# My Rods, Reels, and Stuff



## Ferret (Oct 31, 2006)

Hi All

Seeing that I haven't been able to get a decent fish out of the Brunswick River lately, I decided to give my gear a bit of a clean-up and grease.

While doing it I was wondering, "why don't I ever see people using the same type of reel that I use?" I use the Daiwa spincast 'closed face' type reel. They are the Silver Cast 80, 100, and 120. I find them 'very' easy to use. If I give one to a 'novice' to use, I can have them casting well in a few minutes. They cast a light lure or bait a long way, and never 'birdsnest', and are 'one hand' operation. If you maintain the properly (like you should all reels) they never give any trouble. I've been using them for about 2 years now.

I've landed a 53cm Flathead on the small Silvercast 80. It handled it no problems. I Also use a 'vest' to hold all of my tackle, very handy. BTW..6lb line on all reels.

I've attached some photos of the gear that I use in the canoe. My fishing is exclusively estuary and dam.

*Does any one know why this type of reel is not in common use?*









The reels are the Daiwa Spincast Silvercast 120, 100, and 80









The 80 disassembled for cleaning. BTW...Don't get 'Lanox' spray in your coffee. Won't hurt you but it tastes 'REALLY' bad









Rods are all 6ft 6in. They are the Gansel Force 10 Spin Magic, Shimano Technium, and Gansel Ganspin









The vest keeps all the tackle close to hand. Also there but can't be seen, hook sharpening stone, 3 different size ball floats, hook disgorger, lighter, spare glasses, full size raincoat in the large back pocket.









The $1 garage sale hat. Wouldn't swap it for quids


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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

I've seen those reels many times before John, mostly from boaties.
It may be a case of what you don't know about you stay away from????


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

John , you are pretty well set up , i like your minamalistic approach with the vest holding all your gear , i am aiming at this also , as far as the closed face spinning reels are concerned , i love them , unfortunately , i have found they are basically a fresh water reel and clog up in the salt , they are a dream to use and cast great distances and are super accurate , and not expensive , i have wondered like you why they arnt in use more , but think its the salt corrosian thing .


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Not sure why closed-face reels are not popular.

Am intrigued to see that you have them on spin rods. With the short foot and fixed feed point, there is no need for a large, long-legged stripper guide. Have you considered using a casting rod? I know its hard to find light-weight casting rods, which may be part of the problem of the reel's popularity.

BTW, I checked my 1970s copy of "How to fish with lures", by Roger Hungerford and published by Jack Pollard. It describes closed-face reels but gives no indication of any compromise in their use. Indeed much more effort is made in describing how difficult baitcasters are to use and how wonderful are sidecast reels. Times change


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

Gday John,
Thats a good set up there, as for the reels if they work for you, why change. As for me Im with Jack Pollard and use Alveys.
You may remember me I gave you a few lessons in flying a few years back.


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## landyman (Oct 17, 2007)

I believe the reasons they are not popular are as follows...
The drags are not that great
They only come in smaller sizes
You cant see what your line is doing OR how much you have left on the reel
They dont hold a lot of line compared to spinning reels
They are heavier than the equivelant size spinning reel
They are know to cause wind knots - although you say you havn't had any
Mainly only a freshwater reel as mentioned
Nowhere near as smooth as spinning reels due to low BB count

HOWEVER - They are a great reel for kids to learn on, or if only chasing small fish in the fresh..


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## Ferret (Oct 31, 2006)

Peril said:


> Am intrigued to see that you have them on spin rods. With the short foot and fixed feed point, there is no need for a large, long-legged stripper guide. Have you considered using a casting rod? I know its hard to find light-weight casting rods, which may be part of the problem of the reel's popularity.


Hi Peril

They seem to work fine on the spin rods. I get great distance and accuracy, and I have no problem handling the fish. I already had the rods when I bought the reels. All 3 rods where bought at the local secondhand shop and where all under $20. The Shimano was a bargain at that. Secondhand shops are a much overlooked place to find good gear. The Silvercast 120 was bought there as well ($15 I think).

Another good thing about the closed face reels is if you find that you have been a little 'over zealous' casting your lure towards the mangroves, all you have to do is hit the 'button' again and it stops dead. I'm sure its saved me a few lures 

Cheers
John


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## Ferret (Oct 31, 2006)

landyman said:


> I believe the reasons they are not popular are as follows...
> The drags are not that great
> They only come in smaller sizes
> You cant see what your line is doing OR how much you have left on the reel
> ...


Hi landyman

Drags seem to work fine '*for me*'
When it comes to size, horses for courses
I have never been 'spooled' in my life. (have never caught anything near capable of doing it  )
Have never needed more than a couple of hundred yards of line (same reason as above  )
Never noticed the weight but they *probably are heavier*
As I said, I 'never' had a wind knot. *Could be to do with line quality*
When I wash down the canoe and Minn Kota I give the reels a rinse as well (a should do with 'any' reel) and have had no corrosion problems
*Yes*, I have had smoother threadlines. 
A 53cm Flathead on the small Silvercast 80 isn't "only chasing small fish in the fresh". Have landed 'Jacks" as well.

A lot of the above would probably depend on fishing skills and the type of fish being chased. As I said, estuary and dam. Today was their first 'real' clean that they have had in 12 months but they where still working OK except the drag on the 120 was getting a bit 'rough'. They may have got a bad rep in that dept because most 'once in a while' fishermen treat their gear like crap and wonder why it doesn't work after its been laying in the back of the garage for 12 months with an old fossilized bait still on the hook 

I do like the spinning reels and have 5 of them in the garage and I do still use them sometimes but I've found that "I" can't beat the accuracy of the closed face with lures when I'm using an 'eggbeater' for the same job

All just my opinion...Some people like baitcasters...go figure :lol:

Cheers
John


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## Ferret (Oct 31, 2006)

Breambo said:


> Gday John,
> Thats a good set up there, as for the reels if they work for you, why change. As for me Im with Jack Pollard and use Alveys.
> You may remember me I gave you a few lessons in flying a few years back.


Hi Breambo

How could 'anyone' forget your their first paragliding experiences?  See, I'm still smiling.

As for the Alveys, I wouldn't use anything else off the beach. A great reel.

You'll have to come up here to the Brunz and wet a line. No good me taking my rig down there. Its not suitable for Lennox Heads waters. Apart from PM here, you'll find more contact options at http://www.johnluck.net

Cheers
John


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## FishinRod (Mar 2, 2007)

Hi John,
Ive had one of these for over 30 years. Never had any problems with it in that time except that the line sometimes catches while casting. I've just bought a couple of the Daiwa Goldcasts because they have level wind in them. This solves that casting problem. The old one has been mostly been used in salt water. I asked the dealer why no one uses them. The only reason he can see is that no one prommotes them. You can use braid becasue its too harsh for them. They don't hold a lot of line & the maximum line size recommended for the largest is 14 lb.This will give you 80 yards of line. Or 160 yards of 8 lb line. I caught a 36.5 cm bass & a 40 cm bass on mine with 8lb line recently. Cetrtainly not big fish but handled them easily.


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## colzinho (Aug 6, 2007)

I remember catching carp in france on 1 of those reels borrowed off an exchange kid I lived with, they worked just fine on some quite decent fish and we had a great time I remember them being very east to get the hang of like you say and we were casting unweighted bread pieces quite far into the lake. 
I thought until now they were predominantly jsut wierd french things and like a lot of inventions from that country (2CV's, Arsenal FC and bidets) I assumed they were designed to do something relatively simple in a kind of retro-stylish yet ultimately pointless way :lol:


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