Trolling Line Counter Reel Recommendations?

[NCLaker]

Looking to buy a new trolling reel - trying to decide between Shimano Tekota and Diawa Sealine LCA. Recommendations?

I tend to be a Shimano guy so don't mind spending the extra money.

Thanks!

[PerchJerker]

Tekotas are awesome reels if they're in your budget.

Sealines are great reels too, very popular and you really don't hear of any problems with them. I have several Sealines and only had a problem with one of them, which Daiwa quickly took care of under warranty.

I don't think you would go wrong with either of those choices!

[Cicada]

May depend on how much you plan on using them. In my case, I troll with them in July and August only. I have a Okuna and a Daiwa. The only two reels that I own that aren't Quantum. I have had nothing but good luck with both of them. They are smaller reels (less line) and on the lower end price wise.

[fishwater]

I have a pile of sealines, recently acquired 4 Tekota 300 reels. The Tekota's are nice, but honestly I would go with the Diawa unless you can find a deal, or are committed to Shimano.

Also, I found the LC17's are more accurate over a much wider range of line (length.) Sealines 17's are accurate within a couple of feet to about 300', the Tekota's are good to 200' barely. If you loose a bit of line, the smaller Tekota's will be out of whack faster.

[NCLaker]

Thanks for the feedback everyone ... here very good things about the quality of the Diawa Sealine drag.

Fishwater - interesting comments on the accuracy of the Sealine LC17 vs the Tekota 300LC. What line are you using on these? I assume your comments are based on using the same type of line on each and that both were filled completely for this comparison. If the Tekota accuracy is that sensitive, then that might be enough for me to lean towards the Sealine. Did you know if the accuracy thresholds are similar on the larger Sealines & Tekotas?

Anyone else run into this line count accuracy difference?

[MuskieJunkie]

Sealines 17's are accurate within a couple of feet to about 300'

Fishwater

Did you measure out that far? Did you use a football field?

Because of the way the reels work and the constantly changing gear ratio as line comes off(the reels count revolutions not the actual line) they can't be accurate at all lengths. I would think that would be uniform for all line counter reels, cheap or expensive, unless the reel is not working corectly and is mis counting the revolutions.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only guy who actually calibrates their reels

[NCLaker]

If my memory serves me right, I think the Sealine 17LC has a wider spool than the the Tekota 300LC. The narrower spool on this sized Tekota might be an explanation for the accuracy difference fishwater observed ... just a theory.

[fishwater]

Yeah, I have every 25' marked off for 300' in my back yard with stakes, pretty much leave it there all summer. I use sufix 20/6 on all my smaller counters. It's the spool width difference as NCLaker pointed out. LC27's are accurate over a huge range compared to the LC17s.

[2thepointsetters]

Okuma convector with the new drag are great and under half the price of the tekota. I have both diawa and okuma on the boat and I like the okuma convector the best.

[PerchPounder]

If it says Diawa on the side you can't go wrong. I can't say the same about Okuma though.

[james_walleye]

This might be a stupid question, im not sure if it was mentioned in sarcasm above or not, but is there a way to calibrate a line counter?

[fishwater]

I spool up enough backer so the reel is pretty full and with the spool still attached go test and see what it reads when I walk out 100'. When the backer reads right around 102' at 100', I put on about 350' of braided line after that. Usually that runs your braid in the approximate 100':100' over a good range with some extra line if you loose some.

[james_walleye]

Ya i've never used a line counter and i just bought a couple. I was wondering why it seemed like i had to let another 10-15 feet of line out over what the trolling guide was saying to get to where i needed to be. I just checked and when i let 8 feet of line out it says 10 feet.

[james_walleye]

Wow i was wondering why when i was trolling boards on the flats of Lake Pepin this past weekend that the line counters with the boards were catching alot less fish than the lines i had out the back. I just measured and at 50 feet my line counters said 65, at 75 feet it said 100, and at 100 feet it said 137. I was probably fishing my raps 3 feet off bottom and didnt know it. Well at least i know now. Glad i read through this post.

[Northlander]

Im running all Sealines. Mostly 27's but do have some 17's and 47's in the mix as well. I just found my $ was more wisely spent with the Diawa Sealines over any other linecounters. Only issue I have ever had with them is a bad clicker on 1. Diawa fixed it under warranty and only charged shipping.

The Shimano is nice but WAY over priced in my opinion. Like a lot of their reels.

[NCLaker]

Great info guys ... thanks again for the feedback!

[tacklejunkie]

I haven't used them but I heard that the line counters you snap on your rod are more accurate than line counters on reels. Anyone have any experience with these?

[NCLaker]

I've have the snap on counters now ... personally don't care for them. I think most of my troubles are due to the use of fireline. It is so thin and slippery that I have inconsistent success with the snap on type. Probably less of an issue if I were using Mono.

Fenwick has a pretty innovative line counter rod (Walleye Tech Elite) where the have a line counter built right onto the rod blanks. Haven't heard how well they work. Would have considered trying one myself but the rods they put them on would seem to be a little too soft for using deep diving cranks or lead core.

[MuskieJunkie]

I haven't used them but I heard that the line counters you snap on your rod are more accurate than line counters on reels. Anyone have any experience with these?

Yes they are more accurate becuase they actually count the line, but they are a delicate piece of equiptment, as stated if there's any line slip it's inacurate and the one I had only lasted a couple years.

[2thepointsetters]

If it says Diawa on the side you can't go wrong. I can't say the same about Okuma though.

Why?

What do you have to back that up?

The convector has more stainless parts inside than a tekota. I bet you already knew that though.

This is the gear on my boat. I had all diawa and now there are 4 left. The rest are okuma. And I guarentee they are used a lot harder than your walleye gear.

[2thepointsetters]

By the way a full diawa reads 116 when you have 125 feet of line out and a full convector reads 124 feet.