Picked one up at Bob's for the smokin' hot deal of $100. Gonna baptize it on the Kenai in a few weeks.

Standard speed at 5.4:1, left hand retrieve

Spooled it up half way with 30 IGFA dacron and spliced that to 50# red Power Pro. Still seemed like an eternity to fill it to capacity. Hooked it onto the boat, across my front circle, and on up the driveway.... all the way across the main street and 25 yds into the opposite driveway before I hit the splice. OH MY.... does this thing hold a TON of line!

Drag is super smooth... even when you crank it down hard. Never did max out the supposed 20-plus pounds of drag as I would NEVER need more than 5 pounds of preset drag for a real fishing situation. Any more than that would come close to exploding most every salmon stick I own except perhaps my broomstick Lami Kenai Kings.

Standard 5.4:1 retrieve picks up a respectable 24.5" of line in one crank at the top of the spool, comparable to the 24" of pickup with one crank on my Calcutta TE 400. Not bad a for a low profile reel, but a tad slower than the 27" on my hi-speed Curado 300DSV with 6.2:1 retrieve. The TORO hi-speed model at 6.4:1 retrieve would be expected to pick up about 29" per crank.

Probably could have used that extra advantage for my retarded left hand, but for $100, I'm not going to complain. Guess I'm just gonna have sit in the plane scrambling eggs wrong-handed til the muscle memory sets in.

Gonna pair this reel up with a Loomis GL3 BBR 965. Can't wait for that first hookup.

And to think... you wouldn't let me set up a rod with a Toro at B10 last year

I've used them casting swimbaits to tuna. Talk about feeling the smoothness of the drag....

Replace that one silly teflon drag washer with the correct CarbonFiber one, Doc!

Once you go lefty, you'll never go back....

Yep

It's funny how the only devices on the planet for true leftys, made in superior numbers, are right crank fishing reels.
Even though it was a mistake by our forbearers.

It's on my Pearly Gates question list....

Unfortunately the industry still does NOT agree.

The only reason they were blowing those TORO's out the door is because the lefty's will be discontinued.

My gain?

Yup, Their loss Our Gain.

Depends on how the (re-)education of your left hand goes

Just clocked the left hand.... max sustained speeds of somewhere between 4 and 5 cycles per second.

Right hand somewhere between 5 and 6.

Obviously need more practice.

Sounds like someone's got too much time on their hands.


Lefty's all the way! You'll be glad soon enough.

I'm right-handed... but fish with left-hand retrieve reels because I like to work the rod with my dominant arm. I think much more coordination and strength is needed to do that... then to turn the crank on a reel.

When it comes to larger game like tuna, sturgeon or halibut, where you plant the rod butt against your body though... I prefer to reel with my right hand.

Do tell...

I thought they were all carbon fiber washers in this reel?

It is a dry system that ABU calls Carbon Matrix. Carbon Matrix is very similar to Smoooth Drag's Carbontex aftermarket washers.
The washer under the main gear is not Carbon Matrix and looks to be more of a spacer for the back-up AR dog (clearance) than a drag washer.
My guess is that the ABU engineers chose a dissimilar and "stickier" material for this one to force drag action up to the Carbon Matrix array.

I have a new Inshore that I want to try as is. If any probs, my first mod would be to grease the CM washers with SDG or Cal's and keep the bottom washer dry.

Are all the lefty Toro's going to be discontinued?

That was my understanding, bb.

As far as the pseudo drag washer under the big main gear, I'll leave it for now. Will see how that stock drag performs when it gets smoked by that first 60-plus tidewater king.

Thanks, Doc. Guess I'd better start shopping. Good luck in AK with the reel.

Hey fish4brains ya might want to ask to sit a few rows away from him.


Ahh sir I am going to ahh have to ask you to ah please stop ding that. Your making some of the other passengers uncomfortable.
When we get into Anchorage a nice mane will help you off the plane and spend a little time evalua I mean talking to you

[quote=Achewter]Hey fish4brains ya might want to ask to sit a few rows away from him.
[quote]

Probably won't have to worry about that, I usually end up in the back, by the restroom.

Am I the slow one? I spend most of my time on a spinning set up, which reels left hand, or a center pin or even fly reel, which reel left handed. All of my levels are left hand retrieve.

Why is it so hard to reel the same way on a level wind? Am I the slow child or ahead of the curve? Maybe it's like asking who the chump at the card table is; if you have to wonder, you are that one.

It may be because I am nearly ambidextrous, can reel with either hand, but doesn't explain why people who reel a spinner w the left hand go back to the right for everything else. Has anybody studied this, if it is worth studying?

Path of travel.

It's what levels the playing field... more of it tending to be the equalizer for those who are NOT ambidextrous.

Gross motor skills can be achieved with either extremity, but fine motor skills are best achieved with the dominant hand.... especially if they need to happen fast.

The greater the radius of travel, the better the uncoordinated hand can follow that exact path. Gross motor task. Think big ol' spinning reel crank.... or a saltwater conventional reel with an even bigger big ol' crank.

The smaller the radius of travel, the harder time the non-dominant hand can smoothly trace that same exact path of travel. More of a fine motor task. The smaller short-radius cranks on baitcasters fall into this category.