Salmon Reels

[The Man!]

So I am working on accumulating some equipment to troll for salmon next year, currently troll for walleyes most of the summer. Thinking of starting out with 6 rods/reels. I want to get the Okuma Convectors becuase we have had the Magda's for walleye trolling for a long time now and have worked great. So I am thinking of having 2 rigger rods, 2 braid dipseys, and 2 leadcores.

Question is should I get the 30's for riggers and dipseys and 45's for the leadcore? Or would you guys recomend something different.

thanks!

[Hotdog71]

I think you have a good idea fro your setup. I run Okuma 30's for my downrigger rods and 45's for my cores. They work fine but you need to watch the amount of backing you put on for the cores. Make sure you use a superline to insure you get enough backing, that's mainly a full core issue.

Hope it helps.

[Just Hook'n]

I too run 30Ds and 45Ls.

I love the idea of 45D though as you know how far each side is running.

This comes into play more for 3+ boards a side and REALLY comes in handy if you fish before the sun comes up.

Also I know it is a little more money, but I ran on Dirty Dog this year and it is awesome pulling in full core (or bigger) with 55Ls. They have a great retreive ratio.

[The Man!]

Well if a 55 would be better for the core thats what I guess I would want, whats a few dollars when your spending a few thousand right....

[plumkrazy]

Go with the 55 for the core you can run anything to 18 color with plenty of backing

[WoLFMaN]

I don't mean to open a can of worms and start a reel debate, but it needs to be addressed.

Have you considered upgrading to some Penn's, or Diawa's? A king will smoke your drag a lot harder than a walleye. I understand it may not be economical for your situation to upgrade, and that's completely understandable. Ebay or your local craigslist is a great way to pick up high quality reels on the cheap.

Invest a little more now and save a bundle later when you don't have to outfit a second time a few years down the road.

[pulpfishin]

We've ran Okuma's for years with no problems. Use Shimano Charter Specials for the rigger rods, but everything else is Convectors. 55's for full cores are awesome! We also have a 55 spooled with 450' of copper, again awesome! You will not be dissapointed if you take care of them!

[1mainiac]

I agree with Pulpfishing I would love to have the Charter specials for rigger rods they are probably the best reels ever made for riggers. TLD 2000 is a bad A$$ reel I have also ran Okuma reels for years no issues they are hard to beat for price to value. Most of the Penn's have to slow of ratio Shimano's are too pricey and if you want to spend more Okuma makes better reels than the Convector. If money is not a problem head over to some of the Saltwater sites where they pay 500 to 700 for a budget reel. I would love a set of Okuma Titus 50W's for big copper setups but the nearly 400 bucks list makes me back up. There are a lot of 2 speed reels that would be cool to have as well if I could afford it all my reels would be lever drag less chance of someone messing up the drag since max drag is preset they can't go past the max drag you set. SO if someone gets a screamer going you can let them push it to max drag with confidence knowing they can't turn it too far and break your gear.

[Nailer]

Question is should I get the 30's for riggers and dipseys and 45's for the leadcore?

thanks!

Yes...

[Paulywood]

I actually prefer the Okuma Convector's for core over other reels. They have a large, comfortable handle and good retrieve ratio. You can also have Tuna Tom upgrade the gears to a better retrieve ratio, I think 6.2:1. Not sure on the cost. All of my core reels are Convector's.

[The Man!]

One more question, what about getting say the 45's for the downrigger and dipsey rods, would it matter? Is going bigger better, they are the same price so just wondering

[j1musser]

One more question, what about getting say the 45's for the downrigger and dipsey rods, would it matter? Is going bigger better, they are the same price so just wondering

If ya go bigger ya gotta fill em up or they will not be accurate on the counters and will take alot more cranks on the reel to get the same amount of line either way. Make sure u get the line counters at least on the dipsy rods.

I LOVE my Convector 30 for wire dipsy and 55 for big copper/ leadcore. The big handles rock too.

I have a bunch of Magda Pros and Classic Pros that were very economical and have all held up for leadcore and copper for me. The drags are not near as nice and i understand they wont last as long as others but they have reeled in some nice fish for me. Not a huge fan of them for riggers and definitely not for dipsy. If i had the money they would all be convectors or i guess for that matter tekotas. Just my .02 but im a weekend warrior too.

[killerbe20]

you are going to get so many different opinions on this subject.

you have to figure out what is the best buy for your budget. i think for the most part the common consensuses is that the 30 series or similar is good for downriggers, dipsys, and high boards and the 45 or 55 is good for cores and coppers. I personally like the 55's for cores and coppers because i run 45lb mono for backing and need the larger capacity.

[SUPERTRAMP]

The convector CV45l and CV 55l are great reels I use the 45's for my lead core set ups and the 55's for 200 and 300 copper setups they handle it all and have been durable and the drags always perform well. My rigger reels are the Diawa45LC and I use them for any cores up to a 7 color they work really well.

[Side JOB]

I think the only reel with 6.2 : 1 is the clarion not the convector I may be wrong? But i have a clarion with 15 colors and love it.

[Paulywood]

Stock the retrieve ratio of a Convector is around 4.2:1 (I think). But they can be upgraded to the same ratio as a Daiwa Saltist, which is 6.2:1 (I think). I plan on getting a couple of copper setups this winter and was planning on using a 55 Convector with the upgraded gears. But I will have to look at the Clarion now:)

[mayvillemark]

clarions have a 5.1 to 1 and saltist go all the way up from 5.1to1, 6.1to1 or 6.4to1 and okuma contoura have a 6.2 for the 30 and 45 or 7.1 for the 20

[mayvillemark]

the new 2 speed saltist go all the way up to 7.3 to 1 http://www.daiwa.com/Reel/detail.aspx?id=566 but they are $250