegated it to just a wire line rod. The 640xp is the one really designed for deep dropping. According to electramate the 640 has a slower retrieve speed and more power to deal with the constant pressure. They are not bad units to start out with but I wonder about their longevity if you do a lot of dropping. If you plan on dropping a lot I would recomend the LP motors. There are some other good brands but none that I am familiar with. I have never had a problem with the LP's other than reel issues on the penn 12/0, but again I do a lot of dropping and something will eventually wear out. As far as the 80lb, IMO thats a bit light for dropping. I use 200lb power pro or tuff line and I personally would not go below 130lb. Gives you sufficient line strenght to deal with those bigger fish, full traps or getting snagged and not breaking your mainline. Good luck

11-08-2005, 02:40 PM	#3 (permalink)
fortylove Grunt Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 4	I used a 640 XP for a year or two it is a good starter reel for deep dropping. The 80lbs line I think maybe a bit on the light side. I would spool up with at least 130 lbs.

11-08-2005, 08:26 PM	#4 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	Thanks Guys, I'll order some 130Lb.I've never deep dropped before but am looking forward to trying it.Down here we have 600- 800 ft just half mile off the beach so Im gonna see whats down there. Jerry, What kind of depths do you fish in Jam?,what kind of bottom? and what do you catch ? Chris

11-09-2005, 08:01 AM	#5 (permalink)
jerry Hooked Up Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Jamaica Boat: 35ft Contender Best Catch: they are all good Occupation: Operations Manager Posts: 355	Hey Chris, I did not even see you were in the islands. Cool man. There was a boat here for the Port Antonio Marlin Tournanemt from Barbados called Shooter. They did pretty well here. Do you know of them? We have the same deep water here in Jamaica. The edge drops off to thousands of feet. Our edge still holds a good amount of fish but the farther away from the commercials the better. Our best fishing is done at the offshore banks. Our banks are as close as 10 miles and some as far as 100. I fish between 200 and 1200ft depending on what species I am searching for. The shallower depths hold a black snapper that is a blast to catch and great eating as well. These blacks really school up and we can catch em fast. As we fish deeper we get into the yellow eyes, between 400-600ft usually. Thats another great eating fish and if you find them you can really fill the box. Deeper than that up to 1200ft we catch silks and queens. I love eating the silks but I love catching the queens. I guess any deep drop fish is awesome. As far as bottom, I try to find good hard bottom. There are a lot of rivers entering the sea in Jamaica which makes for a soft silty bottom and I have never done well in those areas. Good luck down there with it and if you have any questions just drop me a line. Any swording there yet? Are you gonna use lights on your deepdrop? Try a mixture of fresh bait and squid.

11-09-2005, 05:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
Flying Bajan Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados and Washington DC Posts: 5	Yep, me and Chris know them all well... My old man and cousin were on the crew of Shooter. Narrowly missed winning the whole thing from what I hear... Looking forward to getting back to B'dos in a few weeks and giving this deep dropping thing a shot on the newly "pimped out" Predator :-) Jerry, thanks for the input. Martin.

11-09-2005, 05:24 PM	#7 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	Thanks Jerry, Yup, small world,the guy that owns shooter ,Paul is my boss & I know the other guys.They bought her in Fl awhile ago and are bringing her here.Hopefully I'll do some fishing with them , a 46 Bert sure beats my 25 Bert. Thanks for the info.I Plan on fishing shallower till my 130 Lb arrives.I'll try just ouside what we call the kingfish(wahoo) bar and drift deeper.That is where the deepwater starts from, it drops from about 250 to 500 quickly then levels off to a gradual decent. I ordered a Lp in green to try on the deep drop.Is this good colour for DD fishing? Some friends of mine have tried swording a (very)few times and got a sword 2 out of 3 times fishing just about 6-8 miles off.I think theres quite a few around here but no one fishes them except the Long liners and they can't set that close 'cause if the current shifts thier gear will drift ashore. Chris

11-09-2005, 05:25 PM	#8 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	Hey Martin whats up ?

