Rate Your New Gear

[timtam_]

On 6/12/2016 at 11:58 AM, curranboy99 said:

Saw this thread and thought I might contribute to it...

So here we go!

Product: Shakespeare Tidewater 2000

Type: Spin Reel

Price: $75.99

Quality: Poor Quality - Drag is rubbish, clunky to wind the handle, handle becomes loose after a few retrieves, but the handle knob is fair.

Experience: Only used it once - caught a couple bream on it fine in close quarters, then started using it on the flats where long casts where needed. And the problems begun, the spool would begin to lock-up on the reel with a loose drag, the bail arm and handle begun to come loose after punching long casts out and putting pressure on the reel trying to get some flathead in made the spool lock-up even worse..

Rating: 1/5 - Complete lemon for that price, don't buy it! not worth it

Ideal Match-Up Rod: Nothing! Leave it in the glass box at the tackle store.

For a cheap, performing reel try the new or old sienna... have caught some absolute quality fish and the drag is stupidly smooth for a low budget reel. Have had mine for three years and still easily fish light hardbodies or plastics, and the drag sounds beaut and doesn't jump if i have a fish pulling line. 10/10 would recommend

[kmcrosby78]

Yep ditto for the Siennas.  I have had two for a few years now and still going strong (the 4000 slightly less so after it was flipped out of the boat at the ramp a year or two ago but still working). For about $80 with a rod when on special at BCF, you can't go wrong.

[samsteele115]

Sienna's are so good! Bargain. 

[Damien2Rad]

Another vote for Sienna!

 

Geez I could add some rods and reels to this thread since I last posted in it!!

 

[curranboy99]

Thanks guys for the feedback

For sure agree the sieena is a great reel as I own the FD 1000, not the new one though as im quite sceptical with the materials and how it feels.

But should just buy the fe sieena, its pretty enough!

Thanks again

[mackay_ angler_]

I love this gives some real feedback on gear 

[Guest Kendaric]

On 6/16/2016 at 8:57 PM, curranboy99 said:

But should just buy the fe sieena, its pretty enough!

Surely that has to be sarcasm, or I am missing something.

The Siennas, particularly the later, were the ugliest reel Shimano ever produced (I'm sure even Alan Hawk would agree) almost rivalling the the pre Rex Hunt Shimano threadlines.  Having said that, reports are that they functioned above expectations.

Shimano seems to have gone with this up angled body of late, filling in the gap with a 'filler' body cover to try and maintain some esthetic balance - still a fail in my books, like mutton dressed up as lamb.

 

[Gad]

interesting, the dress has never got/loss bonus points from me, it`s only the performance and durability.

 

[Dinodadog]

I purchased 2 of the 1000 reels for jigging bass as I didnt need much line on them. I can say they are doing the job just fine, they were on special for 25 dollars each, it was a no lose situation.

 

Dino

[Guest Kendaric]

On 1/6/2018 at 6:19 PM, Gad said:

interesting, the dress has never got/loss bonus points from me, it`s only the performance and durability.

 

Valid.  Admittedly I'm a bit OCD with my gear, about function and aesthetics.  I have reels that are decades old, been used, but still look and perform like they day they came out of the box.

[Gad]

   just like well prepped mutton......

[Drop Bear]

I have a few sieenas. Mostly 1000 or 2000. They have been a great reel but dont take a dunking. I have had to swim to some spots down at Wooli and they didn't like this. 

A top reel for the price. 

[Kulpikid]

Hi guys. Just returned from 4 day trip from the beaches at Marlo where I finally blooded a new rig however my overall impression was I should have saved my money and stayed with the original. Spinning for salmon and had some huge strikes and some very nice fish landed but the majority lost. I was using Daiwa rod (Surf Seajigger SJ325L) and a Vadel 3500H reel. I was constantly getting line wrap on the end of the rod and line not wrapping neatly on the spool.  Previous trips using Shimano rigs was, in my current opinion, much more successful.

Any thoughts on this?  

