which reel?

YUMMER · January 12, 2011, 10:35:16 PM

....for t riggin or jiggin

Dug · January 13, 2011, 05:49:33 AM

none on your list is "the best" and because there are so many applications in fishing, the best for one may not be the best for another. What is your primary fishing method?

Of those listed on your poll, I think I would pick the Quantum Smoke to go on my pole.

Dug

willthebad · January 13, 2011, 11:39:48 AM

The JM Sig Gold series has the highest rated ball bearings out of all of them. If I'm not mistaken the only other class 5 german bearings used are on space shuttles...Least that was the case when the reel originally came out...

Dan1962 · January 13, 2011, 03:26:54 PM

For the same price as a President you could buy a Shimano Curado 200E which i take any day over any of the reel you have listed the one reel you have listed i would never own or buy is Pinnacle

DBrooke · January 13, 2011, 03:50:34 PM

Quote from: Dan1962 on January 13, 2011, 03:26:54 PM
For the same price as a President you could buy a Shimano Curado 200E which i take any day over any of the reel you have listed the one reel you have listed i would never own or buy is Pinnacle

Yeah, I'd take the Curado 200E series over any other reel up there.

bassn1 · January 13, 2011, 04:55:51 PM

Myself. I use all Quantum PT's. Just personal preference.

nuke · January 14, 2011, 10:17:21 AM

As stated, you don't mention specifically what for. "Best" should be striken from the forum.

I own a Quantum PT and the old and new Shimano Curados. The Quantum is prettier but the Curado out-performs it.

stock28 · January 16, 2011, 07:24:21 AM

Another vote for the Curado E series. All I use now and have nothing but good to say about them.

JMGullo · January 16, 2011, 07:30:42 AM

Curado here!!

Fishes-Daiwa · January 19, 2011, 01:56:41 PM

Quote from: willthebad on January 13, 2011, 11:39:48 AM
The JM Sig Gold series has the highest rated ball bearings out of all of them. If I'm not mistaken the only other class 5 german bearings used are on space shuttles...Least that was the case when the reel originally came out...

all my reels have ABEC7's or 9's Bearings in them... Abec5's arent nothing special but are a nice stock bearing as most companies use ABEC3's on the spool... The old Daiwa bearings with the Gold seals are IMHO the best bearings to ever be installed in a reel from the factory... those things flushed and some TG Rocket Yellow label in them will out free spool Boca orange seals with ease.... I would guess they are SS ABEC7's Orange Seals are ABEC7's to and Free spool really well but the Daiwa bearings are awesome..

Ide find me a mint condition Used Daiwa SOL for about 160-170.00 and it will out perform any of those with ease and is just a very nice reel that will do many things well...I own 9 Alphas family reels (The SOL is a tuned down slightly heavier model of the JDM Alphas in case you didnt know) I do have one SOL and its a heck of a little reel and performs a lot like the Alphas 103 (Purple one) just weighs 1oz more and thats saying something because the Alphas is an amazing machine... its ultra compact and palms super easy.. and with a Carbontex Drag upgrade the reel becomes a monster, the stock drag is good and smooth but does like a little power like all Daiwa drags but is very refined... I do drag upgrades in all my reels.. you can get Drag washers for like 5-6 bucks from smoothdrags.com..

another reel that is pretty nice and I have a few of them that are on guest rods so when people come out with me they get to use a pretty nice reel is a Daiwa Advantage 153HSTA you can get them NIB for about 145-150 on the bay and they are what I would call a poor mans Zillion lol..

You also can get some awesome deals on a Daiwa Fuego (Poor mans TD-Z)
I bought a bunch of them when Tacklewearhouse had them on close out I bought a gift card that was 10% off and then bought them during a 15% off sale so I saved 25% off the already stupid low price I believe i was paying around 80 bucks each I also bought, Three 6.6MHF, Five 7MHF, Three 7.6 flipping sticks, two Casting 6.6 ML XXF SST Drop shot models, One 6.6MHF Spinning rod, One 6.10ML XXF SST spinning rod and One 6.3MLXXF SST Spinning rod. with Discount of 25% I was getting the rods at like 68 dollars each. The sale there and Ohya have brought the price of the Fuego and Cielo down HUGE so you can get them as wildly low prices..

