After a slower start in the early summer, I ended up having a number of great tuna trips right through November, which gave me the chance to play with a lot of new tuna gear. A few good tog and fluke trips helped dial in my bottom-fishing tackle, and the surf, while slower overall, made up the bulk of my 2025 fishing effort. Here’s some of my favorite tackle, lures, and apparel from the 2025 season.
Check out the rest of the OTW Staff’s Field Test Favorites from the 2025 Fishing Season
Shimano Ocea Plugger Big Game Rod XXH
The rod strikes a balance between big-tuna stopping power and great feel working a lure. It’s the middle option of the Ocea Plugger Big Game series (between the 7’8″ XH and the 7’0″ XXXH) I’ve been enjoying this rod since feeding a RonZ to a giant tuna with it off Chatham with my friend Devin Acton. I find the rod easy to cast, whether it’s a 4-ounce NLBN, popper, or a stickbait. It has a responsive tip to help bring the lures to life, and power right through the grip for breaking a bluefin’s will.
My feelings about the rod were validated this past fall when I fished with Captain Gene Quigley of Shore Catch Sportfishing, who had a number of the “Seven-Threes” in his arsenal for running and gunning after the giant tuna raging just a couple miles off the New Jersey Coast. When fishing with Gene, I learned that I needed to bump up my braid and leader on the Stella 18K I have seated on the rod. Gene uses a Stella 20K with PE12 Braid and 200-pound-test leader when the giants are in the mix. The rod can handle it.
St. Croix Rogue V Boat Rod
I had this new tuna popping rod from St. Croix with me on one of the craziest topwater tuna days I’ve ever experienced. Bluefin of 40 to 45 inches were frothing through helpless schools of small sand eels. The 7’3″ Heavy Action model was perfect for these tuna, casting the 2- to 4-ounce lures far enough to reach distant feeds, a responsive action for bringing stickbaits and soft plastics to life, and enough backbone to lift the school tuna when they started their circles.
See the rod in action here:
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Okuma Tesoro LDJ
A powerhouse of a conventional in a compact package, I enjoyed fishing this jigging reel from Okuma during the late-summer tuna bite this year. The comfortable handle and 40-inch-per-turn retrieval rate made it easy to bring the metal jigs to life, and the 26 pounds of drag pressure had no issues putting the brakes on school bluefin. The reel has plenty of capacity, taking 490 yards of 50-pound-test braid. I actually spooled mine with 65, for a little more stopping power in case a larger class of bluefin moved through.
We had the reel paired to the Tesoro Jigging Rod 601H. The whole setup was lightweight, and a pleasure to work the jigs with.
Shimano Tranx 300
When I initially got this reel, I was excited to use it to huck big swimbaits for largemouth bass, but it was around then the saltwater glidebait craze took over. For a compact baitcaster, the Tranx has plenty of guts for saltwater fishing. Chris Megan and I landed bass to 40-pounds on our Tranx 300s this summer, and hooked larger. I paired the reel with a G. Loomis Pro Blue MODEL, which cast and fished the glides well, and did a fine job drifting eels as well.
I spooled mine with 65-pound-test braided line, of which it held more than 150 yards – that might be a little low for tuna, but for stripers, even big stripers, that’s more than enough capacity. I have the high-gear version (300HGB), which has the power handle, that I love, and brings in 41 inches per crank. Even with the high-speed retrieve, I learned that you can’t crank a glidebait so fast that a striper won’t eat it. When the stripers left, I fitted it back onto my freshwater swimbait rod to bring it back to the ponds to cast wakebaits and glides.
AFTCO Lager Flannel and AFTCO Reaper Windproof Jacket
My kit for shoulder season boat trips, either for tog, tuna, or stripers, usually consisted of the Reaper Windproof soft-shell jacket over an Aftco Lager flannel. The Reaper Windproof shrugs off spray, but is not a true rain coat, and it’s a warm, comfortable outer layer that doesn’t hinder casting or fish fighting, and is easily shed when the fog burns off.
As for the Lager Flannel, for me, flannel season is year-round. The Aftco Lagers do have some water repellence and stain resistance, making them a bit more fishy than your average flannel.
Quantum Benchmark 2500 and Strive 6000
This is my second season using the reels that re-launched Quantum in the saltwater market in 2024. My Benchmark 2500 (paired with a St. Croix Avid Inshore ASIS73MLF) was with me on a couple dozen backwater trips from late April to the fourth of July. It was there for a banner night of squidding in April, my best weakfish action in a few years in May, some deep wades for salt pond fluke in June. After suffering more than a few dunkings, it was still working flawlessly for the bonito and albie run that began in July and lasted into November.
My experience with the Strive 6000 was limited to a single trip (and fish), but it was noteworthy enough to include here. While in Florida with Captain Cody Rubner, I hooked an estimated 125-pound tarpon that put up a punishing battle. The Strive’s drag, which we continually increased throughout the fight, stayed smooth, and strong, and we eventually got the big silver king to hand. Pretty impressive for a reel that costs less that $200.
