OK. I think I have determined adequately that there have been very few mentions on these forums about the Van Staal Spinning Reels--lots of kudos for the Saltiga, the Twinspin, and even more for the Stella FA s. But, among the high-priced reels, nothing of a critical nature, either positive or negative, about th Van Staal 300 (except for one sort of negative comment about a "Van Staal with balls." Is the general feeling that they don't measure up for YFT, and if so, I would appreciate opinions. Personally I don't go for having to send them to the factory every year to keep the warranty in effect--I think that is what I heard. Also, is the consensus of opinion that the FA U.S. version of the Stella 20,000 does or does not come with an extra spool. I have seen, for example, one counter to Rick's support of the Twinspin that you do get an extra spool for the less expensive Stella, but another post to the effect that only the Japanese reels come with a spare. Thanks. Russ
FA (US version) comes with 20000 spool. SW (Japanese version) comes with 10000 & 20000 spool. SW runs about 100 bucks more. Buy them on ebay. Twinspin hardly never comes up on ebay but other accurate products are on ebay. I'd stay away from the Van Staal. Zebco now owns them. I had one for a while, but no bail was weird. I never could get use to it. The version I owned was the original version. All the big quality spinners use a manual bail. Van Stall now makes a bail model, but they are small capacity. But, they do make great pliers. Accurate is coming out with new twinspin models early 2007.
I haven't used a Van Staal, but I just purchased the SW8000 and SW20000. The SW20 came with a 16000 spool. MrBill is right on buying one thru the guy on e-bay, reelsellers. No affiliation, but he has the best price -actually the only business I could find that has stock- and he ships very quickly.
Yeah, the no-bail deal, as my grandchildren say, would really "wierd me out." That is disappointing about having to pay for an extra spool--I like to get something for nothing--maybe I will reconsider the Twinspin. I was thinking the lack of enthusiasm for the Van Staal's might have to do with their drags disintigrating or gears melting down. I really wasn't planning to go with one, but was curious, just the same. On a slightly different subject, when people talk about jigging on this board, does the term include the use of diamond jigs for BFT? I am wondering to what extent, if any, I will need to try to achieve casting any distance from the boat with either diamond or knife/Butterfly jigs. My concern here is that my track record over the last half-century of casting even bass-sized conventional reels could lead to disaster trying to cast with a 665 and 80 pound Spectra. What I want to hear is that most of you just jig vertically without regard to casting. Then I can just cast with the big spinner for topwaters and not worry. Russ
just put it in freespool and let it drop. if you want to pitch it out or cast a jig it's not an issue. however on most party boats you just freespool the jig down and then jig it or burn it back up and repeat. there are also variations of this method such as crank and stop,stopping the jig on the way down and jig it once or twice and drop, dropping the jig to the desired depth and jigging with out reeling, and burning the jig back and stopping every so often and letting the jig rest before cranking like hell again. there really isn't a right or wrong way to fish a jig. find out how the fish want the bait moving on that particular day and you will be successful. as a note most of the time blackfin will want the bait moving fast and the yellowfin seem to prefer a little slower presentation ....rick
The Van Staals are good reels. The only thing against them is the drag as you wind from the waterproof seals. This makes them a little bit of work to wind from the slight resistance. From a drag and main gear standpoint the VS300 will pull 40+ pounds and has a monster stainless maingear. They are not as braid friendly as a saltiga but will lay braid well enough. The bailless design is very user friendly once you get used to it and it will keep you from loosing plugs if your bail slammed shut when you throw hard.
I used one once fishing the flats for reds. Obviously it wasn't a monster reel. A little heavy, but very smooth. I liked not having the bail. No problem, but to much $.JMO
