Will my reel cut it???

Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 4:41 pm

Im off out on a charter trip with a neighbour and a few freinds after xmas, and wondered if anybody could give me a bit of advice.
The reel i have is an ABU 6500. Its not a mag or anything special, just a plain old 6500 with a levelwind, which i bought from a friend for 20quid.
Would this be up to a days uptiding for cod, or am i better off using one of the penn 525 mag i have for beachcasting. If the Abu will be ok, id rather use that due to the levelwind.

Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 5:01 pm

Hi mate,

Your Abu will be fine.....I use my 6500 blue yonders (original) for uptiding all the time.

Cheers macer big grin

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 5:20 pm

I agree the ABU will be fine because you only need to cast 45m to get your rigg away from the scare area of the boat when uptiding.
Good luck.

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:45 pm

essexkenny wrote:

Im off out on a charter trip with a neighbour and a few freinds after xmas, and wondered if anybody could give me a bit of advice.
The reel i have is an ABU 6500. Its not a mag or anything special, just a plain old 6500 with a levelwind, which i bought from a friend for 20quid.
Would this be up to a days uptiding for cod, or am i better off using one of the penn 525 mag i have for beachcasting. If the Abu will be ok, id rather use that due to the levelwind.

Ditto the other 2 statements with one word of caution. Make sure the drag and gears are in good nick if not you may be in trouble. I've always used 6000s or 6500s for uptiding but they will get a lot more hassle on a boat ... the tide will be faster, there might be a lot of weed and if you do get a lunker you won't want to be struggling with a good sized cod in a 6 knot current with a slowly seizing clutch.

Give it a good service before you go if it hasn't had one for a while and remember to take it easy when trying to get a fish in and don't forget to set the clutch .... had my personal best on a 5 oz uptider and a 6000 .... Graet fun but took nearly 30 minutes before I got it in the boat!

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 9:44 am

For light boat fishing I tend to use the Okuma Mag 30 or the Abu 7,500. I also use the 7500 forshore fishing as I like plenty of thumb grip on the spool.

Question for reel wiz. Can you tell me why on earth the 7,000 was re-classified from a beach casting reel to alight boat reel.

Back in the 50s and 60s the Abu 484 rod with a 7,000 on it was all the rage.
Cheers
Keith big grin

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 10:31 am

rabbi2 wrote:

For light boat fishing I tend to use the Okuma Mag 30 or the Abu 7,500. I also use the 7500 forshore fishing as I like plenty of thumb grip on the spool.

Question for reel wiz. Can you tell me why on earth the 7,000 was re-classified from a beach casting reel to alight boat reel.

Back in the 50s and 60s the Abu 484 rod with a 7,000 on it was all the rage.
Cheers
Keith big grin

The 7000 wouldn't have been all the rage in the 50s and 60s as it didn't come out until the early 70s winking

I do know what you are getting at though. I'm not sure its "classification" ever changed with ABU or most of the "experts" of the time but certainly there was a very noticable beach revolution from the mid 70s to the late 80s which saw a strong move to using lighter, more sporting gear and rods and reels with better casting potential. That has maybe "pushed" the poor old 7000 out of the limelight a bit as a shore reel.

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 11:16 am

Thanks for that its just that I seldom see my favourite reel used from the shore anymore. Sorry about the dates as old age does take its toll. lol

If You were to suggest one reel to cope with both types of fishing both boat and shore, would I be right in thinking it would be the old 7,000?
Cheers keith big grin

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 12:59 pm

I used to go out boat fishing on the Thames quite often (a while ago) probably every other week, but I always used to use a penn535 at the time. Just havent ever tried using a small reel.
Although being as the abu is quite a small reel, then i might take one of my penn reels and use that : big grin

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:16 pm

essexkenny wrote:

I used to go out boat fishing on the Thames quite often (a while ago) probably every other week, but I always used to use a penn535 at the time. Just havent ever tried using a small reel.
Although being as the abu is quite a small reel, then i might take one of my penn reels and use that : big grin

The penns have stronger gears so probably advisable ... the 6500s are okay at it but the price is extra wear thats all.

And rabbi, kinda .... I know the 7000 will handle a wider range of stuff and yes the old (non-chinese) ones are good reels but spares are beginning to be a bit of a problem, particularly for the old ones - spose what I'm trying to say is yes as long as you can get spares.

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 7:49 pm

if possible give the Chinese stuff a miss.............Boy !!!!!!!!! nearly everthing they make is CRAP, WHEN WILL PEOPLE WAKE UP AND GIVE IT THE TWO FINGER SALUTE

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:29 pm

joliroger wrote:

if possible give the Chinese stuff a miss.............Boy !!!!!!!!! nearly everthing they make is CRAP, WHEN WILL PEOPLE WAKE UP AND GIVE IT THE TWO FINGER SALUTE

When it comes to reels I'd have to agree generally but give them time ... in years to come I think you will actually see some really good reels come out of china, in much the same way as things have gone with the Japanese stuff. Mind you there are very few reels on the market nowadays that don't have some chinese components in them.

I wouldn't totally discout chinese products either, they actually do make some very good stuff. The best shrink tube on the market (that nice grippy stuff) comes from china as do the innards (and in some cases the complete item) of most of the quality digital headlamps and they also make some excellent quality rod blanks as well, though China rarely gets the credit for it - think big well known tackle companies if you want a clue.

If you own anything electrical these days, even quality brands, then a good proportion of the components will also come from china. Actually you'll find that the electronics industry actually use many components from China because they are better quality than the western equivalents.

China's manufacturing industry will sort itself out eventually, since it's recession a lot of the iffy companies have fallen by the wayside and its those companies that have had an eye on quality (and quality control) that seem to be surviving in china .... the word "China" on a package does not neccesarily translate to "crap".

You can tell i get bored at christmas!

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:56 pm

Well i dont have the 535 I used to use, sold it a while ago. So ill take the 525 i use for beachcasting and use that, i think happy

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:30 pm

essexkenny wrote:

Well i dont have the 535 I used to use, sold it a while ago. So ill take the 525 i use for beachcasting and use that, i think happy

Just as good ... they have gears that could reel in a donkey!

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 3:14 pm

well im gonna get laughed at but i use a £15 reel after all my abu`s and penns were nicked and i have no problem with it whatsoever

Joined: Feb 26, 2010 Posts: 3

hello everyone

new to the site today and just thought id do a reply on this topic. i go wrecking on charters from newhaven and brighton, and i must say that reel wise it does pay to get a decent multiplier for the job !! as i have just bought a mitchell riptide 4/0 for £40 from my local tackle shop....to which i thought was a good deal at the time, and second time using it, it packed up on me !!!! i have since phoned mitchell and they basically said they are cheap reels because they keep packing up and its all down to the levelwind and best thing to do is to either get me money back ( to which i will try ) or simply throw it !!! i have seen these advertised on other tackle shops now for £20 too !!! i wont be getting another one, anyone else had any problems with em ?

cheers

james