makaira 10II or 16II?

[Arthur1]

I am still looking forward to holding an Okuma makaira sea lol. The specs on the 15 look good but the 20 is definitely a work horse. Even though I'm not fond of them, I use Penn 113h on the boat I work on, they're winches and do what they're supposed to do. We started mixing in Shimano TLDs and put aftermarket handles on them and prefer them over the 113s, even caught a small 8' great white on one this past summer (accidentally hooked).

[steelfish]

I am still looking forward to holding an Okuma makaira sea lol. The specs on the 15 look good but the 20 is definitely a work horse. Even though I'm not fond of them, I use Penn 113h on the boat I work on, they're winches and do what they're supposed to do. We started mixing in Shimano TLDs and put aftermarket handles on them and prefer them over the 113s, even caught a small 8' great white on one this past summer (accidentally hooked).

thanks for your comment, I was also looking the mak15, its hard to have an opinion of it because I really havent seen or touch any of those reels LOL, but some guys says is too wide (almost incomfortable wide), I read somewhere that is same size than the avet LX which is not too wide on my books but the okuma holds bit less line, on this zones I dont need 500yds of 80# braid most of the time the bottom half of that never see the light of the sun.

TLD are good reels too, I just sold two of them to fund me an old International 16s, so, I might left the penn 16s as dedicated trolling reel, Baja Special as bait reel and yoyo and get me a mak10 for YT and bigazz cabrillas (decisions, decisions!!)

I just need to find a way to convince tackle direct to make me an invoice of the mak10 in super special discount price for $195 (for the wife ).

[Arthur1]

It seems that your biggest dilemma may be getting it past your wife lol. If you look on youtube, J and H tackle may have videos that you can gauge the size of the reels by. The Makaira 15 Sea for instance looks to be a comfortable size reel to use, any wider and thumbing the line back and forth with my hands may become a nuisance. The "regular" Makairas, I haven't looked up on youtube yet. I used to sell fishing equipment and a lot of people still frown upon Okuma, (a friend even gave me a hard time about buying the Andros 5ll!) thus I haven't seen any of the Makaira models in person. If you do go the Makaira route, let me know what you think!

[SoCalAngler]

the raptor hxj is a great wahoo reel.  the big selling point is the 47 inches per crank.  that's hard to beat. 

I don't think Steelfish would be too concerned about wahoo unless he fishes south of where he lives. On the other hand the 47" per crank can pay off when fishing deep. Say you get picked clean at depth and need to change bait, you are fishing the yoyo iron over deep structure or need to make bait way down. These would be some areas where the 47 inch per crank can really help.

I fish south of where he lives and at times we must make bait at 250'-300' or even deeper. Yes I know a HXJ Raptor is way over kill to make bait with but the faster you can fill the bait tank the quicker you can hunt the fish you really want to catch.

I'm not knocking the Okuma Mikaira's in any way as I think their great reels and from his other posts about the 40NLD2 it didn't seem to be a great fit for him. Personally I don't feel the MK 15's are too wide but I do try to fish a reel as small/narrow as I can get away with. Those reels just feel better in my hands.

[handi2]

Here is the 15II and 16Ii.

Keith

[handi2]

One more..

[steelfish]

the raptor hxj is a great wahoo reel.  the big selling point is the 47 inches per crank.  that's hard to beat. 

I don't think Steelfish would be too concerned about wahoo unless he fishes south of where he lives. On the other hand the 47" per crank can pay off when fishing deep. Say you get picked clean at depth and need to change bait, you are fishing the yoyo iron over deep structure or need to make bait way down. These would be some areas where the 47 inch per crank can really help.

I fish south of where he lives and at times we must make bait at 250'-300' or even deeper. Yes I know a HXJ Raptor is way over kill to make bait with but the faster you can fill the bait tank the quicker you can hunt the fish you really want to catch.

