I'm thinking of a (preferably round framed) baitcaster sized reel for fishing 25-30 pound braid. I want to use it for the slow-jigging type snapper jigging like the Shimano Lucanus. It would need to reliably handle ~10 lbs of drag, with a dependable anti-reverse system. Gear ratio needs to stay around 5:1 to have some pulling power.
I have an old 6500 sized Ambassaduer Royal Express reel. I doubt it would deliver that kind of drag, or hold up if I tried. There's several choices if I could spend enough money, but I need to keep this below $80 or it's not going to happen.
Suggestions for used reels are ok with me; I haven't been burned on ebay for a while.
Impossible?
I like my Abu 6500c3 with 20# braid and 8# of drag.
Quote from: Bryan Young on September 07, 2013, 03:55:51 AM
I like my Abu 6500c3 with 20# braid and 8# of drag.
Eight pounds is a lot! Might not be enough for bottom fish on a reef, though.
Then maybe the shimano tranx trinidad guts in a larger baitcaster reel.
I usually use 50# braid on my baitcasters. If nothing else it's easier to deal with than the smaller stuff. I like the Calcutta TE300 for bottom fishing and it'll get 10# of drag. No problem bringing up big Reds from 250'.
A Tranx or Calcutta for $80? You are not going to get lots of drag in a casting reel that can bottom fish for $80. Not even used, well used. A new 6500C3 has 15lb. of drag, it $100. Don't imagine too many folks are bottom fishing a reef with one though!
Thanks for the replies. The sh manos are out of my reach, plus I've decided to never buy a reel from them ever again.
How about a millionaire? The s-300 can be bought new on eBay for about $80.
Oops, I didn't notice the $80 limit! I don't know if you can find a Daiwa CVX253 or300 used for $80 but they have Jigmaster drags and probably get 10# of drag. An older Shimano Catala 300 probably does about 10# too. You could find one for $80.
The Millionaire started out so many years ago as a copy of the Ambassadeur. The current 2 low end models, one of which has a graphite frame wouldn't be any better than a new C3. The C3 would offer you a little more drag too.
shimano tr100g. you can find on ebay for $30.00 or new for $69.00. I use for salmon 15lbs mono. for trolling stripers & halibut I use 40lb test power pro. I've caught 30+lbs, mean, fish on those reels. ...of course I've serviced and put Alan's big assed handles on them
I fish and love a Diawa Millionaire CV-x 300. Jigmaster drags, great gear ratio and one piece aluminum frame. I don't know why they get sold short, but it means you can get a used one in your price range. I've caught WSB, calico bass, both left coast halibuts and ling cod (admittedly the pacific halibut was a chicken and the ling was maybe 25#s). Can't say enough good things about it.
Ron
Sorry, I forgot about the $80. I was thinking of the drags you will need.
I don't think the million will be strong enough even with the jigmaster drags. Most reels in a bait caster size will be around 8#of drag before sone type of failure...probably the gears.
Any baitcaster's AR bearings will eventually get roached if you're running 10#s of drag. At ten pounds of drag, ALL levelwind pawls will commit suicide on snags eventually or the plastic idler gear's teeth will look like a meth addict's smile. Small reels are fun, but for bottom fishing, you're going to want to be using 40-60lb. leader purely for abrasion resistance. If you can't do it with 8#s of drag, I would consider moving up to a reel where it's maximum drag is above the required drag range for longevity and non-levelwind. 10lbs. of drag will eat up brass pinion and main gears eventually. I can't even run 10lbs of drag on my Avets and haven't had problems with 8lbs of drag on them for 40#albies and 60 class seabass. My Revo Inshore at 8lbs. is starting to see the early stages of main gear wear and fishing it for groundfish has not helped. I've set it aside for lighter duties and for jigging squid.
What you are describing is an Avet SX or MX, depending on the amount of line you need, but they don't fit your price range. You could look at the Shimano TRN series (as suggested above) or a TLD Star. The TLD cost around $110 new but can be had much cheaper used. There's a 20/40 on ebay sitting at $25 right now, but I like the 15/30 best. Check Alan's review on it. The TRN's are much cheaper and have a level wind, depending on your view of level winds,so they should be an option
OK, crazy idea here...I hope it doesn't get me kicked off the forum! :o
Here goes:
How about I fish with a reel that I... ALREADY OWN!
I know, that's crazy talk! Please don't kick me out!
