expensive spinning reels.

[rapman]

have been looking at catalogs recently and notice various manufacturers are now making spinning reels in the 600-900 dollar range. what is it that makes these reels so expensive? i go back to the days of the mitchell 300s and can't understand the need for a reel that expensive. but i am open minded. any thoughts?

[K Gonefishin]

Who knows but material is probably alot more expensive like titanium etc....IMO a complete waste of money. I have a couple spinning reels that ran 115-130 Penn and Diawa and they suite my needs perfectly and are very very well built. I also have some 40 dollar reels that work great as well. Even hand made Centerpin reels run 400-700 but 900 for a machine made spinning reel is ridiculous.

[stinkycat]

I can not imagine the feeling of dropping $600+ on a real that could end up on the bottom of a lake. I spend from $40 to $75 on spinning reels with one exception that went as high as $130. I have not noticed enough difference between the 40-75 and the 130 to make me spend that much again.... for the fishing that I do in N. Minn.. On the other hand I did move from the $75 range on bait-casters to the $150+ and that made a huge difference in my ability to cast accurately and longer. Probably my bad technique more than the reel/rod.

[Waxy]

I can't wrap my head around a $600-900 reel, but then, I couldn't wrap my head around a $200 one either, until I bought one (Stradic FI) and fished with it. Long story short I bought two more of them since, so I guess I'll never know unless I get a chance to try one. At 10X the cost rather than 3X the cost, I'm guessing there's a point of diminishing returns...

Waxy

[dewyg]

I have them all across the board I love my stradic! ($130) Now I really also like my $20-30 Okuma. its all about personal preferance.

[Stoic Cynic]

Stradic FH reels are my choice for spinning gear, but they are getting harder to come by...

[JON LEE PETIMORE]

I have 6 tica's and they are by far the best reel for the money imo. 10 b.b.'s very smooth , anti line twist. For around $80.00's. I bought a shimano stradic and can't stand that compared to the tica's. I'm thinking about buying a pfluger president for my new g loomis. It looks like it would be a good match to keep my rod and reel setup light. The tica's are just a bit heavy.

[rapman]

john lee, i have heard about ticas, but have yet to see one. i can't find a retailer around here that sells them. i will stick with my symetres, saharas, sedonas and quantums i guess.

[rrrrrrRon]

I held a Stella once, and it was nice, but Stradic is all I need in a reel.

[jcfishing]

Shimano has upgraded their entire line of spinning reels. I think they represent the best value on the market today. I've used the Symetre series reels for the past 5 seasons and they have never let me down.
The new upgrades should make them better. For around $60 the Sahara series looks like a "reel" deal!

[westside]

I mostly agree. Stradics is where I have drawn the line but I guess if I had crazy money a couple of Stellas would be nice. I wonder if a larger percent of these reels are sold in the saltwater market? Those are some different fighting fish. A 10 # tuna could drown a 40# musky and still have some fight left. Maybe taking on those type of fish with the lightest possible tackle puts a guy into an arena of fishing akin to supertuned sports cars? That and if your fishing out of a $600,000-6,000,000 rig that burns $600-6000 in diesle every day who really cares anyways...ahh to have such problems

[stinkycat]

john lee, i have heard about ticas, but have yet to see one. i can't find a retailer around here that sells them. i will stick with my symetres, saharas, sedonas and quantums i guess.

Hey Rapman,

These guys have them

http://www.all-americanoutdoors.com/inc/searchresults?s=TICA&ss=TICA&n&gclid=CIjAlZuPy5cCFSTaDAodLDE9SA

[rapman]

cat, thanks for the link. was going to pick up one of the new symetres, but i think i will try to find someplace close so i can see a tica.

[MSUICEMAN]

for freshwater, stradic and even symetre are all you really need....

now, when I go tuna fishing on the other hand..... ya need something big, beefy, lots of drag surface, and ones that won't smoke out on ya when they make a long hard run.

[Stoic Cynic]

^I had some issues with symetre 1500s a couple years back. The line would eat into the housing of the line roller. After this happens, sometimes your line will catch in the abrasive groove instead of on the line roller. Its not too hard to replace the entire rotor body, but it is quite inconvient...

[dewyg]

I have the more expensive sustain's as well but for my money you really only need the stradic.

[Heron]

Shimano reels have never let me down. Own the older version of the Sahara and Stradic and a new Sustain FE. The Sahara drag is not quite as smooth as the Stradic or Sustain, but is still really nice. The Sustain drag is waterproof so that may help in the rain. I don't think I ever had an issue with the others though and they have both been fished in the rain a lot. I can tell that the Sustain is a smoother slightly nicer reel than the Stradic, but it was a $125 more than the Stradic was when I bought it. I don't see how you could ever need anything more than a Sustain FE or even a Sahara for that matter for Walleye fishing. There is no way I would ever spend $700+ on a reel.

[paulisan1]

I also use Sahara bought an Okuma and doesn't feel right will stick with the Sahara.