# Multi purpose light spinning reel?



## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Hey all, i want a new reel to match up to my shimano graphite rod, i think its a 7 foot starlo stix or something (disregard that as after i've upgraded the reel the rod is next lol) i want something i can hopefully use for snook, flathead and bream, this is very multi purpose so i dont know if it can reasonably be done but u never know. I want to run braid, probably 8lb? What do we all think, is there a spinning reel out there that's really leading the market at the moment that i couldn't possibly pass up? My tackle shop bloke keeps raving about the stradics, what are they like? thanks for your help guys, i'm used to shopping for big beefy overheads lol (its probably really obvious i dont know about light spinning gear lol).


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Oh yeah, i'm only gonna use it for flicking small HB's and various SP's, that might help.


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

i would look at the next seasons range of shimano reels, if that is what you are into, some nice little additions in there, how much do you wanna spend


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Preferably one to two hundred but i guess i could stretch it further if it were truely worth it.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

I had a stradic and it was pretty good - I didnt have it long - dropped it over board - fool!!!
One thing I did notice and it was a common annoying fault - was that the bail arm sometimes caught my braid. Some people remedied this by a drop of hard resin/glue where the wire joined the roller.

I think campbells wa have these at a really good price at the moment.

I have a Daiwa Exceller 2500 and its a sweet little reel - reasonable price too.

Wopfish


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

8lb for bream and flatties???? how big are they over there :? .
My choice would be for a 1000 - 1500 size reel with 2-4 ld braid. The lighter the line the further you can cast, the better the action you will get from your lures and the more hook ups you get. As far as brands and models go...... dont know.... but you want something with a very smooth water proof drag, lots of stainless steel bearings, smooth drag, make sure its well balanced.....oh and has a very smooth drag.


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

mate dont even look at shimano, 
im not just doing one of the holden v ford things either,

depending on how much money you are looking to spend, 
look at the reels in the following order,

Certate, Sol, Tierra, Exceller.

all of these reels make the stradic look ancient in terms of technology and performance for the buck,
if you look around you can get these at the right prices.

The old stradics were ok but nothing in comparison to the daiwas, 
the new ones might be a bit better but wont touch the daiwa price equivalent.

good luck with it


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Ive got a couple of shimano reels and a few Daiwa reels as well, i rate the Daiwa's a lot higher than the Shimano equivalent. A mate of mine just bought a Stradic and a Daiwa freams kix for about the same amount of money, the kix is a lot better in my opinion.
All the reels that FishingMan mentioned above are awesome reels too.


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Well my daiwa saltist is miles ahead of my shimano tld so i can believe people that say daiwa are better, thanks for all the tips guys, i think this is more than enough to get me started, will go have a look at the tackle store tomorrow and see what's going on. Thanks everyone!



ar-we-ther-yet said:


> 8lb for bream and flatties???? how big are they over there :?


Bream are average, flatty's are MUCH smaller than the dusky's, the reason i said 8lb was because of the snook, when they're 3 feet long i thought they might put up a fair old fight? like i said i'm a shark boy i'm new to the lure scene so thanks for the tips, i'll look at using 4lb then i guess.


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

yeah, i use 4lb, apparently it is a bit light in the mangroves


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

If 4lb is a bit light in mangroves and i want to head out that way i'll probably go 6lb then, unless i get a reel with 2 spools, i'm set then lol.


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## fishnfreak (Jun 22, 2007)

if your spending $100 to $200 then i dare say you will get a spare spool


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Yeah 2 spools are the go. I have 4lb and 8lb on my 1.5 reel and 6 ld on my 1000. From what I've read quite a few pro's fishing the comps use 2lb......but jeeze that stuff is like cotton wool.

As far as the snooky fish goes you might be better having 2 separate combos. Bream fishing is usually best done as light as possible, they dont tend to go for too longer run so you dont need much line on the spool, but if you catch a breed of fish that likes to take long hard runs you can get spooled very quickly.

When you fish light it definitely pays to set your drag correctly using a scale, I find I loose less fish that way. Also I recently picked up a new bream rod with a short butt, its bloody great for fishing out of a kayak. The short butt makes it so much easier to cast.

Anyway I'm no expert and a good tackle store will put you on the right track.


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## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

Gday L3GACY - I was (am) nervous about expensive reels on the kayak, as they will get wet through spray, and maybe the odd dunking. A 'reely' good light reel that I bought from Amart was a small Abu, which I've loaded with 4lb braid. normal price is $79, but I picked this one up for $49 during one of their specials - and quite frankly I can't fault it. Smooth as, light weight, good drag. I might wait for the next round of specials and grab another one.
you won't need anything above 4 or 6lb line for those big snook, provided you tie your knots ok and have a decent leader. Scupper and I (last year) were getting them in the 80-90cm range, and i did lose a few at the yak, but only because I wasn't well enough prepared to land them. When I finally get organised this season, I'll be using 12-15lb leader, but only 4-6lb main line. Try it - you won't go back!


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

Will do fisher, went out this morning, six BIG squid but no snook yet . There were quite a few small ones around but no one was able to catch them for some reason.


