What are some good reels for panfish?
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What are some good reels for panfish?
pflueger 6730
Penn 420ssg...have mine and love it. Great little reel...once I get my handle for my Penn 450ssg I'll have a good set to go along with my Penn 9500 and ocean penn reel.
Seriously though..the Penn 420ssg is a great spinning reel for panfish.
Cabela's -- Penn® Spinfisher® SSg-Graphite Spinning Reel
Any of the Ultra light Shimano spinning reels. Love em!!!!!!!!
Fatman
The Pflueger President or Trion are both really good reels, smooth and fun.
What Fatman said. You can't go wrong with Shimano. Daiwa is very good, too.
Most Shimano spinning reels in the 1000 series.
does it seriously matter what type of reel it is for bluegill?
... NOT :p (well, not "seriously", anyway)Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnythefisherman1
And, not as far as brand goes, either. What you DO want, though, is a reel that can handle light line ... has a smooth drag ... has a smooth cranking motion ... and matches/balances well with whatever rod you've chosen to use. You "can" use the plastic reels/fiberglass rods, in the blister packs that you see on the shelves of discount stores ... but, they seldom last for more than one season of use. Even the low end versions of major brand reels, are more likely to give much longer & better service.
But, what I think most of the responders are saying is ... "this is the reel I use, for panfish of all kinds (Crappie included), and it works well for me". Some may be more into using ultra-lite equipment for sunfish only, while others are utilizing their equipment for multi-species functionality.
I use the same 5' to 9' rods, 4lb test line, and reels from 100 to 2500 series sizes ... of various brands ... regardless of whether I'm fishing for Crappie, Bluegill, Shellcrackers, or various other sunfish. I don't have a "dedicated" outfit, for Bluegill/sunfish, alone ... all of my outfits are primarily for use in fishing for Crappie, but can be called on to be "multi-tasking" equipment.
... cp :cool:
I like the Mitchell Avocet myself with 4 lb. test
Looking for reels in $50 or less range
Browning superlight reels from bass pro. $25 (I think). I have had 2 for about 3 years now and they work good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by panfish_angler_17
Mitchell Avocet, about $30
I picked up a couple of the Feild and Stream reels that Dicks sells (not sure who manufactures them). They are in your price range, and after two seasons of bluegill fishing with them, I have nothing but good things to say about them. They area priced, right, they have a very smooth drag, they are balanced well. 10 bearings for around 30 bucks, they are very similiar the the Pluegar reels that everyone loves. Take a look at them. I own a few Shimano's, quantum, browning, garcia, and others. This reel is in the same class as all the top brands (so far).
Shimano, but for gill's this last year iv'e tried lower priced rod's and old ice fishing reel's confidence Factor and they ended up being replaced! Guide's are guide's reel's are reels and to me it's a mind set that give's me a RUSH! Cheeep is not good and good is not cheep!
Now this is just my oppinon take it for what's it's worth!
Had several avocets and the bail messed up on most of them in 1 season. I have shimano reels thet have been going for years. 2 1500 symetres a 1000 saros and a 750 sahara. All have been going for at least 6 years exept the saros because they come out about a year or two ago. Dawia spinning reels are pretty reliable also as some of my friends use them. Question is do you want to spend 30 to 50 bucks every year or 75 every 10 years. Also have friends that use pfluger presidents and are very reliable also and at a good price point.
All newer reels are made for the bail to be closed with your fingers before reeling in.If you had bail problems with your Avocate is probably because you were slaming it shut while reeling.I have 3 Avocates for a couple years now and thousands of bluegills with no problems.I myself like them.
Az dont no about the Bail problem's your prob. wright ,but T-RO i am with yhea! No pun inntended Az as you have alot more expiernce with that brand! And i dont doubt you by no mean's! But shimanno has gotten so high priced but ive allway's found the smoothest drag to be what make the sport more fun! Just my Oppoin.
I have friends that use nothing but shimanos.They spend a lot of money on them.Then they break for whatever reason.I still have my Avocates though.I see them snapping the bail shut with them turning the handle.Oh well,lol.I have a vintage 1973 Mitchell 308 that I still use for dock shooting because of the wide spool.It is in perfect shape,now that one you HAVE to close the bail while reeling with the handle.But it is all metal everything,not plastic.
CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!! I bought 2 of the red $12 shakespeare Firebird XT rod and reel combos from Wal mart this year and I love them. I caught around 100bluegill and red ears the first weekend and the reels worked flawlessly. Only thing I did was come home after I bought them and strip off the factory line and replace it with new 8lb Stren mono.
Caught probably 400 plus fish so far on them and no problems yet.
The rods are small only 5 foot but they are very sensitive and really fun and reliable for panfishing. With a cork and small splitshot on I can throw them a very nice distance as well.
The Firebird xt is not even listed on their website under their products so I'm figuring it's probably made exclusively for Wal mart by Shakespeare. I figured for 12 bucks if it didnt work I'd stop and give it to someone fishing on the bank, lol. However it really suprised me at how well it worked and I been using them over my old zebco 33's.
Now how come no one mentioned the zeb 33's? I have caught literally thousands and thousands of bream, bluegill, etc on old 33's and I doubt I'll ever see a day when there won't be several of them in my fishing inventory. When I was a kid me and my brother used to walk through the woods to several farm ponds almost everyday in the summer and we caught so many bream on 33's that is was insane. I've even landed some pretty big catfish on them especially fishing out at larto during the summer. Those Larto catfish seem to love crickets almost as much as the bluegills do.
thats what i do basicly.i will use the same rod,reel,line ect for any fish i can catch in lakes.i usually don't catch things like muskies tho lol.my usual setup is shake spear ugly stik ultra light rod n reel combos(around 29$ or so at k-ommie mart).4'8" rods.spooled with power pro 10 pound braid.i'll bring 3 rods sometimes when im on the boat with 3 different lures on each.and i'll just pick up a different rod when i feel like throwing somethin different.i do have another ugly stik light thats a little longer which is better for casting farther,and a few other UL setups,along with some flyrods.when im ground poundin,i take one of my 3 ugly stik UL rod n reel combos and my UL flyrod with me.i don't always have enough space to cast well with the flyrod tho.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiepappy