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Piker20

Salty but not fly related

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Any of you guys had experience of the kastking spinning reels? In UK they sell a model that is 'sealed' and salt water designed. They appear to be a very good price compared to Daiwa BG or Penn slammer III (which is a pain to track down over here)

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Don't know the first thing about them.... but here's the advice I give when asked about any off-brand reels..... Before you buy make a point of finding out whether the shop selling those reels has parts available (or can point you towards where you can get them when needed). Getting stuck with a reel you can't get parts for when a bail spring breaks or a bearing goes bad or you lose a drag knob.... is pretty frustrating (another of those "ask me how I know" moments).

 

Both Daiwa and Penn (and to a lesser extent Shimano) have robust parts systems in place....

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I've never heard of a "sealed" spinning reel, but considering the corrosive nature of salt water, I'd be leery of anything that can't be thoroughly rinsed. I'd stick to the tried-and-true gear, even if it costs a little more. I've had my Penn 710 since I was in high school. I'm not gonna say how long ago that was, but we had to stop at woolly mammoth crossings on our way to the grocery cave. I'd still have my 704 if some son of a bitch hadn't stolen it. Come to think of it, the Penn survived being immersed in a catastrophic flood that wrecked my freshwater spinning reels. Maybe it's sealed too?

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VanStaal is the only answer. It is the sealed-reel of choice for the boys with the wetsuits who swim off of Montauk Point in Long Island, to get to rocks where the stripers hang out, and could otherwise not be reached from shore with the longest of casts. Their reels are submerged every day. They wear carabiners with a few necessities clipped to their waists. However, the price would make most people shy away.

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For a $1000 I can make plenty of reels last long enough and not feel bad about tossing them and still have change left over.

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Without a doubt a Van Staal is a great reel (even they did copy that original Centaure Pacific from the early fifties as their starting point....). I noted one for sale the other day ---- only $600.....

 

These days there are still very few spinners with sealed everything.. and since the trend is toward more and more bearings on a single reel (unlike those sturdy Penn reels from fifty years ago....) getting one soaked in saltwater is a problem.... Most big box shops no longer make even the slightest attempt at repairing reels - instead they simply give the customer a new reel when there's a problem. Me, I learned to repair all kinds of reels at the first tackle shop I worked at (1972) and I've been doing it ever since. Once you have all the schematics for a manufacturer's reels all that's needed is access to a decent parts supply and you're in business (at one time I had commercial hook and liners bringing me reels by the five gallon bucket to repair....). With the trend towards everything being manufactured in the orient, fewer and fewer shops make much of an attempt at all to repair stuff - wish it weren't so. That business about folks willing to sell reels with no parts system to back them up is real, unfortunately....

 

Now for something completely different.... with a fly angler aboard we did a night trip last night (I came off the water at about 1:30 this morning....). Pretty frustrating evening since we found good numbers of both tarpon and snook - but my angler couldn't quite deliver the fly.... I'll be back after them again with another booking tomorrow night....

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