Psst, hey you……yeah I’m talking to you……I have a secret that should NOT be a secret anymore and I need to tell all of you! That knob on the Accurate Boss Extreme Light line reels (BXL 600 and BXL600W) inscribed “ACCUCAST “is not a casting break; it is a spool tension adjustment! There I said it and the secret is out! Why care? What do you do with this cockpit shattering news? It just may change the way you target White Marlin.

White Marlin is a staple target on the East coast from June through October. These long, thin, majestic species capture the heart and souls of many anglers yearly, and like your first kiss, your first White Marlin is forever burned in your brain. Mr. Whitey is quite possible the perfect game fish, it enters a trolling spread and shows itself, dorsal fin slicing the surface, light up in electric blues and pulsating stripes. Then bill first, grabs the bait, it is quite a show witnessed by all the crew! There are few scenarios in fishing that are more exciting than this! If only it were that easy.  Any White Marlin angler worth his weight in salt would agree that the MOST pivotal moment in White fishing is that moment when the fish grabs the bait. It is that very moment that if the fish feels even a little extra resistance on the line, it will spit the bait out and the fish may be lost forever. When targeting White Marlin specifically, drags are set AS LIGHT AS POSSIBLE when trolling so as to reduce the amount of resistance a fish will feel on the strike, but there is only so much drag adjustment that can occur. Many recreational marlin anglers also engage the reels “clicker” or strike indicator. That sound of a screaming clicker is what most offshore anglers dream of, but in White Marlin fishing, that “clicker”  may very well (and I have seen it) create enough resistance after a strike, that the fish drops the bait. There is a better way and Accurate reels have it!

Each year beginning in late July White Marlin anglers begin to circulate through the tournament season hoping to catch a tax bracket changing White Marlin.  The tournament season begins with the Beach Haven White Marlin invitational in Beach Haven NJ, then the Ocean City White Marlin Open held in Ocean City Maryland (the White Marlin Capital of the World), and ending with the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 held in Cape May NJ.  All are VERY HIGH stakes White Marlin tournaments, with top prizes reaching over 1.3 million dollars!!!! With that much money on the line, a missed fish or dropped bait could mean the difference between a fuel bill and a 6 figure income. I have been a hired mate for most of the tournaments and have coordinated teams of anglers in cockpits to increase our odds of a win. I will tell you “Clickers” are NEVER on when targeting Whites in a tournament! A professional tournament White Marlin cockpit is run is with 6 anglers, 4 of the anglers are responsible for 2 rods each with a usual spread up to 8 rods depending. That means 4 anglers each watching their 2 rods, and NEVER leaving their post, eyes trained on their 2 baits ALL THE TIME. One angler is at a higher vantage point, be it the tower or a perch on a hard top. The drill is, when a fish comes into the spread, the anglers put both their rods in free spool and put their thumbs on the spool as FAST AS POSSIBLE, never losing sight of their baits. When a White takes the bait, the thumb pressure is lifted just enough to prevent a backlash, and then the fish is allowed, WITHOUT RESISTANCE to swallow the bait and a hopefully hookup! This skilled dance is played out over and over during days on the Marlin grounds! But remember the secret I spilled! The Accucast knob on the side plate of your Accurate BXL reel is NOT a casting break, it is meant to PRECISLY control the tension on the spool. That means that the BXL reels unlike the gold and TL whatever’s  it CAN be left in complete free spool (thanks accurate engineers). The spool tension can be set via the “Accucast” knob to have just enough tension to prevent the line from paying out while trolling with no “Clicker” on and in total free spool, this generates a minimum of resistance when a White takes the bait! This method removes the mistakes that new Marlin anglers may make with “clickers” on or overzealous thumb pressure that cause missed fish! Brilliant right?  But that is not all it gets better! The Accurate BXL series has a twin drag system.  With drags on both sides of the spool, the drag is not only smooth as silk, but continues to be as more and more pressure is applied. Think about it, would you buy a car with breaks on only one side? But wait there’s more! Most Accurate reels are designed to use braided lines. Braided line and monofilament line behave very differently. While the zero stretch properties of braid have been leading the pack (and should be) as angler’s choice for most applications, White Marlin anglers overwhelmingly choose monofilament. Monofilament stretches actually quite considerably when under tension, and by default thins its diameter. When stretched out mono is reeled onto a spool, and allowed to relax it expands back to its original diameter.  This phenomenon called “Mono Compaction” causes forces that push the side of the spool outward and COULD interfere with lesser built reels. The BXL series is built with a beefier gauge spool to prevent this from occurring and keeping the drags as smooth as a baby’s bottom throughout its entire range. So just to recap, the BXL series reels have twin drags for super smooth performance even at high drag settings, complete free spool even at high drag presets, beefier spools to combat “Mono Compaction”, AND “Accucast” spool tension adjustment for minimal resistance on strikes.
Hell the BXL should just be renamed “The only White Marlin reel you ever need”! Ok, we can work on the name, but this White Marlin season, the difference between being a hero or a zero may just be the BXL

Tight Lines.

Darren Dorris

Team Accurate