New Baitcasting Reels

[dhaddix]

Hey guys,

I am probably going to purchase at least one new baitcasting reel this spring, possibly two. I currently have several BPS Carbon Black reels, and a couple BPS Pro Qualifiers, as well as a Shimano Citica.

After recently getting back into bass fishing after a long stint as a professional golfer, I purchased the gear that I have just to have enough outfits to get me up and running, and have decided to spend my money from this point forward to get some nicer gear and upgrade my "arsenal".

That being said, I was hoping that some of you that are in the know on these sorts of things could tell me a bit about some of the new reels that are out. I had looked at the Chronarch (2012 white model), as well as the "new" Curado. Like most everyone else, I have seen some poor perspectives on these "new" reels from Shimano and was wondering what your all's opinions of them are? I have read countless reviews on other reel manufacturers, but based on my experience ( I used to fish a lot when I was younger), and my dad's experience ( he did a TON of tournament fishing back in his prime), I think I would like to stick with Shimano or Abu Garcia as my reels of choice, and would like to keep the price point at something reasonable (i.e. - $200 or less).

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I figured that ProReel or someone that gets to look at the guts of all these reels may have some great insight, as well as the other knowledgable members of this forum. Just want to try to make the most informed decision possible when I decide to make a purchase.

Thanks for your time reading this and for your replies.

[bassboogieman]

I am not now, nor have I ever been a fan of Shimano. But there is a legion of anglers that like them but I think Shimano, like Loomis (which they now own), survive on the name alone (you can also assume I'm not a Loomis fan either). Granted they make SOME good ones, but I don't think they compare to other brands at similiar cost.

Of your two choices, I definitely believe Abu, particularly the REVO line of reels, are superior to Shamano. They are smaller, lighter, smoother and offer a good selection of models for every use (as does Shimano). That's my opinion, but you'll likely hear from the Shimano guys as well. So try one of each in a comparable price point and decide for yourself.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I can't tell you much about the guts like some of the other guys can, but I can tell you both companies make the best reels IMO. I am a Shimano fan and I only fish with them, with the exception of 1 Okuma that I really like. My Curados, the E-series, just feel smoother and tighter to me than the Revos in the same price range. Try you 1 of each and gather your own opinion for what feels and fits your hand the best.


Boogie beat me to it.

[Tavery5]

If your looking at Shimano reels, the best value is a Curado E series, last years Curado E is this years Chronarch minus the paint job and a couple of other very small changes. You can find the Curado E for 140 at this link http://www.ohya.com. The Curado E is considered to be the superior reel to the new Curado G by many Shimano enthusiast, based largely on the reel being no longer produced in Japan, and several other features that were considered to be downgraded.

If you decide that you would like to go with the Abu Revo line, I would recommend the Revo STX, as it offers the most features for the money. The STX is the lowest model in the Revo line that offers dual braking, a feature that many enjoy. Besides the weight of the reel, the STX closely matches the more expensive Revo Premier step for step.

Another reel that you may want to consider in the Lews speed spool line. They are light, cast well, smooth on the retrieve, and while they are only about a year old now the reports are that they are well built. They offer many features you find on upper end reels at a lower price point.

Good Luck, if you want more detailed information on any of these reels, just ask.

[bassinbob]

If you want to be a happy fisherman try to pick up some Chronarch 50 mg's. They are no longer made but you can find them for sale on ebay and some other fishing sites. I love this reel and always try to bid for them on ebay but the prices go to high (over 200)
I have Shimanos, Revos and Okuma. I like them all but would buy any Chronarch 50 mg if I could. Of course if you are only interested in new I would buy any of the reels mentioned above.

[keithdog]

Outside of the reels you already have, of which I also own, I'm a Revo man. I would recommend the STX and the SX, both outstanding reels. Garcia makes more expensive reels in their Revo liveup, but I don't see much advantage with them other than making your wallet lighter. If you like fishing crankbaits, the Revo Winch is a good choice with a IPT of 20.6". The newest Revo is the MGX which is supposed to be extremely light. But at $349.00 I'll pass. My STX and SX are not heavy at all and very comfortable to use.

[dhaddix]

Tavery, have you bought anything from www.ohya.com? Just making sure they are a reputable distributor and everything, which could factor in to my decision. After reading all the reviews, if I go the Shimano route, that seems to be the best bang for the buck. Thanks for the hookup on that website!

[Tavery5]

I have purchased two reels at different times from Ohya, and know of several others. They are a very reputable site and you will have no issues getting your equipment.

