I have no experience with the Okumas, maybe somebody else besides Grinch can comment on those for you too.

I use to use the SG47LCA Daiwa Sealines for years and they are in about the same price range, a nice reel, soild drag and loud clicker for the fall when you're bundled up.  

I was all happy with my Sealines until I fished with a friend in 2008 who had a couple of the Shimano Tekota TEK600LC and after a few days of bringing in baits and boards alongside the Sealines, there was simply no comparison to how much less effort was required with the Shimano's.

They have a smoother drag with “click settings” so it's easy to dial the drag back in, and I much prefer the quieter clicker because you can just leave them and they're not annoying like the Sealines. With the Sealines I was always flipping the clickers on/off, kind of a pain and sometimes forgetting to put it back on. 

Maybe for somebody who doesn't troll as much, there wouldn't be as much appreciation for these reels. However, after pounding on these reels for a few years, I couldn't be more impressed with their overall performance.

I can tell you honestly they're worth every penny of the extra cost versus the Sealine, and you'll never be disappointed. With that said, I much prefer the extra line with the wider spools and can get lower prices on eBay, that's where I bought all of mine.

I've used Okuma Convectors for years and have had very good luck with them. Great trolling reel, I use the 20 size and that seems to be big enough, but I never troll with much line out.

Doug Johnson

Hey Doug, I think that's a key point you mentioned about not having much line out,  I'm assuming you only use down rods because where you typically troll, it's only one rod per angler.

When I fish in Michigan/Wisconsin, it's three rods per and typically six rods working, it's pretty common for my boat to have the outside board rod out 100-120', and that's why I prefer the wider spools.

So consideration should be given to what the reel is going to be primarily used for...nothing worse than wishing you had bought the next size larger or whatever. Like I said in the above post, there is no comparison bringing in those outside board rods with the Shimano versus the Sealine. However, when I troll with one rod per in Canada/Minnesota, it's typically close to the boat and probably wouldn't need to spend the extra money on the Shimano's.

Regarding the line question, I quit using superline for trolling, switched to 50 pound mono for a variety of reasons... but that's a whole other discussion. However, another important consideration is what kind of line you'll be using. If you use 50 pound mono on multiple in-line boards, then you probably need the wide spool reels.