Abu 6500 C3 CT Multiplier (The one with green sides!)

Purchased one of these as recommended in Aug Sea Angler by Alan Yates as was getting mightily fed up of birdying my Slosh 30(Mainly due to a combination of wrong line and bad casting!)

Lads, for those who dont have one or have never tried one, this is a fantastic piece of kit. I would be the first to admit my casting is probably not best suited to using a multiplier but have found in the past, when I get it right big increases in distance can be achieved. This reel seems to be foolproof, I loaded it with 15lb (.35mm) line, casting into a very fresh headwind with a 6oz weight and large mackerel tail section (in fruitless search of Bass) it was nigh on impossible to birdy up. Its combination of magnetic and centrifugal brakes really seem to do the trick. Whilst not having the awesome hauling power of the slosh, it coped admirably with pulling in through the surf the huge clumps of weed which were the only things I managed to catch!

I would recommend this reel to anyone who is thinking of making the jump from fixed spool to multiplier, it is virtually idiotproof. Just make sure when starting off you install the brake blocks and oil the bearings (supplied with it)

Incidentally, I bought the reel from Murrays of Patrick St., Cork city for €159 which I thought was pretty competitive, not only that but they offered to sell on the Slosh for me should I so wish. Thats service.

Your right, it is a great reel and a dream to use.

The best Abu reel ever made IMHO is the MagElite 5500C3 CT, I have three of them and always take at least one with me on the beach.

Tom.

Yeah, highly delighted with it, made the usual mistake of using straight out of the box the evening I bought it and had difficulty handling it. However I found that once I had inserted 2 brake blocks and oiled the bearings no matter how bad the conditions (and casting!) was it ran like a dream. The sliding magnetic brakes are superb, I used them on max at the start of the cast and backed them off when it was safely away. This is the multiplier I have been looking for, was getting fed up of big heavy fixed spool reels but had serious difficulty handling various multipliers.
However for anyone on a budget who wants to try out multiplier fishing without too much hassle, try a Kudos multiplier (small blue one) with level wind. These usually go for about 60/70 quid. You wont get any longer than a couple of seasons out of them but I found them to be very docile and easy to handle. The level wind, whilst restricting distance on these slowed the reel down and took care of line lay which I have since discovered to be of paramount importance, especially on the first 30/40 yards of a cast. The budget Shakespeare models can be a bit tricky as they are quite large.

Don't annoy me about that reel. I got one last year off Nigel, the ReelDoc, when I was living over in England. Thought it would be handy for when I moved home.

Now I'm back, can I find it? Nope, looked through every box, case and parcel I packed, can't find it anywhere. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Can't imagine where I lost it. Looked a cracking bit of engineering too. :evil:

The poor eejit above who lost his nice reel: That was me, that was. :(

Forgot to log in......... :oops:

That is indeed unfortunate, will I tell you again how good it is? Fab, brill, superb etc etc etc Hope that helps Gerry!

So which one would YOU picked??

The slo20sh or the ABU? I still have'nt bought myself a proper surfcasting reel and still mocks arounds with a noname dinkytoy waiting for it to brake down..

Hi,

Just have to stick in my two cents about Penn's 525's! I reckon they kick Abu's ass in almost every department. I started with a 6500 Mag Elite before I bought a 525. In the last 2 seasons I might have taken the Abu out half a dozen times. Now I have a pair of 525's which for the rough and tumble of everyday life are in a class of their own and I will have no hesitation in going for a 525 Supermag next.

Liam

I also own a mag 525 and 6500 ct sports mag.While I think the 6500 is a dream to cast with I still prefer the 525 hands down for versatility and I can still cast further with the mag.Liam,I have heard that the supermag is much slower than the slidey and thus harder to cast at distance.Does anyone have a slidey and super mag to make a comparison?I would like to know as I am nearly due a new reel and I see in all the magazines that the stock of slideys in the shops are the last having been replaced by the supermags.

Col,

Some people thought the standard 525mag was to wild, that why Penn made the new super-mag with more magnets, as for slower all anyone need do is back off on how many magnets they use with the slidy setting.

Liamo, each to his own...but think of this when you say the Penn kicks Abu's ass, for gears and drag, out of the box your right, but for fine tuning and distance Abu is still way in front, ask yourself how many distance records have been set with the 525mag, none that I know of, also count how many distance casters use Abu reels against how many use Penn 525mags, none that I know of, as I stated each to his own.

I always take my 525mags along with my Abu's.....if I was fishing for anything big, where drag came into play 525 every time! if it was windy and I needed better distance without the chance of crack-offs..5500 or 6500 would come out the box.

Regards,
Tom.

yeah , though in general overall would the penns be designed more for fishing conditions and the abus for casting?if you like, would the likes of danny moeskops use his small, jazzed up abus on a beach for general fishing?
i do agree with you though that the 6500s and 5500s are fine in general for most beach conditions, but would i be right in saying that for a lot a tournament work those guys use reels smaller in size than the 6500s?

Phil,

I don't think any of the tournament casters would use their distance reels on the beach, perhaps the same type and model but not tuned in the same way, some of those reels have never been used on water ever!

I think the main reason Abu's are favored over any other for tournament casting is they can be very fine tuned and you can get a good grip with your thumb, I've been told Danny has quite small hands and uses a 4500 or similar, cant swear to that mind, only hear-say.

I think what makes the 525mag stand out from the others on the beach is the fact that from its concept by Neil Mackellow he wanted a reel that gave the UK (and Irish) anglers what they wanted, a reel that fitted in between the 6500 and 7000 as far a line capacity and size, could cast well and have a strong spool that wouldn't burst dragging in weed or big fish and gears that could do anything asked of a reel that size, the drags on the 525mag are great, far better than the standard Abu, but hardly ever needed over here. In short a reel designed buy someone who knew what he was doing, Abu don't have that for any of their saltwater reels.

Don't get me wrong I love Abu reels, I know the Pure Fishing product manager reasonably well and they push for saltwater reels all the time, but Sweden put the US freshwater market first every time. The new chrome 6500ct had to be pushed for for quite a while before it was ok'd by Sweden for the UK market.

If someone had told me 10 years ago that Penn (Europe) would have the best selling surfcasting reel in the UK I would have laughed at them, it just took one guy with the know how to take a standard GS and turn it into one great fishing reel, I'm told some time next year there will be a Penn 515Mag coming out, that should be one nice reel to use.

Tom.

a 515 mag ?? 8) now that would be nice indeed!

Mackellow had the factory cut a 525Mag in half and weld it together about 5mm less that normal, he said it worked like a dream.

That reel could be a serious contender for distance records some time in the future IMO.

I'm also told they plan to make a 535Mag to complete the range 8)

Tom.

a 535 mag is already available.
danny uses a converted abu 6600 which has made it completely different from the original reel. many casters reels are put together from parts of many different reels!

[quote="Anonymous"]a 535 mag is already available.


Your right a 535Mag is available now, but that's the nobby conversion on a GS, done in the UK by Penn (Europe)
The 535mag I am talking about is a true big brother of the 525mag complete with slidy and a free spindle spool, a different animal all-together, I'm sure you will agree :)

Tom.