Seriously, I have a Penn 970. If I remember correctly, those old Magpower series reels had 112H drags. I have a full set of them. The smaller two were really twenty pound reels; I fished with the wide 980 and larger 990. I didn't own the 970 until a couple of years ago.
I never pushed the 980 over 25 lb test; probably topped out at 8 lbs of drag.
This 970 should deliver 8-12 lbs safely before the frame becomes an issue, don't you think?
Don't they have a full metal frame? And a used international baitcastr would work if you could find one for a good price, or even a penn 9 with aluminum spool. I have an extra aluminum spool for one, pm me if you want it or need parts
You need a good second hand ABU 7000.
The frames on the magpower reels aren't one piece metal. They have spacers instead of chrome posts, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to push one too hard. I've never fished my 990 over about 10 lbs of drag.
An ambassador 7000 sounds good.
While we're on the subject, I see some two speed ambassadors come up on ebay occasionally. Are these any good for anything more than a collectable?
The 970 frame is the same as any other stamped Penn frame with clamp holes. People run Jigmasters and Senators much higher than 10 pounds of drag. I believe it was Sal who was finally able to make one fail at 22 pounds. 15 pounds sounds reasonable. The reel has 113H drags, so 15 pounds is easy to get. The 7000 Abu has the same style frame, or at least all the ones I've seen do, so I don't know why the stand is the concern. The 970 uses a 60 post to replace the bars, so it is a 2/0 width reel with a clamp, sounds about perfect. You can put a stainless gear sleeve in it and a nice arm and handle.
I'd hot rod your 970 and fish the pee out of it.
Ron
Quote from: noyb72 on September 09, 2013, 04:52:18 AM
The 970 frame is the same as any other stamped Penn frame with clamp holes. People run Jigmasters and Senators much higher than 10 pounds of drag. I believe it was Sal who was finally able to make one fail at 22 pounds. 15 pounds sounds reasonable. The reel has 113H drags, so 15 pounds is easy to get. The 7000 Abu has the same style frame, or at least all the ones I've seen do, so I don't know why the stand is the concern. The 970 uses a 60 post to replace the bars, so it is a 2/0 width reel with a clamp, sounds about perfect. You can put a stainless gear sleeve in it and a nice arm and handle.
I'd hot rod your 970 and fish the pee out of it.
Ron
Hot rod the 970. Sounds good, especially since Alan is putting an order together for me this morning. ;D
I'll send him a message.
If you send me the AR dog I can have a SS one cut.
Quote from: Keta on September 09, 2013, 01:31:19 PM
If you send me the AR dog I can have a SS one cut.
Sounds good. I have a 980, which is a wide version of the 970. I can pull the dog from that reel to mail. If it's different, I should send the 990 dog too.
If you can live without them for a few weeks, I will get them back to you as soon as possible.
Quote from: Keta on September 10, 2013, 01:04:01 AM
If you can live without them for a few weeks, I will get them back to you as soon as possible.
It doesn't look like it matters how long it's going to take. My revised schedule for September and October just blew up any chance of fishing this fall.
I just keep telling myself that I am lucky to have a job. A recent study by the American Veterinary Medical Association put the number of surplus full time vets at over 13, 000.
Our large animal vet is supper busy.
To bad they don't send some of the surplus vets to Detroit to humanely dispose of the feral dog problem they have there. Thanks for the vinegar/feet trick, my boys are nuts on their feet this time of year.
Floating doc, Did you try to put new abu carbon drag washers in that old ABU 6500 of yours? The new ones (up to size 6500) are all rated for 15# drag so I gues that 10# should be a nice figure for the reel. Most of the new ones have dual anti reverse.
I happen to have a very old (30 years) 6000 that is still working perfectly although this old one has no carbon dragwashers and I have a new 6500 record that has carbon drag washers and has significant more drag.
Your limit of 80 bucks is pushing it. Second hand 7000 might be an option, they have 20 # drag and dual anti reverse.
My 6500 is one of the Royal Express models. I think they were sold by Bass Pro Shops. I put Smoothie washers in about 25 years ago.
I may look for a good deal on a 7000. No hurry. :'(
I have a couple of 6500's with carbon fiber drag's and 10# of drag is feasible. I use them with 30# braid and a 30# topshot for trout and reds in Texas.
It's great how this discussion has wrapped around to the original topic again. I'm going to put some greased CF washers in my old reel. It's already spooled with braid. The line's about 5 or 6 years old, but hasn't been out much. I think it's 25.