Ed.

Well Drop Bear back to reality and back to Whiting  and Bream! Won't be quite the same will it? 🤣. So have you already booked your next trip yet? You know you have been ruined now, every time you go fishing here you will be thinking about that trip. 😀

Well Drop Bear back to reality and back to Whiting  and Bream! Won't be quite the same will it? 🤣. So have you already booked your next trip yet? You know you have been ruined now, every time you go fishing here you will be thinking about that trip. 😀

You might be thinking about Braided Dacron line.

Hi Greg, Unfortunately  I don't know as much as you think I know 🤔 and buying reels is a preference thing, what I like in a reel others may dislike, so a bit of my history so you know where I am coming from, unfortunately it is going to be a bit of an essay so bear with me.
I have owned several (3) TLD's in the past when I first started buying lever drags, also Okuma Titus Gold, Tica's and also Daiwa Saltists and a Daiwa Tournament reel  plus a few others. I have never ever  liked the TLD's from day one, didn't like the drags on them but that is just me, other people like them, people catch a lot of fish on them and they have been around for ages.  The TLD's are a more "affordable version" lever drag model that Shimano sells, nothing wrong in that, as I said people still catch a lot of fish with them and like them, but I think that they are a "budget reel" and that there are better reels out there.
Shimanos' next range above those are the Tyrnos range which I have owned 2 of them, a 20 and a 30, the 20 is just a narrow version of the 30. Those I liked much better than the TLD's but sold them off as well as most of my gear when I had medical issues and was about to give fishing away. Anyway most medical issues fixed so back to fishing gear, looking around I found the Penn Fathoms, read what people said about them and read the specs, they are small and compact and they have decent drags along  with thrust bearings and double dawgs plus anti reverse bearings, the Daiwa Saltists were prone to corrosion and the drags weren't as powerful as I liked, so got rid of those, bought the Fathoms in 2 x 15's, 1 x 30 and recently a 25N. Only wish I have with the 30 and 25N is that they should have harness lugs on them and 15 should have a magnetic control for casting,  again a wish list and  preference thing. 
The SLT-50W Daiwa tournament reel I got, I sold almost as soon as I bought it as I bought it sight unseen,  I didn't like the way it had the gear change in them, it is effective but didn't feel right to me, to change gears you pull the handle away from the body and push in to go back, whilst it works quickly I prefer the push button/lever approach as it is too easy to for the gears to get changed in the heat of the moment when you are cranking furiously.
Always wanted a Tiagra as I heard that they were really good but they too expensive for my budget at the time, anyway when I got some cash I started looking for a replacement large lever drag and was heading towards the Tiagra but did the research on alternative brands in that class. So before I was going to hand out  a large wad of cash I went and had a look and feel of the Okuma Makairas, Penn Inters', Tiagras, Fin-nor and one other which I can't think of at the moment. The Makairas felt a lot better to me, it had thrust bearings, silent when releasing  or getting line, (a big thing for me), helical cut gears makes for much less strain when winding and smooth as including huge drags. Getting back to the silent part, what I mean by that is that when you wind up the spool or it unwinds under load it is silent, unlike the others where you can hear the anti reverse dawgs clicking away which grates on my nerves, I don't mind noise but only when the clicker is on and at no other time.
Okuma had teamed up with Tiburon who designed the new generation of Makairas and they were a success. So I bought a 30II and then some time later a 50WII, the 30II covers most of the larger fish I am likely to fish for and the 50WII is only for ballooning for the larger line capacity capacity and they have a  ridiculous massive drag. They are really nice reels but they are big and heavy and will probably outlast you.  Not the sort of reels you want to bottom bash with for any length of time and certainly not to cast with. I recently contemplated getting a 15II size in them but decided against it as that one is similar to the Fathoms I have, very nice reel but it is heavier and twice the price of an equivalent Penn Fathom so of no real benefit. 
Can't comment on the Penn Senator, never used one as I don't like the old retro design style, again preference thing, similar thing to the TLDs, they have caught heaps of fish and some people like them but I have never used or owned one.
So after this very long rant back to your original question, which reel?
Whenever buying a reel in my opinion you have to work out what fish you want to catch, how are you going to catch it, ie, bottom bashing , jigging, casting, trolling etc, and is that fish likely to be in the area you want to fish, will  your chosen reel be able to cope with that fish if you are lucky enough to hook one, does it have enough drag and line capacity and  are you comfortable using that "short listed" reel, and what is your budget? Lastly what percentage of good reviews verses bad have been put up. All manufacturers have a couple of lemons whether by design are they just random production issues. So you have to decide whether a reel has a systemic problem or just a few bad apples in a large good bunch.  Bear in mind the majority of people don't write good reviews and most just complain about the bad ones so that does skew the results a bit.
All of my  lever drags are in two speeds, because when fishing heavier line classes you may sometimes just need to winch a stubborn fish up and a lower gear may save you wearing out prematurely, pump and wind is the go but sometime brute winching power is required.  So as you should be able to tell by now I do not have blind brand loyalty, If a reel is good, I buy it if not there are a ton of others to choose from.
Have a look at the Penn Fathoms for the smaller sized  trolling/general reels but once you get up to the 30 size and above at this stage my pick would be the Makairas, if you are jigging then back to the Fathoms, if budget is a concern then maybe the Squalls. Shimano also make some light weight lever drag reels which some people really like, as I have never used them, I can't comment  on their  worth. These are just are my preferences, so aren't you sorry now that you asked me.😉
 
