Northwest Fishing Reports

What are the popular reels for salmon fishing these days? What should I buy for mooching and motor mooching? I used to like to plug cut bait and mooch or slow troll with 3 to 4 oz. leads. Need to get new gear. Thanks DH.

hey DH..

what is your price range?? I have a couple reels that i think are great....i think they were around $80 or so. ABU 6600 series. you can upgrade quite a bit from there if you want. all depends on greenbacks....

your gonna want something that can hold a good amount of line for those long runs a big king can make

If your looking for something affordable, good quality, reliable, nice looking etc... get some Abu Garcia Ambassadeur C3 5500s or 6500s. They are a great real, and most of our salmon set ups have these. And if you have a little extra money, get the C4's.

http://www.abugarcia.com/prod.php?k=785 ... 0(1115453)

Here's a pic of one of mine. Its not spooled up for this year yet. Kicker motor got stolen so no salmon fishing this year :(




Another real i like is the Quantum Iron. Im not sure if these are still made, but i have one and its awesome.

Shimano Cardiff. It's not a huge levelwind reel, but its got enough capacity, but I only string on 15lb test, so I have plenty enough line on my reels.

Very lightweight reel, also a good reel if you like casting. It's pretty smooth...

Stick it on a Shimano Clarus rod. I think the rod is like $60, reel around $80-$100. Heck of a setup for salmon in the salt. Light enough to make the coho fun, big enough to handle the abuse of a DR or a big king...

fishnislife wrote:Just remember to wash it off after every use in the salt to prolong the life of your reel.

+1. Good call.
I do it every time. Even my hooks, lures, the entire rod, flashers, downriggers, etc. All get washed off. Saltwater is nasty on your gear, a quick run through the hose will really help keep your gear from getting rust...

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

fishnislife wrote:Just remember to wash it off after every use in the salt to prolong the life of your reel.

+1. Good call.
I do it every time. Even my hooks, lures, the entire rod, flashers, downriggers, etc. All get washed off. Saltwater is nasty on your gear, a quick run through the hose will really help keep your gear from getting rust...

And scrape of all the herring scales! The get dried on anytime you use them as bait.

I use my Ambassador 6000c for very early morning live bait no weight fishing.Other then that Penn9 ,Penn109,Penn209 for bigger heavier fishing.I have alot of Penns.Love them.They just last and last.I just keep them clean and oiled.

:thumleft: :thumleft: Two thumbs up for the Penn 209's. I'm still using ones I bought in the early 70's. Keep them clean and service them once in a while and they keep on running. I've heard the older ones are much better than the current ones. To date myself I paid $9.95 for my first Penn 209.

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

fishnislife wrote:Just remember to wash it off after every use in the salt to prolong the life of your reel.

+1. Good call.
I do it every time. Even my hooks, lures, the entire rod, flashers, downriggers, etc. All get washed off. Saltwater is nasty on your gear, a quick run through the hose will really help keep your gear from getting rust...

Be careful how you wash your downriggers off. I used to wash mine down with a garden hose. After replacing rusted downrigger cable that I drove the salt into I switched to washing off only the downrigger and leaving the cable unwashed.

All my gear would go into a bucket of water with some Dawn dishwashing soap. Smelly jelly is especially hard to get off. It will turn sticky if you let it go.