Okuma Calrion 553LS

[jbackos]

Alan,

I recently went tilefishing with two reels. the first was an old International 16 2 speed, and a new 113HN. The 113 HN was fine but I was a bit unhappy with the 16s. I also have a Clarion 553LS, new and not yet used at all and I am thinking of using it for tilefishing next year. I was able to winch up a 4 lb sinker failry easily and would like to know if anything needs to be done to or should be done to the reel before I use it for this type of fishing.

Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bryan Young]

I would be personally worried about the level wind.  The level wind pawl is not ment to take that type of side load.

[jbackos]

Bryan,

I'm putting my flame suit on, but I must mention that in 35 years of fishing I have not personally witnessed a level wind failure. This seems to me to be one of the fishing "myths". I need someone to explain to me how forceful that "side load" really is. How is there a side load when the line comes out of the front of the reel?

[Porthos]

Perhaps the referred "sideload" is the one that occurs when the lay of the line is out of sync with line-leveler?

[jbackos]

That's the only thing I can think of. I tested the reel by cranking up 4lbs of sinker with the handle alone and where I had diffculty with the 16S, this reel handled it easily. It has a combination of an oversized gearbox, long beefy handle and large spool diameter. When I use it for tiles, I'll report back.

[alantani]

the old two speed penn 16S is a fabulous reel!!!!!  it needs a full service, but it's a very tough reel.  the baja special is well known here, also a very tough reel.  i think bryan's concern about the levelwind is one that we both share.  as long as the line and the leveler stay in sync, all should be good.  the problem arises when the line tries to go one way and leveler tries to go the other because the line gets out of sync.  it's a common problem that we see and is usually the first cause of damage to the leveler. 

[johndtuttle]

Bryan,

I'm putting my flame suit on, but I must mention that in 35 years of fishing I have not personally witnessed a level wind failure. This seems to me to be one of the fishing "myths". I need someone to explain to me how forceful that "side load" really is. How is there a side load when the line comes out of the front of the reel?

Many of the Level Wind reels use a "disengaging" levelwind mechanism that leaves the guide in one place when in free spool (ie dropping down or casting). This can cause a perfect storm of the guide being at one end of the spool and the line coming off of the other end resulting in an acute angle between them. The last requirement for the perfect storm is a heavy fish hitting at this moment or hooking the continental shelf of your choice and then the angler trying to crank it in .

The resulting high stress can break the relatively light nylon gears that normally move the pawl with little resistance but when the angle is acute I have heard of (but not personally seen) the gears for the levelwind getting stripped.

[jbackos]

The levelwind on the Clarion is synched to the spool, so there is no resultant sideload. What I do with my levelwinds is once the reel is loaded, I never let the line leave the reel without going through the levelwind. This is how you maintain the spool and the level wind in synch. When the reel is of the reel, I attach a large swivel to the reel so it can't pass through the level wind. If the spool needs to be removed, then eitehr the line will need to come off or you need to note the direction of the level wind was travelling when the spool was on the reel and install it accordingly. A bit of a pain, but not bad.

My complaint about the 16S is related to the fact that between the short handle, small spool diameter and the small gearbox cranking up sinker and bait (on that day 2.5 lbs. total), was impossible with the high gear ratio of 4.5-1. The Okuma is the diamater of a 6/0 with a long handle and oversized gearbox. I also usd a baja special on that trip and it performed well.

Also I found nothing wrong with the lever drag for bottom fishing.