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Your favourite barbel reel

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Darren Rosie

Senior Member
I'm currently using the shimano xta medium baitrunners which I really like, but I'm thinking of buying another set of reels for barbel fishing and using my current reels for carping in the close season (I'm a tackle tart and can hear you now cursing those bloody carp) so what's your favourite and why? I quite like the oc's any good? 6000 or 8000?
 
This Darren. Because it's light and so pretty to look at that it can make me forget that I'm not catching.
 

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As I need,at times, to cast heavy feeders medium distances,on mainly large rivers,I'm more than happy with my 6000D's.Two seasons old now and glad I got them.Only negative is the price of spare spools,should you need any.The 4000 size would be ideal for smaller venues.
 
Speedia wide drum. Brought second hand in 1964 from Ted Charmans tackle shop Teddington lock. Cost me 19/6. Caught me loads of Barbel. Still works fine.
 
Got a pair of Okuma Longbows, had em for years, reliable to the point of being unbreakable, dont see the need for any others, these do me proud.

I alao have a Shimmy 3500 b, and a Daiwa regal baitrunner.... they dont get much use really.

Not a tackle tart in any language .

Dave
 
Peter Robinson said:
As I need,at times, to cast heavy feeders medium distances,on mainly large rivers,I'm more than happy with my 6000D's.Two seasons old now and glad I got them.Only negative is the price of spare spools,should you need any.The 4000 size would be ideal for smaller venues.
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I use my 4000D on the small river I fish Peter, and yes it is ideal. Sadly, as you say, the price of spare spools is a huge problem.

Cheers, Dave.
 
First proper reel i bought for barbel fishing, ( and still my fav ), was a shimano 5000 RE, far from the most expensive, but does exactly what it says on the tin. Still going strong, can,t fault it. Ive since bought other, more expensive reels, but i still use the RE cos its never let me down. ( touch wood ), and spare spools are about 8 quid. what more could you ask for. :):):)
 
Shimano aero gt 5010. Was my first proper reel took me 20 weeks of my paper round money to get has been used for everything and is still going strong nearly 20 years later.
 
Ray Thorpe said:
Speedia wide drum. Brought second hand in 1964 from Ted Charmans tackle shop Teddington lock. Cost me 19/6. Caught me loads of Barbel. Still works fine.
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Great reels, I have had mine from new and think I bought it in 1962. Still in regular use.


Hugo

 
Any of my pins - wide-drum Speedia, Mordex Merlin, even a Marco Cortesi, just love the sound of the ratchet when a barbel takes off!
Have a pair of 3500B's for when I have to fish at greater distances, far better than the 5010's that I previously used.
 
I do understand the difficulty when asking 'what is the best barbel ...anything'' question, as let's face it even the most ardent tackle tart would never probably owned or even tested all the reels / tackle available to give a considered appraisal.

So it's normally down to what the person that is giving the advice has had a personal experience with, and of course we are naturally sympathetic to the wise choices we have made and are eager to share this wisdom with the ignorant that are struggling with inferior gear. :p

But I am concerned that my previously well thought of 5010's that I have collected the last few years are now condemned to not being as good as I thought, not to mention all the other reels/ rods and loads more gear that is just not up to scratch...is it any wonder that BFW's classified is so busy:p, it seems we are just happy to palm off dodgy gear to each other without a second thought :mad:
 
Neil if they do the job then what's the problem ! :D Lot's of guff talked about reels , if they have a decent clutch , are robust , and do the requisite winding then that is all you need . I possess both ancient and modern , speedias , Okuma pin ,aerials , loads of ancient mitchells , some 50 + years old and still going strong . A Shimano baitrunner , does the job well but I bet it won't be running in 50 years time . Cardinal 54's and 55's which are superbly engineered and can hold it with the modern gear . An interesting reel I have and use occasionally is a mithchell predator electronic , which has a baitrunner facility and built in bite alarm audible and visual , how cool is that !
 
I agree with Mike. Thankfully the original question wasn't "what's the best barbel reel". An individual's favourite barbel reel is much easier to answer and should be less controversial. All sorts of personal experiences or sentiment can go into that mix.
 
As previously said , it all depends on what type of river you're fishing and what you want out of a reel. About 15yrs back all i would use were Speedias or Trudex's. However, a friend in the trade persuaded me to buy a Abu Suveran 4000m, as an engineer well as being in the tackle trade since he left school he said that nothing comes close to it in quality and engineering. He was right!!
If you google that reel its rated as one of the all time greats.
Alas, it was poorly advertised and was expensive, it soon went out of production probably because it may well have cost more to produce. My two have been in constant use for about 15yrs with no problems. The clutch is fantastic.
They can be found if you look hard enough but are a bit like rocking horse sxxt.
 
Small rivers speedia wide drum deluxe & big rivers pair of shimano 3500b baitrunners I love these reels best clutch by far on any front drag reel I've ever used.
 
Ed Green said:
As previously said , it all depends on what type of river you're fishing and what you want out of a reel. About 15yrs back all i would use were Speedias or Trudex's. However, a friend in the trade persuaded me to buy a Abu Suveran 4000m, as an engineer well as being in the tackle trade since he left school he said that nothing comes close to it in quality and engineering. He was right!!
If you google that reel its rated as one of the all time greats.
Alas, it was poorly advertised and was expensive, it soon went out of production probably because it may well have cost more to produce. My two have been in constant use for about 15yrs with no problems. The clutch is fantastic.
They can be found if you look hard enough but are a bit like rocking horse sxxt.
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Aah, a voice in the wilderness :) Had Mitchell 410, 300, 810, Abu 54, 55 57, loads of plastic things from Shimano and Daiwa and NOTHING comes close, worth every penny if you can find one.
 
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