Okuma Spinning Reels

[GateToWire]

I've been using the $60 Pflueger Presidents on my spinning set up but I am buying a new St. Croix Medium Light spinning rod for finesse and wondered if I should upgrade my reels too.

I've been checking out lots of options in the $80-$100 range and the Okuma Inspira and Okuma RTX series have jumped out at me.

They are much lighter and have some extra features vs the other offerings in this price range from Pflueger, Abu Garcia, Daiwa, Shimano, and Quantum.

 

Does anyone have any experience with either of these reels?

What reels are you using on your Medium Light spinning rods and why?

[J Francho]

I have an Epixor and it's pretty nice for the price.  Light, smooth, drag works well, does what it's supposed to.

[Beetlebz]

My medium light spinning rig has a shimano sahara 2500. I bought the reel because it was during one of those weird ebay coupons that only work with certain retailers. I found the sahara and walked away with it for less than 60 shipped. Couldn't say no, been super happy with it.

[Mobasser]

I fish finesse probably 80% of the time. Fenwick hmg and St croix med light rods. I'm using shimano 2000 and 2500 Sahara's.Had these for 5 years,  maintain them well with no problems.I agree about okuma. Good products too

[Big Swimbait]

I have 3 of the Okuma Stratus reels that DSG sells. One on my Ned set up, one on my medium weightless set up and even a 4000 series on an Ugly Stick Tiger Elite rod that I throw giant topwater baits with braid. Years of use without a single failure. And they are always on sale in the $35 - $45 range.

[Mobasser]

GateToWire, I forgot to mention , I bought a 1000 size okuma avenger at wall mart to have an extra reel for a trout trip. Probably 10 yrs ago. This is one of their lower end reels. This year it finally started to grind while crappie fishing. I think I paid 24.00 for this one.  It caught tons of crappie stocked trout and some bass too. I kept it clean and lubed, and it was hard to beat. Okuma makes some good stuff for sure.

[SMITTY0045]

I may throw in another vote for the Sahara, I’ve had mine for 5 years and it still works great. I’m sorry, I don’t have any experience with the plums reels though

[new2BC4bass]

I believe it was fishnkamp that has recommended the RTX a few times.  Maybe he will see this thread and give his opinion of the reel.

 

I've no experience with Okuma spinning reels, but own 3 of their baitcast reels and am extremely pleased with them.

[fishnkamp]

My friend Brian "baybass.com" has a write up on his site about the Okuma RTX 30. We both fish bass, striper and occasionally run into big snakeheads with these reels, They are VERY light, well built and perform flawlessly. My wife  and I run a bunch of Pflueger Presidents and she runs one Pflueger Supreme. Take a look at a Supreme as well. I would not hesitate to purchase another Okuma RTX 30.  It balances really well on a lighter blank, mine is on a standard G Loomis Classic series 721 that my custom rod builder modified. We took off the full cork handle and the original seat and added a split Winn Grip setup and a real light real seat.  Man that combo is perfect together.  A couple of years ago we fished on Dale Hollow. The big smallies had just left the beds and were hunkered down in grass in about 20+ feet of water. They would only eat Ned rigs. We fished Ned rigs like that  for 4 days as we caught 5 to 7 pound smallies.

[Glenn]

I also have the Epixor spinning reel and I gotta say I'm impressed with it.  Smooth reeling, long casts, and a great drag system.  I'm really happy with it, and even more impressed with the low price!

[Bluebasser86]

I have an Epixor XT as well as an RTX and like them both really well. The RTX I've had for a few years on my dropshot rod and it's been excellent. Very light weight with a fast retrieve and very smooth retrieve. The Epixor I got earlier this year but it has been very nice also and has handled several nice fish and has quickly worked it's way into my starting lineup. 

[thinkingredneck]

I have both a Pfluger and Okuma.  Love both.  More or less interchangeable imho

[GateToWire]

16 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

My friend Brian "baybass.com" has a write up on his site about the Okuma RTX 30. We both fish bass, striper and occasionally run into big snakeheads with these reels, They are VERY light, well built and perform flawlessly. My wife  and I run a bunch of Pflueger Presidents and she runs one Pflueger Supreme. Take a look at a Supreme as well. I would not hesitate to purchase another Okuma RTX 30.  It balances really well on a lighter blank, mine is on a standard G Loomis Classic series 721 that my custom rod builder modified. We took off the full cork handle and the original seat and added a split Winn Grip setup and a real light real seat.  Man that combo is perfect together.  A couple of years ago we fished on Dale Hollow. The big smallies had just left the beds and were hunkered down in grass in about 20+ feet of water. They would only eat Ned rigs. We fished Ned rigs like that  for 4 days as we caught 5 to 7 pound smallies.

Thanks!!

I really like my Presidents and the only reason I looked at the Okuma was the weight for a bit lighter setup.

I appreciate the response and the comparison.

