we all fish diffrent species , when nature allows us. i like to fish stripers and bass during the season. 525 mag is a good reel to have in hand, i use mine for plastic fishing in catalina and on the other hand i use for plastic fishing for stripers at d.v.l or skinner lake.
I bought a Coastal when they first came out. WONDERFUL REEL! Overbuilt drag, the right kind of bearings, easy take apart design. Loads of freespool, too. I use mine for inshore and bassing primarily. I've run 6-12# line, and love the reel. The freespool is VERY good, so much so that I do tune the piece to slow it down when casting lures/crankbaits.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I ended up grabbing a 153 HST the supertuned version of the coastal. I like it but it doesn't really cast the way i want. Its more for tossing lures 1 - 2 ounce. Perfect Bass reel. Good features. Handles the salt and handles the inshore stuff just fine. Really nice feel to it. My eyes are now set on the Penn Mag 525 and the Abu Record. I hear the Record is a step up from Cardiff. And I hear the 525 has the right features for a fella like me.
I took it out and caught some bass on it. Its good! I like it. definatelly stays in my aresenal. With such a fast retrieve it makes using swimbaits very easy to use. No effort at all and i get the right action from the bait.
i have two diawa 153's, 8 lb and 10 lb flourcarbon lines on them. i also have 525 mag. i fish the 1/2 day boats out of SD , and I have had several 30 plus fish days on plastics for calicos(remember always practice catch and release). the 153 is a dream for this application. I have also hooked onto a wsb at catalina on this outfit and I was only lucky enough to just get a glimpse at it before it broke off. I like to take my gear to the limits. So fish on , MAHALO