I know free lining bait is a popular and effective method of inshore fishing. I just want to know what rod, reel, line and tackle you anglers use when free lining. I know bait probably depends on tons of other factors including targeted species, water and weather conditions.

The tackle that works best for me is a shimano curado on a 6'6" medium heavy Castaway rod. I use 20 pound Powerpro braid with a Texas Rattlin Rig and a 25 pound Big Game Mono leader. The most common live baits are mullet, croaker, shrimp and piggy perch. But cut baits like mullet and piggys will work great for redfish.

Hope this helps.

Shimano & Power Pro with uni to uni mono or FC leader

I have 2 Kobia Hurricane bait runner style reels that I bought 10 years ago and they are great. I have caught a lot of stripers and big bluefish on them back home in New England. A lot cheaper than the Shimano or Penn bait runner reels. The free spool is very smooth. Plus I like the big switch handle in the back for switching to the primary drag. The free spooling drag set knob on the back has a grip with a rubber outter ring for easy adjusting. I use Berkley Big Game mono and fish with a 7'6" fast action m/h ST Croix Tidemaster rod. My wife has used braid on it before with a 20 pound leader and had no problems too. I have also used them on 10' surf casters and an 11' ugly stick. I like to use Kahle hooks with the point turned up and not inward. It is like a circle hook with the point turned upwards but also has a swayed gape so when you pull up it definitely hooks you up plus it give the bait plenty of room to move without getting off the hook. We use these style hooks back home for big flounder (fluke) and was surprised to have a hard time finding them here in Texas with all the great flounder fishing. I finally found the right style with the hook pointed up for cheap money at Academy. Gave some out to people who were missing fish at Rollover Pass and they were hooking up after using them. I also want to give you a tip on getting weights cheap. There is a guy with the name M T Pockets on here who makes all kinds of weights and jig heads. He sells the no roll sinkers for 20 cents an ounce and they are fantastic. No sharp burs on his weights and he is great to deal with. He makes spider weights too. Check him out on here and save some money plus you get a great product. Actually found his link for you. www.mtpocketstackle.com For rigs I make my own as it is cheaper and fun to do. I do a lot of shark fishing so I make rigs for dropping out from the beach here. The great thing is that you can use the same rigs you make for inshore shark fishing for bull reds in the fall incase you hook in to a shark. I got creative last fall and made a balloon rig with a built in fishing kite rig to float out bait from the beach and jetties. I would put a bio degradable balloon on then yank the rod back hard to release it and drop the bait where I wanted it. If you ever get out to Galveston or Rollover Pass I would gladly let you try the reel out to see if you like it before you go and buy one. My buddy and I should be fishing Rollover Pass this friday daytime. Well more like warming a chair and hoping to catch some fish while studying the water lol. One thing you will want to pick up is a cast net. Go with a clear mono one so they don't see it getting thrown over them. You will be amazed how fast a mullet can scatter when the water gets clear in the late summer. Nothing like not having to buy bait ever again. It pays for itself in the long run. Then get yourself a livewell or better yet a livewell kit. This kit is cheap and will turn any cooler in to a livewell. You can buy it at walmart too. Here is a video of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj7w2gcrEDM .Hope this helps you out.

I have a couple of old Captiva 5000 live liner reels similar in style to Rodbuilder's they work great.

Mine are full of 30lb Tuff Line braid, with some Ande Premium leaders, usually 20lb.

I use Octopus circle hooks usually, snelled to 40 to 60lb mono. I don't target sharks, so the mono cutting off with them isn't an issue for me.

When free lining everything but shrimp, I use a MH ugly stick, 7 feet I think it is, When I go fish light baits especially shrimp I use a 7ft medium coach whip rod, I think its an All Star.

If I free line then it's with croaker

7 to 7.5 foot rod with light tip
200 size reel
30 to 40lb fins windtamer
Chatter weight
10in mono leader
3/0 or 4/0 khale hook from hooks plus

I have freelined offshore alot in the past, sometimes with maybe a 1oz bass worm weight on but usually no weight, I have caught about 1 of everything the Gulf offers this way. I like ribbonfish and cigar minnows with live porgys if I had them. I used a Penn Senator 6/0 or 9/0 on a Penn 9/0 Senator Rod with #80 Bull Buster mono, clear or blue attached to either a SS Cable or Wire leader on a barrel swivel to a 9/0 SS hook, sometimes with a trailer hook behind it also. This setup worked great for me. I have since used an AVET Pro 30 wide 2speed reel with 300 yds of #80 on it, great reel but I still like my old Senators too.

Using live shrimp, 7' med. light spinning rod with a 3000/4000 size reel. 10 lb Trilene XL, 20 lb leader, kahle hook.

Croaker/piggies, medium 7' casting rod, standard baitcaster, 30# FINS windtamer, 20-30# leader, 5/0 Kahle hook.
(My standard gear.)

Don't freeline finfish much,( only when captive on a someone's boat), do freeline live shrimp time to time in specific situations.

Free lining fin fish is a BLAST !!!

No argument here, more of a $$ issue for me.

The reply by Bayfisherman is very short, but very to the point. I have been freelining for several years and it doesn't get any better. I freeline from the boat using either a American Rodsmith Trout Special 7'6" medium light rod or an 8" American Rodsmith Croaker Smoker. I use those whether I am using a popping cork or free-lining. The reason is so you can get that longer cast with the live bait without whipping it out there and damaging the bait. I use 30lb Power Pro braided line so I do like the 7'6" just a little better than the Croaker Smoker because of the feel. With the longer rods you won't fine yourself ripping the hook out of their mouths as bad with a short action hook-set. I use a uni-lnot to tie a 20lb florocarbon leader to the braid (you only need about a foot of leader), and a 3.0 Mustadt Croaker Hook and a light split-shot line weight about 10" from the hook. You will definitely have the sensitivity to feel that croaker getting nervous before the grab. I prefer a low profile baitcast reel and have the spool on release and a light line touch with my finger and thumb or a light spool touch with my thumb. When the trout grabs, make sure you let it run with the bait for a few seconds (about 15 yards or so), then lower your tip while cranking the real just to prevent free-spooling, then set the hook with a raised-high tip. Do not make the mistake of setting the hook hard like a bass because you will rip the hook out of a trout's mouth very quickly. Wow! what a rush free-lining. You can do the same technique with live shrimp, but use a # 4 or #6 treble with one hook under the horn.

7' 6" Med/light or an 8' 6" Loomis

30 lb Power Pro

3/0 or 4/0 Croaker Hook

#8 S-Pro swivel with 17" - 22" of mono leader

Anybody know where I can get a Croaker Smoker?