Good light tackle rockcod reel for Spectra

I love Abu's but Alan Tani was saying you should not use Spectra with it due to the drag gears being brass and that they would warp.

So what are my options for light (10-15 test) gear that I can put Spectra on, I prefer bait casters but I can do a spinning setup as well.

the ambassaduers are fine up to 5#'s of drag.  in many ways, they would actually be preferred.  there is actually a brass bushing that you could subsitute for the bearings if you don't want to deal with the maintenance.  the levelwind assembly is very reliable.  i don't think i've ever had to replace one.  we've changed out all the drags already, right?  so all you need to do is just hose out the reel after a trip and blow out the excess moisture with compressed air.  

to set your drags to 5#'s, run the line through the guides, hang a pair of 2.5 pound lead balls, reel down to the weights, lift and adjust the star until the lead falls about 1 foot every 5 seconds.  now you have 5 pounds of drag.  the ambassaduer should do just fine.  let's not try this with any more weight or stick drags.  a new drag set is $20.  i found that out the hard way.  alan

The Abu works fine with Mono but at the last seminar I overheard you telling Stuart that the ambassaduers did not work well with braided line. I seem to recall it was because they "needed" the give of mono.

Am I just crazy?  

don't know, bill.  5# of drag is 5#of drag, whether mono or braid.  stuart might have been thinking of using more.  otherwise, it should not matter. remember the two layers of black electrical tape around the spool arbor to keep the braid from slipping on the spool.

The first question is how much do you want to spend? the best reel might be a saltiga15 but that doesent matter if you only have 125 to spend?  Next question is levelwind or no levelwind?  with 10-15lb spectra the only thing with tight enough tolerences is between the spool and frame is the shamano calcutta  but if you went up to twenty or thirty pound there are alot more options.  For rockfishing I like to run a mono leader for the abrasion resinstance. and I like it to brake before the spectra so I would go wit 20lbspectra with a 15-17 leader or 30lb spectra with a 20-25 lb leader.

My pick is the Shimano TR100-G...

Reasons:
- Cost... this is a lot of reel for under $60.
- Durability... I've been using these and the larger 200's for years on my kayak... they are bulletproof and require very little maintenance.
- Performance... with a drag upgrade to the Penn drag washers ala Alan Tani, this reel performs extremely well.
- Size / Weight... they are narrow and small / light enough to hold all day long.  

I use these reels for everything from rockfishing to sturgeon...

These reels are not a good choice for casting... but you don't need casting performance when rockfishing, sturgeon fishing, or halibut drifting.

I use an Abu 6600 with Spectra and so far so good, but Alan may disagree once I get around to sending him my unloved Abu's

ok, ok, ok, i get the message.  yes, i've ragged on ambassaduers for a long time.  if you knew what i went through with them, you'd probably feel the same.  still, i've gone through the trouble to hand cut a couple of hundred drag washers to fit, got new bearings, figured out all the little quirks, and now they're not so bad.  

in all fairness, the level wind assemblies are the most reliable around, bearings are bearings, gears are gears, drags get fixed.  they will work just fine.  and the tolerances are tight enough that spectra will work.  and yes, i'm smiling.  alan

I use a penn 9 levelwind with 20lb spectra and it's never given me a problem.   The gearing is kind of slow though.

i use a penn intl 965.  

30# spectra backing and 12# big game mono topshot.  

pierre

Alan-by saying "unloved" I was refering to the total lack of care my favorite reels receive from me.  I realize they have issues after I had one of my fleet rebuilt and it was better than new after years of thrashing, I just need to stop using them long enough to get them serviced and upgraded.