I’m after a new reel for medium to heavy feeder in the mid price range, it will be used for feeders up to 4oz so needs a bit of cranking power and needs to be able to cope with a lazy bugger like me that doesn’t realy look after his gear !

The ones I have my eye on so far are:-

Shimano super GT 4000 £60

Okuma Epix pro baitfeeder 50 £53



The okuma is probably favourite spec wise as it has an adjustable free spool feature, but are they well made enough to take a bit of stick ?


If any one has either of these please let me know what you think to them or sugest any others, although I could stretch to a few more quid if nesesary I don’t want to if I can help it.


edit: the okuma has 3 very good ratings in the FM reveiw section so it could be thats the one for me

Shimano 400 size as they have a great track record and good engineering experience - easy to get spares and parts.

There's an abu model out Beecs, with baitrunner, balanced lock and about the same size as a Shimano 4000. My local had them at £30 with a reel case and they went very fast, it looked and felt good quality.

I have several shimanos taking the 4000 size spools, but I'd deffo give those a look at the price, gimme a bit I'll see if I can find em!

Edit:

I think these are the ones, abu cardinal 503 fr.

Beecy,
I don't think there's much between the Shimano (in 4000 size) and the Okuma, I have several Okuma reels but would recommend a Shimano for feeder fishing (I've used a Sedona for years), try going for one with a fighting drag leaver as I find this excellent for feeder fishing with lighter lines and small hooks when the odd bigger fish could pick up the bait.

well I ended up getting the Shimano and at a bargain price of £50 with a padded bag thrown in as it was the last one and the box was missing.

I went for this one as it just felt miles better than the Okuma.


Now, I dont generaly use the reels drag so its not that inportant to me, but can someone expliain the idea/benifits of the drag lever to me?

You wont get your knuckles rapped when a decent fish heads for the hills when you try and grab hold of the spinning handle?

If the reel has a good drag system, why not use it.I found that invariably with backwinding I conceeded line when I did not need to.OK for small fish which are not going to run far or fast,if at all, but on carp or barbel, I would go with a well set drag every time.

Nigel, its this fighting drag lever thingy on the shimano I need explaining to me

I've just switched over to the Daiwa Whiskers in the 2500 (small) size for my roach fishing (2oz feeders up to 50 yards)and have been very impressed with the clutch. In my last two roach sessions I've had three bonus carp for a total of 59lb using 3lb 6oz hooklinks and have been playing them off the clutch! I've had plenty of smaller fish too.

I would normally backwind when using hooklinks of 6lb or less, but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if the carp were lost so I decided to experiment. I have to say I'm very impressed.

I would say they're well worth a look, but go for 3500 or 4000 size for the bigger feeders.

Fightin Drag: Beecs, set your drag as normal with the usual knob. Then whilst playing a fish, the fightin drag lever can be used to easily apply more or less pressure whilst the fight is in progress without you needing to re-adjust the main knob.

Then put the fightin drag lever back to the middle and your original settings are returned!

Beecy,

Mr McRae has it in a nutshell.

Do not use it myself as if the main drag is pre set correctly it should give line as and wehn needed.

I think the idea is to slacken off when under the rod prior to netting when the pressure on the hookhold from the rod is at its highest.

Yep, Beecy, Eddie's hit the nail on the head.

It's a confidence booster when using light hooklengths, I've landed 8lb carp whilst using 1lb 7oz hooklengths and size 20 hook whilst after silvers on the local canal. The control over the clutch is first class when other methods might see the fish reach a snag or the line part on the first proper run.

cheers fellas, I get it now.

I'll have a play next time i get summat on big enough