[Drop Bear]

2 hours ago, Kulpikid said:

Hi guys. Just returned from 4 day trip from the beaches at Marlo where I finally blooded a new rig however my overall impression was I should have saved my money and stayed with the original. Spinning for salmon and had some huge strikes and some very nice fish landed but the majority lost. I was using Daiwa rod (Surf Seajigger SJ325L) and a Vadel 3500H reel. I was constantly getting line wrap on the end of the rod and line not wrapping neatly on the spool.  Previous trips using Shimano rigs was, in my current opinion, much more successful.

Any thoughts on this?  

I had to google Marlo. Wow that place looks mint. 

I have not had any luck with Diawa Reels. I bought a Sienna at the same time and the Diawa went grindy after first fish. Both reels were treated the same. Not a good enough sample size so only anecdotal. 

[davostephens]

Product: Halcom130 max

Type: bibbles sinking lure

Colour Range:  extensive

Preferred Colour Thus Far: Yellowfin, fusiler

Price: 15$ avg.. bcf sales 13$ but hard to get the colors you chase. MO tackle have all and will price match. Best value for money lure out there and most versatile.

Quality: Good to great all round but paint wears with mack attacks or usaul teeth attacks, However a tin of red and white sparay paint and you got a qantas red head when toooo smashed up. hooks mustad.good.. rings good halco ones.

Action: fast, vibrates, sinks quick (like a lead.. they weigh 130 grams and often i get hit on the way down.) as in the GT below.

Sometimes a mac will chase to boat and shy away.. Just open the bail and on way down swimming 7/10 times bang.

Experience: A brief account. Most versatile lure i use atm.. Whether trolled at 8-12 knots for the trip home, Cast and retrieve. Drop and jig.

I usualy cast and sink to bottom. then wind hell fast, pause, let dive,, wind pause... bang..

or have been real successful just dropping to bottom , lift one metre then lift rod up medium and slowly lower.. over and over... swims up and down

So far best fish are 17 kg mack. 16 kg GT released,swallowed it whole

6 kg golden trevally swallowed it wholeand died. heaps of  stuff would attack these. I get many school, spotty and grey macs on them ..Bad side they are so good i loose heaps to spinner sharks as they launch and roll up the line. Sharks love these things unfortunately.

Great Aussie product. Cant rate them enough. Would like to try them in deep water one day. would be great for reef fish but would have the advantage of on retrieve to boat they are likely to pick up literally anything.. dogtooth macs, tuna. kings in deep water. As you can see from my boat I only fish coastal.

Pictures: Optional...

[davostephens]

Product: Pflueger Arbor

Type: Spinning reel

Colour Range: One size i think but its all you need

Preferred Colour Thus Far: NA

Price: 80$US

Quality: GOOD however the paint coating corrodes off if not well cleaned and inox sprayed when left.

Action: Fast spinning real that casts helllll far with small lures

Experience: Over sized line spool, They look odd but man can you fire a steel lure. Even tiny ones when the tuna are eating neon tetra sized bait and spook on aproach. You dont need to get as close with these reels firing out the steel lures.

Not the fastest ratio but with the large line spool dosnt matter retrieves quick. Good for soft plastics as big cast ability.

I have 2.one is 6 years old and been Flogged. but still casts and winds no problem, drags still good. has caught countles mackeral 4 kg schoolies and spotties and a few up to 10 kg.

barra, trout, Whatever.. I love it. and for 100$ Aussie cant complain. And you get 2 spools. one 20 lb braid. the other 30lb braid covers all.

Pictures: Optional...

[Brodie_S]

Wow can’t believe this thread has been going for 7 years one of the first post on this thread was a basic overview of the good old Stradic FJ meanwhile I’m saving up for the new Stradic fl which is 10 times better then the old fj when I get my Stradic and fish with it a bit I will do a review on this thread to keep it going for years to come 

[Brodie_S]

Product . Daiwa aird lt 2000

type light spin reel

price $90-100

colour gold and black

pros good line lay excellent drag and no play in the handle 

cons plastic rotor not very water resistant and doesn’t come with much grease or oil

quality has a good drive gear and drag is excellent but other then that reels average quality for the price range doesn’t come with much grease on the gears compared to other daiwa and shimano reels but is easy to service when it does run out of grease  

experience 7 months of brackish and saltwater use overall good reel but wouldn’t recommend because you can get the legalis for not much more and the legalis lt comes 2 ball bearings on the pinon gear instead of 1 ball bearing on the pinon gear that the aird lt has also the legalis lt has silent oscillation and better gearing and a much better rotor . biggest fish i got on the aird lt was a 55cm dusky flathead using 6lb braid and 6lb leader using 2.5 inch slim swims in calico candy And it handled it fine was a long fight on light gear though .

