you wont go wrong with a shimmano 5000 or 6000. I got a 6000 aero gte a few years ago. Its been worked hard and still as good as new!

 

Halcyon,,,
have a look at the new 'Shimano Baitrunner Aero GTE-6000' you might get away with the 5000 but the 6000 will deal better with larger spinners for salmon thou,,,(i get most of my shimano baitrunners off ebay,can get a second hand mint 6010 for around £45 plus postage)..

stump...

 

To prove how good the shimano bait runner reels are he is a little story.

3 years ago while i was fishing the Ribble i saw part of a fishing rod sticking out of the gravel so i tried picking it up, it turned out to be a full rod well and truly buried, which i ended up snapping by accident. Anyway on the other end of this rod was a bait runner real well and truly buried and seized up, i took it home and soaked it i water for a few days before stripping it down greasing and putting back together again. I didn't replace any of the parts and this real works as good as new and is the the real i have used ever since.

So i can fully recommend the Shimano Bait Runner.

Paul

 

Shimano

Shimano

I had a disaster last season when the clutch of my 8000 RE jammed whilst into a fresh run fish(salmon). He broke me and I kicked the reel back to the car. Fairplay Felindre serviced it under warranty and it looks as good as new. They will do repairs as well.

This year I bought a 5000 GTE-C and it looks pretty good. Its a better balance for a 9" rod.

Shop around you can get them well under the advertised £109. I am told they are due to go up in price.

Theres not much between the 5 and 6 K in capacity. Its just personal choice.

IMO 5K is more than adequate for ST and Salmon on most rivers.

I know a guy who took 7 salmon in one afternoon last season the largest about 15lbs with no trouble using the 5000 GTE-C.

Apologies, he landed 4, lost 2 and the 7th broke the eye of the treble.

 

Halcyon,

I'm only going to add to what's been said before- Shimano all the way, I've got five of them, two 5000 GTE's and three 6000 GTE's.

The backup is fantastic for repairs etc, also they tend not to let you down and are built with good quality materials. In the past I've had other reels from other manufacturers- of all the rest diawa are probably 'runners up'. All I'll say is don't touch shakespear reels! they build the internal gearing out of chocolate.... I took one sea spinning for bass one summer ten years ago, despite rinsing off with fresh water after every session the gears had corroded after FOUR trips.....

I tend to use the 5000 for all lighter summer spinning and seatrout spinning- it's lighter to carry which is a bonus for worming as well. the 6000's I tend to only use with heavier 11foot rods casting big devons/ flying C's blair spoons when I'm likely to encounter heavy salmon (Nith back-end).

If I had to choose, I'd pick a 5000 GTEC or similar....I've got a mate who's landed fish up in the teens of pounds with an old 4000 shimano (non-baitrunner) which is over 15 years old- it's never let him down either.

Andy

 

Abu cardinal 55's for me, they may be old but a fantastic reel, well engineered with good drags.
I have 3 x 55's ,a 54, 1x 4x high speed, 2 x 4,s
Never Have let me down.

sewinfly...........

 

I'll second that

I'll second that

I've been using the Cardinals for years and rarely get a problem. Well engineered and built to last

 

The old Cardinals are great, my mate has used his for decades its one of the old blue and cream coloured ones with the metal body (Bassing in the salt the works) Personally i am not the biggest fan of Shimano and have had one litrally fall in bits in use

 

Another vote fror the Shimano Baitrunner. Really excellent reels that last ages and don't let you down in my experience. If the reel is to be used with braid, good line lay is essential and I can certainly vouch for the baitrunner in this respect. I hate to think how many miles of line my baitrunners have retrieved over the years, and they're still going strong. I honestly believe that investing in a good quality fixed spool like the baitrunner is cheaper in the long run (not to mention the hassle factor), than messing around with those shiny tempting cheap reels on tackle shop shelves which simply will not withstand long hard use.

Phil

 

I bought a baitrunner for the first time about three years ago after losing a big salmon when the reel played up.

To my annoyance, after just a few outings it started to slip. Sent it off to Felindre, convinced it was out of warranty, and was going to cost me a fortune. The next thing the reel was back, perfect - no bill. I rang up and asked how much, they told me no charge, it was a rare parts failure.

They were very good and I was seriously impressed. The tackleshop had told me I had to undo all the parts when not in use which was why it had failed....

 

I was in my local tackle shop the other day to by the 5000, and they had just sold there last onethey also said the shimano 5000 is now discontinued.

if true i would imagine second hand prices will go up.

SB

 

S&B,

I wouldn't worry too much. The Shimano 5000 is really just a representation of the size of the reel, and they do discount the particular models from time to time.

I've two shimano GTE 5000's and two GTE 6000's- black along with a GTA 6000. I use the bigger ones on the Nith back end. The 5000's do most of my donkey work for seatrout and are perfectly capable of a 30lb salmon in my opinon.

Since the GTE 5000, there's been the RE 5000 before the GTE, the GTA 5000, the GTC 5000 and a number of 'newer versions'. The only thing to watch out for is the spare spools- unfortunately not always transferable between reels- so make sure you pick a more than a couple with your initial purchase.

Luckily I have spools for the 5000's with 30lb braid (x2) 16lb mono (x2) 14lb, 12lb, 8lb and 6lb- which covers all types of spining and worming.

Andy

 

Abu cardinal 55's for me, they may be old but a fantastic reel, well engineered with good drags.
I have 3 x 55's ,a 54, 1x 4x high speed, 2 x 4,s
Never Have let me down.

sewinfly...........

Guess what reel gets my vote.

 

Salmon Nut,

Do they all work? If so you've got an ABU addiction problem.

I share a similar addiction- but with their multipliers, I've two 6500 mag elite's (the green ones) and two 6500's ME's with level wind, one 5500 mag elite, and a couple of their other baitcasting reels. About nine ABU multipliers altogether.

You can't convince me that Shimano are any worse than a cardinal though!

Andy R.

 

Andy, Yes they all work and have all been totaly serviced. Since this pic was taken i have added another 3 x55,s 3 x57,s 2x154,s to my collection.
I also have 2 shimano 6010, that only come out in big water.

I cant see by the cardinals and have landed hundreds of salmon and seatrout on them over the years including my PB salmon of 25lb using a cardinal 155.
IMO there is no better sound than a cardinal drag singing its tune when a good fish is tearing line from it.

 

Yes i'm partial to the cardinals as well, got a 57 and a 155 in retirement, and use a more recent model which for the life of me i cant recall its name!
Tight Lines
Aled

 

Wow!

Wow!

And I thought I had a Cardinal addiction That's some collection! Too right about the scream of a Cardinals drag when into a good fish, nothing better IMO. And they're bloody good workhorses too.When my mates Stellar went pear shaped on our last visit to Wales it was my spare Cardinal that saved the day

 

Another vote for the Shimano's,outstanding reels......

DAZ

 

Great collection salmon nut(the devons are fishing well in the extra water, just waiting for the 55 to sing )


sewinfly..............

 

Hopefully you wont be waiting to long.

My 155 was singing yesterday while playing a lively seatrout of around 3lb on a rod i recently purchased from stump. Nice rod m8

 

I Have today treated myself to the new Abu Soron, if its half as good as the cardinals i dout i'll be disapointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOhncqvahE

SB

 

Squirrelblue Shimano are bringing out the 5000 again I think for promo or something like that (marketing more like - forget wehre i seen it this week) but you should look at Okuma reels they are far better IMO than Abu's etc. not Shimano's but relaible, serviced in UK should you too and you can have then with up to 8 B/Bearings they would be my choice after Shimano.

bb