New Makaira Upgrades

Bryan Young · February 05, 2012, 05:39:28 PM

The SE is not a trolling reel, but designed for casting and fly-lining live bait...Southern California style of fishing.

wallacewt · February 05, 2012, 10:49:37 PM

hi normslanding
could you explain further
tuna logo ones have they had the full tani treatment.?
marlin logo ones have not?
all new se have the full treatment(tuna logo)
hi bryan
the spool bearings only have to have grease instead of oil for trolling,right?
i cant see any sense in greasing spool bearings,why not have both options,casting and trolling with oiled spool bearings.
after all we have learnt on this site just upgrade the reels ourselves.then you know its done right!

Bryan Young · February 06, 2012, 12:14:29 AM

Oiled bearings for trolling will be just fine. During trolling, the spool is still until you get a strike. I was only referring to the oiled spools are really for free-spool to cast bait or jigs out.

For trolling only reels where you are letting line out slowly anyway, it doesn't really matter if the spool spins slowly due to greased packed bearings, but will not be fun casting lures or live bait.

Reinaard van der Vossen · February 07, 2012, 07:50:44 PM

Nice

So now we are waiting for the SE rev2 with ventilated drag discs to keep up with all those massive fish that we will be catching

Squirmypug · February 08, 2012, 05:52:51 AM

When will we be able to buy the SE reels?

alantani · February 08, 2012, 06:50:02 AM

they will be for sale at the fred hall show in long beach, ca. also check with charkbait.com. they may be taking orders ahead of time.

madday · February 08, 2012, 02:36:24 PM

now okuma just need to make makaira 8IIse with one piece frame - side plate....
add an anti reverse bearing...
it would be ideal reel for deep jigging....

big thx alan and jim....

alantani · February 09, 2012, 12:01:24 AM

actually, it's a "pull" system, not a "push" system, so there is little pressure on the left side plate. i think that being able to remove both side plates makes the reel much easier to service.

wallacewt · February 09, 2012, 05:54:27 AM

all the reels we have been cleaning,oiling,greasing,handles,drags,etc;are special edition(se)seems to me okuma are just playing catch up.they said before that they greased and oiled their reels and we know that was a 1/2 hearted load of crap.i dont trust them or anybody else.i trust myself and the gurus on this site.you bewdy,i feel lighter,and thats another load.

redsetta · February 09, 2012, 06:09:22 AM

Quotei trust myself and the gurus on this site.you bewdy,i feel lighter,and thats another load...

x2 mate - good call.

Cheers, Justin

alantani · February 09, 2012, 06:37:47 AM

the work they do is on a massive scale and even small changes can have a huge ripple effect. if we make a change and it turns out to be a mistake, we are only talking about a handful of reels. if they made a mistake, the reels could number in the thousands. take that teflon lubricant, xtreme reel +, for instance. great stuff, fast as hell, but it didn't last. it took 6 months to figure that out. great for fresh water bass reels, but it was a mistake for the salt water reel.

to their credit, okuma took only 1 year to institute the changes that we take for granted. but guys, look around. it's just us. sure, we're pretty smart guys and we've got some good experience, but we're still talking about us. yeah, just us. it must have been a HUGE leap of faith for a company as large as okuma to actually take our recommendations, seriously evaluate them, and then actually put them into practice. and if we were wrong, and okuma did not figure it out until late, someone at okuma would take the blame, not us.

so, as confident as i am about all the changes that okuma has made, i remain very much aware of the potential for failure. something could still go wrong. and if failure does occur, there is in fact one man that is going to take the fall for this. it's sure not me! this man's name is john bretza. he has a wife and a family, and a home with bills to pay, and it this were to go south, he would be looking for another job. and if you ever get a chance to meet him, please take a moment to shake his hand and tell him thanks. first, thanks for actually believing us. and second, for having the courage to break away from the pack and make this commitment to to quality. remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. the extra steps okuma has taken to make their reels more corrosion resistant are costing them some serious time and some serious money.

realistically, they are in this business to sell fishing reels. and if their reels do not sell, then this little excercise in quality can be considered a failure. remember that they measure sucess differently than we do. you know how easy it is for a restaurant to go broke serving the best food in town. same thing here. i believe that if okuma succeeds, we win. if they fail and these reels do not sell, then we go back to our garages, fixing one reel at a time........

wallacewt · February 09, 2012, 08:29:06 AM

i understand what your saying alan
if somebody ask me what reel should i buy,id ask are you a tanite?"whats a tanite"?.forget it,buy yourself a makaira se.no worries.if it suited his type of fishing of course.me, im a tanite.didnt you say last month your site had 500,000 hits.they had better listen,it may work with okuma,i hope it does,but for now ill do my own upgrades.

redsetta · February 09, 2012, 08:34:21 AM

Great post Alan - brings it all home.
I'm getting a Makaira 8II simpy because of this site (and Okuma's obvious commitment to Tani-style quality).
Cheers, Justin

Bryan Young · February 09, 2012, 02:38:47 PM

The commitment that Okuma has made to us consumers is very commendable. How many of the other reels manufacturers have offered a 5 year warrantee? How many have openly committed to greasing side plates, greased packed bearings,...? Every new reel that I have opened have only had grease around moving parts, greased bearings are 30% or less fill of grease, etc. But no worries, they did not commit to it, so no foul. But it seems like Okuma has publically made this commitment, and there are many who will open the reel and confirm it. With the social media available today, if they do not do what they say, it will be known, fast, and not in a localized area, but potentially worldwide. It's a big risk for Okuma on behalf of all of us reel techies.

If I an in the market for such reel, I'd be sure to look at Okuma. They are not the same reels of 5 years ago.

alantani · February 09, 2012, 07:16:24 PM

Quote from: wallacewt on February 09, 2012, 08:29:06 AM
i understand what your saying alan
if somebody ask me what reel should i buy,id ask are you a tanite?"whats a tanite"?.forget it,buy yourself a makaira se.no worries.if it suited his type of fishing of course.me, im a tanite.didnt you say last month your site had 500,000 hits.they had better listen,it may work with okuma,i hope it does,but for now ill do my own upgrades.

and i will continue to do my own reels as well. but remember that we are a tiny minority. most fishermen will not take the time to clean their reels, much less fully rebuild them. and through no fault of their own. this type of work is not for everyone. step back and think of where we were when we first started. think of the new guys that visit this site for the first time. the task of getting up to speed can be monumental. when tom hrynuik was working on his prototype squidder frame, he called out of the blue and asked if we could talk. he came over and we just yakked for a couple of hours. i recall him saying that he learned more from me in a few hours than he could have learned on his own in a few years. he also mention something about feeling like his head was about to explode as he was leaving.

the danger remains that all of this could still fail. if okuma cannot recoup their extra expenses, then no one else will follow suit. i'm sure that penn, daiwa, shimano and accurate are all watching this very carefully. it took some real courage for okuma to break away from the pack like this. it's a monetary risk that no one has been willing to take until now. they are throwing some awfully big dice!