Cheers
Ed.
 
 
 
 

You might be thinking about Braided Dacron line.

Hi Greg, Unfortunately  I don't know as much as you think I know 🤔 and buying reels is a preference thing, what I like in a reel others may dislike, so a bit of my history so you know where I am coming from, unfortunately it is going to be a bit of an essay so bear with me.
I have owned several (3) TLD's in the past when I first started buying lever drags, also Okuma Titus Gold, Tica's and also Daiwa Saltists and a Daiwa Tournament reel  plus a few others. I have never ever  liked the TLD's from day one, didn't like the drags on them but that is just me, other people like them, people catch a lot of fish on them and they have been around for ages.  The TLD's are a more "affordable version" lever drag model that Shimano sells, nothing wrong in that, as I said people still catch a lot of fish with them and like them, but I think that they are a "budget reel" and that there are better reels out there.
Shimanos' next range above those are the Tyrnos range which I have owned 2 of them, a 20 and a 30, the 20 is just a narrow version of the 30. Those I liked much better than the TLD's but sold them off as well as most of my gear when I had medical issues and was about to give fishing away. Anyway most medical issues fixed so back to fishing gear, looking around I found the Penn Fathoms, read what people said about them and read the specs, they are small and compact and they have decent drags along  with thrust bearings and double dawgs plus anti reverse bearings, the Daiwa Saltists were prone to corrosion and the drags weren't as powerful as I liked, so got rid of those, bought the Fathoms in 2 x 15's, 1 x 30 and recently a 25N. Only wish I have with the 30 and 25N is that they should have harness lugs on them and 15 should have a magnetic control for casting,  again a wish list and  preference thing. 
The SLT-50W Daiwa tournament reel I got, I sold almost as soon as I bought it as I bought it sight unseen,  I didn't like the way it had the gear change in them, it is effective but didn't feel right to me, to change gears you pull the handle away from the body and push in to go back, whilst it works quickly I prefer the push button/lever approach as it is too easy to for the gears to get changed in the heat of the moment when you are cranking furiously.
Always wanted a Tiagra as I heard that they were really good but they too expensive for my budget at the time, anyway when I got some cash I started looking for a replacement large lever drag and was heading towards the Tiagra but did the research on alternative brands in that class. So before I was going to hand out  a large wad of cash I went and had a look and feel of the Okuma Makairas, Penn Inters', Tiagras, Fin-nor and one other which I can't think of at the moment. The Makairas felt a lot better to me, it had thrust bearings, silent when releasing  or getting line, (a big thing for me), helical cut gears makes for much less strain when winding and smooth as including huge drags. Getting back to the silent part, what I mean by that is that when you wind up the spool or it unwinds under load it is silent, unlike the others where you can hear the anti reverse dawgs clicking away which grates on my nerves, I don't mind noise but only when the clicker is on and at no other time.
Okuma had teamed up with Tiburon who designed the new generation of Makairas and they were a success. So I bought a 30II and then some time later a 50WII, the 30II covers most of the larger fish I am likely to fish for and the 50WII is only for ballooning for the larger line capacity capacity and they have a  ridiculous massive drag. They are really nice reels but they are big and heavy and will probably outlast you.  Not the sort of reels you want to bottom bash with for any length of time and certainly not to cast with. I recently contemplated getting a 15II size in them but decided against it as that one is similar to the Fathoms I have, very nice reel but it is heavier and twice the price of an equivalent Penn Fathom so of no real benefit. 
Can't comment on the Penn Senator, never used one as I don't like the old retro design style, again preference thing, similar thing to the TLDs, they have caught heaps of fish and some people like them but I have never used or owned one.
So after this very long rant back to your original question, which reel?
Whenever buying a reel in my opinion you have to work out what fish you want to catch, how are you going to catch it, ie, bottom bashing , jigging, casting, trolling etc, and is that fish likely to be in the area you want to fish, will  your chosen reel be able to cope with that fish if you are lucky enough to hook one, does it have enough drag and line capacity and  are you comfortable using that "short listed" reel, and what is your budget? Lastly what percentage of good reviews verses bad have been put up. All manufacturers have a couple of lemons whether by design are they just random production issues. So you have to decide whether a reel has a systemic problem or just a few bad apples in a large good bunch.  Bear in mind the majority of people don't write good reviews and most just complain about the bad ones so that does skew the results a bit.
All of my  lever drags are in two speeds, because when fishing heavier line classes you may sometimes just need to winch a stubborn fish up and a lower gear may save you wearing out prematurely, pump and wind is the go but sometime brute winching power is required.  So as you should be able to tell by now I do not have blind brand loyalty, If a reel is good, I buy it if not there are a ton of others to choose from.
Have a look at the Penn Fathoms for the smaller sized  trolling/general reels but once you get up to the 30 size and above at this stage my pick would be the Makairas, if you are jigging then back to the Fathoms, if budget is a concern then maybe the Squalls. Shimano also make some light weight lever drag reels which some people really like, as I have never used them, I can't comment  on their  worth. These are just are my preferences, so aren't you sorry now that you asked me.😉
 
