Shimano Baitrunners > Reviews > Excellent reel. Best baitrunner on the market.

Author's product rating:   

Durability	Excellent
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Best proven baitrunner on the market, rear drag switch .  .  .
Disadvantages:	Not that I am complaining off .  Maybe a free spool would be nice .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Recently purchased ny second shimano baitrunner. Had a smaller one (3500 series), love it and not get a biggie (6500 series) for sea angling. This baitrunner had been around for so many years, yet the design has not evolve much. mainly due to it was already perfect as it is. Black, squarish, there are no phisical attraction, but functionality and the power that it hold make it all worth it and I can't think of any better model to replace this baitrunners. Any size is good. I would recommend a 3500 as that is what I use most. 4500 would suit sea fishing and 6500, I don't know why I bought it, maybe because I like this model very much.
Those who has not experience baitrunners may not know what they missed. Other than for spinning session, baitrunners lead all the application as far as my experience goes. It last forever too. I think Shimano is the first one who invent this rear drag switch thing and pattented the 'baitrunner' name too, I think.
When I did sea fishing, my favorite method are live-baiting for mid/ top water species and bottom fishing for bottom/ near bottom dwellers. Live-baiting is self-explainatory, free-lining. There are two drag to set, baitrunner drag can switched-on for minimal drag and front drag pre-set for hook up. Having resistance from the line often made the predator let go of the bait, hence hook rate is substantially low. No friction mean the predator hold it longer. The drag sound would alarm me of when to set the hook. Pick up the rod, hold the reel handle, give it halfturn and set the hook. The real drag immediately kicked-in and the real fun begin. There would be some awkward time to adjust to have to half-turn the handle, got used to it in no time. Or, just manually off the baitrunner drag would do too.
Bottom fishing works well too prviding the lead sink to the bottom. The weight would provoke self hook when the fish pick the bait up, and the chances of the rod jump into the sea is eliminated (especially when proper rod holder is not available). Same method, wait for the drag to alarm.
Only after I move to UK that I found it work best on carp too. Especially on beating the 'rules & regulation' of the lake. No fixed weight (weight need to be able to run freely). With carp feeding behavior that are how to say... sucking and blow it out again.. not really swallowing it like other fish do, with all the limitation, it is quite difficult hook it (for me at least). Not a big fan of float fishing and never tried pole fishing). Freelining bottom fishing for carp does work for me. A few shot weight to help the line sink and wait till the fish pull the hook away. 80% chances of hooking it. Try it..