Newer Pflueger baitcasters

[mackkie]

Has anyone tried the new president baitcaster by pflueger, or the patriarch?

How do they compare to other high priced reels like the revo series or shimano?  

[Ern]

What I have been told is that the Revo is a Direct result of the purchase of Pflueger by Pure Fishing.

The Revo says Swedish Engineered. Not made in Sweden.

Design is Very Similar too. :

Not Knocking the reel either.  

Ern

[mackkie]

So the new pflueger's are similar to the revo's?  I've become a pflueger fan since early 2008, maybe this is why.  The supreme is a great reel for $100, I can't wait to try more pflueger's.  I actually stopped buying shimano spinning reels in favor of pflueger due to the bang for your buck provided in their spinning reels.

[ww2farmer]

What I have been told is that the Revo is a Direct result of the purchase of Pflueger by Pure Fishing.

The Revo says Swedish Engineered. Not made in Sweden.

Design is Very Similar too. :

Not Knocking the reel either.

Ern

About the only thing Pfluegers have in commen with Abu Garcia's is that they are reels.........no knock on either, but both brands are different in many ways. The Revo was designed,planed, tested,and introduced before Pure Fishing aquired Pflueger.

Now as far as how Pfluger BC reels compair to other, I have had 2 Pfluegers and hated them both. One was a Purist, at $80 is no bargin. With it's graphite frame, and liberal use of plastic it's durability was crap. Mine lasted less than 6 months. The other reel I had was a Trion LP, now the reel was smooth and well built, BUT I use LH BC reels, and the Trion only comes in the wide spool version for LH, it just felt bulky, heavy, and hard to palm for a LP. Heck I have big hands, and can palm and use an Abu 4601 C3 with ease. Now if you use RH reels, they make the narrow version, so, take what I said for what it's worth. I don't own many "high" end reels, most of my stuff is middle of the road, I have Revo's (S,SX,and STX,) C3's (5601, and 4601) Quantum Accurist's (PT's, and CX's) Daiwa Advantage's, Excellers, and Procasters, and a Shimano Citica 201D, and Curado 101D, and the Trion was as nice as most any of them.

Spinning reels are a different story, I am almost an exclusive Pflueger man when it comes to those, but you didn't ask about them.

[cart7t]

I traded in my Revo's on Pfluegers. Mostly Patriarchs and a Summit. I have no experience with the new President at all.

I can tell you this. I've pulled the main and pinion gears out of a Revo and put them on the Patriarch main shaft along with the drag stack and they're a perfect match. The reel works fine with the Revo bits in it.

Looking inside a Revo and a patriarch, I can't tell the two apart other than the ergonomics of the frame which are slight.

While the Revo's are nice reels, good fit in the hand, nice drag, very good line capacity and very smooth, the braking systems leave a lot to be desired.

The linear mag braking is junk compared to the mag braking on the Pfluegers. (which oddly, is the mag braking system Garcia used to use on their old LP reels). The Centrifugal brakes on the Revo S work better but the assembly itself is rather cheap, nowhere near as refined as on the Pfluegers. Then again, the Pflueger Patriarch and Summit have dual brakes, centrifugal and mag.  A great combination that work well together or apart.

I used them this fall and have zero complaints nor any regrets from switching from Garcia, a brand I've used for 34 years.

[bilgerat]

I own Pflueger spinning reels, which I love. My only beef is when I get into a baitcaster later this year, Pflueger's offering of left handed models is pathetic. Not available on the Patriarch or Summit, only available in wide spool on the President. That leaves me with the Supreme, which looks to be a decent reel, but come on, they gotta do better than that.

Don't make me say the "S" word......

[Micro]

I am the counter to Cart  .  I have been using Revos since they were introduced.  I own 7 (10 as of yesterday).  The magnetic brake is actually very refined and works as advertised.  I liked it very much.

I also like Pflueger's combo brake system.  I owned a Johnny Morris Elite and found the brake to be excellent as well.  Not better than the Revo's, but as good, and more fool proof (for those that never practiced enough with their Revo  .)

One thing to keep in mind is that Pflueger and Abu Garcia have a Korean manufacturer produce their reels to their own specs.  I have suspected for a long time that both companies used the same manufacturer, which I understood to be Pinnacle (Silstar), to make their reels.  Their similarities led me to that conclusion, which I cannot prove.  Since Pflueger has been purchased by Pure Fishing (who also owns Abu Garcia) in the last couple of years,  the similarities have gotten even closer.  New Pfluegers are, as Cart stated, very close to Revos.  Pflueger's thumb-screw is new, and exactly like the Revos.  Inside, it's hard to tell them apart.

Pflueger has historically been regarded as a brand that give yoeman's service at a great price.  The weren't flashy, but they got the job done.  In the last few years, they've kept (and even increased) their quality while at the same time coming up with some knock-out styling.  

If you want a President, buy one.  Pflueger is a brand that you can be sure you are getting a quality reel.

[cart7t]

If you look at the new President and the new BPS Pro Qualifier, they look extremely similar. The Pro Qualifier stands out as being different than the other BPS reels like the JM's, Clunn or the Extremes. The ergonomics of that reel scream Revo/Patriarch/New President. Note the thumb screw side plate release. All the other BPS reels I listed use the pushbutton release on the sideplate.

I suspect that frame style, BPS is calling it a "Series 10", is common place and the different companies merely design their own ergonomics around the mechanical specs. Many of the internal parts are probably interchangeable.