rating 4.5/5

ideal much up rod any daiwa 2-4kg rod or any 3-8lb rod 

shimano Stradic fl 1000 review coming sometime in the future 

[Brodie_S]

Product 
shimano stradic 2019 model FL 1000HG

type finesse spinning reel

price $250-270

quality . Great handle is a solid handle no play any ware in the handle .drag system is the best felt system I’ve ever seen . Line lay is perfect .Very Simple maintenance needed 

experience had the reel for a couple of months now has survived multiple giant fish a dunking and dropping it in the sand still feels and looks and same as the day I bought it 

pros 

super smooth. Strong gearing. Good lay line. Rigid reel. Good drag system. Can take a dunking or two . Loud drag . The most line cap I’ve ever seen on a 1000 reel I have to spool half the reel with backing and then spool 150m of 6lb braid to get it perfectly spooled you could probably fit 150m of 10lb braid if you wanted to but not sure .FYI I respooled it today because I’ve had the reel underspooled for awhile and it was driving me crazy so just today I found Out that you need half the reel spooled with backing to fit 150m of 6lb braid 

cons sometimes the line wouldn’t slip into the roller when I went to set the hook then bait fishing. and would do this weird semi flip thing . I just have to flip the bail arm over when a fish is taking a run and then manually grab the line and slide it in the roller .sounds complicated but isn’t . Cause when I fish with bait I leave my bail arm over to let line lose and if a fish takes a run it won’t feel any resistance if you bait fish with you bail arm closed this won’t be a issue for you . It’s a very minor issue and I didn’t lose any fish because of it 

rating 10/10

matchs well with 1-3.5kg  and 2-4kg rods around 6”10 and 7”0 are good rod lengths for this reel 

can handle small and big fish good for soft plastics and bait fishing 

old photo when it was underspooled . It doesn’t look underspooled in the photo but it was . Even though it was underspooled it still had decent casting distance 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 hours ago, Breaming with bro said:

cons sometimes the line wouldn’t slip into the roller when I went to set the hook then bait fishing. and would do this weird semi flip thing

This happens to me on some of my reels too. I think it is key to just keep the line in the roller always, Breaming with bro. 

I also think due to braid, especially if it's new, it can slip. If you've felt it, some new braid is quite greasy almost, so that's probably why in my opinion.

Cheers Hamish

[Brodie_S]

Shimano cazna 2500FA

type budget spinning reel 

price $40-60

quality. Has a really good bail arm system lay line is pretty good Has a good anti reverse.Drag is probably the worst drag I’ve ever seen on a spinning reel but i think mine has a problem. I don’t think that’s normal for the 2500FA cazna to have extremely bad drag .

experience . Had it for a few months now longer then my Stradic mainly used it for flathead on 3 inch plastics and some bait fishing 

pros . Good price. solid bail arm system and strong rotor 

cons . Weighs a tone. Bad drag . It now feels extremely geary I’ve added some grease In the past which helped and I’ve added some today unfortunately this time it didn’t help it . It felt almost the same . But the same in terms of gearyness 

rating 3/5

feels geary . Has bad drag is quite heavy . Will probably strip the braid off and put on another reel and put mono on the cazna and turn it into a bait fishing reel  . Personally though i would give it a 4/5 but there’s better on the market now with the sienna FG . In no way I’m expecting a Stradic at the $40 I bought it for but there’s better for in between that $40-60 range

if you happen to find them for $30-40 and you don’t go fishing often less then twice a Month it might just be perfect for you 

if your after reel around that $50 that will probably last not sure if they last that long but generally siennas do . Check out the sienna FG . I had a bad experience at first with them but they have improved since then idk why . Also it’s shame shimano didn’t use hagane gear in the new sienna but it should be fine regardless