I was out today at Dixon lake in Escondido. The trout bite was great, but my ultralite reel was being a real P.O.S. If its possible for a drag to be too heavy and too light at the same time, that's what was going on with this reel. I managed to land 3 fish, but would have had more if it weren't for this reel. I went in to Turner's to check some reels out on the way home, and they had plenty, but theres so many to choose from. It's impossible to tell just by looking what is good, good enough, great, or not any better than what I have now. The reel needs to be a ultralight spin caster (4 lbs, or maybe 2 if I'm feeling awesome). Anyone have any suggestions about what I should get? Definately don't want to go over $100 after tax, and preferably more like $50 to $70.

Hello

I've haven't been able to find a way to spend less than $120 on the aluminum body Penn Spinfisher 650 SSm for a quality salt water reel. I tried a $70 reel for my son and the bail roller flew off the second trip, the bail trip mechanism broke the third trip. Not recommended. My friend is looking at the Penn Slammer to replace his cheapo. The good news is that the Penn graphite body 420 SSg 4 lb reel is $80 here at CharkBait http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csrp3.htm
The page is a bit confusing, because the text says graphite body, but as far as I know the 650 and up have aluminum bodies. I have the 650 SSm and really do like it. I've caught a ~8 lb yellowtail and quite a few bonito on it, drag system is very smooth - spring loaded for slow adjustment with HT100 washers.

Take care,

Wintek

Penns are nice-try the Captiva cv500 for trout and bass The Mitchell gold series are very nice also. Both are under 50.00. I still fish my d.a.m. Quick reels from 30 years ago-even though I had to make my own drag washer when the old one died from old age. Nothing better on a Big Bear Lake trout!

Wintek, I should have clarified that the ultralight reel would be for freshwater fishing.

Agate, I will check out the Penn Captiva CV500. I've never fished Big Bear, but right about now it would probably be too cold for me up there!

Yesterday the guy at Turners was telling me the Shimano Sedona FB750 was the best reel for the money, and it was $50.00, but I just don't know if he really knew what he was talking about or what.

Anyways, thanks for you inputs.

The sedona is probably the best bang for the buck reel. I have a bunch of them 750, 1500, and the 2500 sizes and have had no problems with all of them.

For trout, I run the 750 with 4lb on a St Croix UL...its a killer set up.

Hey Wintek, thanks for helping with the clarification. I've updated that page on the SS series reels, and added the Captiva Live Liners to the mix since we've had 'em at the shop for a few months now and I was remis to make that post.

sKunKbad

No worries. Mainly I wanted to agree with you - spinning reels seem to be much more difficult to find a quality product.

Chark

Well, you're welcome of course! Pretty neat to see you change a page based on an obscure comment buried in a discussion board. Good Stuff!

Take care,

Wintek

quote:

Originally posted by sKunKbad:
The reel needs to be a ultralight spin caster (4 lbs, or maybe 2 if I'm feeling awesome). Anyone have any suggestions about what I should get?

I've been looking for the perfect ultralight spinner since the Quick 110 was new. There are fantastic spinners out there for about $400, but that seems like a bit much to me. Check out the Daiwa Exceler 1500. It's about $60 and it's amazingly smooth, and has a strong, smooth drag like all Daiwas. For a few bucks more, the Quantum Kinetic is a good way to go with a ceramic drag, titanium bail (can't bend) and magnetic bail trip (no springs to wear out).

Good luck

It's nice to see another Quick fan. I have a quantum cabo that I use for bay fishing-love it! Look at the quantums before you buy. At 2 lb. test you might also think about fly fishing.

Well, I ended up getting a Shimano Symetre 750FI. It was a good deal, at about $65, and I have another Symetre reel that I like, so I figured it would be good enough for me. I'm gonna load it up with some 4lb berkley vanish transition line, tie on a rooster tail, and go back to Lake Dixon next Wednesday if my schedule permits. I'd like to bring my 3 year old son if he's well by then, and let him witness the trout action!