the death of the little reel that could

[fishboy018]

Purchased 6years ago when i was a spotty teenager saving up xmas money for a new rod and reel i decided to purchase a shimano sienna 2500 combo for 99bucks.
The poor little reel has been through some traumatic times. It has been up the inside of fraser throwing slugs for mac tuna to 10kg. It has been out to lenthalls and caught at least 30 barra. The biggest of which was a 82cm brute in amongst heavy cover. Its also pulled up some big giant trevally which decided to eat a freshly caught livey straight of the bait jig and some half hour later managed to pull them in.

Anyway long story short the reel has been phenomenal for the 50odd bucks paid for it.

It was still working fine on a recent trip to woodgate for new years where it was going to hopefully pull a few angry mangrove jacks.

One sunny morning while the creek was still pouring fresh i woke up early and decided to go for a quick fish along the bank. Flicking tiny little river2sea bubble pops was the go along the bank. I caught a few tarpon and lost a small barra before i got my lure stuck in a tree. I climbed out along the tree to get it back and managed to get the lure but fell in the drink to the intense amusement of my friends. reel got fully submerbged. went back to camp and pulled her apart and oiled her and soon she was running like brand new again. so i went back down to the bank and threw a few other casts out.

Unfortuntely i didnt have a real good look at the piece of rock i was standing on and it gave way underneath me after i had been standing on it for 5 or so minutes. i fell down into 10ft of waterand the 60odd kg rock decided to come and wrestle me on the bottom.
I managed to shove it off and get back to the surface where i trudged back to camp once again.

End result-My poor little sienna finally dead, crushed and broken
My back and arms having some mad gravel rash and cuts...me-scars are sexy arent they sweetheart? Girlfriend- No i may have to dump you.......... Me- :-?
And some very amused friends (thanks guys!)


Anyway just wanted to know if you guys hav had any little cheapo reels which have performed way above their line of duty? And what is the most spectacular way you little reel has died?

Cheers Tyson;D

[gros21]

mate i have small mitchel reel/rod cobo that ive had for years still going as good as ever.

I alos have $30 special from a discount store that is AMAZING smooth anda great buy mind none have brought up and double didget fish. biggest would be soem VERY large flatty or even massive catfish in the river.

[antg2378]

Very amusing story Tyson, I bet your mates were in stitches, probably not so funny for you though.

I have a reel that I still use that I got for either christmas or a birthday when I was 6 or 7 years old which would make it around 25 years old. Its an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Ultra Mag I. It still works as well now as what it did when I got it and its pulled in everything when we lived in NQ from Barra to Jacks, Queenies and Trev's. If my recently aquired Daiwa spin reel lasts half as long I'll be very happy.

I've never had a reel meet an untimely death but dad lost one years ago before he had rod holders fitted to his boat. Took his foot off the butt of the rod for a split second and it dissapeared over the edge of the boat never to be seen again, worst thing was the combo was only a week old.

[tunaticer]

I get some really amazing life out of the Symetres, first one is now over 12 yrs old, lived through hell and spent a week on holidays 8m underwater in Moreton bay, replaced two bushings with bearings and still it trudges through!! I now have 4 Symetres, a Saros and a Stradic, all of them are great trouble free reels. Outside of those three I would opt for a Cabo PT spin reel.

[fishboy018]

Thanks guys keep em coming. good to know about the symetres, saros and stradics as that is what will be replacing the little sienna!
After my little accident i immediately started drinking (9.30am!) and felt much better! funny how that works!

Cheers Tyson

[finga]

Oh mate....you should have brought an Alvey.
It'll still be going.

Thanks so much for telling the story.
Got to laugh at the scars theory...aren't they sexy sweetheart?? Classic :)

I have to admit though...the older Sienna's are great reels.
I gave the cook a little 1000 years ago and it's been used and abused by all and still as good as the day I brought it (except for the scratches and bumps all around it).

[Apollo]

Good story. I have a little shimano FX that was bought as a combo for $29 many years ago. It too accounted from many fish in decent size brackets (bass over 50cm, flatties, salmon, jacks) in the 15 odd years I used it. It got retired to a better fate - a reel for my young daughters.

FWIW, I replaced it with a stradic 2500 and it is performing in the same manner.

I must admit that I laughed at the concept that you will miss your reel, but the pending ex GF barely got a mention. That is a true fisho!!!!

Steve

[mitch92]

Yup, i got a little FX2500 years ago (over 10), caught everything from whiting to golden trevally on the little old thing. Still gets a workout, still goin strong.

[frankgrimes]

After my little accident i immediately started drinking (9.30am!) and felt much better! funny how that works!


Late star then mate? ;)

Mick

[barrabart]

Now that i've stopped crying at the passing of your reel i'll tell you that i bought my young fella his first Baitcaster about 5 yrs ago, it's a little shimano callista it's nailed plenty of freshwater fish, claimed a 70cm Barra and was even once taken to the reef, where it got a work out on a queenie near 1 mtr long. I also have a Sienna mounted up on a Silstar 4-7kg running 15lb braid, this gets used basically by my kids when fishing about the Cairns Inlet, and it's a nice little outfit too. I have two Shimano FHX 2000 (think that's the model) these would both be near 10 years old, and are both now mounted up to pink rods for my daughters, one of these reels had close to a mtr of Barra hanging off it about 8 yrs ago for about 5 mins until the soft plastic pulled from it gob.
My old favourite is my 22yr old Abu 6500 which has nailed all sorts from Barra and Jacks to Spanish Mackeral (was my only rod for about 12 yrs) most of the fish it's caught was back in the pre braid days too, so would of been running 12 - 15 lb mono, the old Abu has been back inside a reel service cntr twice in 22 yrs........ Now this reel is like a child of mine, a few weeks back due to me throwing a cast net, my ol' fave was ripped from the tinny and ended up at the botom of the river... without a second thought i was in after it, water was pretty clear and only about 8' deep and i'm pretty sure there were no crocs about, as when i got back in the tinny i wasn't bleeding and still had all my limbs, hehe.......... Mrs wasn't too impressed though when she found out why i jumped in....... guess she'll just never understand the loyalty and trust developed between man and reel........ haha

[fishboy018]

thanks guys it sounds like i am not the only one to develop a close bond with a piece of metal lol. funny how some of the older gear lasts so long. the old abus and penns just keep going and going. and some of the little shimano spin reels are just amazing for how well they last without much maintenance! just bought a little shimano saros 3000 for $134 bucks from mo tackle to replace it! they had it advertised for $169 but i found it elsewhere on the net at a australian small tackle store for $144 and asked if they could beat it. they beat it and included postage! very impressed!

[Chamelion]

Picked up a Penn Powerspin 4000 from K-Mart for $2, yes, $2. Best drag of any reel I have ever used, including my Steez.

Best fish - 74cm milkfish, a 45 minute fight on 8lb braid 12lb leader.

[fishboy018]

$2! wow!!!!! yeah i had one of those powerspins fantastic long lasting reels with a great drag and gearing. great on big fish! i had an 8000 which managed to get a 12ft tiger pretty close to the boat after 1hr. we then got sick of it and just kept upping the drag till eventually it snapped.