What is your favorite fishing reel?

[Don Dickinson]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

I have and like the following

1. abu garcia 6500C3 (have 3 or 4 of them and use them for musky fishing) - they actually have "made in sweden" engraved in them
2. i have 3 gander mountain spinning reals (they tournament series sizes 25, 30, and 40). these are apparently made by phlueger. i really like them a lot. not as good as some of the real expensive ones, but for $60 or whatever, they are a good deal. likely made in china.
3. also, i just purchased a bass-pro-shops house brand musky real (M1000 or something like that). i bought it because it has a lower gear ratio than the 6500's. so far so good. it's help up ok and casts fine.

on the negative side, i have a shimano coursair CS400A musky real. i dislike it a lot. it doesn't cast well and the line guide gets tangled in the line a lot.

 

[16'Starcraft_StoneyCreek]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

A Cardinal 4 from Abu. I bought it in 1985 and it has done nothing but perform!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

on the negative side, i have a shimano coursair CS400A musky real. i dislike it a lot. it doesn't cast well and the line guide gets tangled in the line a lot.

I had a couple Corsair 400's that were problematic. I called Shimano, explained what they were doing (freespool disengaging during the cast or not completely disengaging when the thumb bar was pressed) and they told me to send them in with a reel repair from. A week later I received 2 new Corvalus reels Corsair's are around 10 years old and I sent mine back 2-3 years ago, pretty good customer service from Shimano, swapping out a defective reel 5-6 years after the warranty had run out. I think they did it because it was a design flaw.

That said, I have heard Shimano is not as flexible on their warranty anymore, poor economy....

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Abu Garcia 6500C4 for da muskies. Various Shimano spinning reels for da walleye, bass and panies......

 

[Claudus]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

I have a Mitchell Avocet II on an ultralight rod for Bass that I love. Great performance for a reasonable cost.

 

[jrs_diesel]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

I have a medium sized Shimano Solara reel on my medium Ugly Stik. It's my newest and so far I love it.

My older rods 15+ years old rods have a Shakespeare, Shimano, and 2 Zebco 33's. Good mainentance has let them survive this long

 

[UP Fisherman]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Quantum Incyte. I had better check where it is made though.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

- Daiwa Regal Z, old one, trout, light stuff

I swore if I ever saw one of those Daiwa Regal Z's again I'd buy it. Well,,, I saw one on clearance for $20 last week so I snapped it up. I checked Daiwa's website and the Regal Z's are a 2001 model, brand new 9 year old reel....

 

[roncoop75]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Nice thread.

IMO, nothing cheap. I've gone through the years of buying "cheap" reels, $35-$75, and I've had to replace them every second or third year. About 8 or 10 years ago I bought some nice midrange Shimano, maybe $175-$200, don't remember exactly. Not too expensive, but not cheap. I still have it, works great and is nowhere near needing replacement.

So... buy a respected brand and then move up the range a bit until you're spending about twice what you'd like to spend and you'll probably end up with something that will last you a looong time.

 

[Stykbowhntr]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Definately the older Penn 209. They are great for trolling the lakes here in Maine. The 309 is great too....just a bit bulky.

 

[jtexas]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

I'm partial to diawa baitcasters and mitchell spinning reels.

been using diawa pt100's for years, at $70 every bit as good (just not as durable) as the team diawa [forget which model, found it at cabelas grand opening sale]

the mitchell avocet gold is about as durable as the old garcia mitchell 300's, but it really fishes better. Also have a mitchell 300xe like it a lot too.

 

[ralphl]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Older early 70's Garcia Mitchell 300 I have two of them. I also have a 206 Garcia Mitchell. Great reels all.

ditto have several and the fish they have cought would fill a freight car

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

I returned the Tica reel i bought. It did not spool the line very well. Casted GREAT, but the line would not spool very tight and then would get all tangled up on the next cast.

I swapped it out for a Okuma TRIO 40. So far so good. It was a little more spendy, but i think a little better reel.

 

[scipper77]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

my work horse is a pflueger gold medalist spinning reel. It's a 7 bearing that was only sold at ****'s. I clean and re-lube (Quantum hot sauce) the reel a few times a year and it has really stood up to the test of time. I've likely caught 75-100 bass on it just this summer. It's on it's fourth year of "Heavy" use. I do take good care of it though. I even polish the lip on the spools when I clean it up to make sure it casts smooth and far.

Finally the bail is starting to act up a bit. It doesn't always close all the way if you start to retrieve with the bail open. I'll likely replace this reel with a pflueger president spinning reel.

For all you guys who go through a lot of reels, Do you clean and lube them or just run em till they die??

I have a Quantum that just failed on me despite regular care. It must heat up as I crank because if I use it for casting it gets really stiff and hard to crank. The shaft that the spool sits on has a lot of slop in that one also.

 

[cimy3]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Shimano Tekota....for trolling.

 

[dingbat]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

For all you guys who go through a lot of reels, Do you clean and lube them or just run em till they die??

The way we fish them, the inexpensive ones usally die before they need cleaned or lubed. The expensive ones just take longer to die.

Stripped gears are the usual mode of failure.

 

[rivertripp]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

My favorite is the Quantum Kevin Van Dam signature series 10 bearing baitcaster!

 

[mommicked]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Shimano Calcutta 251.works hard and casts well.only cleaned and lubed it in 8 or 10 yrs. yearly saltwater too.its caught lots of good fish. and still works like new.

 

[bkwapisz]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Shimano Curado 200E7 on a trigger rod
Pflueger Supreme 8040 on a spinner.

Got these this year and they're my first "Quality" reels, so I'm biased. Haven't tried other good quality reels yet to compare but I'm happy with these.

 

[mommicked]

Re: What is your favorite fishing reel?

Just recieved a new Quantum Energy PTIB 30,ITS marvelous.Built like a truck.smooth.10 bearings,great audible drag,cant wait to hear it sing!!think IM gonna get a 40, soon as I can afford it.and I havent even put line on the 30 yet!! Update just returned from the coast.got to tangle w some false albacore to 8+ lbs. w 20 lb braid.reel perfomed very well and Ill be ready for any size largemouth w this reel w confidence!