baja/so cal kayak reel. penn 525 MAG?

reel guru alan tani's choice for kayakers, the narrow spool penn 501 jigmaster  is perhaps too heavy,
not spectra friendly. he keeps suggesting it, everybody but maybe scallen turns up their nose, 

btw, scwafish, go to ebay, use search, type in 'jigmaster' 'jigmaster narrow' '501' and you'll usually see some
pretty cool tricked out jigmasters with newell and accurate and tiburon frames, spools etc. they seem to go
for around $110.  alan tani himself had one for sale last year. his was trick, of course.
they all have no casting brake, no level wind: all natural.

what about the penn GS series, 525 MAG as a contender? $150. 6:1. ht-100 drags. 18oz. big gear train.
maybe too many bearings, but whatever. casting brake! Seems real popular with east coast and uk
surf casters, maybe that shares something with a kayak caster?

http://www.alltackle.com/penn_525.htm


one thing I learned about the newell reels is there is no casting brake. Also, I don't know if their tolerances allow
spectra. still, fairly cheap. left and right handed, lightweight, high performance casting and drag. non-boing bridge.

I can't cast my abus unless I use the casting brake. My thumb is not enough. If I was going to try a non-level wind
reel, I feel like maybe I'd like to have a casting brake of some sort, at least to let me practice casting without
burning out my thumb, not sure. This is what makes me look at non-level wind casting reels with
some kind of casting brake technology.

anyway alan tani or others what's the opinion on the penn 525 MAG for a kayak reel for baja/so cal? scwafish how
does this one look to you? I'm not going on a 10 day baja trip this year, but I like to pretend I am,  .

http://shop.thesurfcaster.com/cgi-bin/surfcast/REDASL20SH.html

the daiwa contenter?

an abu non level wind:

http://shop.thesurfcaster.com/cgi-bin/surfcast/REAGABY6500C30.html

in part it depends on the skill of the paddler.  the advantage of the 501 is the single screw take apart to remove the side plate.  when you roll your kayak in the surf during an attempted landing, you might get a little sand in the reel.  back out one screw, twist off the side plate and you can easily rinse out your reel.  and there are no bearings go deal with.    what?  you say you've never rolled your yak?     hmmm....  well, if that's the case, you would do fine with any number of reels that offer tolerances tight enough to use spectra.  even if spectra is overrated. 

never rolled the yak, huh?     consider this carefully.  those bearings get pretty expensive!

John, check out the new Daiwa Sealine X series reels at http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csrd.htm

I'm getting ready to buy a SLX-20SHA (6.1:1 ratio) and I plan to load it with 30# spectra for deep mooching, jigging for rockfish, casting, trolling, and just about everything.  It would be an ideal reel for Moss Landing, Baja, Big Sur, Elk, or even San Pablo for sturgeon.

The new 2006 Sealine X models have the improved two position handle and is now less expensive at $119 ( vs. $134 for the  2005 version).  BloodyDecks.com has the same new reels at the lowest price I've seen... $109.

Daiwa's Sealine is designed to compete with Penn 525 Mag ($149), but from talking SoCal guys like Chris "Holy Mackerel", who yo-yo jigs and fly-line live bait for big Yellowtails and WSB, the Sealine X is a better reel and a better value.

I bought an old used and abused Sealine SL20SH (the model just below the SLX-20SHA) and it's been my favorite reel... especially after the Alan's drag upgrade.

reel guru alan tani's choice for kayakers, the narrow spool penn 501 jigmaster  is perhaps too heavy,
not spectra friendly. he keeps suggesting it, everybody but maybe scallen turns up their nose, 

I've owned a 501 for over 10 years.  It used to be part of my my light tackle set-up for sturgeon and rockfish, its now my heavier rig for jigs in the +5 oz range.  BTW what is a casting brake?





Allen, you're not the only one who feels spectra is overated......It has its applications but in my opinion gets recommended more than it should.

Casting brakes slow down the spool during a cast to help reduce backlash. It is that little knob on the left(?) side of your ABU that you never touched cause you didn't know what it was. 

What I have been told is that your bait/lure should just barely fall when the reel is in free spool when it is tuned correctly.

I realy like the seeline X series they are Realy good casters.  I have a 20 with 20#   They are somewhat complex to take apart.

Non levelwinds in genral cast beter than saltwater levelwinds.  as far as a casting brake is concerned they are a tool but not as important as a well educated thumb.  take your abus into your backyard with a 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz weight and just practise with it.  If you can cast an abu you can cast just about anything.

That knob is the spool tension knob.  I like to adjust mine so that I can feel the slightist back and forth movement in the spool to get maximum casting distance.  A casting brake is usualy either magnites that slow down the spool during the cast.  or centrifical weights that are forsed agast a serface as the spool spins so the faster it spins the harder the brakes work.

alan t. I have not rolled my yak, but I have put the reel under water while rigging the rod.   
I have a sleeve of ceramic bearings to fit my abus, $50 for 10, only used 2 so far,  .

thank you patrick, actually I was thinking of spool tension knob with my comment about newells
and they probably have that, but the abus also have casting brakes.
they are those two little plastic things that get in the way when you try to put the reel back together.
as the reel spins centrifugal force pushes them out against the reel. newer abus like the record have
4 or 6 of those little plastic things.

but it's really spool tension I was thinking of.