Cheers
Ed.
 
 
 
 

As Another Wazza said, it does become an compulsive obsession. I was heading down that path myself, eventually after much prompting from my wife I sold off about 7 rods and reels which I didn't use much, now I am down to 19 rods! 😀, the essential ones. Now if I do upgrade a setup I sell off an older one. A couple of my friends have way more than I do. One of them has well over a hundred rods, but he enjoys making them and is in to tournament casting,  the other over 50, and he doesn't even go fishing,  just collects them.
Tackle is also the same way, I have an excess but you never know when you need to replace a lost lure or so forth. Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it....Right?  I am currently in the process of making another 10 big popper lures. Just in case I lose some! 🤣.

Hey Jazz44, if you do prefer Shimano reels over the Okuma ones I mentioned,  BCF is having a 40 hour Flash Sale ending tomorrow night on the Tyrnos 30 2 speed for $429 for club members, if you are not a member I think it is about $5 to join and become one. Just letting you know in case you don't get the BCF emails.
https://www.bcf.com.au/p/shimano-tyrnos-30-2-speed-overhead-reel/127037.html
Or alternatively there is the Penn Squall 50 2 speed VSW for  $329 including free delivery if your are a member of Dinga (free to join). Similar drag specs to the Tyrnos 30II except that the Penn has a full graphite body vs metal frame and graphite side plates and the Penn also seems to have double the line capacity which might suit your ballooning requirements more.
https://www.dinga.com.au/catalog/product/view/id/14442/s/penn-squall-50vsw-2-speed-lever-drag-reel-1292938/category/174/
Cheers
Ed.
 
