Conventional or Levelwind

[kanjii]

I plan to buy one "reel of a lifetime" purchase. Mainly sturgeon fishing in the San Francisco bay area. I have used levelwinds but never conventional and would like to start...if you think I should. I have my eyes on 3 conventional reels....Accurate, ProGear, and Shimano Trinidad. I also have my eye on 1 levelwind...Shimano Calcutta 700te. As you can see..they are all very expensive and high quality reels. I will be fishing off the pier or offshore...no boats. Your comments are needed and the reason why you choose one over the other. Thanks.

[dave]

i would go with the progear..i have 2, im thinking they are the 454 model , the largest the make, and ive got 80 lb. braid on it....its damn near bullet proof, ive caught many tuna, jacks, and large bottom fish on them... there always smooth and ready for action....just my $.02 worth...



good luck in your search,

dave

[Paul]

If it were me i would go with a levelwind because, the organization of the line is one less problem to worry about when you are fighting the fish of your life. Just get a good brand that you trust and load it up with spectra or another super braid.
well thats just my opinion shop around see what some of the locals say.

[JackT]

If you will be pier or near the rocks fishing the levelwind will not give you the distance you need. The shomano reels are great as are the penn reels. I have a penn jigmaster with the full Accurate conversion. The freespool is great and it is bombproof.

[Maddog]

A level wind will not cast well no matter how good you are with it. Go with an open face reel for casting every time. And you needn't necessarily go expensive. Check out a big Shakespeare Alpha. I use one in the Gulf of Mexico and love it for pier fishing or boat fishing either.

[Jerome]

my choice would be the Shimano Calcutta or the Trinidad.They both have Shimano's High Effeciency gearing and will put serious heat on any fish out there except for the bigger stuff like marlin, etc. The Calcutta 700TE will outcast any PENN open baitcast reel, except for the magcontrol ones. The non disengaging levelwind will track with the line as it comes off the spool for very low friction on the cast. The 700 will hold 300+ yards of 65 lb. Power Pro spectra or 250 yards of 80 lb.P.Pro. If you want more capacity then you will have to go to the Trinidad 20 which will hold 300 yards of 80 lb. spectra or even higher yet the trinidad 30 will hold 420 yards of 80 lb. spectra. The Calcutta will be easier to use also if you will be casting plugs because of the levelwind, if you do decide on the open reel then consider the trinidad 16 or40 narrow models they will cut down on the amount of effort you will expend on getting that line to wind evenly. They both have 6 ABS ball bearings and 1 roller bearing so these reels are really smooth. If youstill have doubts about levelwinds not being able to cast for distance, then just ask a Columbia river sturgeon SHORE fisherman what kind of baitcast reels they use. Hope this helps.
Good fishing!

[ghost]

Go with the levelwind, but get a real reel, like an Ambassaduer 7000C, not the flashy Japanese/Korean reels. Spinning reels have their place, but they're heavy and a good caster with a levelwind can outcast most any spinner. Been there, done it. Moved on to more sporting fish - like sails on 12# line.

[mark]

Sorry to be contrary but I owned 14 Calcuttas and could not garage sale them fast enough. Jigmaster is fine if you like tradition. I have ambassaduers from the 80's that I put in service when the others fail - and they have never been serviced! Levelwinds fail catastrophically - Do you like handlining? Pro-Gear are good for a star drag. If you want to actually stop that fish from getting around a rock or piling and get it on the pier, use an Accurate. Cherish it, coddle it, then give it to your grandkids.