hey guys do you know if any shop in malta stocks Okuma reels ? because i saw an Okuma Metaloid on the internet and i'm really interested in buying one. they seem really good.
yeah i know mister fish have shimano and they ARE supposed to be very good . i kind of like the okuma ones better though , placebo , do you know which is better - front or rear drag ? currentley i have a Lineaeffe Rapid with 3bb, rear drag . it's quite good but i've been thinking about getting a new reel this summer after i get a summer job hehe
Okuma are certainly good run of the mill reels, Fin has a 50Wide and an 80 2 Speed although he didn't purchase it locally. Shimano is up there will the Rolls Royce's of reels, basically Shimano now have the No.1 Spot with the Tiagra reels and TLD reels plus all their super Spinning reels, whilst Alutecnos are probably considered to be one of the finest reels for trolling around, but as they are not as Active in the North American market and a little bit more expensive than Shimano their market position isn't as high in terms of sales.
Afraid to say that Penn have been dropping alot in the rankings lately with more and more people moving away from them and to Shimano, at least with trolling reels, not so sure about spinning. It's the usual story with the Japanese, they offer a superior product and gain market share like their cars. If you read up on the Big US forums you will see ppl moving away from the big Penns for various reasons, they're still a good reel but Shimano are dominating.
About Okuma locally, I was under the impression that Aquatica represented the brand, but I guess I was wrong. For me personally, its not just about the initial purchase but the after sales and backup. And frankly any shop claiming to be a tackle shop that doesn't have a Line Winder is taking the biscuit and not offering a service. To my knowledge only Mister fish has a proper line winder, ( I stand to be corrected) though I would very much like to see them upgrade their unit to a decent one that can properly handle big game reels in the 50+ range which sorry to say theirs can't, but at least they have one and I can appreciate that 50lbs+ reels are not sold every day!
Can't comment about front or rear as thats a feature specific to spinning reels and not Conventional trolling reels, where I prefer lever to star drags.
Skip
thanks a lot for the tip skip !! i'll definitley be looking into Shimano for my next spinning reel purchase !!! ( i've had a good look at them actually coz since mr fish has opened to gzira it's only a 30 min walk so i;ve been buying a lot of tackle lately ) . it's true that they have a line winder , however not at the gzira shop. and i want to spool it up with spectra which apparentley they dont have ( i have no idea who imports powerpro)
Sergio, check out this link for your answer ref: Powerpro! http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php/topic,16.0.html
Make sure you join the Mister Fish Members card scheme so you benefit from discounts if you're buying lots of tackle. Not sure what's involved to join if there are any extra fee's, email Josef the owner and ask hookandline@waldonet.net.mt and mention the forum as point of contact!
Skip
hey skip , if by members scheme you mean that card where they mark with a cross every lm3 you buy , and when u fill up the card they give you a free lm10 of fishing products , i already have it :) the guy at the gzira branch is very friendly and offered the card the second time i went into the shop. lately i buoght a carbon fibre 6 metre hand rod and he gave me a discount . great shop.
hry , you guys , check out Van Staal reels on cabelas.com - theyre $680 !!! made out of aerospace titanium !!! they must be the nicest reels ive ever seen !!!!
placebo you seem to know a lot about spinning reels - a question : what is better , front or rear drag ?
hi sergio,
It's like a matter of what you get used to! I have both rear and both front. I used to fish only rears but then I got some bargains on old Shimanos on EBAY and I got a lot of front drags. I think nowadays I prefer a front drag as for some reason the drag seems to be more directly on the fish with less tension on your reel.
Shimano have some models with a rear drag fighting system which is very comfortable.
You must be very careful when changing drag settings when fighting a fish. A fish tend to get away sometimes.
Hey guys all i will say about OKUMA is that i beleive they aRE the next lower division of penns , shimanos etc....
They seem to be doing the job, nice feel but maybe they will need a little more looking after to make sure they last.
FIn
Only thing that has let me down so far is the alarm on the reels... weak and intermittent!
As for the rest, i am happy with
FIN
hey guys i''ve been seriously thinking about getting a Shimano Stradic FB (STR400FB) . it's expensive on the internet , but i'm gonna check how much it is in malta. what do u guys think of this model ? ( i'm looking for a top-of-the-line reel , although shimano's Stella is WAAAYYY too expensive for me , but the Stradic seems to be very good ) any thoughts ?
So as now with another year of experience behind i am now able to provide some interesting facts.
While opting to puchase the alternative not so hot reels like penn i decided to go fo rthe OKUMA reels.
Overall i cant really complain however (either due to my lack of maintenance) i have had a couple of snags with them this year. A buggered alarm and more interestingly a jammed drive.
So at the end... the chioce is simple.. although probably costly.... the last thing u want is you catching a 40 kg plus fish and your drive jams... or your 2 speeds buggers up... then what?
So i think the bottom line really is this.. if for occasional fishing with no serious size to it.. then clearly go for a medium branded reel... however if u plan to go even rarely but u r going for the serious one.. then i think one will need the serious reel that will last for life... basically my suggestions now only are 1 of 3,
everol, penn or shimano!