 

Hey Jazz44, if you do prefer Shimano reels over the Okuma ones I mentioned,  BCF is having a 40 hour Flash Sale ending tomorrow night on the Tyrnos 30 2 speed for $429 for club members, if you are not a member I think it is about $5 to join and become one. Just letting you know in case you don't get the BCF emails.
https://www.bcf.com.au/p/shimano-tyrnos-30-2-speed-overhead-reel/127037.html
Or alternatively there is the Penn Squall 50 2 speed VSW for  $329 including free delivery if your are a member of Dinga (free to join). Similar drag specs to the Tyrnos 30II except that the Penn has a full graphite body vs metal frame and graphite side plates and the Penn also seems to have double the line capacity which might suit your ballooning requirements more.
https://www.dinga.com.au/catalog/product/view/id/14442/s/penn-squall-50vsw-2-speed-lever-drag-reel-1292938/category/174/
Cheers
Ed.
 
 

Little jack?
Is the trip all that you expected to be? You know you won't want to come back! Did you manage to catch enough to bring back an eski or two?

As Another Wazza said, it does become an compulsive obsession. I was heading down that path myself, eventually after much prompting from my wife I sold off about 7 rods and reels which I didn't use much, now I am down to 19 rods! 😀, the essential ones. Now if I do upgrade a setup I sell off an older one. A couple of my friends have way more than I do. One of them has well over a hundred rods, but he enjoys making them and is in to tournament casting,  the other over 50, and he doesn't even go fishing,  just collects them.
Tackle is also the same way, I have an excess but you never know when you need to replace a lost lure or so forth. Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it....Right?  I am currently in the process of making another 10 big popper lures. Just in case I lose some! 🤣.

Grey Nurse sharks can also do that, they just sit on the bottom in a current which flows through their gills and get their oxygen that way, and it can also get oxygen  by opening and closing it's mouth. As for that bull shark it may have been too exhausted from fighting to show any interest in that person, personally I would still stay behind the shark not that I have any desire to pat or hug a shark but would go up to it to remove the hook if I caught one.

As Another Wazza said, it does become an compulsive obsession. I was heading down that path myself, eventually after much prompting from my wife I sold off about 7 rods and reels which I didn't use much, now I am down to 19 rods! 😀, the essential ones. Now if I do upgrade a setup I sell off an older one. A couple of my friends have way more than I do. One of them has well over a hundred rods, but he enjoys making them and is in to tournament casting,  the other over 50, and he doesn't even go fishing,  just collects them.
Tackle is also the same way, I have an excess but you never know when you need to replace a lost lure or so forth. Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it....Right?  I am currently in the process of making another 10 big popper lures. Just in case I lose some! 🤣.

Kat, there are a few 12 step programs out there that may be of interest to you, I can see you are deep, deep in the grips of addiction. 
Just like a surfer chasing the ultimate wave, you will forever be chasing the ultimate fish, it starts off innocently enough though, with other cool people giving you “outfits”, and the next thing you know, you’ll be waste deep in a vast array of tackle, countless rods, and numerous reels, I’m only suggesting you seek out some professional help while this cruel obbsession is still in its infancy, there’s no hope for me, and many others on here, but it’s not to late to save yourself, hahahahaha
 

What sort of fish would you like to catch with it and are you talking about ballooning land based (jetty, rocks, beach,  break wall) or from a boat? and is there a budget for it excluding the rod?

Little jack?
Is the trip all that you expected to be? You know you won't want to come back! Did you manage to catch enough to bring back an eski or two?

It really depends on your target fish, whether bottom bashing, ballooning or  trolling, and also your budget. Between the TLD and the Tyrnos, I would go the Tyrnos every time, but if you are chasing big fish which I assume you are by looking at a Everol 7.5, then if you have room to move  on the budget there are also much better reels around than the Shimano ones. I have owned  TLDs and Tyrnos and hence my preference for the Tyrnos out of those two (and in 2 speed).
However if you are after "really big fish up to 300-400kg" and want a big reel then my preference would be to go to the Okuma Makairas rather than the Shimano's mentioned, the Shimano version is the Tiagra, but after comparing specs on about 4 different brands and feeling them all in my hand I chose the Makairas which were hands down better  in my opinion. A MK-20II or a MK-30II will pretty much handle all the fish you will come across (the 20II is a narrow version of the 30II).  So if you are targeting 800-1000kg Marlin and so forth then you will need to go up to 50W, 80W or 130 class reels but that is whole different ball game.

