The Fixed Spool Reel Challenge

both

not if you can get one with a casting spool,
i have one about 20 years now with a shallow casting spool that holds around 250 yards of 15lb line as far as i can remember

I think we need pictures

Yep.. I had a Gravuell Zenith.. Lasted one cast... Got a replacement Penn Slammer... Beast of reels

both

not if you can get one with a casting spool,
i have one about 20 years now with a shallow casting spool that holds around 250 yards of 15lb line as far as i can remember

I think we need pictures

do you not beleive me andrew
will dust it down and post later on

do you not beleive me andrew
will dust it down and post later on [/quote]
i know all about the shallow spools its the young folk who dont
you can also get a fold down bail arm for them a "shingelton" if i remember , you could profile the line really nice by moving it up or down

do you not beleive me andrew
will dust it down and post later on

i know all about the shallow spools its the young folk who dont
you can also get a fold down bail arm for them a "shingelton" if i remember , you could profile the line really nice by moving it up or down [/quote]

Yes . us young lads would never have seen such things

here you go

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eric i wish you had told me that a few days ago just bought a gravell zenith!!!just my luck!!!!!!

i was really impressed with this reel when i first took it out of the box, nice looking reel for sure 3 spools of 3 varying sizes ideal for braid and low diameter mono and seemed fairly solid, what could go wrong? session 1 was a mess around on a local beach with masterkeane, seemed comfortable on the beach no drama and decent line lay, i was pretty chuffed. forward this to 1 month on and 5 sessions later and i couldnt feel more pessimistic about it if i tried. the reel's anti reverse has gone 3 times, ive had to strip it apart each time and pop the pin back in place, it just wont stay in for some unknown mystery, at first i though it was my mistake but 3 times in 1 month is borderline rediculous. its also starting to creek away with the sound of reelthritus synonimous with older reels and to be honest i think the gear are constructed from candal wax. i have a shimano navi xsa which is 2 years old now. price wise its cheaper and its a far superior reel. so in summary the zenith is a looker but like most good looking people they have the personality of paper airplane, thrilling for a small moment of time, soon followed by a crashing low as the plan hits the deck.

Thats a wonderful piece of literature eric very moving

I've used my Zenith 40+ times. I've treated it pretty badly too, don't think I've ever run it under the tap or even given it a wipe and it's still working fine. I use 25lb braid with a shock leader on a 15 foot rod and it seems well capable of handling a 5 oz weight. It can drag in ten pounds of seaweed as good as anything I've used in the past (Which is handy as I've been catching more of that than anything else recently.)

try to get your hands on the original ulgetra/biomasters in 10-14000, think its the xt range.... imho stronger reel than the newer versions...

eric i wish you had told me that a few days ago just bought a gravell zenith!!!just my luck!!!!!!

i was really impressed with this reel when i first took it out of the box, nice looking reel for sure 3 spools of 3 varying sizes ideal for braid and low diameter mono and seemed fairly solid, what could go wrong? session 1 was a mess around on a local beach with masterkeane, seemed comfortable on the beach no drama and decent line lay, i was pretty chuffed. forward this to 1 month on and 5 sessions later and i couldnt feel more pessimistic about it if i tried. the reel's anti reverse has gone 3 times, ive had to strip it apart each time and pop the pin back in place, it just wont stay in for some unknown mystery, at first i though it was my mistake but 3 times in 1 month is borderline rediculous. its also starting to creek away with the sound of reelthritus synonimous with older reels and to be honest i think the gear are constructed from candal wax. i have a shimano navi xsa which is 2 years old now. price wise its cheaper and its a far superior reel. so in summary the zenith is a looker but like most good looking people they have the personality of paper airplane, thrilling for a small moment of time, soon followed by a crashing low as the plan hits the deck.

This is pretty much standard for all the top of the range grauvell reels. They remind me of a girl I once knew- pretty on the outside but not a whole lot going on underneath

Why do shore reels need an optional anti reverse anyway? Does anyone actually use the backwinding facility??????

try to get your hands on the original ulgetra/biomasters in 10-14000, think its the xt range.... imho stronger reel than the newer versions...

I think its the XSA not the XT range Phil. The XT range is a kind of Bait runner facility which I can tell you now does not work that well and means you cannot lock the spool down fully leading to sliced fingers

Also the Biomasters are not a patch on the Ultegras. The Ultegra is an infinitly better reel.

498

eric i wish you had told me that a few days ago just bought a gravell zenith!!!just my luck!!!!!!

i was really impressed with this reel when i first took it out of the box, nice looking reel for sure 3 spools of 3 varying sizes ideal for braid and low diameter mono and seemed fairly solid, what could go wrong? session 1 was a mess around on a local beach with masterkeane, seemed comfortable on the beach no drama and decent line lay, i was pretty chuffed. forward this to 1 month on and 5 sessions later and i couldnt feel more pessimistic about it if i tried. the reel's anti reverse has gone 3 times, ive had to strip it apart each time and pop the pin back in place, it just wont stay in for some unknown mystery, at first i though it was my mistake but 3 times in 1 month is borderline rediculous. its also starting to creek away with the sound of reelthritus synonimous with older reels and to be honest i think the gear are constructed from candal wax. i have a shimano navi xsa which is 2 years old now. price wise its cheaper and its a far superior reel. so in summary the zenith is a looker but like most good looking people they have the personality of paper airplane, thrilling for a small moment of time, soon followed by a crashing low as the plan hits the deck.

This is pretty much standard for all the top of the range grauvell reels. They remind me of a girl I once knew- pretty on the outside but not a whole lot going on underneath

Why do shore reels need an optional anti reverse anyway? Does anyone actually use the backwinding facility??????

try to get your hands on the original ulgetra/biomasters in 10-14000, think its the xt range.... imho stronger reel than the newer versions...

I think its the XSA not the XT range Phil. The XT range is a kind of Bait runner facility which I can tell you now does not work that well and means you cannot lock the spool down fully leading to sliced fingers

Also the Biomasters are not a patch on the Ultegras. The Ultegra is an infinitly better reel.

the backwind is handy if you get a half decent fish on light lines. sometimes the drag can get clogged with sand and dosent run as it should. i'd rather have it than not

the toughest fixed spool out there is a multiplier

i have the ultegra 12000xt myself JP, as far as i am aware when they were for sale 'new' the biomaster 10000,12000,14000xt were all the more expensive version in white.
google it u will see the ones i mean, hard to get hold of now, but worth it if you can,

The xsa ultegra range is by far the best fixed spool range in my opinion

498

well i brought mine fishing on sunday , i forgot what a reel it was i put it on a 14ft triplex medium sized rings clipped on 2.5oz and it flew out to id say easily 120 yards with a simple flick, i was happy with that. i did not try a hard cast with a heavier sinker as im quite fond of my finger tips
i must bring a finger stall the next time.
the retreive is great as far as i can recall for every handle turn your bringing in 3ft of line
with a 5 oz lead you could have it skimming on top of the water at around 50 or 60 yards out,it a beast of a reel, and i have just taken it out of retirement