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Posts: 59
Location: WI | Those Okuma Musky reels I saw at the Milwaukee Show looked real good. And very reasonably priced. Any comments on them? |
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Posts: 663
| Very nice reel and as you mentioned, priced right. I know several fishermen who have used them the past few years and have been pleased. These are guys who put in a lot of days on the water fishing and/or guiding. Okuma is well known in the salt water world. I have not personally used them yet but am considering for the upcoming season.
Edited by Pete Stoltman 2/22/2005 10:07 PM
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Posts: 169
Location: Pewaukee, WI | Talk with Tony Grant about Okuma, he knows 'em pretty well.
I do know they are coming out with a new low profile reel that "Tone Man" says will be a perfect rattle trap reel. Priced fair as well. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | I used them for a year, 2003 and really liked them.
They are a high quality reel. Me and Tony used them for the first time in 2003, and we only had a very small amount of minor problems. |
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Posts: 10
Location: Minnesota | I picked two of them up for the 2004 season since they were so reasonably priced.
My advice, spend the extra money and buy a different brand of real. I bought one to use on a bucktail rod and the other to use on a jerkbait rod. The worm gear on the bucktail reel broke on the second day of burnin bucktails on a week long Canada trip. Thorne Brothers replaced it for free and the next one broke about a month later.
The jerkbait reel lasted almost the entire season until the worm gear broke on the last trip of the season.
I would definetly reccommend spending the extra money and buy something that will last. |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Well, Matt, I didn't. I bought two Okumas and used them VERY hard, with zero problems. I know folks who spent alot more on other reels, and had problems. Why? Because NO reel is beyond having some difficulties. Overall, I feel the Okuma is a fine reel.
I have about 40 Muskie reels. Right now, Chuck at Nelson's here in Rhinelander has about a dozen of them for repair that I've used and abused over the last few years. If I told you not to buy the brands that I sent in to get fixed after heavy use, you'd have to use a boat winch to fish.
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Matt should have used some good grease on that worm gear!!! |
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Posts: 10
Location: Minnesota | Breaking on the second day, gimme a break guys. Yes I beat the hell out of my equipment throughout the entire year but two days of use. Maybe I just got a bad one.
When I told the store where I bought them what happened, they said to bring it in because they started a swap program for these reels since they were getting a lot of them back. Im not saying every one of these reels are crap, Im just sharing my own experience with them.
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I bet that particular model and run had some problems, and that is what you experienced. That occasionally happens with every reel builder out there. I broke a Lew's Speed Spool the first time I cast the thing many years back. Got a new replacement very quickly, and it turned out to be one of the best reels I've ever owned. See my point?  |
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Posts: 10
Location: Minnesota | Steve,
Yes I realize that every reel manufacturer has their problems.
Regardless of what type of equipment is talked about on this thread, there is going to be someone who had a bad experience with that particular piece of equipment. No matter what it is. And that was me with Okuma reels and I was just sharing my experience.
It didn't really bother me that much anyway since the store swapped all of the reels that broke because of the one year manufacturers warranty.
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Posts: 87
| Sworall, what do you work for Okuma?  |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | No, I just make sure that any product comments here are fair and not worded so the content could be misleading or construed as a 'product bash' or are singularly exclusive. It's part of my job here at MuskieFIRST. I DO work for MuskieFIRST.
Why, do you work for Okuma? |
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| Okuma reels are definitely known in the saltwater world...as reels to stay away from. If you do a little research on some of the saltwater boards , you'll see that almost NO serious saltwater angler uses Okuma reels. (Excluding reps, sponsorees, etc). When introduced, their top end Titus Gold reels looked to be an less expensive alternative to Penn Int'l's and Shimano Tiagras, as did the Titus Silver to Shimano TLD and Daiwa SLD. But buyers soon reported numerous issues with everything from corrosion to seperating drags, and frozen bearings. Freshwater may be a different story, only time will tell. |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Here's some reviews I found, in order:
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewokumat2005preview.html
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewokumafina.html
http://www.epinions.com/otdr-Fishing-Reels-All-Saltwater-Brand-Okum...
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/reviews/fishing/reels/okuma_reels.html
http://www.anglerschat.com/search.php?s=7c5baa3aceea08d7e4c5f8aa120...
http://forums.basspro.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;...
Lots of opinions! |
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Okuma Musky Reels