The SOL would make you a fine reel as I said and one that is a VERY good caster and can go low on lure weight without problems. The Fuego will make a reel that will cover a larger range of lures then the SOL and can still cast light lures fairly but not as good as the SOL but will handle heavier lures better and has a higher IPT and even with the higher GR and IPT still feels more powerful when cranking high resistance lures. I super tuned some of the Fuego's just to do it and had a few Painted, Throw on a upgraded drag and some ABEC9's on the spool, Super tune and polish the internals and I put Ize factory Zillion PE HL spools on them and they are a reel that will compete with any.. I did this to three of them and they have spots on the boat full time the others are just sitting in the tackle room and never been taken out of the box. Stock with a bearing upgrade on a NRX 802C they will cast 5 grams and up pretty well, with the Zillion PE HL spool I it will cast 3 grams and up with ease and with a 3/8oz lipless bait I can spool it with ease using 20# Daiwa braid.. The PE spool is shallow but still holds a good amount of that 20# braid and the Daiwa stuff is ultra thin so that tells you how long it can cast.. I know me saying all this is FAR from needed but I just want you to know what you can do with the reels...

With all the others you are more less stuck with only being able to upgrade the bearings and drags... If you go the Daiwa route you can DO MUCH MORE!!!

Say you was wanting to spend 200ish on a reel, and you go with a Fuego that you can find NIB for 100-120 bucks and you buy you a set of ABEC7 SS bearings at 20 bucks ceramics will be around 30, a Drag upgrade at 6 bucks and you can pick up a HLC PE or normal HLC spool (The HL PE spool is VERY shallow the HLC spool holds a lot of line, if using braid the PE spool holds plenty of line and casts lighter lures better) and can be had for right around 100 bucks.. so with bearings, drag, spool and reel you are right around 230 for a reel that will FAR out perform anything spoke of in this listing and you can have a reel that is very high tier for under 250 dollars.. I fish MANY MANY super high end very Limited and hard to find tuned to the max reels and for THREE of these reels to have a spot on the boat is really saying something about what this reel can be... it is a good reel stock that fishes and is a true value for what it can be had for now days.. with a little tuning it can become a reel that FAR out fishes its price tag even after what it cost to mod... I will say this tho.. I fish my reels setup like this Spool Tension set to apply NO break just to stop side to side play, and on most reels mag breaks set at 0-3 and thats lower then most people can handle however on the HLC spool I will set it 5 to 7 as that spool is touchy and harder to cast but will reward you will stupid long casts if you can handle it.. the PE HC spool is very easy to handle and 1-2 is plenty of breaking for me.

If you want a super long casting reel go with a Fuego W/ ABEC7's and the Ize HLC spool and you will be amazed with what that combo can do. if you want a fine reel at a good price and want to leave it stock go with the SOL, if you want a mod'ed monster do what I just said with a Fuego.

Sorry for the long post I just want to throw some Ideas out there and give him a way to have a reel that performs past great at a "Low" Price. Also if you have never fished a TD-Z, Zillion or Fuego you will fall in love with how they feel in your hand... They are the most comfortable frame you will ever fish, nothing else comes close.

Camden · January 19, 2011, 04:17:51 PM

its gonna depepnd on alot of factors. what tech your using. your fishing style and what kind of conditions it will be used in. i dont think you can say any one reel is the "best" otherwise it would be the only reel made.
everyone is gonna be loyal to a certain brand. curadohass a very loyal following and for good reason. i know there are a couple of us that are very happy with pinnacle reels and some that love the abu revo.
best thing is to narrow down what the reel is gonna be used for and then go from there.

Dug · January 20, 2011, 06:26:20 AM

Quote from: Fishes-Daiwa on January 19, 2011, 01:56:41 PM
all my reels have ABEC7's or 9's Bearings in them... Abec5's arent nothing special but are a nice stock bearing as most companies use ABEC3's on the spool... The old Daiwa bearings with the Gold seals are IMHO the best bearings to ever be installed in a reel from the factory... those things flushed and some TG Rocket Yellow label in them will out free spool Boca orange seals with ease.... I would guess they are SS ABEC7's Orange Seals are ABEC7's to and Free spool really well but the Daiwa bearings are awesome..

Ide find me a mint condition Used Daiwa SOL for about 160-170.00 and it will out perform any of those with ease and is just a very nice reel that will do many things well...

(edited for brevity)

Sorry for the long post I just want to throw some Ideas out there and give him a way to have a reel that performs past great at a "Low" Price. Also if you have never fished a TD-Z, Zillion or Fuego you will fall in love with how they feel in your hand... They are the most comfortable frame you will ever fish, nothing else comes close.

On this I have to agree, though of all the Daiwas, my preference is on my peak tuned Pixy, with Abec 9 bearings, upgraded drag, handle etc, but this get's way expensive.... I started out higher end on Shimano, but once I had a few Daiwa's in hand, I really haven't picked up any of my Curados, though all have been supertuned.