type of reels

[jimcr]

Looking to see how many of you use Tekotas , or Clairon, or Convector or others. I am looking for the good ,bad and the ugly for each.

[Salmon Assassin]

I fish Connvectors and LOVE them. For the price they are a solid reel. I am picking up some Clarions over the winter for my copper and full color set ups.

[Nailer]

I have both the Convectors, and Tekotas. For the money, the convectors can't be beat.

[Paulywood]

Same as Ken. I use Tekota's for wire and Convectors for pretty much everything else.

[1 old guy]

Convectors all the way. Can't beat the price and a very solid reel.

[mattmishler]

We run penn 320s for riggers and really like, convectors on the other 30 rods. I was told by a buddie who fixes reels in manistee and he said that the convectors are the best build reel he's seen, he dosent like like tekota and we dont like the price tag.

[fishsniffer]

run daiwa sg47lca on riggers and convector and magdas everywhere else..as the magdas fail(which isnt often actually)ive been replacing them with convectors..

[fishsniffer]

a note on the daiwa reels....i hated them till i put on the power handles...couldnt believe the difference that made...

[mattmishler]

a note on the daiwa reels....i hated them till i put on the power handles...couldnt believe the difference that made...

i almost would have rather reeled in a 10 color rather than fight a fish on them, we did go to a power handle we just reel drilled them.

[JWheeler]

I have been happy with my penn reels. Looking to pickup some 320's for short core and maybe riggers. 209's right now. 330 will hold 250' of 45# copper and sufficient braid as backing. we got 390' of 45# CU onto a penn 340 GTI.

[sherman51]

i have some of the convectors, and they are a great reel for the money. but for just alittle more money i like my daiwa sg17lca,s. i did switch to the power handles also. makes a huge difference. i also have some of the daiwa accudepth plus reels. and for the price i cant complane about them.

i,ve never used the tekota,s but i,ve only heard good things about them. i just couldnt justify the cost.

sherman

[SUPERTRAMP]

The Convector CV55 is a great reel for copper and long lead core setups, I use Penn line counters and have found the Cabelas line counters very effective for short cores and downriggers. The Tekotas are out of my price range.

[Salmon Assassin]

I heard that you can upgrade the drags on the CV55's so they are as fast as Clarions. The tekotas are too out of the price range I want to spend on reels. I got a deal last year and got 12 convectors for $60 each. Took a dent out of the fishing account but hey the cheapest part of salmon fishing is buying the boat!

[jerryriggin]

tuna tom can upgrade the cv55s but he sells them for 124.99 upgraded and the clarion is 129.99.

ive got catalinas for divers. clarions convectors magdas and penns for core and copper. and accu depth plus for riggers.

[Line Dancin]

tuna tom can upgrade the cv55s but he sells them for 124.99 upgraded and the clarion is 129.99.

ive got catalinas for divers. clarions convectors magdas and penns for core and copper. and accu depth plus for riggers.

Toms will NOT upgrade your reels anymore to the high speed gears i talked to them last week and was told "Just buy the ones on the site". I dont need more reels just the ones i have upgraded and they will not do it.

[Pioneer]

While new gears on a CV-55 give you a bigger ratio you will not get the 53" per crank as a high speed Clarion, get the 553LS, makes copper a breeze.

[jimcr]

I heard that you can upgrade the drags on the CV55's so they are as fast as Clarions. The tekotas are too out of the price range I want to spend on reels. I got a deal last year and got 12 convectors for $60 each. Took a dent out of the fishing account but hey the cheapest part of salmon fishing is buying the boat!

You can say that again , I wonder how much I have in gear, including rods , reels, spoons , flashers flies, riggers, probes,cannon ball, locators,and don't forget self inflating life jackets. Nets , rod holders, rod trees, planer boards .Seams like every time I go to the store its another 100.00 .

