After travelling around as a child (18 actually), just checking out how smooth these things are, I finally had the money a couple of years ago, to be able to splash out and buy one. I didn't have to pay the rrp. of £125, but managed to find a cheap deal through 'advanced pole fishing techniques', and only paid around £75, which is actually one hell of a bargain. This reel is worth every penny.
It has all of Shimano's famous features (after all, it is top of the range). Starting at the back, thers's the drag. This has a large range, and can be turned a long way. Working with this, there's the Fightin' Drag lever. This allows you to change the drag setting in an instant. For example, when fishing, you might like the drag tight or loose, but then for playing a fish, you might want it at another setting somewhere in between. With the lever, you can flich straight to that in-between setting without having to mess about finding it.
The double handle is brilliant. It's not only easy to always find the handle in an emergency, but also the ballance is spot-on. You can wind the handle as fast as you want, and you'll feel no wobble, just the air being displaced as the bail arm as it wizzes past your fingers again and agian.
The bail arm always closes smoothly and is never jumpy. You normally never even notice it happening.
In all, the reel contains 5 stainless steel bearings (which explains its smoothness). Many top of the range reels now contain more than this, but I don't know how you could possibly improve on the smoothness of the stradic.
Because this reel is such an allrounder (I use mine for carp, feeder fishing and also with heavy floats), it comes supplied with 3 spools. 2 match, and one deep. The deep one can hold 250m plus of 6lb line, while the 2 match spools I have fitted with approx. 150m of 2.5 and 4lb line.
Playing fish on this reel is very easy. It's very powerful, but not like some I've used (more powerful ones). You can still feel the fish fighting all the way to the net. Its not like you can just wind and they come in (which I have had).
If you think about it, its not really a necessity to own a real of this quality and price. A cheaper one will always do, but for anyone who has the money, or just for anyone who just can't resist the lovely silver / grey colour, I'd recommend this reel more than any other.
There are bigger and smaller stradic reels available. The GTM 1000 would be excellent for light feeders and floats, while the GTM 4000 would be unbeatable for big feeders and carp.
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