I'm not knocking the Okuma Mikaira's in any way as I think their great reels and from his other posts about the 40NLD2 it didn't seem to be a great fit for him. Personally I don't feel the MK 15's are too wide but I do try to fish a reel as small/narrow as I can get away with. Those reels just feel better in my hands.

thanks compadre, I think you have a good idea of what it works here, a year ago you where recomending me to get the FTH25nld2 over 40ld2 and I think it was a good advice that I didt followed, I didnt actually used too much the 40ld2 other than trolling and some bait fishing, (both task were speciallity of the Baja Special) but as you know trolling here is more a tug-of-war so, more than half of the line on the fth40 never got wet, so Im pretty sure I might do the same kind of trolling with a mak15, if I need anything smaller I might switch to the andros 12n and if I need something bigga I might get the mak16 in a future.
i have seem many pics and videos of the mk15 and it doesnt seem too wide like some guys say, maybe because of the overbuild thick alloy body,  if the body was with 30% less material pretty sure it would look skinny and wider.




@Artur1, I was just j/k with the wife comment, I get sure she knows when Im selling a rod or reel, so she already knows that soon we will have the UPS guy knocking on the door with new toys for her hubby, but not a bad idea to wait for a special price day or event for this kind of high dollar reel buy.

[steelfish]

One more..

this last picture put them both in different scenarios, two different animals.

now this puts everything more clear, looks like comparing a jigmaster 500L to a senator 113h, not the same intended use or specs.
I think I will stay on my last position of for all around reel the mk10/15 will do it, mk16 would be good for local Big Baja groupers or sharks, fish that I normally dont go after.

thanks Keith for the pics.

[handi2]

The 16 has a lot more cranking resistance than the 15. The 16 also has a trolling style alarm clicker while the 15 has a common click tongue.

[SoCalAngler]

Steelfish,
I think your on the right track when deciding on either the MK 10 or 15 both are robust/strong reels and should fit your needs good. Personally I think the 16 is way more reel in overall weight and power than your looking for. It is a very nice reel don't get me wrong but over kill IMO for your needs. There is no difference between the 10 and 15 other than yardage/meters the reels hold. So if going in that direction look at the total line you will need.

Now this is only a rough estimate of the braid that you can get on both reels because the braid/spectra manufactures vary on line diameter just like the mono manufactures do so don't take this as a perfect rating of how many yards of braid you can get on either reel.

With that said 80 lb braid is about the same diameter as 20 lb mono, around .42 mm. with those numbers on a MK 10 SEa that's around 380 yards full and a MK 15 SEa that's around 550 yards. Here is where the difference is between the two reels.

On these smaller reels the difference between the gold MK reels and the SEa'a as far as the amount of line goes there is no difference according to Okuma.

[steelfish]

Here is the 15II and 16Ii.

Keith

keith

by chance do you have a 113h which you can take a picture along your mak15 and mak16?
I was about to click on the "send payment" buttom but its hard to make this kind of payment for a reel I havent even saw in real life  , I dont want a mayor surprise for the size when I get it on the mailbox.


this is my stack of penn reels
baja Special
113h
penn 16s
113hw CC sideplates

wondering if the mak16 would be that much bigger than the 113hw or as big as the penn 16s
then I would have a nice perception of the real size of the mak16 and the mak15

[redsetta]

This is a really interesting thread - cheers lads.

[handi2]

I just saw this post so I will take a picture of the 3 tomorrow. I will throw in a Baja Special too.

Keith

[Rivverrat]

Steelfish,
I think your on the right track when deciding on either the MK 10 or 15 both are robust/strong reels and should fit your needs good. Personally I think the 16 is way more reel in overall weight and power than your looking for.

I think this is excellent advice.
Two reels I wouldnt be with out if I lived where you do, a Mak 10 & HX Raptor. Id get a new Penn VISX 12 before I purchased a Mak 16 if I were in your shoes. It's not jus the size but the weight of a reel in that class...Jeff

[steelfish]

I think this is excellent advice.
Two reels I wouldnt be with out if I lived where you do, a Mak 10 & HX Raptor. Id get a new Penn VISX 12 before I purchased a Mak 16 if I were in your shoes. It's not jus the size but the weight of a reel in that class...Jeff

Glad to see you comenting here Jeff
I actually set my mind on a mak15, I really like the size of the mak10 but would like the extra Line capacity for some local deep reefs and would like to use the reel as goto reel on anything local.
Im having problems with my credit card to use it on-line since a week now and I havent gotten the reel yet for that reason, hopefully this week everything gets solved.