May '99
I guess fishermen are always looking for the perfect reel. One that is light-weight, casts a mile without a backlash, drags that never wear out and is inexpensive. Well your search is over. I will save you lots of time and money; there is no perfect reel. With any reel you purchase there are advantages and disadvantages to the reel’s design. Finding the correct reel is not difficult but does take some time. The first step is choosing the style of fishing method you will be using the reel for. You can use the same reel for 20-lb. live bait tossing and throw iron to wahoo, but I would not. The more specific the purpose for the reel is the better the "fit" will be. This does mean that you need at least five reels when you go long range fishing. The next step is finding the factors that are most important to you in your reel. Properties like casting distance, overall weight, drag life, appearance, and of course cost are just a few to consider. Take the time to figure out what you really what your reel to do. These properties may change with each different fishing method. An example would be: I like a reel that casts well when I choose a 20-lb. live bait reel so I have an Accurate 145 Mag reel. If cost is an important factor you may choose a Newell 229. If cost is not a factor you may want an Accurate Boss 270. For tossing iron to wahoo like a reel with a strong drag that will not burn out after a couple of fish so I use an Accurate 4/0 YTS with 4:1 gears. There are anglers who use a regular Penn 4/0, Newell 540 or even a International 12LT modified by Cal Sheets and get wonderful results. So you can see there are several different ways to go with reels. Once you have an idea of which reel you want it is time to purchase the reel. Who should you buy the reel from? Since I am a tackle storeowner I am going to say buy it from a tackle store. Why? When you deal with tackle stores that caters to long range or baja fishermen they usually have inside information on what works and what does not. If it is a good store, they will tell if the reel you are looking at has had problems. You with the help of a tackle store should decide which reel is best for needs. Another concern with many fishermen when they buy a reel is how much each store charges for a reel. Be very careful if you are choosing a store to buy your reel from strictly by price. The service and knowledge you get when you buy your reels from a quality tackle is worth something. All the extra information you get is worth the extra 10 or 20 dollars. There really is no such thing as a "free lunch". While on this subject a little tip from a tackle store owner: Please do not "pump" the retail store for information about reels and then go and buy them from a discount house. We love to spend the time with you to help you make the right choices, but in return we would like your business. Now that you have your reel, and doesn’t that new reel look great, take care of it. You could have the most advanced fishing reel today, but if you do not take care of it is worthless. For those of you who do not understand the meaning of "reel maintenance" my suggestion is buy the least expensive reel you can, use it until it fails and then buy a new one. For those of you who do know the meaning of "reel maintenance" you can get my past tips for my suggestions on reel care. I hope I have cleared some of the mystery about reels. You have to take the good with the bad. Just be sure there is a lot more good than bad. By the way Albacore were caught on the Vagabond on May 14th at 190 miles southwest of San Diego. If the winds lies down the albacore action could be starting soon out of San Diego. If not look for the action to really start the middle of July.