Ice reel suggestions?

[stinkycat]

I am looking for any good suggestions for decent spinning reels for Ice fishing. Seems like every year I am disappointed in what I am using..... bail won't close.... drag freezes up... anti-reverse fails.

Maybe I am not spending enough $?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[FishermanJim]

Tica Cetus!

[Backwater Eddy]

Most all the complications your encountering can be addressed with a good clean and re-lube of your existing ice reels. I recommend cleaning the grease and thick oil from the reels with a spray Reel Scrubber and then dry and re-lube them with Quantum Hot Sauce Lube Oil Skip the grease, just use the Hot Sauce oil lube.

The Quantum Hot Sauce Lube Oil permanently bonds to metals so after a couple of shots it is as slick as can be. Thin viscosity allows it to operate at a colder temp than most off the shelf oils. Good to use year around, good stuff period!

As for reel recommendations, Pflueger President 6720, Shimano Symmetry 750, Gander Mtn Professional 10 bearing Guide Series, some of the Mitchell reels...all in the .750 class to the 1000 class will serve you well all year around without busting the bank.

[REW]

Stinky,
As Ed suggested, the fix is easy.
1. Buy the reel of your choice.
2. Take it home and strip it down.
3. Use a good degreaser to remove all oil, grease and other lubricant from the reel.
4. Dry the reel, using compressed air.
5. Lubricate the reel, using only thin synthetic oil, like sewing machine, gun oil, or automatic transmission fluid.

Use NO grease any where in the reel.
After each day of fishing, be surfe to add a drop or two of oil on each of the components that rotate. This keeps out moisture and keeps ice from forming on the reel.

I think that you will find that by doing these things, that even an inexpensive reel can work very well for ice fishing needs.

p.s.
If you do decide to use one of these reels that you have prepped for ice fishing in the heat of the summer, you will need to reverse the process and clean and lube the reel normally using conventional gear grease on the gears and reel oil on the rest of the reel. Otherwise the thin oil will not keep the reel working as well as it could in the heat of summer fishing.

Take care
REW

[stinkycat]

Thanks guys for the info... I plan on taring down a couple of reels before the weekend.

Thanks Again!

[NDr]

The best thing to do is go to a local store where you know the owners/salespeople. Ask them to allow you to take a few reels home or if the store has a freezer, have them put the reels in the freezer overnight. The next morning get there early and take them out to see which are still smooth and which aren't. Used to buy for a business that had ice fishing sales and we'd do this at the buying shows.

[Backwater Eddy]

The Gander Mountain Tournament 25's are again available...Very Nice micro reels! Well worth a look. 10 bearing reals...very smooth and functional.

[slipbob]

Depends what size you want. I have several of the Tica Cetus's for panfish and they have been good. For walleye and lakers I use my Stradic 1500 and a Symetre 750 and they have always worked fine in very cold temps and I use them for open water also. I don't want to have to take a reel apart and do anything fancy to make it work in cold weather by changing lubricants and if you buy a good quality reel it should work fine right out of the box in any temp or I'd send it back.

[rainypik@hcinet.net]

Most of us here use rattle reels. Can sleep and stillcatch fish. Love the sno bear!!! Bunks are great!!!

[Backwater Eddy]

Most all micro and light reels will perform well on the ice, if you clean the thick lube out and replace it with high viscosity oil.

Your TICA, Shimano, Phlueger, Guide Series Tournament 25 reels, and ABU's will do well. Under designed reels will have pour characteristics for ice use and if they feel clunky and sticky in the warmth of the store...they sure will not get miraculously better in the cold even filled with antifreeze. So true quality will stand out, warm or cold.

[Seedtree]

I'm with Backwater, I use my lightweight reels for softwater fishing too. Simply use a dry synthetic lube on them and they work well for both hard and softwater. All I do is change the line to a 4 lb test line and use my lightweight reels for mountain trout fishing combined with ultralight pack rods. Very nice!