What about the Okuma Nytrix reels? High retrieve speed and great price. Anyone hvae any experience with them?

-David

Actually, the lever drag reel is much less likely to do this than your standard star drag trolling reel with a paddle lever line release.
On the lever drag, the farther you pull back the lever, the less drag tension. It does not automaticly switch to free spool. And the maximum drag tension on a lever drag can be set by a twist knob on the side.
Even though I mentioned this negative above, we use them simply because you can back off the lever (drag tension), put the rod in the holder, clip the line to the release, and lower your DR ball. It doesn't take two hands to get your gear back fishing. Then simply push the lever forward to the pre-set, or maximum drag setting, and that's it. A quick glance at the lever lets you know that it is in the "strike position."
Were as in a star drag conventional, you have to constantly feel the drag and adjust as necessary. There nothing visual to see to let you know that the drag is set correctly, say from the helm, for example.
The main benifit for me is when I'm running 4 downriggers for my guests, these charter specials gets us fishing at 4 depths quickly.
This is important in my opinion during an ideal tidal stage in my opinion.
And their durability and all around preformance is good.

J.D.

AuntyM.....to each his own...So many reels so little money...I gave away my TLD 5 lever drag reels but still have my TLD25s for halibut and tuna. The lever drags are nice but if you have rookies on board watch out!!! When the fish hits and they frantically rip the rod out of the holder they almost always flip the lever drag to free spool....Not so with the star drags . Just my personal experience and certainly not a slam against lever drags.

Shimano 1000. Light, good capacity and retrieve ratio and most importantly, a direct drive switch so you can use your thumb as a custom drag. Only problem is they don't make them anymore. I think the 50 is similar but without the DD switch.

Peri,

I don't use Winonas for DRs. I have never even used a DR. I'm strictly a moocher.

I just bought another Winona from Ebay. This is the only one of the 4 I have that I might be able to crank the nut down tight enough to keep line from free-spooling IF I wanted to use a DR.

Grandpa2 - We fish area 9 and 10 almost exclusively which means we go for coho and not chinook. We use 3 different reels for downrigger fishing in saltwater. One is a Shimano Corsair CS 400, the 2nd is an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500 C3 and the 3rd is the same Abu Garcia 5500 C3. The C3s are bulletproof and low maintenance for many years now. The Corsair is starting to develop an issue with the anti-reverse. I guess that was one of the weak points of this reel and may be why it's no longer being made by Shimano (although you can still find them at retailers). If you find one, I'd pass and look instead at it's replacement, the Catala, may have been upgraded in the anti-reverse area. That's my $0.02.

Yup the Shimano Corsair never panned out, the only ones that I had that worked ok were 4 of the first batch of 300's sold.
Sold all those (cheap!) when I updated to Calcutta 250's.

One Salmon reel not to forget about is the Shimano
Bantam 50, they've been making them for over 30 years for a reason...... THEY WORK!

Bantam 50's are what I use @ Astoria in August, and they are bullit proof!

Some of mine are 6-7 years old and never had any problems.......... The best salmon for under a hundered bucks!

Any of you guys following this thread have any experience with the new Shimano TEKOTA series? Look great in the catalog, but hands on experience would be appreciated before plunking down my $$$.

I have a Bantam 50 and it works great. I use a Shimano Calcutta 400 and a bunch of Shimano TR-200Gs...The Tekota looks real good on paper and I am thinking of getting one. So far the Quantum Cabo is a classier reel than the Bantam 50 and lighter and about the same size...