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Put another check mark on my bucket list. I've always wanted to fish the Gulf around some of the oil rigs. I was in Texas last week and took a Red Snapper outing one day and a king mackerel (aka kingfish) outing the next day.
Let me tell you, those snappers are butt-kickers. Kingfish are fun, but more like a salmon - fast run, then reel, fast run, then reel. The snapper is like a tug of war, straight up and down, all the way to the surface.

When you head to the salt, don't be afraid to bring some of your Lake Michigan gear. If you look close to rod and reel to the left of my friend with the snapper, that's my new Tekota A 500 diver reel on an old diver rod. The snappers bent it down way more than the broom sticks the boat furnished, but it was a hoot winching them up from the bottom.

I am jealous! Looks like an awesome time.

Nice Fish! That would be a blast. I've caught smaller reds and yellowtail on trips, but a deeper water run has always been on my wish list.

Yellowtail fight great also on spinning gear. Blackfin really pull on heavier spinning gear! Those Reds look awesome. We had some big Mutton in our group and they pull hard! Did the round reels on your trip have levelwinds? In Islamorada none of the captains use them. The level the spool by hand when reeling the fish in. Took some getting used to but not a bad way. Nice fish and pics! Salt fish sure are strong!!

Most saltwater reels don't have levelwind mechanisms on them. I'm told (and it makes sense) the levelwinder (at least on older reels) wasn't up to the task of stopping a tuna, kingfish, marlin or other really fast fish when it was making it's initial run. The fish would take off, the level wind would start zinging back and forth ever faster until it couldn't keep up, jammed and wrecked, ruining the reel and losing the fish. I'm sure this was proven time and again on older reels. Since then, and since there's no "history" of salt-reels having level wind mechanisms, they don't put them on even modern-day reels even those with precision machining.

I've used several brands of reels off my Lake Michigan boat - Shimanos, Diawas, Shakespears and others with levelwinders over the years and have caught tuna, kingfish, mahi and others I've yet to blow one up. I think modern, medium to high end reels are machined much better than early-levelwind reels and less likely to fail from being ripped apart by a wahoo or other saltwater speedster. It does mean a little more maintenance, keeping them properly lubricated and well rinsed after being used in the saltwater.

The guys on the boat out in San Diego explained to me it’s also for casting purposes. They do a lot of casting with the surface irons and jigs out there and they can really throw those things far!! Lol

Well yeah! The things weight about a pound!