What reels to leave behind with Costa Rica panga fishermen?

[SoCalAngler]

For they type of fishing your talking about I would look at some TLD 20 or 25's. Just upgrade the drag washer and your good to go. Their in the price range brand new even with the upgraded drags. They take a pretty good beating and a single speed should be fine for what your talking about IMO.

[Alto Mare]

I would stay away from graphite. From what you've described, in my opinion  the 113h would be the top chice.
Upgrades on these reels are endless, you just won't find a better reel for the money.  You should be able to find a 113H for less than $100 and able to fish it right out of the box, with just minor tweaking. Some of the upgrades are : narrow, standard and wide. You could also add two ss dogs, Alan's ss sleeve and power handle. These upgrades should still keep it around $200. The Baja is a nice reel, but having the floating spool means more parts to fail, I personally like my 113H tank better. Good luck with whatever you decide. Sal

[broschro]

I would stay away from graphite. From what you've described, in my opinion  the 113h would be the top chice.
Upgrades on these reels are endless, you just won't find a better reel for the money.  You should be able to find a 113H for less than $100 and able to fish it right out of the box, with just minor tweaking. Some of the upgrades are : narrow, standard and wide. You could also add two ss dogs, Alan's ss sleeve and power handle. These upgrades should still keep it around $200. The Baja is a nice reel, but having the floating spool means more parts to fail, I personally like my 113H tank better. Good luck with whatever you decide. Sal

x 2

[Westii]

Thanks for the input, guys.  It is much appreciated.  My plan for today is to contact a couple of American charter boats captains that fish in the area I will be going and ask them for their thoughts on reel selection for the panga guys.  I'll post the responses from them once I hear back.

[Westii]

I was looking at the 113h this morning and noticed that it too has a graphite frame.  I know it has stainless steel frame rings, but do you think the 113h is significantly stronger than something like the TLD 20 or TLD star 2040?

[alantani]

i don't know about relative strengths, but for any of these reels you likely have to go above 20 pounds of drag to put the frame at risk. 

[SoCalAngler]

Yes and arn't they already using the TLD's? Seems like a no brainer to me, new reels with an already parts supply from the old reels. Also these guys are in Costa Rica it's not like their going to upgrade the reels, unless you do it for them before hand. Do people think that their going to jump on the web, order parts with their credit card and have stuff shipped to them?

[Alto Mare]

I was looking at the 113h this morning and noticed that it too has a graphite frame.  I know it has stainless steel frame rings, but do you think the 113h is significantly stronger than something like the TLD 20 or TLD star 2040?

You're right, the newer models comes with a graphite frame. Sorry, I wasn't specific enough. If you take a peak at 
at my reels here, you will notice that all have the tiburon frame, this is why I mentioned narrow, standard and wide. I'm not crazy about graphite, but as Alan mentioned, I'm sure that they're just fine if fished within their limits.

[doradoben]

SoCalAngler makes some good points. Years ago, when my son was younger, we would go to the east cape of baja every summer. I'd leave the locals hooks, monofiliment line, swivels, zuker lures, etc. These items were all much harder to get than here. The standard bait (mack) casting outfit was a Penn 113h on a 7ft. rod. New 113h's with 50 lb. mono cost around $100. Long lasting, easy to service & would be highly prized by the locals. I think it's important to not loose sight of the fact that these are simple, indigenous, bait fishermen... they aren't fishing from the deck of a large, long range San Diego sportboat, so they don't need Tib frames, hollow spectra or trick parts. 

[Bryan Young]

If they need an 80# outfit, I would suggest 6/0s with Penn Aluminum frames.

[Alto Mare]

SoCalAngler makes some good points. Years ago, when my son was younger, we would go to the east cape of baja every summer. I'd leave the locals hooks, monofiliment line, swivels, zuker lures, etc. These items were all much harder to get than here. The standard bait (mack) casting outfit was a Penn 113h on a 7ft. rod. New 113h's with 50 lb. mono cost around $100. Long lasting, easy to service & would be highly prized by the locals. I think it's important to not loose sight of the fact that these are simple, indigenous, bait fishermen... they aren't fishing from the deck of a large, long range San Diego sportboat, so they don't need Tib frames, hollow spectra or trick parts. 

Good point, doradoben. You're right, SoCalAngler also makes a good point. This is what it's all about, we talk about and at the end he gets the right reel...I think

[Norcal Pescador]

I have to agree with the rest of the 113H crowd. Simple-to-maintain is good. Basic workhorse is good. I guess if I was going to gift a reel it would be a 113H with a S/S gear sleeve, extra HT-100's and bearings. Extras like hooks, line and lures would be nice, too.
My 2 cents.

[redsetta]

I have to agree with the rest of the 113H crowd. Simple-to-maintain is good. Basic workhorse is good.

x2
Also agree re: the upgraded TLD star 15/30 or 20/40 (or 3GT/4GT) for everyday inshore use.
Cheers, Justin

[Westii]

This is exactly the type of discussion I was hoping to get from this forum.   My current thinking is that I really can't go wrong if I bring down a selection of TLD's (maybe 20's), 113h's, and TLD stars with some extra parts for everything.  I'm thinking that this should cover the vast majority of what these guys fish for every day and should serve them well for quite a while.

I'm still waiting for advice from some American charter boat captains operating in that area.

Thanks again guys.

[alantani]

when you are getting a recommendation about a reel on this board, it is from a man that has actually cracked that reel open.  probably several dozen times.  that's one of the nice things about this board.