I already know what everybody is gonna say...... Curado am I right. Smooth long cast, not real high priced, easy to use.

I use shimamos most of the time, but ive notticed they cant take a ton of abuse, they require a good deal of maintinence if you put in alot of time on the river and hook alot of fish. I use them because of the smoothness and long cast.

I have to say though that Ambasadur is really the best reel. They are a work horse and dependable. They may not cast as far and not nearly as smoothly but you can depend on them. And they can take 100 times the abuse of any shimano.

Shimanos are nice untill they sease up or the drag washer goes out but I never leave home without my spare which is always an ambasadur.

I agree with the Ambassadur, I have been using them for years and as long as I'm fishing I will always own one. I use them for Kings and Chums. Dependable workhorse

For steelies I like the high speed reels. My favorite is the Diawa PT33SH. Its a 7 to 1 ratio. I also have a Curado I store as a backup. These high speed reels dont have the toughness but sure are smooth on them cold/wet winter days.

Calcutta's and Chronarch's, I have an Ambassador that never casted worth a damn that I use for plug fishing, otherwise, all Shimano for me.

i prefer an abu garcia also. just wish they made the larger models with the thumbar spool release. i don't like the little push button on the side of the spool. casting should be a one hand operation. i'm purchasing the ambassadeur eon 6600 this weekend. holds an adequate amount of line plus the thumbar release. also carry an abu backup in the already crammed full backpack..

I use a Shimano castaic for my main reel and ambassadeur 5500c3 as a backup or on a heavier rod for throwing metal. They both work great for me but I think the 5500 is a little more sturdy for those unexpected bashings a reel gets. They're both smooth and the drags work great. My .02.

I've used Abu Garcia reels for years. The thing I've noticed is that the push button release develops problems after about a season of heavy use. Seems to be related to internal wear of the release mechanism and develops no matter how often I take the reel apart to oil and clean it. Other than that, I don't know of another reel that performs as well for the price!
regards,
Neal

I started off fishing an Abu,I don't know if they will take more abuse then any other?
Just because the Curado is the so-called most popular doesn't make it the best all around,It works great for summeruns and fits in you're hand ,I just beleive it's overratted
I prefer to fish my Calcutta first follwed by my Bantam 350 and then I'll fish my Curado.

This debate can go on and on

...... ..............Os

I like my Budweiser can wrapped with 15 pound Maxima ultragreen. <img border="0" alt="[wall]" title="" src="graemlins/wall.gif" />

I have 2 Shimano's from Japan, a Scorpion 1500 and a Scorpion Metanium Mg. I used Chronarchs for years but these reels are much nicer.

philpac33 pass on the eon, instead get an abu 6600 CB. It's the same old bullet proof design, with a thumb bar. Mine has treated me nicely, plus the clicker lets me sleep in the boat

i bought the eon 3600 last year, i was told to stay away from it because of quality issues but it is still going strong, it works great for summer steel and silvers in the river. for the winter i will switch to my 5500c3 for chums in the salt.
shimanos are nice reels, but abu's have lasted much longer on my rods.

My person opinion is that Abu's arent a very good reel for casting alot. I use a few for my plug rods just because they are easy to tell how much line you let out but as far as drift fishing reels I like Curados and Calcuttas, I like the Curado because its less bulky and weighs less. The Chronarcs are also a really sweet reel.

or TRAV

i use abu garcia baitcasting reels and daiwa spin casting. both work great and not to expencive.

I like the Japanese Calcutta Conquest. It is a sweet, sweet reel.

For summer & winter-run's Shimano Stella 2500's, and Sustain 2000's for back-up, if there are any smoother I'll buy it! But if i had to break down and fish for Salmonoids I'd pull out my trusty Shim. Cal. 250's & 400's.

