Alutecnos Gorilla 12 Review

[Minnow]

I bought my first Alutecnos reel, the Albacore 30 single-speed, back in 2000. The quality and workmanship was top notch, but unfortunately at the time I was so in love with my Accurate 30 two-speed that I didn’t give the Alutecnos much time out on the ocean.

Recently, as I was flipping through Sportfishing magazine I saw a tough compact reel called Alutecnos 12 Gorilla and told myself I must have it. And this time, I was going to give it more of my attention. One week later the reel arrived and I promptly unboxed it. The cute little reel appears to be very well constructed. It fit in my hands nicely, had a great finish, and lots of attention to detail in the workmanship. At first, this reel reminded me of the ATC JigHunter jigging reel with its smooth, beautiful, and compact exterior, but, luckily, unlike the ATC, this one’s beauty was more than skin deep. This Alutecnos 12 Gorilla was a completely different beast. When I took it apart I found all the quality and attention to detail you would expect from a reel at the $500 price range, if not better.

With quad disk drag (2 on each side of the spool), this reel will stop a big AJ from going back rig leg. If you don’t mind a little extra weight for jigging, this might be one of the best reels for jigging big tuna 150# and above.

This review is based on my inspections and personal opinion, I have not fished with this reel yet and I am not affiliated with Alutecnos.

PRO

1. 40# of drag out of the box.
2. Very smooth, even in 35# drag setting.
3. Quad drag, 2 drag on each side of the spool.
4. Loud clicker.
5. Fits nicely in my hand.
6. Spool width at 2 inches wide, perfect for jigging.
7. 4 screws on the rod clamp, most reels on the market only come with 2 screws.

CON

1. At $549 it’s a little high for a small single-speed reel.
2. Short handle, measured at 3 ½ inches.
3. Small knob, measured at 2 ½ inches.
4. Poor free spool, 7 seconds max.
5. No screw at the spool, spooling spectra directly is impossible.
6. Heavy for a jigging reel, weighing in at 27.5 oz.
7. Hard to move the level drag to full position due to placement of drag release button.
8. Parts might be hard to come by in the long run.

[Minnow]

Sea Crappie,

I am planning to spool it with 80# spectra, most likely it will be about 350 yards or so plus short top-shot. I will let you know after i Spool it.

Skeeter,
Rue already have one stella 16000 and 7ft OTI spinner, She has been practice casting at the lake with big poppers she is planning to outcast me soon LOL

[Knothead]

Line Capacity
(yds/lb) Gear Ratio Weight Max Drag

600/50 Spectra
820/12 Mono
600/20 Mono 4.4:1 27.5 oz 40 lbs.

[Sea Crappie]

Minnow,

Have you spooled the Gorilla yet? Just curious.

[Minnow]

Sea Crappie,

No, I have not spooled it yet.
I returned the reel for credit, lack of free spool really turn me away.

[Sea Crappie]

Minnow,

Thanks for the warning about free spool. I think I'll skip this reel for now.

[TightenUp]

what do you mean by "lack of freespool"??

[Minnow]

Welcome aboard TightenUp.

That particular reel only have about 15 seconds of free spool if my memory serve me right. I am not sure it's just that particular reel or all of them are like that.

Friend of mine in Malaysia has one and his is fine. He told me free spool up to a minute with 22lb of drag setting.

[TightenUp]

i still don't understand. are you saying that all the line is gone after that amount of time?

[Minnow]

What I am saying is the spool (bare spool) will spin up to 15 seconds and stop.

This is what i did to test the free spool.
I spin the spool as fas as i could and time it.

[TightenUp]

whats the point of this test...just to see how smooth it is? the reason i am so curious is that i just ordered a gorilla