I’ve got a 7 Ft 15-30 lb Star Stellar Lite rod that I need to put a bigger reel on. I figure I want to use it for tossing baits bigger stuff like sailfish, cobia, kings, etc and want a reel that’s up for it. I’ve been lookign at the Penn Battle 6000, Penn Conquer 7000, Shimano Spheros 8000, Shimano Stradic 8000, and Daiwa Saltist 4500. they all seem to have decent drags (20+ lb), good components and the line capacity I’m looking for (~300 yds of 50 lb braid). Plus the price of these reels is around what I’m looking to spend.
Any experience with or preference of one reel over another?
I have the Spheros 8000. I love this reel. I used it for 2 seasons so far with no issues. Great reel for the price. Have it on a penn torque rod and works great together. Use it for bottom fishing offshore, pitching baits to mahi, cobia fishing and inshore shark fishing. I have it spooled up with 80lb power pro.
Have the battle 8000 and 4000 My 4000 is corroding under the paint and the battle 8000 I have broke the bell on it twice!!! Just fyi the reels look and feel great but something went wrong somewhere!!! I would go with the Spheros if I had to do it over!!! Good luck.
just broke the main shaft(up and down) on my Stradic. It is two years old, and has seen plenty of grouper and AJ’s. Can’t seem to hurt the Spheros though.
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Spheros 8000 has done me really well. I recovered the same reel from the bottom of the ocean 2x (100ft ) and always cleaned it and kept it lubed up and it lasted 4 years before slowly falling apart. I would recommend though that if your spooling with more than 50lb braid don’t lock the drag down too tight. It will burn the gears up in the handle and the drag washers pretty quickly. I have spheros 18000 also and it has 80 power pro is the most beastly spinner ive ever personally used. 50 power pro on the 8000 is much better suited. Best reels for the money
i’m with phin,used a lot of different kinds.cabo60 w/50braid is my fav.boca seems just as good.use and ABUSE these reels constantly.jigging offshore,cobia,lots of big aj’s,and sharks.charter clients put a beating on them and have had very few issues.