Shakespeare TW10LCL Questions?

[JIMSWHIM]

Well I finally climbed aboard WC and glad I did! I have watched this site for some time now and I think it is great and getting better all the time! I have fished Lake Erie since I was young(Grandfather had a place in Marblehead and I fished from a lot of old wooden boats that he had,Owens,Lyman and a couple of others that I can't remmber right now but I wish I had them now! I have a 17ft Seanymph with a 50hp Evin. that I take up now and I am going to get it rigged up for trolling in the spring.I have fished with EYEPROBLEM once in April of 2001 and what great guy he is and he does have a serious (walleye problem) he just can't get enough! Well enough rambling on for now,but I have a question about the line counting reels I have seen in Cabelas,page 20 of their 2002 spring catalog. Anyone ever use these or are they new to the market? The price sounds almost to good to be true! Was going to get Daiwa's but not sure now!Any help would be greatly appreciated! I want to thank Denied & Den for all of their info also! Thanks JIMSWIM

[ETT]

Den sells them all, Okumas, Diawas, Shakespeares, and more. Call him at 1 888 855 9032, and ask him. He will not steer you wrong. I know he'll have the Diawas & Okumas at the Boat Show in Cleveland, stop over there, we'll help you spend your money!!! He will have some super special deals.

My advice would be stay with Diawas, but I fish a lot and want zero problems.

Hope to see you in Cleveland.

[SLIPKNOT]

The reels themselves are very good. The drag is very good also. But the counter suck to say the least. They aren't very accurate and everytime you reel them in they are off my 10-40 feet. So when you let them back out you have to remember to reset the counters. I would say get the daiwa's, they will last you forever and you will never have any problems.

[hammertime]

get the daiwa,s and you wont be disapointed, the hammertime fishing team runs them in salmon tourneys all year on dipseys, riggers and boards and caught tons of big salmon and never had one fail yet, drags are smooth, good line cap and well made. the salmon are a good test for line counters and most have not held up to the test, they all say there getting better now, but we hear the fisherman on the big lakes all the time saying they wish they had bought the daiwa,s to start with, didnt save any money when they had to buy new reels and ended up getting daiwa,s when all said and done. just my app. of course but we charted a lot of hrs and fish on them to be able to say this ! good luck on your choice but beware that buying right the first time is always the cheapest !!!!!!!!!!!

[james/loch lomond]

Jim, after reading you post i decided to do some "tests" the results are as follows:
from a measured distance of 107 ft in my back garden.
cabelas dephmaster= 112 ft
shakespeare twcl 10=109 ft
2ND shakespeare twcl=149 ft
okuma 20 =108 ft
2nd okuma 20 =102 ft
okuma 30 =109ft
2nd okuma 30 =108 ft
shimano 1500lc =112 ft
shakesspeare clipon l/counter=111ft

If i were starting again i would get the diawas, the main reason i got the other reels was cost,i live in scotland in the uk and if i order from cabelas they hit me with 40% shipping/handling charge and then if the uk customs get thier hands on them they also add 22.5% to my bill so a $93 diawa will end up costing me approx $160.
But given the choice i would rather have 5 or 6 diawas rather than the hodge-podge in have just now.
Cheers ..james.

[bobk]

Jim I have 2 of the Shakespeares and have had no problems with them. I also have 2 of the Diawas again with no problems. I fish with a buddy quite often and he has burned up the drags on 2 of his diawas. I fish Erie only. The Shakepheares even held up good on steelies this fall. (As did the Diawas) I would not hesitate to get the Shak. again they have worked good for me. From what I was told by a dealer Diawa will not backup the drag system on the linecounters when they are used for trolling. Take Care Bob

[tbomn]

I have had the Shakespeare line counters, and felt that they are a pretty good reel. I never had anything to complain about them. I have had the Okuma's and felt the only thing wrong with them was the position of the reset button on the counter, everytime you grab the reel out of the holder, you would reset the counter....a real pain. I have a Cabela's manual line counter and like it, but the drag is really touchy to set..but works really well. I have the Daiwa 27LC as well and like them very much, I think the drag on all of them are pretty good, and would compare the Shakespeare as being closest to the Daiwa's...all in all, I really don't think you can go wrong with the Shakespeare, for the money, if you aren't going to use it on a daily basis. If you are using it every day and working it hard...the Daiwa is the way to go.

[Chad]

If you are looking at saving money, just purchase the Shakespear clip on line counters. From others I have talked to they are accurate and cheap, around $12 each. Great deal for someone who doesn't fish everyday.

I am going to buy a couple just for back ups.

[Den]

James, that was a good comparison, and a good way to measure the line out. now to make it more interesting, are all the reels filled to their maximum line capacity? just something to think about. when i respool my reels, each reel has EXACTLY the same amount of line on them, and they all read within a foot of each other with 150 foot of measured distance. i do check my reels counters a few time a year to make sure that the counters are all close to each other, regardless of what kind they are. if the reels arent spooled the same they will read different on the line out. a simple way is take something at a given distance, put the line end on it walk a given distance, the do it with other reels and see what they read, if the line is all the same(spooled with the same poundage, and same amount of line) they should read within a foot of each other. good luck and good fishin.
Den

[james/loch lomond]

Den all the reels were filled to the same amount ,approx 1/4" from the top of the spool, exept for the shakespere, the one that read 149ft was filled to the normal level and the one that read more "accuratly" was a reel that i had lost line on due to line twist, i might just take some line off the full reel to see if they then read the same.
cheers james.