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Posts: 8
| Would like to give trolling a go. I already purchased two pgm80hm glass Premier rods and do have few 6500 c3 Abu reels collecting dust. They have clickers and enough capacity for #80 braid. Is there any reason I should be looking into a different reel? I don't have experience with this technique so I thought I'd ask before spooling them up. |
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Posts: 353
Location: Western U.P. | The C3's will work fine for what you're doing. Especially since you have them already, and just starting out trolling, not knowing if you will like it or continue. Down the road, if you decide to do more trolling, adding line counter reels will make it a little easier to work with specific depth targets, and lure dive curves. For now, you can just estimate line lengths to get close to any target depths, and be relatively close. |
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Posts: 565
| If you do switch to line counters, I will give Diawa sealines 2 thumbs up. They are solid and great customer service. |
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Posts: 1253
| What Cedar said. For line counters, I've had good luck with Okuma Cold Waters, but start with what you have, then decide. |
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Posts: 1709
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | I had awesome luck with Penn Squall line counters before I upgraded to tekotas. I still have one I would sell that has never been used, just had line put on it. |
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Location: Canada | With the C3s you can figure out on land how much line comes out as the level wind makes a full traverse from one side to the other. Then count those out while releasing line. Not as nice as a line counter but works fine (assuming you're not letting out so much line the spool gets notably smaller) |
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | You can also buy those clamp on the rod line counters. If you will run big boards you will need a power handle on the reel. |
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| Another option if you don't have a line counter is Power Pro Depth hunter, with a different color for every 25' and a black hash mark on the line every 5'. Have not used but have seen it advertised. |
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Posts: 7035
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Check out the Okuma Magdas. Low on price, very durable. |
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Posts: 59
Location: Madison, WI | I run older Penn 320GTI’s w/ the line counters. Had these from salmon fishing. Work great. A line counter is a must, or you can count the passes and convert to line distance. |
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Posts: 103
| What about Shimano Tekotas? I've heard good things about them, never used one though |
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Posts: 1709
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | Tekota reels are the Cadillac. I’m not aware of an upgrade beyond tekota reels. |
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Posts: 578
Location: Sheboygan Falls, WI | All 6 of my trolling rigs are 6500C's. I chartered on Lake Michigan for 30 years, so going without line counters is no big deal, it is just old school before line counters were around. You can dial in your spread as good as with line counters. Count your passes. A pass is one time across of the line guide, NOT back and forth. Put the line guide to one side of the reel. Put your clicker on, push the button, grab the line at the tip of the rod, pull the line until the guide reaches the other side, measure how much line is one pass for you. If it is a full reel, it should be in the neighborhood of 10'. If you know that, you can adjust from there. The lower the amount of line on the reel, the less line out per pass. If there is more line on the reel, the more line out per pass. With no counter, there is no button to accidently reset. If you do go with a line counter down the road, as Slamr said, Okuma Magda's are a great choice. Okuma Convectors are another good choice. Personally, I don't troll enough to invest in any other reels at this point. |
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Posts: 2258
Location: SE, WI. | RyanJoz - 6/18/2024 9:20 PM Tekota reels are the Cadillac. I’m not aware of an upgrade beyond tekota reels. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Tekota, or Go Home ! Enough Said……;) |
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Posts: 41
Location: Lower Peninsula | Does anybody have any preference between round and new low profile type line counters? I will be purchasing my first two dedicated trolling set ups soon. Probably going with convectors but open to options. |
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Posts: 2024
| Tekota's are expensive as heck. Are you going to troll much? If so, invest in good reels. If not, try buying a clip on line counter and see how it goes. If you upgrade, magdas are not the answer. Ya they're cheap, but the line counter can be really touchy and the drag will slip some. Get a reel with a positive click drag. Okuma coldwaters are good and not much more than magdas. |
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Posts: 753
| I agree with Cedar. The 6500's will get the job done for you. If you decide later that you want to become a dedicated troller, and if you have a large full wallet, sure, go top of the line. But some of the other reels that guys mentioned will put muskies in the boat. Penn built there reputation on conventional trolling reels,from there low end Rival, to their high end Fathoms. Maybe Tekota's are the best, not sure. But the Fathoms would not be far behind. kdawg |
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| ARmuskyaddict - 6/20/2024 2:09 PM
Tekota's are expensive as heck. Are you going to troll much? If so, invest in good reels. If not, try buying a clip on line counter and see how it goes. If you upgrade, magdas are not the answer. Ya they're cheap, but the line counter can be really touchy and the drag will slip some. Get a reel with a positive click drag. Okuma coldwaters are good and not much more than magdas.
I have an Okuma Coldwater and am happy with it. Seems well built, clicker is very loud.
Cracked me up when researching them that one review complained about how loud clicker is. I also use in fall with suckers and you want that loud clicker. |
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Posts: 536
| I picked up.a new tekota this spring. Definitely is nice. But I've had no problems with my okuma magda's either. |
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