Reel Decisions

[Dat_Bass]

Looking to add a new reel to my arsenal. Trying to stay fairly low priced. I'm looking at the new Gen 4 Revos(all of them), *** Concept "A", *** ***, or any of the Curados. I'm open to other ideas too. Anything helps, thanks:)

 

[bigturtle]

Tatula CT

[burrows]

Curado k

[Sam]

According to the guy who repairs rods and reels in the greater Richmond, Virginia area, the best reels out there are Lew's, Abu Garcia, and Shimano. He likes Lew's best. He told me that it can be difficult to find some repair parts for old Shimano's.

 

And sometimes the higher priced reels perform just as well as a lower price models.

 

In lieu of being concerned with the brand names, which are all of good quality, maybe you need to consider what baits and techniques you will be using the reel. I will give you what I copied out of a bass magazine a while back regarding gear ratios.

 

Ratio and Main Purpose:

7:1 - flipping, pitching, punching and frogging and a fast reel for taking up slack for fishing worms and jigs.

6:4:1 - small size "palmable" reel for short wrist snaps for topwaters and jerkbaits and to keep your spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits up but not too fast.

5:4:1 - low torque cranking for crankbaits (although the pros are going to the 7:1's).

5:1 in 1000 or 2000 spool sizes - light line for shaky heads, drop shots.

 

Now, with that penned, I like the 7:1's and 6:4's the most for almost all applications. I also love spinning reels which are mainly 6:1 type reels and they work fine.

 

There are faster ratio reels in the marketplace if you want to go to an 8:1 ratio.

 

And remember, a size 2000 is the same as a size 2500 but with a smaller spool.

 

May I suggest taking your favorite rod(s) with you to the tackle shop and put any reel you are interested in purchasing on the rod to see how it feels. By doing this you will know how the weight of the reel balances with your rods.

 

Good luck and let us know what you purchase.

 

[Jason Penn]

For the price they can be found online, the Tatulas are hard to beat. I've had a couple, but I'm really digging the Revo ALX.

[Finnz922]

Tat CT or Fuego CT

[Drunkentigerrr]

Curado k and then chronarch

[FrankN209]

10 hours ago, Dat_Bass said:

Looking to add a new reel to my arsenal. Trying to stay fairly low priced. I'm looking at the new Gen 4 Revos(all of them), *** Concept "A", *** ***, or any of the Curados. I'm open to other ideas too. Anything helps, thanks:)

 

These are great reels, along with the C's. I like it better than my Lews. 

[kickerfish1]

Tatula or Curado K would be my choice for a reel under the $200 retail price point.

[onenutinthewater]

Tatula sv

Recently purchased a chronarch MGL and the Tat sv. Should have bought 2 tats instead- it is the better reel imho.

[new2BC4bass]

Happy belated birthday.  The  is you probably can't go wrong with any of those reels.  Although I own Revos, Curados and an "A" (and Tatulas), none are the new models with the exception of a Tatula SV.  Weather finally returned to normal so I've been out maybe twice with the Tat SV.  So no solid opinion on it yet.  It is a nice looking reel, tho.     I hear the Gen 4 reels may be back to the quality of the initial reels.  The "A" took a bit longer to dial in than usual (used straight out of the box without cleaning), but I have to say I really like it.  The ergonomics fit me well.  I also have to admit that I have no problems using bigger reels such as the original Zillions, Pflueger Trions and Chronarch 100B, but the "A" just feels right.

 

I will say that you can pick up a Tatula SV for less than some of the reels on your list.  It should also be an option if you can make use of the SV spool.

[OnthePotomac]

The great thing about Shimano: lots of interchangeable parts between many of their baitcast reels.

[DINK WHISPERER]

I switched 90% of my reels to concepts and am absolutely in love with them. Silky smooth, monster drag and pretty sexy looking too. 

[burrows]

I switched 100% of my reels to shimano and they are second to none. Imo.