[pro reel]

If you already have a PQ,you know they are pretty darn good reels. Every internal part can be replaced by a revo part so parts are not an issue. Now as for some reels just feeling or looking a bit more refined, i often wonder if thats a perception or a reality? I have worked on a lot of PQ's and a lot of revos and i must tell you, I'm just not convinced that there is enough differnce to justify the price difference, unless you go up to the premier to get the lighter weight. I have a lot of STX revo/s and i love them, but i got them at a very good price or i would have gotten PQ's I also now have 2 of the Curado E 50 reels. After tuning and bearing upgrades, these are awesome for light baits and can still be used for any regular sized bait. I hate shimano's drag washers and i replace those with carbontex. If I was going to buy more shimano reels, i would get the E%, E7 or E 50 curados from ohya. Don't get a G series reel, you will be dissapointed. If you want a full sized E curado but want it in the 6.4 ratio, you can get gear sets to do that and along with a tuning it's very affordable and would still be cheaper than buying the new Chronarch that comes in those ratios but is still just a white curado E
I guess my point here is that if you want a curado, then by all means get the leftover E reels, they are sweet. But if you think that it's going to be an upgrade in quality or castability over your PQ's, you might just find that it's all in the eye of the holder. An upgraded and tuned PQ with boca bearings and carbontex drags is a real pleasure to fish with equal to or vastly better than most reels at twice the price.

[wallywallace]

if you dont listen to pro reel, your lost bud, need to get me a PQ, lol hey babe this guy on this forum, yea said this reel and that store, is good i gotta go get it lol, she just doesn't understand

[bassboogieman]

If you're looking for a BPS Pro Qualifer, hang on as the Spring Classic is comming up in a couple weeks and they usually go on sale as a draw. And if you actually go in the store during the Classic they run a deal that you can trade any working reel for a coupon for additional discount on a new reel. The more expensive the reel the bigger the discount.

[pro reel]

The spring classic starts feb 24 and they are on sale for $79
Don't let me talk you out of a nice Curado, if you want one. I just think that you will not see a lot of difference.

[bassboogieman]

In our BPS in Harrisburg the Johnny Morris Carbonlite reel will be a featured item. With a trade in you can snag one for $89. That one is a step up from the PQ>
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...eel.cfm&loc=26

[wallywallace]

see boogie and Preel trying to get the monkey inflamed, and this aint even my thread

[DVT Mike]

You'd almost have to try to go wrong when shopping for baitcasters in the $150-$200 range. The PQ and Revo lines share a lot of tooling and design but I hesitate to say they are the "same" reel. The price difference is a real factor though so the PQ has an edge there. I fish a wide variety of brands depending on the deal.

[dhaddix]

Thanks for all of the replies, guys.

As I had stated previously, I have a few Pro Qualifiers and Carbon Blacks, as well as a Citica. I was just thinking that the Curado's may be a bit smoother, cast a bit better, and from what I understand, they will flat out last a long time. I love my other reels and think that they perform very well, I have no complaints about them.

ProReel, when you had stated that I wouldn't see much of a difference between the PQ and the Curado, what were you referencing? Again, I like the PQ's that I have, but thought the Curado would generally outperform the PQ. Perhaps I have a skewed perception of reality, and I fully trust what you and the others on this forum have said.

I just want to be able to make the most informed purchase possible. Thanks again for all the replies, I have really enjoyed this thread.

[Tavery5]

My opinion is that the Curado is going to be the better performer when it comes to using lighter baits, baits in the 1/8oz range. The materials and design of the Curado will allow it to out perform the others on your list. If you are primarily using baits in the 3/8oz range any perceivable advantage will probably be diminished.

[3dkicker]

Abu Revo line is a very good line of reels. I have a Premiere. It's a very nice reel but have an issue with the drag on mine.

Lew's speed spool has many options this year. I've played with the Tournament MSB and the MCS. I absolutely loved the MCS when testing it out last summer. Great reel for the price.
I'd love to do a comparison between the top of the line Team Speed Spool ($249) and the Tournament Pro MSB($199) with the Tournament MSB($149) and the MCS ($99) and see how much better they are.

All of my Shimano Curado reels have been very good reels and have lasted. I don't think you'll go wrong with an E.

Best thing to do and go out and find someone who owns one of the reels you are interested in and cast it and catch a few fish on it. See how it works that way you won't be disappointed.

[Tavery5]

Smitty, I know it is off topic, but I would be interested in hearing the problems you are having with the drag system on your Premier. New thread?

[pro reel]

Originally Posted by dhaddix

Thanks for all of the replies, guys.

As I had stated previously, I have a few Pro Qualifiers and Carbon Blacks, as well as a Citica. I was just thinking that the Curado's may be a bit smoother, cast a bit better, and from what I understand, they will flat out last a long time. I love my other reels and think that they perform very well, I have no complaints about them.

ProReel, when you had stated that I wouldn't see much of a difference between the PQ and the Curado, what were you referencing? Again, I like the PQ's that I have, but thought the Curado would generally outperform the PQ. Perhaps I have a skewed perception of reality, and I fully trust what you and the others on this forum have said.

