Mini Baitcast Reel

[wilbur]

Any one use these .what do you think for trolling or spiderrigging?

WEEKLY SPECIALS

[Wannabe...]

Used to, but I switched to old Bass Baitcasters. Those will work fine, but I found that you needed two hands to let out more line if, like me, you run the drag up a bit. With traditional baitcasters, you can just hit the button and thumb the spool. Same with taking line up. Still, those will do fine if you don't mind the two handed deal, although if you're fishing ultra deep, they're slow to take up line to bring the fish up.

Wannabe...

[Crappie Buster]

I use those on one set of my spider rigging poles. In short, they are cheap, but they still get the job done. I like them for spider rigging because you can pull line in foot increments to reach a certain depth. Wannabe is right though they are kind of slow bringing line in if your fishing real deep. I don't think they would be good for trolling because of the slow line retrieve and the fact that you can't cast them out.

One thing to watch out for if you buy them...they will spool line on the backside of the spool if your not careful. I've done this twice and by pulling on the line I ended up breaking something inside the reel. Not a bad option for the price, but I ordered two uncle bucks to give them a try. Twice the price, maybe twice the quality...we'll see

[ausable riverboat]

In Michigan we can only have three rods per rerson so thats six for me and the wife. At the Tackle Discount store here I bought 6 new Shakespeare Sigma level wind 6 ball bearing reels for $100 thats less than $17 each. I think I got a good deal.

[Cracker68]

I used the uncle buck red ones for years and loved them. As far as the line letting out they must be using floating jigs. I pull the lever on the side and it drops to the bottom.
But the deepest I fish with them is 14-15 feet. they are not good for reeling in a fish.

Now the bad. The old ones I bought more than five years ago are still going strong, but all of the ones that are newer don't last, The gears are now plastic I think and they stip way to easy.

[wilbur]

thanks guys for the info.

[Wiskers]

I have used every brand you can think of and the only ones that have held up are the Shakespear Wonder Reels. I use them on my jig'n poles.

I've got a whole box full of HT, B&M, Uncle Buck, and Wally Marshall. All for parts. The little red Uncle Bucks' are the worst! I bought 4 at BPS and they didn't last a month. I'll never buy another 1 of the above.

[Flatwater]

I agree 100% with wantabe, hit up your local bass clubs for old baitcasters. They all have a bunch of reels that do not cast well anymore and they are unwilling to spend any money on them so they just sit in there garage. You should be able to get some for 5 to 10 each. They will do just fine for dropping your line down and have a great drag so when you hook a 30" bowfin you can get em' in.

[Percidae_Papermouth]

i have a wally marshall tightline reel i swapped out on my a 9" wally crappie thunder rod and i have had the line get caught behind the spool but that was only because i failed to adjust the spool tension on the side, the reel is extremely simple to take apart though to get the line out, on the rare occasion this happens.It has brass gears, it is alot like a cheaper miniature ambassadeur. I have caught a many of speckles on that combo and have been thrilled with it. I can actually use it to flip n' jig in tight cover as well as tightlining. it does take quite a while for me to respool tho. But hey! I got my $20 worth. If wally can stand behind his products Ill keep buying them!

[robbor]

I used mine a few times and absolutely hated it. It wind the line to tight and so i had terrible problems with line memory with like 8# test. As i recall you cant cast at all and i dont even recall there being any free spool. Its pretty easy to bend the handles. Absolute garbage. I never spider rig but i dont see any benefit to these.