2000 or 2500 reel for 6'6 Avid ML Spinning rod?

[Chris at Tech]

Forgive me, I'm bored...

So I asked for a St Croix Avid 6'6" ML spinning rod for Christmas.  I intend to use this for split shotting and jigheading.

Obviously, this will largely be personal preference, but would a size 2000 or 2500 reel be better suited?  I already own a Stradic 2500 and I'm thinking I'd prefer something with less than 33 IPT for this application

I'm leaning towards trying the new Diawa Tierra, and I'll likely have to order it since I can't find it locally.

Anyone?  Anyone? Bueller?

[TournyFish001]

I am a daiwa spinning fan. I own a fuego 2000- I think it would be a perfect match for your 6'6" ML setup. Look on ebay for one or just buy one like I did from ***.com-

[Raul]

The only difference between a 2000 reel and a 2500 reel is the size and depth of the spool, the reel is the same; so it depends most on which line you are going to spool, for heavier line get a bigger reel if you want to spool in more line.

[Chris at Tech]

Yeah, the intended line will either be Ultra Soft 6# or 8# Trilene.

[Raul]

Here comes again the 1 million dollar question: with how much line you feel comfortable with ?

The reason why ask is because some may feel comfortable with 150 yards of line, for others 100 yards is enough, but how much line is enough line ? I 've bee fishing for 33 years, at first and until recently I thought that I needed the most line I could get, something that has changed in the last couple of years, I don 't go making 150 yards casts on every cast; the average cast I make is 30-50 yards, so with over 50 yards of line I 'm fine, I really don 't need THAT much line.

Line is the cheapest part of your gear, if you are using nylon you can strip your reel every single trip and spool in new line and you are not going to go broke. Also, the deeper you are in the spool the worse the remaining line gets, once you reach half of the spool what 's left is has so much memory and coils so badly oce out of the reel that it 's not worth all the effort to trying to keep a tight line beacuse the line no matter what you do the line behaves like a slinky, in practical terms ....... useless.

This brainstorm landed the day I purchased my first japanese reel with shallow spool, it don 't hold much line but the line it holds doesn 't coil up, nice even wide open coils where keeping a tight line is not one of Hercules ' mithological tasks instead of trying to fish with a danged spring. No point in having all that extra line in the spool.

With how much line you feel comfortable ? for me if the reel is capable of handling 70 yards of 10 lb test nylon is more than enough, in the worst case, I always carry a spool of line and I can respool the entire reel with fresh line.

[Chris at Tech]

It's funny that you bring this up now...

I had the exact same dilemma before I picked up my Curado 101D.  For whatever reason, the fact that I couldn't even get 100 yards of 12# bothered me.  I was stuck looking at the Daiwa's and the Quantum's that were holding 150 yards of 12#.  Finally I got over it and went with the Curado.  Glad I did

With that said, I don't think the line capacity is the real concern here.  Ever since I got over my line capacity 'phobia', having 100 yards is plenty.  I'm more curious about the balance aspects of the 2000 vs 2500 on this rod.  Of course, this is largely subjective but I was hoping to find someone on here with a similar combo.

And ever since I booked an inshore fishing trip in Jacksonville over New Years weekend, I've been curious if the 2000 series would be able to handle light inshore fishing for redfish and seatrout.

[Raul]

Balance in weight is minimal, the difference in weight is in less than 0.5 oz. Balance in line is minimal also if you maintain the rod specs and rod specs are quite forgiving, it 's in pounds, like 8-17, 10-20 so a rod capable of handling 8-17 pound line can handle a 4000 size reel with ease.

About the handling, well if you can land a 590 lb marlin with 30 pound line I don 't see why you can 't handle a 5 pound sea trout with 6 or 8# line, the catch is in the leader material and poundage test, fighting technique and proper drag settings, not in the main line.

My take with sea water fishing is: take the largest capacity reel you can find beacuse you don 't know what you are going to catch, a 5 pound jack stripped the 150 yards of my CU200 in an eyeblink and if it wasn 't that instead of running into the sea it ran paralel to the beach it would have been a BYE,BYE.

[jacktrevally]

My take with sea water fishing is: take the largest capacity reel you can find beacuse you don 't know what you are going to catch, a 5 pound jack stripped the 150 yards of my CU200 in an eyeblink and if it wasn 't that instead of running into the sea it ran paralel to the beach it would have been a BYE,BYE.

150 yds run with a 5lb jack! Were you using 2lb line?

With a CU200 with 8lb line you should be able to put enough pressure on the fish and 50yds is an exagerated take!