I can't say I'd be keen to go kayaking or swimming in that area, with the shark attacks in recent years, but some good fishing, no doubt.

I think opinion is divided about Alan, over here, but plenty of keen fishos know about him and read his site. I think his reviews are quite useful to add into the mix of my decision making. But they do tend to get a bit over my head in terms of technical analysis. Are some of the issues he notes really going to affect me in the lifetime of my reels, given I'm not doing hard core kingie jigging etc? 

Others aren't convinced about his conclusions based on their personal experience with a particular reel. And some have picked out what they reckon are errors in his background observations.

I'm sure dyed in the wool Daiwa addicts are tired of his slamming of the magseal technology and servicing, but others can see where he's coming from.

As you can see from this thread, everybody is different in terms of budget, rod they're balancing the reel with.

I presume you're talking Saragosa when you say SW10000. Lot of fans of the Saragosas over here. Do you mean the Lethal 100? Pretty heavy reel, certainly heavier than to match my rod. But others on the forum have rated it as bullet proof and good for the money.

First post. Lennox Head, Australia.

Just read the first page. Is Alan Hawk's reel site popular in New Zealand?

From his info the Shimano SW10000 would be the go. (I have two.) Some of the reels being mentioned are the smaller ones in the series. For example, the Fin Nor Lethal 10000 is highly rated and all metal unlike others in the series. (Bit heavy for lure casting but it does have a proven 24kg of drag and a large line capacity.)

Regards, Rob.

Unfortunately I won't have a lot of opportunity to get out so don't want to throw too much money at new gear. I already have a collection of rods and reels that don't get used enough.

I did a lot of LBG up the east coast (from Te Kaha to Hicks bay) in the 80s and 90s targeting kingies but always used overhead reels spooled with mono for casting. I have been using braid exclusively lately for all my fishing and the thought of casting poppers/sticks into the wind with an overhead spooled with braid no longer appeals to me. Getting too old and lazy for that.

The travel rod will do in the mean time as it is so easy to take and if I get smoked too often I may get motivated to up grade then.

I landed my first SI kingie off the rocks a while ago on a softbait rig (Shimano Starlo Stix rod and Abu T-Alloy 3500 reel spooled with 6kg braid) and had a ball. It had me in the weeds/rocks 3 times and took over 40 minutes to land so next time I go I don't want to be so under gunned.

I will check out the Okuma. Thanks, again.

PS. One thing I learned many years ago was that the tighter the drag was the more easily your line would pop if it touched something.

Not enough drag to stop them just going straight down into the rocks/weed. On the first run a kingi can pull close to its body weight in drag without much trouble. You are a bit hamstrung though because those travel rods, as you said, are pretty soft, not a lot of grunt for making the fish do what you want it to, and you're gonna be pretty limited in how much drag you can run.

The go-to cheap topwater reel is surely the Okuma Azores, fullonfishing is dumping the old silver ones (IMO the better looking...) for $149, they are way less refined and smooth than the BG but the drag is miles better, my 2c anyway.

I would chuck one on the lighter of the 2 Okuma Metaloid topwater rods and for $400 plus braid you have a setup that's hard to beat for anything less than twice the price, and capable of dealing with the majority of fish you are likely to encounter.

Why so?

Not enough drag? Not enough line capacity? Retrieve too slow?

I will be targeting Kingfish (south island) on lures so am not expecting to hook 20kg fish. 

I am tossing up between the BG4000 or 5000 but if anyone has any other suggestions for under $250 I am more than happy to look.

I was going to use it primarily for landbased fishing on a 2.3m Shimano T-Curve Revolution travel rod. It is a fairly soft 15-24kg rod so I won't be fishing 10kg of drag. Probably closer to 5.

There seems to be a big step up in capacity between the 4000 and 5000 (over twice the line capacity!) plus the big step up in weight.

PS. I have been using Fireline Exceed in lighter weights (6kg) and like it so was going to go to 14kg.

At 0.23mm it should be possible to finda 30lb braid. Tie a good knot and fish 5-75kg if you need to.