mooching reel review?

But you always said the bulletproof shimano GT was all your ever needed RS...

Welcome to the dark side. Sweet looking reel for sure.
 
But you always said the bulletproof shimano GT was all your ever needed RS...

Welcome to the dark side. Sweet looking reel for sure.

Yup, been using them so long now, almost like cheating on my wife
but the price was "reel" good.
had to try one out.
 
Yes, hope to try it out this weekend, it'll be a good test for it running at 150-160' on the rigger.
I ordered off their website.
Allen offer a 20% first order discount as well.

good to know...I also fish fly gear in the winter to make the smaller feeders more interesting, but looking for a larger arbor for my main mooching rods...something about fly reels feel nice to me...jeffy they are basically mooching reels, designed for saltwater and large fish..they seems popular in tropical areas
 
ya I was reading the reviews on the site, looks like a decent reel for sure, supposed to be the ultimate way to catch a spring,on a fly rod. but will you use a flyrod or just mount it on a downrigger mooching rod? Either way ..release the Kraken! good luck!
 
for me, I would mount those on mooching rods, but my small winter setup is on fly rods...RS curious where you saw the 20% discount on first order?? or did it show during checkout
 
You have to register on their website, once done they will send you an welcome e-mail
and the code for 20% off on your 1st purchase.
 
I fished a fly reel that a buddy of mine was having built over seas and is going to be bringing them out on the market very soon. He's a 100% fly guy but wanted someone to beet up one of his reels to see how it would work for the salt chuck. The one thing i couldnt get past was having the drag on the wrong side of the reel.
I looked at the Allen reels and its the same "fly reel" drag. Does that not bother you ??? They are nice reels ether way but i just cant get around the drag knob being on the back side of the reel.
Could be just me but ???
 
No more knuckle raps while trying to adjust your drag ! :)

Now there is rationalization at its finest!!! Lol. It looks like a fine reel-how does it feel-substantial? Guess you'll know all the ins and outs when you fish it. Please let me know-I really like the look of it!!
 
Not sure how much backing they put on, but I got 300 yards of 25lb test Maxima loaded on top
and the reel still isn't full.
 
No more knuckle raps while trying to adjust your drag ! :)

haha that is true!!, it does take a bit to adapt... after a couple retrieves im fine with it

Roving is that the alpha II or newer alpha III??, looks like size/model 4?? how do you find the arbor size for retrieve speed??
 
Well, I tried it out this afternoon and it's great.
(not so much for the fishing) :(
the drag is the best i've used, really smooth.
no line creep in the rigger fishing up to 180'.
 
Well, I tried it out this afternoon and it's great.
(not so much for the fishing) :(
the drag is the best i've used, really smooth.
no line creep in the rigger fishing up to 180'.

good info, appretiate the report!! you have convinced me haha think im going to grab a pair...my finger has been hovering over the enter key for some time now!
 
looks like a nice reel, I have been using islander LX 4.5 reels for years on the down rigger and I love the drag on the back. One thing to note on this reel is amount of aluminum removed from the spool. This makes it very light but not so resistant to the forces acting on it from mono wound tightly onto the drum. The elastic effect of mono can and will crush this spool over time. I know this to be true as all of my islander fly reels loaded with mono have some distortion to the spool. Please do your self a favor and load the reel up with backing then 300 yrds or so of spectra line and then add a 40-50 foot mono top shot. The spectra line will not stretch and force the reel spool apart. Trust me on this one, 99% of fly reels cannot take the abuse of mono especially one with this much porting.
 
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...Please do your self a favor and load the reel up with backing then 300 yrds or so of spectra line and then add a 40-50 foot mono top shot. The spectra line will not stretch and force the reel spool apart. Trust me on this one, 99% of fly reels cannot take the abuse of mono especially one with this much porting.
Or if you're a real tightwad use Dacron as backing instead-old style but it still works and I've left it on a reel for 10 years with no problems.
 
Of course use dacron backing, pretty sure thats what he has on there for backing. I would then splice in spectra then small amount of mono this reel will die if you run mono and fish it deep look how little aluminum is left. Running mono is like pounding a splitting wedge into the spool of your reel, ever notice how much thicker all the aluminum mooching reels are than fly reels..........This is because 300 yrds of mono produces soooo much force on the spool.
 
Of course use dacron backing, pretty sure thats what he has on there for backing. I would then splice in spectra then small amount of mono this reel will die if you run mono and fish it deep look how little aluminum is left. Running mono is like pounding a splitting wedge into the spool of your reel, ever notice how much thicker all the aluminum mooching reels are than fly reels..........This is because 300 yrds of mono produces soooo much force on the spool.

Yup, it also expands and shrinks which will warp your spool
 
...Please do your self a favor and load the reel up with backing then 300 yrds or so of spectra line and then add a 40-50 foot mono top shot. The spectra line will not stretch and force the reel spool apart. Trust me on this one, 99% of fly reels cannot take the abuse of mono especially one with this much porting.

makes sense, I'm hoping the dacron backing will help.
also letting a couple hundred feet out and reeling it in with no drag
will allow the mono to relax before spooling it back on.
 
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