The Everol brand have been around forever, I have never used one so can't say if they are any good or not, as to whether or not that one it is worth $200 for an old reel it would depend on you. I personally wouldn't buy it with a view to catching large fish with, as technology has moved on in the big game reel section and the new ones would have much better performance and designed better than the old stuff, admittedly at a much higher price. Can it still be used today? probably so long as the drags work and no major problems with bearings etc.., will it catch fish once hooked? again probably.  Will that one be better than the new reels in terms of performance and ease of landing a big fish? then most probably not!
If I am going to spend big bucks chasing a big fish then I would want all the advantages that I can get to land that fish eg: 2 speed gears etc. big drag capacity and a drag made from materials that won't fade from heat build up. But that's just me, others may like the Retro look. The company is still producing reels but I don't like the look of most of them design wise, but again that is a personal thing. It may be of benefit to you to  keep searching  on the internet  and search that particular model to see what people who have personal experience and used them say about it.
 
Cheers
Ed.

The Everol brand have been around forever, I have never used one so can't say if they are any good or not, as to whether or not that one it is worth $200 for an old reel it would depend on you. I personally wouldn't buy it with a view to catching large fish with, as technology has moved on in the big game reel section and the new ones would have much better performance and designed better than the old stuff, admittedly at a much higher price. Can it still be used today? probably so long as the drags work and no major problems with bearings etc.., will it catch fish once hooked? again probably.  Will that one be better than the new reels in terms of performance and ease of landing a big fish? then most probably not!
If I am going to spend big bucks chasing a big fish then I would want all the advantages that I can get to land that fish eg: 2 speed gears etc. big drag capacity and a drag made from materials that won't fade from heat build up. But that's just me, others may like the Retro look. The company is still producing reels but I don't like the look of most of them design wise, but again that is a personal thing. It may be of benefit to you to  keep searching  on the internet  and search that particular model to see what people who have personal experience and used them say about it.
 
Cheers
Ed.

The Everol brand have been around forever, I have never used one so can't say if they are any good or not, as to whether or not that one it is worth $200 for an old reel it would depend on you. I personally wouldn't buy it with a view to catching large fish with, as technology has moved on in the big game reel section and the new ones would have much better performance and designed better than the old stuff, admittedly at a much higher price. Can it still be used today? probably so long as the drags work and no major problems with bearings etc.., will it catch fish once hooked? again probably.  Will that one be better than the new reels in terms of performance and ease of landing a big fish? then most probably not!
If I am going to spend big bucks chasing a big fish then I would want all the advantages that I can get to land that fish eg: 2 speed gears etc. big drag capacity and a drag made from materials that won't fade from heat build up. But that's just me, others may like the Retro look. The company is still producing reels but I don't like the look of most of them design wise, but again that is a personal thing. It may be of benefit to you to  keep searching  on the internet  and search that particular model to see what people who have personal experience and used them say about it.
 
Cheers
Ed.

I ditched a whole heap of WTF line a while ago, I spooled up a few of my baitcasters with it, and after a while I tested some of the 18Kg line left over on the spool with a 4-5kg weight, tried to lift it slowly off the floor and it snapped, not at the knot but in the middle of the line, tried a few other new spools that I had and same result. So into the bin it all went, I unwound it off all the reels and replaced it with thicker braid. Others may have had better results with it than I did, but to say I was unimpressed with it would be an understatement!

I think that the light attracts bait fish which in turn attracts the squid.

I ditched a whole heap of WTF line a while ago, I spooled up a few of my baitcasters with it, and after a while I tested some of the 18Kg line left over on the spool with a 4-5kg weight, tried to lift it slowly off the floor and it snapped, not at the knot but in the middle of the line, tried a few other new spools that I had and same result. So into the bin it all went, I unwound it off all the reels and replaced it with thicker braid. Others may have had better results with it than I did, but to say I was unimpressed with it would be an understatement!

I ditched a whole heap of WTF line a while ago, I spooled up a few of my baitcasters with it, and after a while I tested some of the 18Kg line left over on the spool with a 4-5kg weight, tried to lift it slowly off the floor and it snapped, not at the knot but in the middle of the line, tried a few other new spools that I had and same result. So into the bin it all went, I unwound it off all the reels and replaced it with thicker braid. Others may have had better results with it than I did, but to say I was unimpressed with it would be an understatement!

I think that the light attracts bait fish which in turn attracts the squid.