Surprisingly clean.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I've heard it said more than a few times that a Calcutta is not suited for surf fishing because it's too finicky of a reel and easy to screw up. Well I love a challenge. My Calcutta 250 probably sees the hardest and dirtiest use out of all my reels. It's primarily fished at the beach and wading, it has been splashed more times than I can remember, submerged at least once, and dropped in the sand at least twice. But I'm hardcore about rinsing, sometimes rinsing multiple times while fishing if I'm taking a break for a bit.

I think during that time it's caught a wider variety of species than any other reel I own but I'd have to spreadsheet that to prove it. It was still running smooth but I expected it to be FILTHY inside. It was not. Aside from some discolored grease on the drive shaft I could hardly tell it had seen any action. Tested freespool before disassembly, no loss at all from when I first put the (hybrid) ceramics in.

This is the second time I've serviced the reel. The first time I was scared because everyone talks about how tricky Shimano baitcasters are. So the previous time I basically greased the main and the pinion and left all the rest of the mechanism alone.

This time I'm a lot braver. And frankly there was nothing to be scared of. Inside, it's just a regular baitcaster. Nothing spooky.

The takeaway: grease the metal and moving parts and rinse often, and any reel is a good surf reel.

Forgive me if the pics aren't all that interesting.

[pointbob]

you don't find the innards have more parts then the avg 5500c3 abu?

[Keta]

For years my go to salmon reel was a Calcutta 401TE that worked flawlessly until it wore out.  Unfortunately Shimano quit making parts.

[Swami805]

I've been using a 300te for years, great reel

[JasonGotaProblem]

you don't find the innards have more parts then the avg 5500c3 abu?

It might be worth counting. I suspect it's fairly close because there's definitely no clear winner there.

[steelfish]

great reel too bad shimano stopped making parts for those jewels.

one of my all time favorite personal reels is my 400TE