New reel

Utah Fishing Reports & Discussion Utah Fishing General
1

Dr. TubeDube did some surgery last week and mended a broken light weight spinning rod of mine. During the month or so the rod was out of commission, the reel it was married to felt lonely and started spending time with another rod. Now the mended rod is looking for a new partner.

I only want to spend $50-$60 max. Less would even be better. The Pflueger President, Shimano Sedona, and Okuma Expiror are all in that price range. It sounds like you can’t go wrong with a Shimano, I’ve read good things everywhere about the President (Pflueger’s that is). So I am really wondering about the Expiror. Both the President and Sedona are graphite frames while the Expiror is aluminum. The Expiror has 10 bearings, 6 more than the Sedona and the same number as the President.

I was leaning towards the President, but I am wondering if the Expiror is a better deal with the aluminum body? Anybody have experience with Okuma spinning reels?

2

I fish with the shimano on our lakes around here. I own an Okuma reel that I bought for chasing the tuna’s and yellowtail down in mexico. The one thing I don’t like is the drag, its not very smooth at all. I can feel the line being jerked out instead of a steady smooth pull. I personally would stick with the shimano, there’s a reason why the Okuma are cheaper than their counterparts with the same features. This is only my opinion.

3

I own several president reels. I think they are the best bang for the buck. I also have a couple shimano reels. The stradic is my personal favorite. But I have had only one okuma (I don’t remember the model) and the bail and side plate fell off during a striper boil at powell. If you are only wanting to spend 50-60 bucks I would go with the president reel. Hope this helps good luck.

4

If I were picking out of the ones you listed, I would probably go with the Pflueger as well.

5

I bought a presedent a few months ago and do really like it,
jed burton

6

Just Say No to Okuma. Garbage. Owned two briefly, got a refund for both, and have never talked to a happy Okuma owner.

You usually get what you pay for in a reel. I’d go with the Sedona for that price range, but don’t expect miracles or long durability.

7

the president. i sell more pflueger products at my work than all the other brands combined. I own a president and a trion. The stradic is the only shimano i would fish. but its $115 if i remember right. okuma is shi@#@$t.

8

I have Two Shimano Stradics and love them. I bought the first out of Cabela’s and paid a over a $100 dollars and then I found Ebay and bough the second for $65 brand new. I also have had a Sedona and it isn’t a bad real but compared to the Stradic there is a night and day difference with constant use. Like everyone has said you get what you pay for.

Later,

9

Thanks for all the input. $50-$60 isn’t a ton of money, but it is nice to have a venue like this to make sure it is money well spent.

10

Shimano has never let me down. I decided twice to trice something new (Daiwa) and got burned both times

11

For the the price range, and if you are fishing a light or ultra light rod I prefer to fish a Shimano Spirex. I like it because it is one of the few that you can buy a bottom drag reel that isn’t garbage. It also has a fighting drag range you can easliy set with in what ever range your main drag is in. Also it was a one finger “Quick Fire” casting set up which I really like. I haven’t been let down, in that price range it is the best I have fished…

Good luck

12

Pfleuger all the way!

13

Try the Shimano Symetre with the rear fighting drag lever…I’ve had one since they were first introduced…Great reel…No matter what you buy, spray it with a little reel magic every couple of trips and it will go twice as long.

14

check out cabelas prodigy or there tournament zx
the good thing about buying them is if they break just take it back…
there warranty’s kick butt

Take a look at abu garcia cardinal I got a couple friends with them there not bad at all…
Pen also makes an ok reel in that price range.

I like the quantum kinetic Pti its maybe few bucks more but its not bad at all.

15

Well, I guess I’ll be one that has a slightly different take on what seems to be popular opinion here.

I own 5 Okuma spinning reels(only 4 are still active). I also own quite a number of other spinning reels made by other manufacturers - 5 Abu Garcia(CD, Cardinal and T-Alloy), 2 Cabelas (don’t recall which off hand), 1 Daiwa(Regal), 2 Shimano(Sedona and Sahara) and 3 Shakespeare (somethings).