Stop talking about the Japanese versions of the baitcasters, guys, you are screwing up my Christmas wish list! Someone posted a link to the Scorpion specs a while ago.....Jigman was that you? Got that link handy? Thanks

Remeber that if you are driftfishing and making cast after cast after cast, then you should want a reel that is:

1) Smooth casting and able to cast light weights

2) Lightweight (unless you've got arms like Timberman )

3) High speed retreive of at least 6:1

The Chronarch SF would be my 1st choice (I can only imagine the Scorpion versions are even better, wow!). Second choice would be the Curado BSF. I have beat my Curado BSF reels to hell and they keep on ticking after hundreds of fish. The Chronarch seems to be a better performer, however, it doesn't seem to take the abuse quite as well as the Curados.

Abu's are bulletproof for the most part and so are the Calcuttas. I own several, however, they have taken up permanent residence on the reel seats of my plug rods. Why? Because they don't have the high speed retreive that the Curados and Chronarchs do! You can get away with a 5:1 retreive for most salmon driftfishing applications as you can bear down on the drag and put some muscle to 'em, but you will miss a lot of steelhead if you can rip that extra line in from the benefit of a 6:1 or 6.2:1 reel.

Remember that any of the Mg reels (magnesium spool, frame, etc.) need to be used in freshwater and freshwater only. Apparently Shmimano will void warranty if these reels are used in or near saltwater areas because Magnesium and salt don't mix. Considerably lighter, Magnesium component reels are nice if you don't live next to Puget Sound like I do or if you fish freshwater (not even brackish) water only.

Something else to think about is that when you beat your Shimano reels to a pulp, send them back to Shimano and you might be surprised when a shiny new reel arrives in its place!

goto the top and look for the shimano post

I'm hooked on Pflueger! Bought my first one last year, the Trion baitcaster. I was so impressed with the cast and how smooth it was that I started looking into their other reels. Last month my wife bought me the Pflueger Trion LP. Great reel!! Six bearing, 6.3:1 retrieve, wiffle spool and looks great. No problems so far and not a bad price at 100 bucks.

I like the Abus for boat/plug rod reels. Very durable, I've had some of mine for close to 20 years. When they get a little creaky, I send them to Ollie Damon's in Portland, and they come back good for another 20 years. I use both the 5000's and the 6000's.

I like the Shimano reels for casting reels. Again, I have some old ones. I have two old Bantam Mag 251's, one of which just got retired, and the other of which is in new condition. Nice, smooth, light reels, but you can't get them fixed when they're old, like you can the Abu's. Parts aren't as available.

I'll have to try the Curado when the current reel wears out. I sure hear a lot of good things about them.

For a bobber reel, I use a Shimano Sahara 4000, which is working nicely.

I had trouble with the 1st two but this one is flawless.
The smoothest reel I have and my favorite

Testing the digital camera.

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i have a couple of quantom 1310's i like alot
. small spools but i use them for bass fishing also.

I can't find a picture of my favorite reel. It's a Daiwa, and I can't remember the model number for it. It looks just like this one, but it is the model below it. I can only imagine how good this reel is.

chronarchs and calcuttas for me, curados are shotty, abus are ok, but my chronarch has outlasted that thing by far and caught way more fish on it without any probs. i do prefer my abu for saltwater tho espically casting darts or buzz bombs because they can hold more and heavier line which means you wont cast off too much money into the salt.

TTT

Chronarchs are a good reel. Saying Curados are shotty is just an outright lie though. Calcuttas are great as far as quality goes, but I just don't like the feel of them as a personal preference. I like the open face style of the Curado.

The only problem I see with the Chronarch is the line capacity. At 10 lb test, the Curado 200 holds 30 more yards of line.

then again my new quantom reel that i really like the feel of was destroyed by chums today. i think it is designed for 3 lb bass not 13 lb chums

I used to run Calcuttas ... now run Curado's (faster retreive version) as my casting reels in the boat. Both have held up extremely well under lots of use. I switched out simply becasue of the ease of adjustabilty of the centrifugal braking system ... made it much easier to adjust to different people each day with the Curados.

On my rod?? Chronarch Mg ... they are spendy, but they are ever so smooth and lighter to boot.

Abu's for plug rods only on my boat ... line counting is easier, but casting is not quite on par with the Shimanos.