From 12/7/01</font id=blue>
The Christmas season is upon us and its the time of year when we all make out our wish lists and hope we have been good enough to get a present or two from Old Mr. Claus. It is also that time for some excellent Trout, Bass, and Sheepshead fishing. What better present to give or receive than a nice new lightweight spinning reel. There have been many technological upgrades on spinning reels over the past several years and I would like to like this opportunity cover a few of these upgrades along with what to look for when purchasing a new spinning reel.
“When shopping for a new reel remember you get what you pay for!” according to Ken Suggs from The Reel John’s. Spinning reels start at around $15 dollars and run on up to the upper $200s. $75 will purchase a good reliable reel of sound construction and good craftsmanship. Ken says, “As a general shopping guideline, I always tell customers to purchase from one of the major manufactures such as Penn, Daiwa, Shakespeare, Shimano or Finn Nor. Parts are almost always available for these reels making repair possible if and when something does go wrong.”
As with everything else to get a quality product you must start with quality materials. Reels take plenty of abuse from fighting fish, to saltwater spray, to getting knocked around in the bottom of the boat. The life span of a cheap reel is very limited under these conditions. A quality reel will be engineered with a heavy-duty aluminum or graphite bodies and spools and will be assembled with stainless steel or bronze hardware. Reels made of plastic and other lightweight materials cannot stand up to the stress of saltwater fishing.
Obviously you will want a reel that operates smoothly. Check to see how many ball bearings the reel has. Generally the more ball bearings the smoother the operation. When looking at a reel turn the handle a few times to ensure that the operation is smooth and that the handle and gears do not have any play in them. Also check to see if the r