[fishy1]

I have used them all but the okuma catalina is my reel of choice best drag system of all reels mentioned the tekotas second but they are not ergonomiclly designed if you pump the rod in fighting a fish and use the fore grip the line counter smacks your wrist everytime just my 2 cents

[prop nut]

I hate to waste money

I have had a lot of different reels ove the last 40 years of fishing lake michigan

I never wanted to spend the extra money on the Shamano reels

but any more i have learned the hard way. They cost more up front and last a lot longer in the end cost less

certainly i dont hear much that actually works better

i have some reels that work better aftre the first year when the draggs are properly broke in

other reels are jsut as good or even better for a while

time tiells the story on quality costruction

If a reels need to be rebuilt after a couple years all of a sudden the savings of a just as good less expensive reels are gone

There are going to be some exceptions to all of this for example

although i have some diawa 47h reels rebuilt one time after 15 years of hard use these today are still as good as any reel on the boat

other than cleaning and lube the last ten years i have yet to need to have a shamano tekota rebuilt can not say the same for a list of others

long story short version

pay a little extra for the shamano reels

in the long run you will not regret it

just my 00.02

[killerbe20]

I am currently running all the Okuma series reels. As mentioned before, I do not believe there is a better reel for the price than the Convectors. The Clarions and Catalinas are definitely a step above the Convectors when it comes to their drags and overall smoothness of the reels.

I have a half dozen of the Convector 55s with the upgraded gear ratios. It is nice to have the long lines reeled in faster but it also seems to put more torque on the other end of the line. After a full season of fishing them, I am still not sure if I like that especially with 90% of my fish being reeled in by customers. Maybe the Clarions are a bit better.

I have spent a lot of time fishing on boats with Tekotas. They are awesome reels no doubt. In the past I had a hard time justifying the cost of them when Okumas top reels were just as good at a better price point. Now that is no longer the case with the new Catalinas.

I am a huge fan of lever drag reels. Not everyone likes them but I really do. You always know where your drag is set and minor adjustments are a breeze. I also find customers "bump" the star drags much more often then they ever accidentally adjust the lever drag. I currently run many Okuma Titus reels which they unfortunately no longer make. The new Okuma line that also offers a levelwind with a lever drag is the Solterra. I have not fished them but they seem awesome just playing with them. they are also supposed to be making a HUGE one with a levelwind (very rare in large reels) which will be great for your 600 foot Blood Run Coppers

[sherman51]

You can say that again , I wonder how much I have in gear, including rods , reels, spoons , flashers flies, riggers, probes,cannon ball, locators,and don't forget self inflating life jackets. Nets , rod holders, rod trees, planer boards .Seams like every time I go to the store its another 100.00 .

hey, you cant ask that question,LOL. i dont think any of us really wants to know the answer to that,LOL.

SHERMAN

[fishy1]

I have personally used all the mention reels but have used the okuma catalina reels for several years and believe they have the smooothest drag system.I would rate the tekotas 2nd and find them ergonomicly incorrect if you use a pumping motion when reeling fish in, unless you dont use the fore grip on your rod the line counter is constantly hitting you in the wrist this is just my 2 cents

[xpndbl3]

We run charter specials on all our rigger rods, or spring coho planer rods. Also two color rods are ran on them. Dipsey reels are the diawa saltist line counters with the high ratio retrieve and our 5 color, 7, and 10 colors are all on the saltist reels without line counters. Very happy with the setup now.

[jimcr]

Thanks to everyone who posted , Its going to be 2 convectors and 2 more magda dx45.

With all the reels I have none of them performed badly. I fish 2-3 times a week weather permitting . Just can't justify the cash for tekotas . I also want to put a convertible top on my boat with side curtains. So I will stick with the convectors.

[MY2SONS]

I run all Takotas with the exception of a couple Convectors, and Solterras. I was skeptical about buying Okumas because some other web sites said they were junk, and didn't hold up. I took a chance, and bought the Okumas to try this Summer. The Solterra SLR-50L's were purchased primarily because I wanted to run 550', and 600' copper too, and the Takota 800 wouldn't hold that much (so I'm told) copper with sufficient backer. I like the reels so far since they have a huge power handle, but we'll see how they perform this Summer.