What is your favorite baitcast reel?

[Bluebasser86]

1 minute ago, NEBasser101 said:

What do you mostly run with now?

Pflueger and Okuma, namely the Supreme XT and Helios TCS, but I also have several Presidents, a Supreme, and a Cerros. I really like my Zillion TWS SV though and will be getting more in the future. 

[crypt]

Abu pro max or black max 1600's. 4600 c4's are also on my favorite list.those little Ambassadeur's are the toughest reels I've ever used.rock solid, easy to cast dependable as all get out.

[Catt]

My all time favorite because I bought it with my first tournament winnings!

 

 

[islandbass]

I was taught an open face reel is synonymous with a spinning reel. 

 

You can can certainly skip with anspinning reel with 0% chance of getting a back lash. 

[new2BC4bass]

5 hours ago, crypt said:

Abu pro max or black max 1600's. 4600 c4's are also on my favorite list.those little Ambassadeur's are the toughest reels I've ever used.rock solid, easy to cast dependable as all get out.

Wanting to try a small round reel, I picked up a package deal containing 3 Black Max 1600 reels.  Not very refined but definitely easy to cast.  Only used one so far....as it came to me....and was surprised at how well it handles a fairly light bait in high wind.  Could cast a small fluke with 3/0 hook directly into a wind strong enough to cause whitecaps...and I am definitely not a pro with a baitcast reel.  Wouldn't mind trying a couple other sizes (1500, 3600, 4600) but already have too many reels.

[JustJames]

On 11/18/2017 at 6:04 AM, NEBasser101 said:

Thanks for the responses. What I mean by saying I work my gear hard is that I fish 5-7 days a week every week except for the winter. Right now I am mostly fishing Daiwa and shimano. I have a phlueger too but I don’t really like it. Quick question, can you skip with an open faced reel? I’ve never used one before.

If you fish that much of course any reels would need some maintenance, a little oil on bearings and lube on worm gear. I would do oil/lube every month and grease the gear may be every 3 months. If shimano cannot stand those type of abuse I don't think any other reel would neither.

With that said my fav reel for everything would be shimano 50e skip pitch and cast like a dream.

can you skip with "open faced reel"?

 

[WRB]

You need less coffee....slow down!

Tom

[kschultz76]

On 11/18/2017 at 10:45 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

The I series had issues with constantly needing to have a small amount of oil added or they'd become very noisy and lose casting distance. This was part of the reason I got rid of all mine. I was a Shimano guy for years, but their new stuff recently has not been impressive and it's gotten to where I feel like a lot of what I was paying for was the Shimano name. I don't think I'd ever get rid of my old B Curados, Chronarchs, or Calcuttas though. 

I wouldn’t characterize that as “issues”. It was documented as required maintenance in the instructions, and is just part of maintaining any reel made by Shimano with that generation of SVS. Some folks see it as an inconvenience and that’s fair. Certainly it’s extra maintenance when compared to VBS equipped reels or any of Daiwas Magforce variants. 

 

I have a stable full of Shimanos, and one Tatula SV TW. That Tatula really impresses and has me thinking of getting another. But I won’t replace all my Shimanos because there are advantages and disadvantages to the Tatula and my Shimanos. Adding the Tatula has added some versatility and capability to my arsenal. 

 

For what the OP is looking for I think a Tatula SV TW is worth strong consideration or a Daiwa SV 103 if you want a bullet proof tank. 

[Columbia Craw]

   The one that started it all. I have five of em'. 

[Mike L]

In my uneducated simple mind my favorite reels are the Curado E, 100sf and Chronarch Ci4.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[OnthePotomac]

Yep, the new SVS braking system requires oiling the brass brake cylinder periodically to keep the noise at bay.  Shimano will also tell you frequent oil on the drum keeps the brake shoes from wearing.  If they squeak I oil and no squeak no oil.  Not a big deal to do,  Pop the cover and a wipe around the brass cylinder with  an oiled QTip and good to go.

[Poolshark]

most modern casting reels are engineered to tighter tolerances than the reels of old. Therefore, they need to be maintained more often. I've liked shimanos since the b series curados and calcuttas and never had a problem with any of them. 

The newer ones, the I and g series have been good as well but I can't skip maintainence with these without them squealing or getting rough much faster than the older ones did. This doesn't make the new reels more problematic, just need to serviced...

the only thing I'm wary of is on the newer shimanos are the seemingly flimsy hardware to open and close the side plates...only time will tell there. If you don't like that, then just get calcuttas or ambassaduers and they should last you a very long time.