FIN
All my gamefishing reels are Penn, and Shimano. They have never let me down. But, l do a service on all my reels every year before the start of the season, paying particular attention to drags. The drag plates/washers do tend to pick up some dirt or salt making the drag system a little lumpy. Irregular drag pressure could very easily cost you a fish.I do have a preferance to my shimano reels as they seem to have a smoother drag ststem.
Don't let the 'Brand Name' trick you into thinking that they don't need looking after.
Look after all your gear, and it will look after you.
Well,
one of my reels is a Okuma Titus Gold 50lb. I bought it three years ago and this reel is one of my favourite. Yes, it?s not the same quality like Penn or Shimano. But it?s much cheaper too. And not everybody has so much money to buy a Penn or Tiagra. The most important thing is, to maintain this reel. A little oil, sometimes a new drag and you have a very good fishery with Okuma.
I know some guys from Australia who only fish Okuma.
A further important thing is "How often do you fish the reel". I fish it only for about three weeks a year and for that kind of fishery it?s enough.
Best wishes,
Uwe
I guess you're right, if you dont use it alot then it makes sense not to spend alot. Did you replace the drag washers with std Okuma or after market specials? Do you not find the clicker is too quiet for boat trolling?
Skip
just bought a okuma magnetix mg-30LS casting reel.for a description look at the photo gallery first of 4 pictuers.rrp ?89.99, on offer in sea angler magazine where it gets a very good write up,?69.99. bought in my local discount fishing store for ?49.99. can,t beat that for a price i don,t think ;D
yes that's a very good price, I got one and its ok. Too light compared to the penn reels, kinda gives you the impression that its not up to standard. As skip said its clicker is not too loud, although I must say, and shanook can verify, that when a pasing speed boat took my line, we did hear the clicker. It was too late though, as I had lost quite a bit of line, and my brand new lure.
yep we heard the clicker and did some clicking ourselves grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
i have been trolling with Okuma reels for quite some time and they never let me down. So I cannot complain.
hi ramio,are you sure you have the same model of reel?the one i,ve bought is for baitcasting from the shore as it has a magnetic brakeing system to help prevent overuns when casting.
No mine is the T 50L with the line winder and lever drag.
that model is definetley not good for beach casting but good for boat fishing.
Hello, I'm new to this forum. I found this topic quite interesting. I own 2 okuma SALINA spinning reels which I bought from the USA. I use the 55 model for spinning and the 65 model for jigging and rock fishing. Mind that any brand which produces reels has a wide range of models, all sold at different prices. Okuma are world leaders in the spinning reels category. But a new OKUMA spinning reel can cost anything between $15 and $250. There is a big difference between the low end and high end products of any brand !
Hi redhead, definately a fair point. I believe Okuma starting off as a spare parts manufacturer for Penn way back when and eventually transitioned to producing its own reels. It's definately more well know for it's spinning reels and lighter reels than for trolling reels.
Price wise they are very competitive and pretty ideally suited for occasional use but I'm not sure they stand up well to the rigours of fishing every week or more.
hello redhead, iv got an okuma eclipz 65, very similar to the salina 65, i think its just an older version. however im not so sure if it can handle the punishment of jigging. its drag its not so tight, i guess at max its only about 12lbs. i don't think thats gd for a jigging reel. the drag is too low when compared to its line capacity in my opinion. have yu caught any large fish on that reel mate??
I have a T 50L, same as Ramio's. Its up for a good service. Can anyone suggest a local shop that can do a good job?
Rob
hey rob, i think you must check out "ta bormla" ,in mosta....
he supplies okuma reels and also services them
Thanks
ROb
definitely ta bormta in mosta, they are rly nice guys. if you've bought the reel from theree they're will also service it for free. they are also giving 2 years guarantee on okuma reels. no other xhop in malta gives guarantees on reels. not even MR fish on shimano products. These reels are supposed to come with 2yrs guarantee and they don't give it!!
I did not buy it, it was given free to my fishing mate when he bought his boat. It is too large for amberjack and dentex, so I hardly ever used it. But might give it a shot at the 6m fishfarm.
Rob
Rob, I suggest when you have it serviced that you change the drag from the std fiberglass material that comes in the basic titus, to a carbon drag that comes on the Gold's. If you get the drag for the Titus Gold 50 it will be a direct fit.
Depending how fussy you want to be you could also upgrade the bearings with some good quality ones as that's where they tend to suffer.
Skip
Thanks for the tips skip.
Rob
hello again an thanks for welcoming me to this forum. I would not mix the eclipz with the salina. The eclipz has it's frame, side covers and rotor made of graphite while the salina is build completely from aluminume alloy. Also the Salina has got the new generation HPB bearings. The drag is also very different. It is called 'dual force drag' and the spool is has drag washers at the top and in the bottom. The gears of this reel are specified as twice stronger than that of any lower grade okuma real. I have used the 55 model for over a year and it still feels like new. I fish around once a week and have hooked quite a number of fish on this reel and never had any kind of problem. This reel is sold only in the US market and any fishing product intended for the US market is in a way better simply because in the US they are lucky to get bigger fish !! The 65 model is not so lucky cos I still have to catch a real fish on it jigging. Usless to say that like the 55 it still feels like new.