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bigkahuna71.
Now there are hundreds of different options on baitcasters. Some very expensive and nowadays some reasonably price but yet still a quality product. Im hoping to help my undecisivness with your experiences with different reels. I have always used Bass pro pro qualifiers. Not top of the line, but still a decent reel. Iam undecided between the new pro qualifier 2 bass pro carbonlite 2 and Lews series of reels. All are built similar, was hoping for some insight or suggestions. Thank you
BPS has the Pro Qualifier on sale right now for $49. Cant beat that. I have one and like it. However most of my reels are Shimano. Best reels on the market. Just stay away from Quantams. Theyre junk. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have used Pinnacle reels pretty much exclusively since the early 90s, but have had a few Shimano Curados, Bass Pro Qualifiers, and Lews Speed Spools that I won as door prizes, along with some of my old Pinnacle reels that I have carried in my truck for bank fishing over the years, and have been highly impressed by the Lews reels for their smoothness and especially their durability, as my truck rods take a more of a beating, and more extreme temps than most normal reels. The Bass Pro, and Shimano reels have all gone to reel heaven, but the Lews and my old Pinnacles are still working good.
Hard to beat Lews for the money and Shimano if you want to spend some.
I was using the oldsr style high profile shimanos.went to lews pro magnesium with the 7.5:1 ratio. By far better. Smoother reel, drag is also smooth. The tension adjustment is the best option as you can set the reel once and basically make slight adjustments pending on wind as you go. Only downside I have is casting distance is a little less i would say over other brands. Not a deal breaker for me as am mostly a jigging guy. I would think you could get a team lews non magnesium for 150 or so. The magnesium model is 230 on ebay from some suppliers. Not going to get a magnesium of any other brand for that.
My wife gave me two Abu Garcia Revo Rockets for Christmas (no idea where/how/when/etc she found em…) Ive really been impressed with them. 9:1 gearing is ridiculously quick. She found em somewhere for $200 bucks each. Not cheap, but also not $500 that some are going for. Not a particularly big fan of all the braking stuff (centrifugal and magnetic) since the good Lord gave me a perfectly working right thumb, but they cast smooth and can recover some line in a hurry. And this new (to me) offset gearing has produced some REALLY low-profile reals from everybody, compared to where I started with an old pfleuger 60 years ago…2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
I have garcia revos, shimano citicas, lews, Fluger presidents and I just recently bought a BPS titanium 8, My citicas are bullet proof, some of them are 12-15 years old, The flugers are 1st editions when they first came out still working fine, my garcias are first editions when they came out still going strong, the BPS titanium 8 is my newest real and it has had a full season on it now and it seems to be a solid reel and has 8:1 ratio. I am interested in the 9:1 ratio reels as I do alot of power fishing and pitching and flipping I like to be able to take up alot of line fast.
I certainly like em. Only tricky part is adjusting the centrifugal brake. You unscrew one thumb screw on handle side, pop off the left hand side (it comes completely free so dont drop it overboard). But while popping that off, hold the spool with your thumb as it will also be free to fall out with the side plate removed. The 6 centrifugal brake tabs are on the spool. Reassembly takes almost zero time. Smooth drag up to about 20 lbs. But the speed is impressive, and yet it is smooth to reel in. Have caught one 25lb striper on it and had no problems with him, other than the minor detail that I was using 10lb test mono so it took a while to get him in and release him.Havent used any Abu Garcia reels in the past. I have mainly been a Diawa person, with the occasional Quantum. My brother-in-law gave me a Lews a few years ago and it was a pretty good reel as well. Ive tried to stick to a “family” of reels as it makes it a little easier to keep spare parts that are mostly interchangeable. But Im certainly going to think about Revo Rockets the next time I buy one as I do like them. About the only thing I have noticed is that you have to slow the retrieve down a bit (crank speed) to avoid fishing too fast, if you are using spinners or anything that runs under water and out of sight.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
Ive used nothing but Quantums for 20 years and still have a few I got in the mid 90s. I clean/lube them every year. Some of my favorites were the 1100 PT series. I just picked up another used one and its good as new but they are hard to come by. I havent bought any of the newer ones, most of my reels are older like me. They work great, easy to use and service.
For higher end check out Concept/13. I tried one last year and now have 4. I like the way they fit my hand when flipping. Daiwa and Shimanos upper end are great also. I like Shimano alot but have stopped buying them lately as the knobs become gummy on me after a few months and alternative knobs are scarce/expensive. Dont know why they get like that. Used to buy all Daiwas and even have a few TDXs that i still use. They along with the Zillions are tanks, but I drifted to lighter options from other brands over time. Got a Daiwa Tatula recently on sale and it has been pretty good value so far and is smaller than the older Daiwas, although not the lightest around. Lews has been OK, but that brake system seems to like a drop of oil too often for me to stick with them.
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