[GateToWire]

15 hours ago, Glenn said:

I also have the Epixor spinning reel and I gotta say I'm impressed with it.  Smooth reeling, long casts, and a great drag system.  I'm really happy with it, and even more impressed with the low price!

Thanks, Glenn!!

Appreciate your input

[Darren.]

Do you NEED to upgrade from the Presidents? Not unless

you have a compelling reason...and that's entirely your

call.

 

As for upgrades, I'm a Stradic user and now have one 

Pflueger Supreme (haven't fished it yet, bad back). I don't

consider it an upgrade to my Stradics, but an addition to

my spinning reels.

 

Shimano, Daiwa, Pflueger, Okuma, all make good reels. 

Best way to find out what feels right in your hands is to

go to a Bass Pro, Cabelas, etc., and try as many as you

can on the rods you're considering. See how they feel 

in your hands, balance, the way they wind, etc.

[GateToWire]

52 minutes ago, Darren. said:

Do you NEED to upgrade from the Presidents? Not unless

you have a compelling reason...and that's entirely your

call.

 

As for upgrades, I'm a Stradic user and now have one 

Pflueger Supreme (haven't fished it yet, bad back). I don't

consider it an upgrade to my Stradics, but an addition to

my spinning reels.

 

Shimano, Daiwa, Pflueger, Okuma, all make good reels. 

Best way to find out what feels right in your hands is to

go to a Bass Pro, Cabelas, etc., and try as many as you

can on the rods you're considering. See how they feel 

in your hands, balance, the way they wind, etc.

It's not really an upgrade...poor choice of words. I was only looking for something lighter than that Pfluegers to pair with a Med Light rod for finesse. The Okuma's are several ounces lighter than the Presidents.

What I was really looking for was something as good as the Presidents, but that was lighter 

[Tywithay]

I use Daiwa Bg and a Daiwa Luvias. I have had a couple Okuma spinning reels. I had a Trio that I liked a lot, but it crapped out after about a year. Had an epixor that I gave away. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't own it long. My Daiwa's have been trouble free, so I stick with them. I have old Fuego 1000A that's at least 10 years old and it's still like new.

[Mbirdsley]

I have had quite a few of the cheaper Okuma's.  IMHO Okuma for sure owns the levelwind line counter trolling market for salmon, trout and walleye in the under 50 dollar reel market. Okuma is the best bang for your buckin spiining reels until you get into the phlueger president type market.  I have never bought the higher end okuma's.

 

I bought the silver okuma avenger from Walmart for either 29.99 or 39.99 in 2012.  it was one of my main river wading reels ( I know a lot of guys run them on steelhead rigs).  I abused the crap out of it in the river( I did flush it out and grease it up every year).  the only reason that I sold it this year was because, the rod it was on was redundant. I also picked up a brand new okuma safina with only 1 bb in a trade.  The Safina felt like and acted like a 60 dollar reel and only MSRP for like 20 bucks. I used the money from both reels to buy a Berkley lighting baitcasting rod.

[GateToWire]

BTW just to close this question out.

I ended up buying an Okuma Inspira for my Finesse Spinning Rod and an Okuma RTX for my Medium All Purpose Spinning rod.

Both of these reels have been great to fish with.

Ultralight, excellent drag and really solid for the money.

They are definitely upgrades to the Pflueger Presidents in looks, performance and weight.

[FishTank]

Amazon has the Okuma Helios SX marked down to $81 in the 20 size.  It weighs 6.2 oz (Shimano Sahara 1000 is 7.6 oz). 

 

I don't know much about the reel but what I could find seems pretty positive and fitting for your needs.  Enjoy.

[GateToWire]

20 hours ago, FishTank said:

Amazon has the Okuma Helios SX marked down to $81 in the 20 size.  It weighs 6.2 oz (Shimano Sahara 1000 is 7.6 oz). 

 

I don't know much about the reel but what I could find seems pretty positive and fitting for your needs.  Enjoy.

All of the Okuma reels are marked down on Amazon....I got the Inspira and the RTX at deep discount

[FishTank]

6 hours ago, GateToWire said:

All of the Okuma reels are marked down on Amazon....I got the Inspira and the RTX at deep discount

Nice.  They have them at some great prices.  If I needed one, I would jump on one as well.

[JohnnyRebTX]

I have used an Okuma Inspira ISX 30W for about a year. Good reel. Better than a President imho. However the President XT and Limited Edition are about on par with it. I like my Shimano Nasci better than all of the previously mentioned reels so far though.

[JohnnyRebTX]

However, I also use a Daiwa RG-AB 2000 on my ultralight setup. That reel beats all of those for the price. Cabela's occasionally has them for $39.99. That's a steal!

 

[sdsc357]

I have the president 6530, rtx 30, stratus 25 and sienna 2500. My favorite would be the rtx, followed by the president. The stratus is a nice reel but it just feels cheap. It's on sale right now at DSG for $29.99.