Showing posts with label reels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reels. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Baitrunners for lure fishing in the Fens

Ten years ago, these were the reel most people used for pike fishing in the Fens - the good old 8010 Shimano Baitrunner.

I still own several in this size. One thing that strikes me is how the old GT series are still going strong, while some of the newer models have given up the ghost.

One of the (then...) new GTEs jammed solid the first time I bent into a fish using it. The shop I bought it from sent me a new one.

One thing you soon notice is as the models evolve, the line lay changes. So even if the spools from the old 8010 GTs fit the REs or even the new(ish...) cheap ST6000 RA reels, you can't just transfer spools and expect tangle-free fishing, as the braid doesn't lay the same after a few casts.

Instead of buying new reels for this season's lure fishing experiments, I'm planning to nick a couple off bait rods I rarely use and press them into service.

This is probably all wrong, should be using multipliers etc. But if I get bored with it - which, let's face it, is always on the cards with me and lure fishing - they can always go back on the bait rods.

The newer 10000 series Shimanos are probably the best reels I've used for most of my bait fishing, which tends these days to involve float-legered deads. Metal spools, so none of the wobbles you got with the old plastic ones. Click here for a review of those.

Monday, July 02, 2012

Best Daiwa reel for pike fishing in the Fens..?


Waxing lyrical about the latest Shimano Baitrunners - which were the latest Shimano Baitrunners when I bought them but have now been superseded by another Shimano Baitrunner - I half forgot the reels I use for the other half of my pike fishing in the Fens. By other half, I mean the half that involves legering baits.

I originally got a couple of these old metal Emblems for beach fishing, but they soon ended up on my pike rods. I then found they were going for less than £50 on eBay, so ended up with three or four more.

At first glance, they're a totally no-frills reel. No Baitrunner, or whatever the Daiwa equivalent's called these days. Front drag and a bail arm that closes when it whacks a lump of metal sticking out the front of the reel stem. Hi tech, not..?

One or two things about these reels endears me to them to the point where I'll never use anything else for legering, as long as I can get my hands on them. The bail arm rollers seem to keep working, regardless of how much you abuse them and how often you drop them in the mud. This reel is a relatively clean example of the genre.

I once trod on one, leaving a Daiwa Emblem-shaped hole in the peat when I pulled it out. I once had a swan fly into the line, catapaulting rod and reel into 20ft of river. When it came out, to Muttley-like sniggers from Rob fishing down the bank, it shrugged off the experience.

They have their drawbacks, the main one being they're quite heavy, so you wouldn't want to walk far with four of them in your quiver. But they just seem to go on and on.

I also love the low gear ratio and the huge, chunky handles. As I don't use other reels for legering, I can't comment on how good the line lay is, but they seem to have spools the ideal size for 65lbs Power Pro, which is another major plus point for me.

Click here for a review of the Shimano reels I also use.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Shimano Baitrunner reviewed - the best reel for pike fishing..?

 
+Original review plus update added at the end...

I've been using Shimano GTE 10000s for just over a season, after replacing some of the aging Daiwas on the rods I use for float fishing deads and un-deads. They're not cheap, but some of the old 8010s I bought 10 years ago are still going, so I'd expect them to last for several seasons.

I always thought the 8010s were a little on the small side, especially using 65lbs braid. The 10000s have a bigger spool, as well as far better line lay than the older variants. The rollers are also larger, although the reel itself isn't much bigger or heavier - something to consider if you ever have to walk any distance with three or four tackled-up rods.

There were three or four different variations of these on offer when I forked out my hard-earned on the premium version. They felt much more solid than the entry-level models, which I guess have been brought in to compete with budget reels by the likes of Okuma.

Friends who've bought cheaper reels have found they can be false economy, giving up the ghost after a season or two. You know what you're getting with Shimano and it probably works out less in the long run.

While I often adjust the baitrunner to cope with wind or flow when float fishing, I never use the drag; preferring to fish with it screwed up tight and backwind if I have to give a fish some line when I'm playing it.

Some people don't get on with the double handles. I've never had a problem with them. I don't usually bother much with maintenance on my reels, but I always close the bail arms by hand after casting, rather than turning the handle, thinking this probably reduces wear on the mechanism.

It also means you can check the braid's going back onto the spool 'tight', which means you can more or less eliminate those dreaded tangles you get when a couple of looser coils come off the reel when you're casting.

So far, these reels haven't developed the clunky spool wobble the older models seemed to get after a few seasons' use. For most pike fishing situations, they aren't far off being the ideal reel.

++UPDATED April 2013... The reels are still going strong after more than two seasons, despite an almost complete lack of maintenance or TLC on my part. The bail arm rollers are still working, despite being out in all weathers, dropped in the mud and - in one case - dunked in a lake.

The free-spool mechanism still retains a wide range of tensions without sticking, despite all of the above. On days when you've got wind or flow to contend with when float fishing with the rod tips up - most of the time on the drains and rivers - I could adjust the tension to just enough required to hold on all but the worst days, when everywhere was hammering through.

Looking around last winter, I noticed most people I fished with or bumped into out and about now use Shimanos of differing vintages for their bait fishing - mostly the 10,000-size. Some fold the handles down when they band the rods at the end of the day, or put them in a quiver to move swim or to a different water.

I thought this would make the handles go 'wobbly' after a while, but I'm assured it doesn't.

Despite the fact I don't fold the handles down on mine, I haven't managed to bend one despite the inevitable bash or two getting stuff in and out of the car.

+++Click here for a review of the other reels I use.