I just want to be able to make the most informed purchase possible. Thanks again for all the replies, I have really enjoyed this thread.

Well, I guess it depends on exactly what difference you are hoping to see. As tavery pointed out, the curado E used a spool thats built with a lighter material and they use a super free pinion design. Both of those features are very helpfull with casting light baits. However, the curado only has centrifugal brakes, those are very good brakes, but the dual brake system of the Pro Qualifier is better, thats not just my opinion, shimano agrees and thats why they use a dual brake system on JDM scorpians but they can't use that on Domestic reels because there design is a patent infringment in the states. Anyway, the dual brakes also help with casting light baits as you can dial the brakes in better. Now, when I talk about reels, I seldom refer to the out of box performance. I tune every reel i get and even my base clean includes bearing flush and performance lube. Therefore, my perception of reels is based on thier increased performance after a new reel flush and tune. I believe that there is very little casting difference between those 2 reels. Now, if you want to cast light baits, get a reel designed for that. The 50E curado is one of my light bait reels and I just picked up a 2nd this week. It casts light baits very well. I have also seen that the new carbonlite casts light baits better than many reels that cost twice the price. Now, if you are refering to overall quality, many of us will never agree, but I think the PQ is very high on overall quality and I just don't see a difference in quality between the 2. There are design differnces and you might say that the superfree system is higher quality, but many very high quality reels don't use super free sytems either, so it's just a design difference. The PQ is a one peice milled aluminum frame reel. The sideplates always seem to be very well fitting and i don't see any of the issues that many like to say exist. Many lower priced reels including many BPS reels use cast aluminum frames. Those do have some fit and tolerence issues, but I don't see that in the PQ. One thing Curados are notorius for is a small amount of backplay in the handle and anti reverse. Some are worse than others but they all have it. The PQ doesn;t have any backplay so yopu might say it's superior there. Curados also come with a backup ar sytem thats a dog sliding on a ratchet gear. That causes a continuous rubbing or resistence feel until it's removed and tossed in the trash can. Shimano also use a drag system they call dartanium. Thats complete junk in my opinion as most reels I open either have the drags shreded or stuck to the gear or plate. the PQ uses a muti disk teflon drag which is much more consistent. Now, both of those can be upgraded to carbontex but even then, the multi disk system of the PQ would be superior. So, although owning a curado may feel better than owning a BPS PQ, and I completly understand that, I still say that there is not a quality difference

[dhaddix]

Great stuff ProReel! I sincerely appreciate the details in your response, and you have really opened my eyes on what "quality" truly is. It sounds like I could send my PQ's in to you for a tune up and have some pretty sweet machinery for a reasonable price, which may very well be what I do after this fishing season.

You mentioned the new Carbonlite reel from BPS. I have a few of the Carbon Black reels, which I really like. Do you have any insight on the Carbonlites? I hadn't mentioned it before, but they may also be something I look at closely when it comes time to buy, and I don't think you can beat the deal they will have on them during the reel trade in.

[pro reel]

I have looked at the inside of the carbonlites. Everything looks fine inside. I was disapointed to see that they changed many of the parts from the original design. One of the main things that I love about the PQ and the first carbolite is that all the parts were interchangeable with Revo parts. I could always get any part I might need and i could make affordable upgrades to them. The new carbonlite has an external adjustable centrifugal brake. It's very similar to quantums system. It also has an external adjustable mag brake. Both systems should be fine, but I think I prefered the original dual system with the 6 pins inside. As long as BPS makes the reel, parts will be avilable, but if they discontinue it, parts could be very hard to get, thats never going to be a problem with the PQ unless it's an external sidecover or something and even then, they will have a lot of parts reels that they could get good used parts to replace thoise few things that would not be the same as a revo part.
Again, I want to stress that i love shimano E series reels. There is nothing wrong with them and I will take any that someone wants to get me for my birthday etc. My point is that there is not any major quality difference between it and a PQ that would make it noticable better. If you want a reel thats noticably better than a PQ then find a leftover Chronarch D or step up to a core. There is a noticable improvment there. Also, the PQ and the original carbonlite are the only BPS reels that I would make that claim about. The jury is still out on several other bps reels, they will have to stand a time test before i could suport them this way.

[basshunter21]

Well I know what baitcasters im getting this spring. I always heard the PQ's were good but I didnt know they were that nice.

BTW-took me forever to figure out what PQ was referring to lol

[Dogmatic]

Don't want to highjack...but, you always hear of BPS PQ, well, BPS is an hour farther for me, does Cabela's have any decent reels under their name?

[bassboogieman]

Well BPS has on-line ordering and shipping would be less than gas (at least in my truck)and lunch. But it's not near as much fun as an actual visit. Cabela's does have their own line of reels (and rods) but they are of a lesser grade than those offered by BPS. I rarely hear any talk concerning Cabela's reels, unlike the BPS stuff. That should be a clue.