Baitrunner reels

[Coach]

Have been wannting to look at some of the baitrunner or live liner reels which incorporate a free spool feature when using live bait but have not been able find anyone in my area( Ravenna-Akron, Ohio) that has any. Have seen them in the catalogs and know a number of the reel makers such as Shimano, Penn, Mitchell, and Okuma market them. Have any of you used any of these reels and if so what is your take on them? Which ne do you prefer? Thanks

[shadowman]

they are great if live bait fishing and useing bigger minnows, i have 2 shimanos that they only make now in the bigger size, but as i said if vyou fish live bait its a great reel.

[Larry L]

I have a Shimano Baitrunner 300. I bought it new about 15 years ago. I think the idea is great. When it works it works well. This is the only Shimano reel that I have ever had trouble with. It has broken twice (gear trouble). I send it in and they repair it. It is working fine right again now.

[Backwater Eddy]

I have used the larger sizes of Shimano Baitrunners for some time, they got me hooked on the Batrunner style systems. I had my share of mechanical problems with the lighter models, the heavy saltwater models held up well for me.

What I have found now is for larger gamefish the Mitchell FR6500 14/165 and the FR7500 spooled with for heavy mono are hard to beat.

For walleye and pike the Mitchell FRS4ooo 10/140 is a good match, especially with Fireline or PowerPro as line. Good drag, feeds smoothly, strong gears and bail system.

The interchangeable spool system is very handy on the Mitchell Full Runner.

The Full Runner Electronic, well that model didn't impress me much, too light and too many "Gizmo's" built into the reel for me. The rest of the line is very good.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson...><sUMo>

"Backwater Guiding"

[Coach]

Has anyone used any Penn spinning reels. I have used some of thier casting / trolling reels but have never used any of thier spinning products and was curious as to thier quality and how they hold up. Thanks. Coach

[walleye mike]

Coach,, you might want to check out the Okuma Series Epixor EB. They offer a range of size 20 up to size 80. Pricing from $80.00 up thru 100.00. Great drag systems and 10 BB make this a very dependable reel you should look at. Good Luck WM.

[jdino]

Last year I looked at the Penn live liner reels at Cabela's. They seemed rather large. Now, Penn has introduced 2 smaller versions for this year. I'm going to Cabela's this weekend so I'll check the new ones out.

[Tom B]

I have used Shimano Baitrunners and they did the job reasonably well. My preference has been to use a Garcia 6500 with a bait clicker.

I am also going to check out the Penns. I like fishing cats and carp with spinning reels, I like to back reel when fighting fish and that it not an option with a bait casting reel.

I love sitting on a river bank with a few friends, sitting on lawn chairs, shooting the breeze, waiting for a clicker to go off. To me, nothing says "summer" quite like that.

Tom B

[pwrfshn]

Okuma makes a great baitfeeder spinning reel that is top quality and has an excellent drag.

Not sure if that helps, but maybe.

Good luck,