fixed spool recommendations....again!

bassmanrob

Apologies in advance for going over old ground but I'm after some opinions on fixed spool reels.

I've recently returned to fishing after about a 15 year lay off but still have my old beachcaster, a Daiwa Supercast Mark 2 PKCS (Paul Kerry model). I'm after a suitable fixed spool to use with this, I'm not obssessed with hitting the horizon but it's always nice to have that option if that's where others are catching. When I used to fish I was pushing 100 yards and usually fished with running ledger rigs which have the aerodynamics of a brick! I'll probably use clipped down rigs now plus I'm a lot stronger and nowadays there's the benefit of Hohn Holden on youtube too! So an all round reel that lends itself to a bit of distance would be ideal.

Anyway here's my shortlist:

Daiwa Emcast: Always found Daiwa to perform well and be very reliable too. Price isn't really an issue, £60 is a decent night on the beer!

Shakespeare Salt XDS Surf: Came across this one and was quite impressed with it's specifications.

Mitchell Armada: Used a few older mitchells years ago and found them to be very good reels.

Okuma Eclipse EZ-65: Cheaper model but from reading a few threads it seems a lot of you rate it.

Any feed back from anyone that has used any of the above would be appreciated, plus any other reels that you might use and recommend.

Thanks.

eccles · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

Just one little tip mate (which I have given before): Choose something with a deepish skirt to the spool; two of my mates have reels with virtually nothing below the main spool body and they have both had problems with line getting trapped underneath (especially at night) resulting in miscasts and crackoffs. My Okumas do not have this problem and neither does the relatively cheap but smooth Diawa BF5500 which I bought earlier this year.

bassmanrob · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject:

Thanks Eccles,

I did see you mentioned this in a couple of other threads and have chosen reels with deep skirts. Have never had this problem with a sea reel but had a coarse fishing reel that was prone to this problem.

Like you say it's an absolute nightmare with line underneath the spool and around the spindle. Sods law dictates that it's bound to happen at night when you can't feel your fingers with your best rig on the end too!

Thanks for the feedback on the reels you mentioned too.