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.
you don't find the innards have more parts then the avg 5500c3 abu?
For years my go to salmon reel was a Calcutta 401TE that worked flawlessly until it wore out. Unfortunately Shimano quit making parts.
I've been using a 300te for years, great reel
Quote from: pointbob on October 29, 2024, 01:22:43 PMyou 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.
great reel too bad shimano stopped making parts for those jewels.
one of my all time favorite personal reels is my 400TE