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## colzinho (Aug 6, 2007)

snook are like pike? I think the best rig for them is a 10/0 through the arse


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

i have to agree with fisher here on the size of the reel. massive snook arent sharks by any means!! a 1000-1500 reel will suit perfectly, and i only run a Daiwa Ondine ($120) with 6lb spiderwire stealth and 6 lb fluoro leader. this has pulled 3-4lb salmon up onto pt noarlunga jetty 

perfect for bream in the mangroves (but with 8lb leader), flatties, salmon, and whiting. match with a finesse rod, 6'6"-7'2"-ish and you have an all-purpose combo for all seasons essentially!

i understand the fear of fishing light. i had massive doubts when i went from 50lb braid for sharks and snapper and stuff like that to 6lb, and havent looked back. it is soooo much stronger than you think, and still provides a 'sport' element to your fishing. its the only reel i use in 90% of my fishing, unless im 'game' fishing etc.


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

colzinho said:


> snook are like pike? I think the best rig for them is a 10/0 through the arse


no pike are like bait, and snook are like predators. i reckon a snook would punish a pike if it drifted past on a 10/0!! :shock:


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## colzinho (Aug 6, 2007)

water_baby said:


> colzinho said:
> 
> 
> > snook are like pike? I think the best rig for them is a 10/0 through the arse
> ...


they sound like good fun on light line and SP's then  
l3gacy, I skipped or missed the budget part of this thread but I really liked my symetre for a relatively cheap reel you can pick one up for around $120 would still be my plastics reel probably but it got knocked off from my car. Another price point up but not crazy money, is a Daiwa Caldia Ive had 1 for well over a year I think gatesy had a quick turn of it and will testify that it is good as new and it hasnt been serviced yet. As for size I reckon it's really worth taking the rod you want to use into the shop and sticking 1500's, 2000's 2500's on and see which one feels better balanced.


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## water_baby (Oct 26, 2005)

colzinho said:


> water_baby said:
> 
> 
> > colzinho said:
> ...


excellent fun, imagine a 3 foot long apex predator similar to barracouta on 6lb! awesome!

**sorry for the hijack mate  **


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

its all good water_baby, i have a bad habit of doing it myself. I'm actually targetting snook more for shark bait than anything else but if i catch fish i eat it, just not 10 of them lol. I've never had the fun of fighting a snook, the way we always used to do it was trolling with hand lines baited with squid strips out the back, good way to land some thumpers but handlines dont give you the fighting elemint of fishing imo.


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## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

A mate of mine got 9 snook this morning from his boat - but most were small, and only one pushing 80cm. Seems like the big ones may not be around just yet.


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

I'd be buying the supersceded model of the stradic 2500. You can get them for piss all now the new model is out and they are perfect for what you want.

Just don't buy a stradic mg, or it'll rust in 3 seconds.


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

koich said:


> I'd be buying the supersceded model of the stradic 2500. You can get them for piss all now the new model is out and they are perfect for what you want.
> 
> Just don't buy a stradic mg, or it'll rust in 3 seconds.


 That's what i was originally going to get because the tackle shop has them for 15% off now but people on here seem to favour the daiwas.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Gatesy said:


> ar-we-ther-yet said:
> 
> 
> > Also I recently picked up a new bream rod with a short butt, its bloody great for fishing out of a kayak. The short butt makes it so much easier to cast.
> ...


Hey Gatesy I'm only thinking of bream and Flathead, which dont tend to fight for too long........dont know why your putting your rod butt in your groin area :shock: :? ......but hey what ever turns you on baby. :lol: :lol:


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

i got showed even more possibilities in the store today, certainly a tough decision i gotta tell ya lol.

Can some one tell me what they honestly think of this rod?
http://www.campbellsprotackle.com/store ... sp?ID=1511


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## Redfish (Apr 25, 2007)

IMHO you seem to get a lot more for your money with the Daiwa's these days, with as good or better quality.

My Daiwa Sol 2000 has been landing 5kg snappers no problems. I've also got a 2500.


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## Guest (Oct 9, 2007)

. The SOL and Tierra are very sexy reels, however Reels under the $200 mark though stick with the shimano's. Top end Diawa has 5 year warranty, all the rest have 12 months. All shimanos are 10 years warranty. For your price point, I would look at the Shimano sedona for $100, or the symetre for $150 . if you want to go a little over the $200 mark, choose the Tierra before the stradic, better reel for similar bucks. If you want to stretch it a little more, go the SOL The only problem I have with Diawa is that they have poor aftermarket service, and I have not seen yet anything to change my mind on that, and you also have to be careful on what reel you choose as they are not all designed for salt water, they have fresh and salt models. I personally like the 2500 size reel more than the 1000 or 1500 because the bigger spool diameter is kinder to your line, casts better, retrieves faster and holds more line just in case.


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## L3GACY (Sep 2, 2007)

fisher said:


> A mate of mine got 9 snook this morning from his boat - but most were small, and only one pushing 80cm. Seems like the big ones may not be around just yet.


Was that around seacliff? i didnt see anyone pull them in? might have missed it if he was.


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## Redfish (Apr 25, 2007)

There are some Caldia KIX's for about $230 at Campbells at the moment (if they haven't already sold out).

I had a bearing cease on by SOL 2500 (got water in the reel somehow-maybe took a wave on the back of the yak). I rang Daiwa when a bearing corroded and they replaced it free of charge.


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