Need some Reel Advice

[Gunny]

Folks,

I have taken back to Bass Fishing after having been away for awhile. Actually I am a retired Marine with a lot of time on my hands, and the Delta just calls all of the time. Like a lot of guys I went down to Wally World and bought a few riggs. Well that turned out to be a joke as most of those reels where such junk they are giving me a lot of trouble. So i turn to some of the experts here for some advice on a good bait casting reel. My bass boat has real usable room for 4 good baitcasting rigs, hows about some advice?

Gunny

[Rich_Thiel]

For a reasonable priced reels that won't kill your wallet, Quantum has come out with lines of reels for all levels of fishing.

Check into it, Good Luck

Rich Thiel

[Gator]

They are reasonably priced for high end reels and will give you years of quality service. If you are looking for right handed reels, let me know. I am going to be switching over to left handed Curado's and will have several available shortly.

[saLTY-]

WELL I AM NOT A PRO LIKE THE TOHERS HERE!!...BUT...i would go with shimano and buying them used WILL NOT be a chance to take. i love all my shimanos and they are very reliable, easy to fix, and worth every penny. also if u need a few poles their rod line is also a very good aera to start. not too expensive, strong, and they have a lifetime warrenty (basicly no questions asked and replaced type service), can't go wrong!!!......................saLTIE-

[Cooch]

I am a round reel kinda guy. My gramps first introduced me to a Shakspeer Presidential round reel when I was 12 yars old. I'm still hooked on em today. My choice, one of the many ABU Garcia 4600 series, Low speed, medium speed to high speed 6.3:1 work wonders. Great pricing at Wally world, all the shops carry them at competative prices too! A great service org and network when replacing and repairing is needed.

Reels are a dime a dozen. You can spen $35 or you can spend $350 on one. You need to experiment on a couple of brands and models. Try an ABU, Shimano and Quantum, then let their performance dictate where your $$$$$ are spent.

[TopCat]

We get what we pay for in a reel...

cooch turned me on to some round reels, and I've got selection of them, from the 4600 to the small 3600. I love them.



BUT




I really enjoy my Schimano's more. Curados, and castaic's.

Personally I find them a bit easier to deal with day to day. Such is really the only difference. I use both every time on the water and have no problem rotating between them.

I've a friend tha tbought me a Chronarch MAG and OMG! What a reel that one is. But at 3 bills, I would not pay such, but she did! I thank her every cast she did too!

[Bill K]

Just have to go alongwith Cooch and Topcat.. Ist choice is Curado
with ABU right behind.. You will never go wrong and still not break
your budget.. Bill K
For rods check with Steve Beichman's custom rod's. He will set you
up with rods that will work for you.. Stevescustomrods.com

[StogieMan]

I know Shimano reels are popular, but the reputation they enjoy is based on old models and very old customer service. Take the Chronarch for example, once considered their best (although expensive) baitcasting reel has been ruined (my opinion) by replacing it with a heavy, more expensive 100b. Rumor has it there is a "new" Curado in the works and I bet they ruin that too!
Service= Joke! write me off line and I will tell you what I know. OK so I am not a Shimano fan, if you are interested in low profile take a look at the Phleuger president or the Quantum line, good stuff at a reasonable price

[SteveH]

A couple years ago I tried a Pflueger Solara for my pitchin' chores at the recomedation of a good friend. Saves me about $70 over my Corado SF, pitches better, and I've had the pleasure of landing some pretty good fish on it. It hasn't blown up on me yet, so I got no complaints and have since bought a couple more. I found it spins freer than their Trion but takes a little gettin' used to 'casue it spins like crazy & requires more thumb when used for cranking. it's one of those quarter-quarter reels: throws a 1/4 ounce jig a 1/4 mile.

SteveH

[Gunny]

Guys,

Thanks for the advice, I asked the question and you folks sure as hell came up with answers. Today is Monday, I should be on the Delta but the shoody equipment I am using is such a chore I am taking the day off and heading over to Tackle Wharehouse. I will look and compare some of those reels spoken of here. I probably should be ordering these things here online but I am just to impatient and had rather be fishing than setting around waithing on that big Brown Truck. Once again thanks.

