INDIANANGLER

Hi Guys wanna just find out the best spinning reels on the market today,i still put all my faith in my Penn 8500ss .

Without going into the stratosfere ocupied by the likes of Van Stal, I think the current cream of the crop are the Shimano Stella, the Daiwa Saltiga and the Okuma VS.

Of those, the only one that I might be able to aford is the Okuma - but you did ask what the best reels were....

In the middle market, there are lots of options and lots of features/configurations that will affect your choices. You need to decide whether you want front or rear drag, whether something like "fightin' drag" is for you and whether you need a baitrunner or similar facility. Then comes size and weight.

This is the sort of thing that comes up on fishing websites all the time, so have a trawl (not a troll) arround the forums and see what they have to say. Just remember though that opinions will be flavoured by local fishing styles and what's available in the territory that you're looking at - so in the UK, polls will tend to favour reels with rear drag and/or baitrunners because almost all the fishing is done with baits and rear drag is currently in vogue, whereas in the US, where most fishing is done with lures, the lighter weight and smoother drag of front drag reels will make them more popular.

Hi,

If you are Plugging then there are a lot of options than bait fishing. Just check out the Tica Dolphin Series reels. They are economically priced, and have proved against Big Rooster Fish, Cubera Snappers, Jack Crevelles and even a Shark. I will try to provide some links on the reports with these reels in a while. Also these reels cast very well: 150 Plus yards with 30 lb braid and Super Strike Little Neck Poppers .

I believe from your previous posts that you do some surf fishing also.

Just my .02 Paise.

Here are some links on the reports with the Tica Dolphin Spinning Reel. The links includes - tuning the reel, casting videos and fishing videos using that reel.

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/ ... p?t=519856
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/ ... p?t=497073
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/ ... p?t=501194
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/ ... p?t=499258
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/ ... p?t=498981
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/ ... p?t=496884


LF

Neil, youre kidding right..SS8500 is a good reel mate but I have gone light now.

I have a Van Stall that I dont use, I am going in for a Daiwa Saltiga, but the reels I fish with now are the Daiwa Freams (Japan Made). I think that the Saltiga is a very good reel, but the other the other day I came across another reel that I liked the Daiwa Tierra.

Also like the Fin Nor Ahab, but the drag knob could prove to be a little difficult to use in a situation.

For stopping those Big Barra dead I still use the BG90, GS9 or the Penn 8500/9500.

BG 90/ GS 9 ( a bit heavy for continous spinning ) the Penn 8500 SS great forboth spining and trilloing and all 3 can take a lot of abuse .. I go for the BG 60 and the Penn 6500 or 7500SS for spinning for long hours

Hi Fred,

Those are what I call "Dookar Reels" I use them for specific fishing situations when I go for really big Fish 40lb+ that I need to stop dead. They are loaded with 60lb line mate.

I have seen lesser reels flunk that test, even smaller brothers of these big boys.

Do you know that the Spools of the GS and BG can be interchanged and work perfectly on each other?

Like and BG60 = GS6

For lighter work how would the Penn Slammer 560 perform for Mahseer upto, say 20 lbs ? Would it be spooled with 14 Lb or 17 Lb mono ? Line capacity reads 0.40 mm / 220 mts.

A friend of mine had been to SG recently...

I had asked for a Daiwa 6000 but the shops were closed on good friday.

Only one shop was open on beach road and he wanted to get me a TICA SP4000 for around 80 Sing.

I had not heard of TICA and told him not to...

jude just let me know what ur buying and when..

When I was in Singapore in 2004, the guys in the shops were all telling me about the problems with TICA reels stripping there gears and having components fail.
Since then, TICA reels have become favorites amongst US striped bass anglers and are considered smooth and reliable.
It seems that they have addressed the quality issues so I waould give one serious consideration if it was at the right price.

Ken, I'm afraid this is not quite true. The reason they have become (somewhat) popular here is that they have become cheap enough to use and throw away, much like the Bic lighter. I have fished for striper but not as regularly as a few friends here who told me this about Tica reels. Ditto for Okuma, and yes, even some Abu (eg Morrum). An Abu certified mechanic told me some of them were stripping gears because the gears were made of hard plastic!! Then there is the whole argy-bargy about making reels etc specifically for the SE Asian market, ie with cheap innards, because buying decisions there are heavily driven by price. A Shimano rep at a fishing show here went so far as to insinuate (not openly admit) that in the SE Asian market they were packaging Tekota reels as Trinidads. The JDM market though is a whole different kettle of fish.
Mm

Then what would be good medium size [14 Lbs x 220 mts] & large [220 mts x 25 Lbs] make / model would you suggest which is not too expensive, say in US$ 100 - 150 range with a spare spool ??? It must be reliable, tough and easy to service.

Hi Ashok,

I have a thing for the Shimano Biomaster GTX series 8000 and 10000. The bigger one remains stolen, but I've had the 8000 for the last 5 years of much abuse. It's landed mahseer to 68lbs for a friend and many more for me, including a deadweight goonch of 72lbs, so drag isn't an issue. Mine came with spools in 6000,7000 and 8000 so line capacity is never an issue.
Another good, robust Shimano is the Baitrunner BTR series. The 4500 is perfect for light gear and the 6500 best for brute work. Great drag on it- two clicks give you 3lbs so you can fight the fish 'click by click' to the limit. Ex-Royal Gurkhas use them a lot in Nepal and don't go back for seconds or replacements... but it's a bit bulky for all day spinning.
I'm not sure whether Biomasters are US market items, mine came from the UK.


cheers

V.

Ashok .. my choice is biased to the Penn Spinfisher 7500/ 8500 SS , The Daiwa BG 60 or BG 90 .. both last a lifetime and never let you down .. BG series at 99 USD and Penn Spinfisher from 99 USD to 139

Hi Guys i think we are going a bit high tech just that i dont forget my roots i ll tell u about a 36 lbs BARRA i landed on my ABU atlantic 402,and a cardinal 70,loaded with .40 garware mono,hooks,thin singles on a door handle,it was low tide,the odds where against me,but i just played him on a light drag,when i landed him the hook just slipped out,YES hi tech is good but landing a fish against odds is a achievement,which then seperates the men from the boys.

Come see us Bong-men do it !!!

Hi Guys,

I received the Fin-Nor OFS95 some time back. Got two spare spools directly from Fin-Nor.

The spools alone are pretty heavy.

Have not loaded any line on them yet.

But the reel is built like a tank. And the drag is rated for 30 lbs plus.

One spool, I plan to load with 50 lbs big game mono (for mahseer).
Second spool will get 80 lbs braid for GT popping/trolling.
Third spool, maybe with braid/mono as backup.

The Shimano Baitrunner is definetely a good reel. Have landed yellow fin tuna, with a Baitrunner 6500.

The Shimano Thunnus is also a good reel. An all metal relative of the Shimano Baitrunner, with more bearings.

http://www.tackledirect.com/shimano-thunnus.html


tight lines

Makarand

Heliox as per your first post, you wanted to to know about the reels in the market today. That's what others have been posting about. We've come a long way from door handles and Abu Cardinals.....