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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | My youngest son is turning 5 in a few weeks and he's burned up 2 reels already this season. I'd like to buy him a quality closed-face reel that can withstand the rigors of lightweight musky fishing. Something that can handle bass spinnerbaits, #5 Mepps, and maybe even some 6" crankbaits. Still needs to be relatively small... for his little hands.
Is there anything out there not made out of plastic? The two reels he's had were smooth, cast great, but eventually bind up.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. |
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Posts: 734
Location: Watertown, MN | Jason
Nothing is better than the ol zebco 202. Don't know of many closed faced reels. I let my son pick his own rod and reel combo when he was 5, he picked a 6500 high speed with 7'6" rod. He used the combo sparingly for the first few years. But I ended up getting him a 7' med/hvy bass rod with a quality low profile bass reel spooled with 35 superline. Shimano curado has been a good reel, use it for throwing trap, tiger tube, husky jerks, and other small baits, the quantum centergy has been a great reel and both have held up well with many hours of my own usage plus my sons.
Good luck
Troy |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | For a spincast reel, Abu makes one that seems pretty tough. I have't personally seen any in action, but have messed with them at bait shop I used to do some time in, and they seem pretty good. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=53796&hvar...
I think these are the ones. Made out of metal and pretty smooth. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | that's a great question jason. i worked my tail off to try the same thing when my boys were much younger .... tried the johnson reels and did fine off the bat and then the plastic parts failed me. i just started to really work on the rod reel combo and worked on getting them on the baitcasters earlier. i found the calcutta 250's were the ticket with 80# superline and a lighter action rod that loaded easier. i don't suggest you go buying 250 calcuttas for 5 year olds, mine were leftovers from the bass days and i did successfully get my 6 year old casting with the setup. the little guys are far more capable than we think sometimes. good luck. otherwise, i've put a spinning reel on a cheap musky rod and just grind off the trigger on a bench grinder for those that just can't get the baitcaster concept.
good luck |
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| check out the Abu Garcia Abumatic 1276. says it is made for super lines. comes already loaded with fireline. the reel can also be switched right or left hand. I have seen them at Rollie and Helens. seems like a solid reel for a spincast. |
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Posts: 1462
Location: Davenport, IA | The Zebco Omega is a really solid reel, but $50. The Diawa's seem solid and I hear a lot of good things about them. Silvercasts start at $20 w/o ball bearings and $30 w/. The goldcasts are about the same price as the Omega. |
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Posts: 20212
Location: oswego, il | I consider myself an expert on this subject. I have 3 sons and have found what spincast reels work and don't work. Important things are line retrieve and being able to pick up slack line. Few reels have both. Right now they have the newer zebco rhino reels spooled with fireline. Fireline seems to work well. The more expensive diawas work well too but no instant anti reverse. That omega is a nice reel but is heavy for a reel that a kid would be using. The zebco pro-staff series casts awesome and are very cheap. All have 4.0 to 1 or better retrieve and pick up slack line. The garcia does too but the one I had had issues with the drag. Actualy lost a musky becuase of it. The other zebco's like the 202 only has a 2 to1 retrieve and the zebco 33 has a 3 to 1. Not fast enough for lures. Lots of cheap junk spincast reels out there. I have tried many and the ones above work well. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | not sure if this pic will post, but this was the day i stopped thinking my kids "can't" do it because they're too young and just started to let them figure it out. we put waaaaaaaaayyyyy too many bounderies on our kids because probably our parents never let us "touch" anything.
a friend of mine Steve Mathison from the sugar camp area is the proud father of the boy in this picture (Hunter) and his sister (Brooke) is in the background. i saved this picture as one of my favorites of all-time and i hope that Steve or anyone that knows him can get another shot of this. i think Hunter was around 4 at the time and while Steve was launching the boat Hunter grabbed a rod and i think a suick and started fishing .. yes, he's 4 and was proficient with baitcasters and moving a suick by then.
i had 3 boys and a girl all under 5 at the time ... from that day forward i just handed them the same stuff i was throwing and they all figured it out. these kids CAN throw baitcasters and WILL master them like they master anything else they have an interest in.
i remember John Bette (muskihntr) and i sitting on the shores of Trout Lake with beers while my then 6 year old went through the whole box of baits throwing them off the dock ...
ok, here goes with the hope the pic posts ... cool release shot ... again, not mine but Steve Mathison's cool kids
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 hunter 40 03.jpg (90KB - 136 downloads)
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| Diawa GOLDCAST.... My mother (all she will use is spincast?) landed dozens of 20 pound lake trout and pike on a fly-in trip to Canada no problems ...they are $50 but best I know of? |
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