Another thought occured to me as I went back and was making a list of the reels recommended. Diawa is not on that list any where. That surprised me, I was under the "impression" right or wrong that they had really good stuff. Hummmmmm !! Thats why you don't want some Marine doing your shopping for you.

Gunny

[Narcdogk9]

#0 buck less than a Curado and seems to be a pretty nice reel...

[TTCal]

Gunny,

Plenty of great product out there these days with everything mentioned above and yes, Daiwa makes some quality reels as well. Be sure you set yourself a budget before going out to investigate as things can quickly get out of hand if you're not careful.

[Gunny]

Dennis,

Man oh man I should have read that post of yours before I went shopping. But the bad thing is I did have a budget, second bad thing is it must have flown out the window before i got to the Fisherman Wharehouse, becuase I couldn't find it so I though "Well how important can a budget be?" I found out real quick.

As I said in my response PM I only hope i made good choices and got good equipment.

Gunny

[Jerry]

Gunny, I've bagged all my Shimano's and started over using nothing but Quantums. I've had no problems with any of the reels. Keep'm clean and lubed and they'll work forever.

[conniek]

frommy view, which is after reel has crashed or icky dirty. The shimano curado is a super good reel and price is right and gives the return of good performance. It is built very sturdy ad has good quality internal parts. I have quizzed the curado users thru the years and they won't change to another brand of reels.
However, like cooch and other s expressed , they like the round reels and that is fine. I guess. LOL., Go to your favorite sporting goods store and check out the reels, you may be the type that does like the round high profile reels or you might find that you like the low profile and fits your hand better. You will have that comfortable feeling when you hit upon the right reel. And don't forget to give some consideration to the weight. We used to fish with the AMB's and never realized the difference in weight until we began fishing with thel lighter reels especially at end of a long many casts day, you can tell the difference. conniek

[Andy Giannini]

Guys want to make things standard, so that every reel is the same. I can understand that, but they have eight different length rods with all different line tests, and different weight lures. They have to adjust to certain degree when they pick up another rod/bait. Getting tattoos of your favorite reel maker can be a mistake. Some other company might have a really good offering for your application. And lets face it, everyone is not Gary Klien fishing at that level that requires all the reels to be the same, same seven foot blanks, etc. I like a mess of different reels because I can apprecieate the differences between them. Yep, dig Curados, Diawas, Quantums, Abus, you name it its in the boat somewhere. Each one has something special to offer, and if you go exclusively with just one you are missing out on what the others have to offer. (Geeze, this is starting to sound like women! ) HAR!

.02 A.G.

[conniek]

That's a good way to look at reels too. I've just never thought of having all different brands and models on my boat deck, to me, I believe each time a rod and reel picked up, there would be a different feel to it. But, sounds like you have it down pat about what you want to do and have and that is good., The tackle manufacturers make all these various tackle for anglers preferences.
And it ain't all bad to be a woman. Let's rally at Clear Lakes

[Jerry]

Using only Quantums have given me the edge because of all the reels being the same. Each reel and rod only are set up to do a specific job. No mix and match.

[FATGUY]

well i guess i'm one of those shimano guys i have about 15 of them .. citticas.. and castaic mostly.. haven't had any trouble. easy to clean and altho happily i haven't had to use their service departmen so i can't comment there.. for having the same shape reels on each rod seems better to me . it would be uncomfortable for me to pick up a rod with a round reel . then the next low profile then another and ect ...... i like all to feel the same in my hand.. just my prefernece. i don't think you can go wrong with any mentioned above. the only ones i would avoid are the diawas .. just my feel as i have had some problems years ago with a couple of them .. anyway just my .02 ..bob

[kstonich]

I am a diehard Team diawa man, I love the older TD1-hi , I have 6 td1s and 5 TD-2HI reels have never needed anything other than cleaning. They don't make them any more but if you post there are a lot of used excelent reels out there that you can pick up for a real bargain.