11-09-2005, 06:57 PM	#9 (permalink)
Flying Bajan Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados and Washington DC Posts: 5	All's well Cement... Can't wait to soak a bait and not have to look at a helicopter for a while... :-)

11-10-2005, 08:30 AM	#10 (permalink)
jerry Hooked Up Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Jamaica Boat: 35ft Contender Best Catch: they are all good Occupation: Operations Manager Posts: 355	Predator, I have only used white lights on my DD. I use those clear plastic, ice cream cone shaped lights, pretty cheap. I have not tried a colored sword light as yet. Just afraid to lose a $40 light to sharks or a snag. It is brighter though so I may give them a shot tomorrow. Gonna try and get out before the next tropical wave kicks up our seas.

11-10-2005, 09:01 PM	#11 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	Thanks, Jerry, I bought one of the small strobe cones today too in green. Hopefully get fishing soon. A wave just passed through here last night /yesterday,, turned north,should miss you. What a hurricane season huh ? Chris

11-11-2005, 08:50 AM	#12 (permalink)
jerry Hooked Up Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Jamaica Boat: 35ft Contender Best Catch: they are all good Occupation: Operations Manager Posts: 355	Unreal man. I have never seen conditions like this. Ususally by this time of year there are at least some cold fronts that give us a few days of calm. Nothing now but tropical wave after wave. Dying to get out on the wahoo bite. Really hot right now. Saturday though is calling for 4-6 and then getting up to 6-8 as the day heats up. I am getting too old for that but I need some fish bad.

11-11-2005, 12:39 PM	#13 (permalink)
Flying Bajan Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados and Washington DC Posts: 5	Hey Jerry, We've got some Wahoo tournaments coming up in B'dos. I'll be fishing with Chris on Predator... You should organise some of the fellas from Jamtown to come down for our big international billfish (primarily)tournament in march or april. We get quite a few of your countryment down here for the Barbados Rally Carnival (motorsport) each year and they always have a ball. No reason the fishing crowd should be left out :-) Perhaps Chris can sort you out with some contact info for the Barbados Game Fishing Association ? Martin.

11-13-2005, 07:58 AM	#14 (permalink)
megabites Grunt Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Barbados,Caribbean Boat: Fishing Spearfishing surfing ...anything to do with the ocean Occupation: Sailor Posts: 6	Hey fellas whats up you all should know by the name who it is. just got back this morning from Martinique. Poor fishing for us but one fish landed was 446lbs so they did not do so bad. few other releases and thats about it crossing was not sweet as chris could look out and see the sea this morning you would know it was fun. bumpy ride home. we were going to pull a mold craft super glo on the way home but never got it out. anyway glad you all found the site i been looking around at it for about 9 months but only joined the other day. anyway im out for now tom

11-13-2005, 12:30 PM	#15 (permalink)
Flying Bajan Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados and Washington DC Posts: 5	Yeah Cuz, Sorry to hear about the lack of fish, but then again, that seems to be the norm in Martinque...Everytime I've been there, the fishing sucks, but the "other benefits" are great ! :-) Anyways, time to stop hijacking this thread... :-) See you in the Wahoo tournament ? Martin.

11-14-2005, 07:33 AM	#16 (permalink)
jerry Hooked Up Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Jamaica Boat: 35ft Contender Best Catch: they are all good Occupation: Operations Manager Posts: 355	Hey Martin, when are the wahoo tourny's? One of the organizers of our marlin tourny has fished in barbados the past couple of years. I only fish marlin tournaments if i get chartered, just lost the bug for driving all over the ocean for a fish or two. :shock: Now my love is wahoo, gotta love that bite man, yellowfin tuna, swordies, deep dropping, give me any of that over dragging lures all day. We got out sat, had 8 wahoo in the box by 9am and decided to hit the snappers, too dam rough though. We got a dozen and decided to call it quits.

11-14-2005, 07:46 AM	#17 (permalink)
megabites Grunt Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Barbados,Caribbean Boat: Fishing Spearfishing surfing ...anything to do with the ocean Occupation: Sailor Posts: 6	Might fish the tournament in the small boat but big boat is out of the water for a while. sounds like jamaica has alot of fish around it. when are you coming home?

11-14-2005, 11:48 AM	#18 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	[quote="Flying Bajan"] Anyways, time to stop hijacking this thread... :-) Good Plan ! :idea: And if you read above you would see when he's coming home & he also does have an e-mail adress of which I'm sure you're aware.

11-14-2005, 12:01 PM	#19 (permalink)
Predator Grunt Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barbados Posts: 12	Jerry, here's a link to our club website,,showing all the tourneys, Cheers, Chris http://www.barbadosgamefishing.com/t...28210E7509010C

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