My casting reel

[JerseyBrian]

I bit the bullet.




Couldn't afford a Stella so hope this will last me for this year's BFT season in MA as well as the next 3 years in the caribbean

The drag knob has a unique feature that I've never seen before. It has a silicon type of built-in gasket on the underside of the drag knob; my guess is to help prevent the entrance of saltwater and sand.

Can't decide whether to spool with PE4 or PE5.

Comes with a nice Shimano Black Bag and Spool band

[BretABaker]

Put the reel on the OTI rod....tied the line to a scale and pulled.

Agree 100% about drags.......24lbs doesn't sound like much, but 24lbs off the tip of the rod is quite a bit.

also, just because i could hold onto a spinner with 35lbs of drag doesn't mean i have any desire to. i'd like to fish to put up a fight, as opposed to just winch it in.

[gman]

Originally Posted by BretABaker

Put the reel on the OTI rod....tied the line to a scale and pulled.

Agree 100% about drags.......24lbs doesn't sound like much, but 24lbs off the tip of the rod is quite a bit.

also, just because i could hold onto a spinner with 35lbs of drag doesn't mean i have any desire to. i'd like to fish to put up a fight, as opposed to just winch it in.

Amen brotha' I agree. I'm king of heavy drags. I used to break off so many fish its rediculous because I wanted them in the boat as fast as possible. I have since changed and Im less is more type except when they are near a wreck etc

[rhale]

Originally Posted by paul708

NICE...what kind of runs did the fish make with 32# of drag..what kinda fish?

No fish, just on the drag scale. The most drag I have fished with on the Stella was about 27 or so pounds and that was plenty.... I have caught YFT, AJ's, and a few Jacks at that drag setting and they all gave up pretty quick.

[paul708]

Originally Posted by rhale

No fish, just on the drag scale. The most drag I have fished with on the Stella was about 27 or so pounds and that was plenty.... I have caught YFT, AJ's, and a few Jacks at that drag setting and they all gave up pretty quick.

OH OK..thanks.
still curious
how much line did you pull off the reel with the 32# drag setting to tell it was smooth?
this is good info

[Uncle Russ]

Paul: I know your question is not directed at me, but that's one thing, that in all my testing, I have not done--pull off a lot of line. I just pull on the rod, reel down, pull, reel down to where I have pulled the same 10 feet or so of line off may be 5 times, then call that good. Probably should do more and see where the scale is after maybe 10 pulls.

Russ

[gman]

the fear Russ is the rods not the reels really aren't made for that drag, I would be afraid you would break your rods. Please don't test any drag on your souls

[rhale]

Originally Posted by paul708

OH OK..thanks.
still curious
how much line did you pull off the reel with the 32# drag setting to tell it was smooth?
this is good info

Not much, maybe 10 or 15 feet. First I checked the drag setting with a straight pull off the reel (no bend in the rod) then I had my girlfriend hold the drag scale and walk across the living room pulling line out the whole way, first with the straight pull and then a few more times angling the rod a little more each time just to see what the rod acted like with that much drag. I was not able to angle the rod much at that setting but I did feel the drag was smooth. With a big fish on the other end of the line it might be a whole different story....

[BretABaker]

when i set or test mine, they're all at a fighting angle, so i can make sure the rod will withstand it.

i'm confident the OTI 600g rods can handle 35-40lbs (again, totally overkill). At 30lbs the rod had a nice bend but wasn't being killed. the thing is really really strong.

yeah......unless you need to stop them ASAP from getting into structure, just put the drag to something that your gear won't crap out on. line, knots etc can all fail. the higher the drag, higher the probability of that happening.

[BretABaker]

oh, and i should point out the OTI still had nice action at the tip. you might think it'd be too stiff to really whip a jig it, but it's not. i was using jigs from 230-450g and they all moved great.

[Uncle Russ]

gman: Oh, I hear you! Actually, when I pull "maximum" drag on anything (other than my two roller rods and my 700XH) it is with a straight pull. Understand completely about not laying waste to the rods--especially the high-priced Japanese variety with instructions that read like a Godzilla commercial.

I do think most, if not all, of the rods that show manufacturer's ratings for max drag are pretty conservatively rated. And that is as it should be. For example, the Smith Ltd. KGS-70MH, which feels like a heavy bass rod, is rated at 11 pounds max drag at a 45 degree angle. But if you watch the video on the Accurate Twinspin page of Picarda fishing it with an SR-12 for GT, you can see that he is lifting a lot more than 11 pounds with it. The rod is similar in many ways to the older OTI 7-footer, but the OTI will handle more drag. I think I said earlier somewhere that I accidentally pulled 25 pounds with it and it sure seemed like it could handle a lot more--not that I will.

As for the 700XH Calstar spinner, I'm not sure I could break it if I tried. I have pulled just short of 45 pounds with it at a 45 degree angle, using the Twinspin 30 and 130 pound line. And it had more to give. I, on the other hand, did not.

Russ