Best Reel Out There?

[LundBob]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the St. Croix AC300A. By far the best reel i've ever used. I have 2 of them and have beaten on them for 2 years and they never miss a beat. I've burned up so many Garcias over the years i finally just went ahead and spent the extra $100 and i'll never go back. When tuned right they never backlash,they cast a mile and at 5.1 ratio they are a perfect all around reel. Not oversized so it's comfortable to throw all day. You won't be sorry you spent the extra money.

[sbro73]

I believe the St.Croix reels are basically a Daiwa Millionare made for St Croix. With that said you may consider either a Daiwa Luna or the Shimano Calcutta TE,both excellent reels,with the Luna about $100 cheaper than the Calcutta TE!

[hanson]

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To add to Hanson's explanation:

Generally if the second number is a 5, it is a push-putton freespool, and if the second number is a 6, it is a thumb-bar freespool.

So, a 6500C3 has the button and a 6600C4 has a thumb bar.

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Ah dude! The missing piece to the puzzle. Learn something new everyday although I should have known that one.

[MUSKY18]

I was having the same problem, trying to decide what reel to put on a 8' St Croix. Just couldn't make up my mind until I spoke with Dick Pearson. He has been swearing by the 7000's for over twenty years, and says there are no other reels out there for pulling big lures without killing yourself. Convinced me to buy one. Ordered right off the Abu HSOforum, as they seemed to have the best price i could find.

[garage_logician]

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I have a similar rod and up til last week I would have told you to use an Abu Record but after a day of casting Big bucktails and then catching a mid 40 Musky something broke . It was a well cared for reel so I am to believe that it just couldn't hold up to the work . I wouldn't know what reel to recommend but I can't really recommend the Record . I just think that you should be able to get more than 20 or so uses out of a 160.00 reel .

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I hope it was a fluke. I looked at reels tonight at Cabelas and decided the Record was the reel for Muskies. I asked about the durability and reliability and was told that out of 200+ reels they sold last year they only had 4-5 come back. Anecdotal I know but I thought I would give one a shot. Spooled with some 80lb Tuff Line I am hoping to give it a workout this weekend. :-)

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Just an update, I managed to get out and use my new reel a bit this weekend. I did not hook into any monsters but did catch a couple in the 30-32 inch range. Of course the real (reel? :-) workout was burning cowgirls throughout the day.

On Saturday I used the reel as it came out of the box. Even with the 5.3.1 gear ratio it became a real workout to pull those cowgirls along. I loved everything about the reel but thought a power crank would do wonders. So, on Sunday I stopped at Cabelas and bought a couple of the Garcia cranks. Essentially it is the identical handle on the 7000.

After fitting one on the Record (and the other on a 6600) it was back on the water. Wow, what a difference. Everything about the reel felt better. The cowgirls just glide through the water with little to no effort. The slightly longer handle provide the additional needed leverage but I also could not believe the difference the large paddle made. It is awesome to have a substantial handle to get a grip on! I was a bit concerned that the new handle would make the reel feel bulky and/or would make it hard to burn those fast retrieves, both concerns were unfounded.

The irony in all of this is that when I bought my Record at first they gave me the High Capacity model which comes with the power handle (among other things). After looking at it I asked them for the other one instead (the non-hc I guess). The very next day I am back there spending another $16 for to get the handle that I would have had essentially for free with the other reel (both the hc and non-hc were the same price... I think).

So, in short I would highly recommend that anyone thinking about a new reel check out the Garcia power handle. They are ~$16 and may save you the cost of that new reel. I have them on all my Muskie rigs now and my fishing partners added them as well. I am really impressed. Love the reel, love the handle. Fantastic combo. Oh, and I also added a new 7'6" rod to my Muskie kit... just beautiful. Now I just need to find some big 'skies.... :-)

[RK]

Hiya -

Garage... I switch out the double paddle handles for power handles on all my 6000-size reels. As you say, makes a huge difference.

Someone asked about the difference between the 7000i and the 7000c3. The difference is bearings vs bushings on the end of the spool shaft. Practically speaking, you'll hardly notice any difference in performance between the two. I have several of both, and frankly, when you're tossing 1-6 oz baits, you aren't going to notice the difference at all.

That having been said, I, and many other long time 7000 users I know will say that the bushing reels stay smoother longer than the bearing versions. For what that's worth.

cheers,

Rob Kimm