Best all round spinning reel make/model to own?

[Alto Mare]

I give you guys a lot of credit, the baitrunner is one reel that I wouldn't want to mess with " fishing supposed to be fun ".

Dominick,  I didn't know you had it in you. Very  nice bud


I'll pass on this one, I'm sticking with my Penn ss Spinners

[redsetta]

Personally, I love the Baitrunner 6500. Great design, super reliable and plenty strong.
Once you get used to 'em, they're easy to strip and rebuild, too.
They're really popular in NZ.
I jig with my Penn 8500SS, strayline big baits and heft poppers with the Shimano, and am gradually modifying my 9500SS as per the old Japanese tuna/GT slayers (ie double dogs, stainless everything etc. Parts are hard to find, though).
Stellas, on the other hand, can be a long, tedious rebuild... 

[Alto Mare]

I'm glad you do like them redsetta, everybody is entitled to their opinion, it's only fair. You're right about the part of  getting used to them, that's the case with any reel, once you take them apart a couple of times, it's easy going from there. You mentioned the Penn 8500ss " now we're on the same page " if you jig with it and don't need that much line, you could use the Penn 7500ss, it's the exact same reel with the exception of the rotor and spool, making it a little lighter. I'm curious to find out on how you gradually modify the 9500ss, the few things that I'll do to mine are : a bailess kit with a line roller, not a bearing,  replace all drags with HT100's and install an additional needed anti reverse dog. All bearing on this reel get fully packed with grease ( no oil ). I do also replace the drags for under the spool with the new rear drag conversion kit ( part #6-950MSP ) for when the glued HT100 needs replacement. I don't see what else you could do to this reel to make it better .

[alantani]

we have a couple of guys that used a couple of different brands of "bait runners" and did very well on our trips.  they had the advantage of being able to cast their bait consistently.  getting a bait away from the boat is how you get bit.  alan

[Alto Mare]

I hear you Alan, although my reels are not as sophisticated as the baitrunner, I could still feed the line and controll the drag manually. I wonder if the fish knows which reel to go to

[redsetta]

You're spot on, Sal.
The 9500SS came to me as a throw-away and was missing most internals, housing cover, tension knob etc (13 parts in total).
I've been collecting the parts up over time as it's a reel I want, but don't necessarily 'need'.
I hooked a solid fish (maybe 60-80kg) on my Baitrunner some months back and the graphite frame was twisting under the strain (until the Spectra broke), which prompted me to start on the SS...

[Alto Mare]

Hey Justin, let me know if you're not able to get what you need for that 9500ss.  I did post a tutorial on that reel, just in case you need it for reference. I just noticed how much you've contributed to this site and I just wanted you to know that I, and I'm sure everyone else here, appreciate all your hard work. Take care and keep up your great work, Sal

[redsetta]

Thanks Sal, much appreciated.
Just trying to earn my keep!