Northwest Fishing Reports

Looking to purchase a new reel with line counters on them...........These reels will replace the Ambassador 6500 that we now use for fishing the Columbia several time a year, for salmon,,,, Not looking so spend a fortune on them as they will only be used for a short time each year (I have 3 7000's and 3 6500's ) Just thought it would be nice to have a line counter when we are not using down riggers,,,,,,,,,,,, Have not looked at any up until now so looking for some input as to a good solid medium priced reel that will handle up to a 20 lb fish ( I hope ) thanks...........

Check out the Cold Water line counter reels from Okuma. That's what I use on all of my big fish rods now

Came here to say the Okuma low profile also. I'm deal searching to find one for a rod that will do triple duty as a springer, pink and in-shore ling rod.

Steelheadin360 wrote:Check out the Cold Water line counter reels from Okuma. That's what I use on all of my big fish rods now

I've got that same reel. It is built like a tank. Not fancy, but it will outlast some other more expensive ones that are failing me.

I also like the coldwaters. I just bought one for my salmon pole and used it for blackmouth. It is a great reel.

The Shimano tekota models are probably one of the nicest reels I owned would never have sold it if I was a right handed reel'er. They pretty spendy @160ish bucks but are worth it IMO. I'm still on the look out for a lefty LC reel to replace the two takotas I had.

I'm guilty of owning Line counters , But what ever happened to just counting passes on the spool? I ran a couple of reels and one was 20 foot for a pass over and back, the other was right at 18 feet. So open the release and count the number of passes. Granted you might not know how far behind the boat the fish is but when you can see the swivel maybe you should think about the net.

sickbayer wrote:The Shimano tekota models are probably one of the nicest reels I owned would never have sold it if I was a right handed reel'er. They pretty spendy @160ish bucks but are worth it IMO. I'm still on the look out for a lefty LC reel to replace the two takotas I had.

Wait a minute..! I bought one of Sickbayer's' Shimano Tekotas. That IS a sweet reel!

Yes you did mate! I knew it wouldn't disappoint. Once you get into the too quality reels kinda hard to compromise on a cheaper one. There are good used reels out there

Shimano Tekota. I've heard many bad things about the okumas, and blown up enough abus to know better.

I too have blown up an Okuma. The Shimano Tekota is awesome for the salmon. Silky smooth drag makes a big difference on landing the spunky salmon. Money well spent!

everything sounds good, just more to think about, I count the passes of the line guide now, but if I am letting the line out in a group of boats and need to stop and change direction or do something else, I forget where I am at............just easier for me of short memory......