I’ve had 4 of the Okumas for 3+ years and one of them for 5 or so. I’ve had absolutely no problems with the 4 Okumas and they all have seen well over 100 days of fishing. However, they are the Baitfeeder versions that I use mostly for Carp and/or Catfish (when I use spinning gear for those fish). They cast very nicely and the drags on them are still smooth.

My oldest Okuma has had an issue and is no longer in my active reel arsenal. It got trampled and stampeeded by 400 pounds of rampaging hound that just had to try to catch a rather incredibly stupid jack rabbit that showed up on the bank right next to where I was fishing. The hounds were no worse for the wear but, there were a couple of sagebrush that didn’t do so well - don’t know about the jack rabbit, it probably scurried off and died of fright. I doubt though, that another reel would have faired any better under that onslaught of abuse - aluminum body or not. So, I don’t fault Okuma for that.

In your price range of $50-$60, Okuma could be a good option. But then, the others you mentioned might also - it will depend on you intended useage, how much action it will see, and how you treat it.

I will say this, if something unforseen and/or unfortunate were to happen to a reel in that price range, you will feel much less grief than if it were to happen to a reel that cost you 2 or 3 times more. Remember fishing, by nature, can be, in and of itself, hazardous and/or brutal on equipment.

The main thing is to take care of the reel and keep it well maintained and it can last. Neglect the basics, and you will see that no reel will continue to perform for very long. Also, try to keep in mind that spinning reels by design, are not as robust as casting or trolling reels and need to be protected from dropping, bumping, bouncing, slamming, dragging and most definitely kept out from underfoot.

I’ve not had a graphite body break, so, I don’t know whether or not the aluminum body would be too advantagious (my Abu Garcia T-Alloys are aluminum like the Okumas).

The 10 bearings may or may not make it any better than a reel with only 5 or 6. When I started fishing(oh, so many years ago), no reels had bearings that I know of, and, even today, I still have great reels (Penns) that work just fine and have none.

16

These little guys were caught on my Okuma Alumina. It is the baitcast version of the quality reel that you are about to purchase.

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These other ones were caught from deeper water on the Okuma Coronado CD50 spinning reel.

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I am working with a panel of 19 others across the US to make or brake whatever is out there made by Okuma.

There prices are so good for the general public. We are out there to find the defects so that they can improve the product and make it the best lower cost products on the market.

There are some nice changes going on as we progress with the spinning, baitcast and fly reels.

I just started the saltwater package too. I am still using my freshwater gear to catch hard fighting saltwater species.

Some of the improvements are subtle and the others are a little more drastic.

The people that say Okuma sucks or is such a bad product are not using it every day like I am. My job is to find out what is wrong with it or just do my best to break it under abnormal conditions.

Ask anyone around that has experience with Barracudas what one of them could potentially do to an 8lb rig. That is normally a “No go” situation. I happened to get a bigger fish on an 8lb setup than the rest of the boat caught with their 25 and 30lb rigs.

The trick is in setting the drag properly. I caught 27 Barracuda on that trip with the 8lb set up. The drag got plenty of use and abuse. The new material (secret for now) didn’t even have noticable wear.

That same reel caugt 21 LMBs and 49 Wipers just 2 days before. All the Bass and Wipers were in the 10 to 13lb range. No strain on the drag and no problems with the bearings.

I have gone through 27 different models of Okuma freshwater reels. Some are on the market and others will be out soon. I only broke 1 of them beyond repair.

I accidentaly hooked a large Yellow Tail on a 4lb rig. It hit too hard and too fast for the drags to work properly and exploded the reel. That was fun sending the report in for that one.

They weren’t the least bit worried since the reel was designed for 4 to 8lb, had already caught some 10lb Bass and then go abused on a 20 + pound fish.

Extreme fishing has it’s limits. I’m glad I had a lifetime warranty on the rod too because it snapped in a blink of the eye. The rod was not Okuma. I start the rod testing in the early Spring of 08.:sunglasses: