first post

[MFB]

G'day Desert, G'day Bob,

Rgds

Mark

[JoePlo]

Hey all. First post. Gonna get into posting pictures pretty quick. Looking forward to sharing immediately. Learned a ton from this site and glad to be a part of it.

[alantani]

joe, glad to have you here!

[foakes]

Hi Joe --

Very high quality reels -- glad you appreciate and value them like your Grandfather obviously did.

The D.A.M. Quick 5001 is one of the best HD spinners ever produced -- according to Alan Hawk...you should read the complete review -- this is only a small excerpt from Alan Hawk's review.

"This review has been in the making for quite a few years and it's of a reel that I love very much and have a special appreciation for. I have always been a dedicated saltwater fisherman who enjoyed catching big fish, and despite hating conventional reels intensely I was forced to use them whenever I went chunking for tuna, trolling, or dropping live bait to groupers. Growing up I kept buying any big spinner that comes out hoping it could be adapted to that sort of heavy fishing, but there would always be a weak link either in the drag, handle, anti-reverse, or gears, and during my search I bent quite a few bail arms and broke more than a handful of gear trains. Then I found the Quick 5001 and could finally put down the conventionals. It was a true game changer that came with a new design philosophy based on a combination of brute strength and features well suited to handling fish of unprecedented size for a spinning reel. Several of those design aspects carried on to become an integral part of today's big game spinners, and others remain unmatched by any reel to this day such as the strength of the anti-reverse or the longevity of the gearing. When this series of reels came out it was the culmination of nearly 100 years of excellence in making fishing tackle by DAM. No better saltwater spinning reel was built by the company until the end, and overall it was the third to last series they built, followed only by the 1984 Finessa XL 125-445 and the 1994 Royal MDS, both of which were families of small freshwater reels.   

There was once a time when tackle companies had two clear targets: Build them to last so buyers would come, and keep them affordable to outsell the competition. That was what DAM, Mitchell, Abu, and many other companies were doing. Unfortunately the collapse of those old world bastions gave way to today's carnivorous strategy: Planned obsolescence. No mainstream company is going to give you a reel that lasts for ten years for $100, $200, or $300. That would be bad for business, and the cast alloys and plastics and low grade components are there to make sure of that. Now you need to pay north of $600 to get something that lasts anywhere near the beautiful machines of the past that are still serving us 40 or 50 years later which cost a fraction of that, even when adjusted for inflation. Quality parts don't cost as much as companies want you to believe, I know that first hand from the factories that build their reels. This is just the way the world works today, and since all of them are doing it we have to accept it as the new reality."

[JoePlo]

These reels will certainly be well cared for. I did read Alan Hawks write up on the DAM Quick. Amazing reel. Took it apart a little bit and was amazed at the engineering. Really need to get it tucked away somewhere to keep it nice.

My normal reels for offshore fishing off of Panama City Beach / Destin:

Penn 114HN - For winching
Release Reel SG - Jigging / trolling

Penn Spinfisher V 4500 - Light jigging / casting
Shimano Saragossa 8000 - Heavy jigging / casting

Thinking about spooling up the 6/0 for handling sharks and/or some high speed trolling. Thinking ratio would be terrible for trolling long lines but do-able for shorter lines.

[MFB]

G'day Joe,

Rgds

Mark

[ortiz]

Hello all!!

I'm from Uberlandia/MG, Brazil. Brazil has a biggest watershed of the world (rivers and lakes) and 7367 Km of Atlantic ocean coast. My city is located near center of the country.

The fishing capability and business here are very low yet. Because the economic policies of government, the fishing equipments are very expensive and rare to find.

I hope to learn here about equipment, maintenance and fishing techniques. Thank you all and sorry my worst written in English!

Leandro F. Ortiz

[DaBigOno]

Welcome Leandro!

[Shark Hunter]

Welcome ortiz and Joe!

[TomT]

Welcome guys!!   Joe, it sounds like you have everything under control and you are knowledgeable and will do well here.  Leandro, If you are wanting to learn reel maintenance and repair,etc you are at the right website.  Many of these guys here are the best ON THE PLANET at reel maintenance and repair and even designing and building reels.  Stay around here and learn from the masters.  By the way, your English is great.  I try to speak and write some Spanish, but my Spanish is no where as good as your English.  Welcome guys!!
TomT

[Bryan Young]

Bem-vindo Leandro.  I hope that is right. 

Welcome Leandro.  Great to have you here.  Brazil...I have many friends from Brazil and some that travel there twice a year to work with the Brazilian Japanese people there.

If we can be of any help, we will definitely try.

Bryan

[alantani]

leandro, welcome!!!!!

[zerofish]

This is not my first post but I'd like to say a big hello to all of you from - not so sunny at the time - Greece. I've been following this forum for quite some time now but recently I felt like I had to hop in.

Cheers...

[alantani]

glad to have you here.  we are going to try to visit italy and greece next year!

[zerofish]

This is nice. If you want any info feel free to ask!!!