Costa Grand Catalinas
Of my sunglasses, the Grand Catalinas are my wife’s least favorite pair. She says the large size, the side shields, and the gold lenses combine to make me look ridiculous at best. What she doesn’t know, is that these frames marked the return of one of Costa’s original fishing styles, and were worn by the late, legendary Flip Pallot back in the 80s and 90s. She also doesn’t know that these have had a lot of mojo for me, accompanying me on a successful white marlin trip, several good tuna trips, and a lights-out red drum trip, among others.
While Flip’s gravitas helped him pull off these fishing-specific sunglasses in spectacular fashion, the rest of us can enjoy the way the side shields completely block out light from getting in the side of the glasses, helping better cut the glare and see through the water, while reveling in the throwback style we’re sporting. I’ll admit, they look out of place on the sidelines of my kid’s soccer games (where a friend’s wife complimented my “confidence” by wearing them in public), but they are right at home on the water which is where they are meant to be worn anyway.
Jigging World Night Ranger
I’ve been impressed with the versatility of the Jigging World Night Ranger series since I first used one on Nantucket Shoals in 2023. My conventional, the JW-NR761C-MH, has been with me for tog to 9 pounds and fluke to 11 pounds, two types of bottom fishing I would have previously said required different types of rods. The Night Ranger is lightweight and sensitive, but can handle the deep bends and occasional high sticking that happens while togging. For tapping a popcorn rig or Gulp Grub and Powerball along the bottom, the action of the rod allows for precise movements.
While albie fishing with Captain Diogo Godoi this past fall, I saw he uses the Night Ranger JW-NR721S-MH for casting Albie Snax. The rod casts well, makes the weightless plastics dance, and has plenty of lifting power for the big albies Diogo caught this season. I got one of my own, and have since used it for bonito as well as for tog.
Simms Free Salt Boots
There is nothing worse than going to lace up wading boots and having rusted grommets pop out. It’s happened to me too many times to count with boots that weren’t designed for saltwater. That’s why I wanted a pair of the Simms Free Salts, which are made with non-corrosive components. They have a neoprene liner, that’s comfortable enough to wear while wet-wading, but also makes them easy to slide over wader booties. They are only available in Vibram soles, not felt, but after a few months of use, they have held onto the carbide studs I added just fine. The boots are lightweight, but in half a season of hard use, aren’t showing much wear. I’m confident that I’ll still be fishing them into the 2027 surf season.
Magic Tail Outfitters Killshot Jigheads (with 10/0 hooks)
There’s a growing number of super-sized soft-plastic stickbaits, but relatively few light jighead options for them. Earlier this spring, a fellow surfcaster recommended I check out the Killshot Jigheads, which offer 1/4-, 3/8-, 1/2-, and 3/4-ounce jigheads on 10/0 hooks, which is perfect for dialing in the sweep for fishing giant plastics like the 14-inch Big Water Baits Bag Man.
Berkley Gulp Dragon Tail
When I saw Berkley’s Gulp Dragon Tail introduced at ICAST in 2024, I immediately recognized its potential. At first glance it looks like a smaller, Gulp version of an Albie Snax, but that’s not how I intended to fish them. I thought the 3.2-inch size and slimmer profile would made it a deadly bait for surf and back-bay fluke when paired with a light jighead. In my few shore-bound fluke missions this year, the Root Beer Gold color gave a shrimpy, crabby, mummichoggy look when tap-danced over the mud flats, and I lost count of the fluke I caught while wading the backwaters this summer.
Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ
I’ve had great luck with the larger versions of this forked-tail-style soft plastic to catch stripers from the boat, but this season, I tied on the 4-inch size in the “Coconut Ice” color (rigged on a 1/4-ounce HeadlockZ Jighead) at the beginning of May, and it stayed on there until July. The same soft bait. While it fooled pretty much all of the weakfish I caught this season, more impressive was how it stood up to the tail-nipping scup, which usually eat their way through a pack or two of other plastics in the course of a season’s work of weakfish pursuits. Z-Man baits have made up an increasingly large part of my saltwater lure kits, thanks to their durability, action, and price. Now if they would just make an ElaZtech version of the 12-inch rigged Slug-Go, I’d be set.
Just be sure, when storing any Z-Man Elaztech baits, that you avoid shuffling them in with other plastics, as the materials will react and destroy both baits. Also, note that rigging the Z-Man baits takes a little more time and attention, but the benefit is that once it’s rigged, it’s going to take an awful lot of fish before you need to rig another.
Yeti Hondo Beach Chair
While chairs don’t usually factor into my beach fishing, one exception is summertime sharking. On those nights, settling into a chair for a nice long soak is necessary for watching the glow sticks on the rod tips bob with the gentle summer swell. This year, I planted myself into Yeti’s new Hondo beach chair, which is sturdy, comfortable, and has a handy shoulder strap for lugging it to the spot. It’s gotten knocked around, soaked with waves, and eel slime, but it looks and feels new enough that my wife is still plenty happy to use it on her less rugged beach days. At $300, it’s an expensive beach chair, without a doubt, but it’s one I plan on having long after I’m too old to wrestle big sharks from the surf.