[Cravin]

I love the brake system on my SX, I rate it well above my other reels although it was not love at first cast. If they are that similar to each other you now have me wanting to put a Pflueger in my hand. For me, Shimano and Abu have made it real hard to tryout something new when you have the cash in your pocket, But I'm sure the Diawa, Quantum, and Pflueger fans feel the same. :-/

[KYntucky Warmouth]

The new President and BPS Pro Qualifier are pretty much the same reel.  As is the Patriarch and the BPS Johnny Morris Signature.  That being said, the Patriarch is a great reel.  I just bought two from ebay.  The cast and retrieve smoothly and are really light.  The dual braking is wonderful as well, unlike with some reels, the cetrifugal brake is enough on it's own but the magnetic adds to being able to dial it in on your own fishing style and abilities.

[Muddy]

I own 4 Pflueger Trion BC's and I am sticking with them, no need to go anywhere else.

It is true that any Pflueger under the Trion is not worth it. I have tried both the Purist and Eschelon, not worth the money!

Pflueger Spinning; I have one Trion and a few Presidents, Can't see a need to go anywhere else but the President, great reel for a great price!

[steeleagle]

I own 2 of the brand new president baitcasters.  They are small, light and well built.

[Long Mike]

I got hooked on Pfluegers when I first bought their Trion and President spinning reels.  Excellent reels for the price.  When I graduated to baitcasters, I started with President and loved it.  I then bought a couple of the BPS Extremes.  Again, very good quality for the price, but I preferred the President for reasons that I can't quite define.  It just "felt" better.  Recently, I bit the bullet and bought my first Patriarch.  I cannot begin to describe what a wonderful piece of work that reel is!

[cart7t]

...Recently, I bit the bullet and bought my first Patriarch. I cannot begin to describe what a wonderful piece of work that reel is!

That it is.

If the Revo users would try one of these they'd probably ask themselves why they were wasting their time screwing around with the finicky Revo's when these are available.  

[bilgerat]

Why no lefty though?

I'm too set in my ways. I wanna lefty wahhhh :'(

[mackkie]

Would you rather the president vs the revo sx, or the patriarch vs revo stx?

[bilgerat]

patriarch would be nice. president available only in wide spool lefty.

[dodgeguy]

the patriarch is a completely different frame than the johnny morris.i plan on buying my first patriarch in february.

[vicdotcom]

I wouldnt mind trying a Pfluger baitcaster.  I am just not willing to spend another 100$ on a reel to test it out

[cart7t]

the patriarch is a completely different frame than the johnny morris.i plan on buying my first patriarch in february.

I tore apart my Johnny Morris JMX10SC and the Patriarch. The JM reel is physically bigger. Like the difference between a 100 and 200 series Curado. The internal parts though, are very, very similar. The pinion gear slider plate has a slightly different spring setup vs the Patriarch but the parts look identical otherwise. The JM main gear was also larger. The drag stacks appear the same other than the JM's are slightly larger due to the larger main gear.

One thing about the Patriarchs. If you're accustomed to using the cross bar as a hook holder DON'T. Larger size hooks have a tendency to become locked when the barb catches over the front of the cross plate. You wind up gouging up the crossplate just above the level wind guide just to get the hook unlocked.

I bought a Patriarch used from a member here. The reel was perfect except for a few gouges right above the level wind on the cross plate. I couldn't figure out how they got there......

that is until I used the crossplate as a hook holder when I went out fishing. :-[

[cart7t]

Would you rather the president vs the revo sx, or the patriarch vs revo stx?

The Revo SX linear mag braking vs the Tried and true 6 pin centrifugal?  While I haven't seen the brake mech on the president, I'm betting it's using the same one as the Patriarch.  That's a far better braking system than the SX and honestly, a better made centrifugal brake than the one they've got on the Revo S.

As for the STX vs the Patriarch?  When you consider you've got a nicely functioning 6 pin centrifugal brake AND the mag brake they use, there's no comparison.  The Patriarch can be dialed in perfectly vs. the STX which has only the spool tension knob and the relatively ineffective linear mag brake.  

[Micro]

The STX/SX brake is actually very effective. It just takes some effort to learn it. The benefit of the Revo brake is that it doesn't create a massive spool like the combo brake mechanism on the end of the Patriach/JM reels. That steel plate and brake adds to the mass of the pool. I'm convinced with is the reason the Johnny Morris Elite reel I had didn't cast light baits nearly as well as the Revo.

[cart7t]

The STX/SX brake is actually very effective. It just takes some effort to learn it. The benefit of the Revo brake is that it doesn't create a massive spool like the combo brake mechanism on the end of the Patriach/JM reels. That steel plate and brake adds to the mass of the pool. I'm convinced with is the reason the Johnny Morris Elite reel I had didn't cast light baits nearly as well as the Revo.

Which does and doesn't make sense though.  As your setup of the SX and STX indicates as well as my own experience, you have to set the spool tension higher on those reels vs. other reels.  Instead of a setting that allows the lure to begin falling as the spool release button is pushed, ending with the spool stopping when the lure strikes the water,  you have to bump the rod tip to get the lure started on the SX/STX setup.  This of course, means the spool has more tension (friction) applied to it's axis throughout the entire cast.  

I haven't tried tossing small lures long distances with the Patriarchs or the Summit.  I usually don't make really long casts with such small baits in most instances.  I'll have to take your word for it.  I will say that I spend way less time fiddling with reel setup on the Patriarchs and JM reels than I did with the Linear mag Revo reels.  It makes for a much more enjoyable day when the reels casting tendencies are more forgiving and predictable.  

[LAO162]

Very constructive dialogue - thanks everybody for sharing your insights

[Micro]

Which does and doesn't make sense though...

And yet that's the way it is.    Only you and RW seem to despise the Revo's brake.  Those that have used my advice have come back to this board and stated the advice works, and so does the brake.  Your experience with the Revo's brake seems very isolated in the scheme of things.