Pflueger contender

[storms72]

Hi guys, am on the hunt for a new reel for spinning, need high gear ratio 6:1 minimum and looked at a couple today (really liked the contender and price is really good-under $150)...

Checked out the Pflueger contender 10BB 6.2:1
The Okuma with 11 BB 6.1:1
The Shimano sahara 4 BB 6.1:1

Main use is for spinning off the rocks with small to medium lures 5-30gm, for Taylor, Salmon, Kings, Makerel and any tuna keen to get close enough for me to give them a go, will double up as a bream flathead combo and for larger plastics. Will be spooling it with 10lb braid 150-200m and mono backing.

Rod is already sorted, 7'6" carbon shimano-I like the starlo stix and will be going with it, looked a quite a few other rods and this is going to offer me exactly what I want and the price is very good for the quality of the rod.

Whats your thoughts on the reels mentioned and are there any others that anyone would throw into the mix that has a high gear ratio but is still relatively small. What are you guys using for this purpose?

Cheers

[sydfish]

Forget the Pflueger contender 10BB 6.2:1 and the Okuma with 11 BB 6.1:1,
stick with the Shimano slade 4 BB 6.1:1, reels can have as many bearings as they like, especially the chinese ones. Its the quality of them that matters.
For me this was pointed out in the shop and with one of my good mates. The okumas and the pfluegers feel great in the shop, but crap in 6 months time. The shimanos, throughout the range feel good to great in the shop and still at least good in 6 months of heavy use. Diawa also has good wearing, but you tend to pay a bit more for the ones that last.
I purchased a baitrunner 6500 5 years ago, and it is still pulling most of my fish up here in QLD, that is when my Stella 10000 isnt in use, its not as smooth as it was when new, granted, but it still never lets me down( I have a bit of a soft spot for it!).
On the other hand my mate has gone through 2 Okuma bait runners and a Penn, he finally saw the sense in the shimano a month ago and is regretting the 3 other purchases in the same time period, he would had of saved the cost of the little more expensive baitrunner and been able to buy another oneat the end of it all (or started saving for the glorious stella).

In the shops, shimano reels have less of a margin for the retailer than the cheapie chinese jobs, but they sell 3times more of them than the other brands, so the bloke in the shop will try to get you to buy the other brands so he makes more profit and has you back each year to buy another reel. Quality lasts. The others are great for the economy (but not for your pocket,) Also the shimano will only s.h.i.t itself on the fish of a lifetime if you have abused it savagely and not done a bit of basic maintenance.

By the way I am not affiliated with shimano, though I would like to be!
Hope that helps

[storms72]

Thanks Kris, really appreciate the advice, the shop owner is a good guy and the pflueger is discounted heavily (from $189 to $130 for me) the shimano (from $149 to $129) I had a look at and was impressed it wasnt as smooth as the pflueger...I wasn't fussed with the Okuma ($149)-it wasn't as balanced as the other two but of the three the pflueger was the smoothest and had the tightest handle construction, the others had movement in the handle which when cranking in the lures hard would bother me. I could deal with it....has anyone owned a pflueger and can tell me anything bout them-it will be abused as its for rock fishing so from your comments kris I will now consider the shimano, but am interested in the pflueger.

[sydfish]

Mate the pflueger, is not worth the money put on it.
No customer who actually used them was happy with them after 12 months, as i said before they feel great out of the box, but thats where it stops. Many of the customers were actually screaming at the reps if they actually saw them. Corrosion is the biggest issue with them, low quality components degrade so quick that a 1 month old reel washed down the same way as other reels looks 6 months of neglect. If you must go away from diawa or shimano go the okuma, you will get a year out of that. I would be suprised if you saw that length of time out of the pf, incidentley pflueger is shakespear, all great old us companies, now owned and made in china. Save another couple of weeks if you must and go the next shimano up if the sahara is not up to it. The Stradics are an awesome reel and you can get them in a good combo for the price range you are in just shop around a bit, play the retailers against each other, it works, just look like you are walking out the door, most of them will bring the price down to cost just to stop you going to another store, christ I know we did it enough times

[JOC00L]

I use a Shimano Symetre and am very happy with it. I don't know how much line or what weight you want, but mine gets just over 200 metres of 20 lb braid no problems. I'd pick it over the Sahara, especially if using braid. It lays the line a lot better.

I also have a couple of Okuma's, but I am very particular with my washdown routine. They still give me problems, but I'm happy to pull them down and fix things myself.

[storms72]

cheers for that guys, what symetre do you have joe, I'm looking at the 2500 in the sahara and would probably go the same in the symetre..I will be loading it with 10lb braid, don't want to go any heavier as long casting is what i'm after.

On Kamils recommendation (thanks mate) too I believe I will have to seriously consider the symetre, price wise its pretty much the same...


Kris, whats the difference between the stradic and the symetre?...also kris what bout the starlo stix 7'6" its the snapper rod.....how much should I pay for it. Pm me if you like with the prices mate.

Cheers fellas

Yet again your help is much appreciated and will hopefully get me posting some good catches soon!

[Bass flicker]

I have a symetre 2500, which I use mostly for rack fishing bream. I have loaded the second spool with 10lb and smashed bigger species like salmon with ease. The symetre is a great reel and it was a chat with Kris in the shop at windsor ( before he took off to greener pastures) one time that first put me onto the symetre. I love em!!

[storms72]

Thanks bassflicker.

[imnotafish]

Storms the Stradic is made in Japan, but is the lowest of the jap made reels. THe Navi, Symetre, and Sahara are then the ones that follow below and are all made in Japan. Strads are around the $300 depending on size, and the others down to about $160 for saharas.
There are some deals around with the Symetre 4000 and a the raider snapper stick, which is way better than the starlo snaper stick. Looking around $300 for the combo. if you see me i might be able to do better, but most tackle shops should have access to this combo at that price. there are some lighter combos too for around that price same rod and reel just smaller/lighter

[JOC00L]

I have the Sahara 2500, and Symetre 4000. I use 10 lb on my Sahara with no dramas.

[hoodlum]

Mate the pflueger, is not worth the money put on it.
No customer who actually used them was happy with them after 12 months


Sorry Guys I don't agree !!

Storm I have both a medalist pfluger 6:2:1 & a President :4:6:1. I have had them for 2-3 yrs now. They are great reels. I do look after them very well though. Inox and grease reg. But the 6:2:1 has caught me countless fish with lures with high speed action.

It is a fav of mine & I would not give it away to anyone.
It's excellent value for money!!!!!!! Amazon has them at $130.00-$150.00.
But I would not get the contender ,,, medalist for sure!!!

I own a dozen reels, Including 6000 gt, 4500 saltiga, 3000 morthan 10000 stella. And I think the medalist is the best value of the lot.. cheers

Hoodlum

[storms72]

Joe, you have both, whats the difference in the way they lay the braid. Also which of the two will best suit my type of fishing with this reel which will predominantly be spinning off the rocks.

Kris, Steph, anyone else able to help?