I actually don't know if the abu casting brakes do anything at all, but the spool tension is good for casting my kids
plastic toys at the squirrels in the back yard without getting backlash. 

Bill's comment is what the manual says. Note that
if you crank up the spool tension knob so you can cast without tangles,
then you can't lower a jig to the bottom. 
Heavy things like a 1.5oz swimbait cast just fine even with low spool tension tho.
I just like casting. feels good, I do it whenever I am at a loss of what to do.

but also, the spool tension knob on some older abus is labeled 'brake', which is confusing. 

Does the newell have spool tension? It must have at least that.

ChuckE, sounds like you got the good reel lined up. I did hear something about reverse dogs failing and parts hard to find.
http://www.stripersonline.com/Pages/Articles/article_conv_faq_BMul.shtml
but I could believe the daiwa @ 109 is the way to go.

I'm not going to buy one myself yet, someday tho. I pretend shop for
my pretend trip to baja!    I will go again someday and for months!

p.s. any baja reel must be cheap enough for you to buy at least two.

Then you are almost assured of having at least one working.

a set of the most-likely-to-fail spare parts might also be a good idea.

bringing one expensive reel is a recipe for having no reel in short order, 

So chuckE, buy yourself two of whatever you decide on!

ChuckE, sounds like you got the good reel lined up. I did hear something about reverse dogs failing and parts hard to find.
http://www.stripersonline.com/Pages/Articles/article_conv_faq_BMul.shtml
but I could believe the daiwa @ 109 is the way to go.

John, thanks for the heads up.  That's good to know.

Allen, you're not the only one who feels spectra is overated......It has its applications but in my opinion gets recommended more than it should.

I use to feel the same way, but the more I use it, the more I like it.

This past weekend when Freddie and I were mooching around 250' down, spectra was the only way to go.  It would have been totally impractical to fish with mono that deep.  My reel was spooled with 230' of spectra on top of 30' mono, but I seriously wished I had at least 300' of spectra.   When I got past the spectra into my mono backing I noticed a total lack of feeling.  I couldn't tell if I was getting bit.  It was like fishing with bungee cord due to the stretch of mono.

p.s. any baja reel must be cheap enough for you to buy at least two.

Then you are almost assured of having at least one working.

a set of the most-likely-to-fail spare parts might also be a good idea.

bringing one expensive reel is a recipe for having no reel in short order, 

So chuckE, buy yourself two of whatever you decide on!

I'm finally getting a chance to fish baja this June for the first time, and I'm so stoked.
I assure you I will bring several back-up reels along with extra spools of line.

ChuckE, I envy you!  remember there is 2000 miles of baja coastline, there is always more,
you'll never be able to fish it all! always a reason to go back.

I like mono for lower test, 4-15. above that the reel needs to be so big and heavy.

I am a fan of 30lb spectra.

20lb spectra is getting so thin it scares me a bit, but I put 300 feet of 20lb
on top of the 30lb with a doubled uni to uni for my next mooching adventure as stu suggests going thinner than 30lb
spectra for mooching applications.

You can fit a lot of 30lb spectra on even an abu 5X series.

ChuckE, I envy you!  remember there is 2000 miles of baja coastline, there is always more,
you'll never be able to fish it all! always a reason to go back.

I like mono for lower test, 4-15. above that the reel needs to be so big and heavy.

I am a fan of 30lb spectra.

20lb spectra is getting so thin it scares me a bit, but I put 300 feet of 20lb
on top of the 30lb with a doubled uni to uni for my next mooching adventure as stu suggests going thinner than 30lb
spectra for mooching applications.

You can fit a lot of 30lb spectra on even an abu 5X series.

John, I feel exactly the same way.  I still use mono for trout and bass fishing in the lakes, but beyond that it's spectra... baby!
I use to use 20# PowerPro spectra like Stu because I thought it had the advantage of being thinner than 30#, but when I actually compared the two lines side-by-side, it's hard to even see the difference.  Plus.... 20# is already so thin, it scares me too.  The slightest nick, abrasion, or imperfection and pop goes your line and your big fish.  Having your spectra break in the middle can be costly too.  Now, I use 30# spectra since I'm using a 20# florocarbon leader.  In a hopeless snag situation, I'd rather have my leader snap instead of my spectra.

ChuckE, I can't find a weight for that daiwa. How many oz's?

If I had that daiwa, I might put 50 or 65 lb spectra on the first 3/4 of the reel, 30lb spectra on the last 1/4.
then in those travel situations you can remove the 30lb topshot and put on something else.

should still be a ton of line.