why does everyone hate okumas

[lilgecko96]

it seems that there is an oerwhelming sentament here that Okumas suck, ive owned three, an integrity 4-5, SLV 7-8, and now a helious7-8 and have had no problems, i replaced the drag washers on the SLV after two seasons, and it only costed me pocket change but thats it, what bad things have you guys seen about them?

[ChromerRoamer]

I hope they're not too bad... I just put one on my new fly rod!

[jeffthedj]

i have one and so does my brother but we both have had them "free spool"trust me its not fun when that happens when you have 15# king on the other end!i still use mine once in awhile but its mostly a back up..drags are great when they work! my brother bought a new one last year from bbt when his messed up and the reel he got is twice the okuma and only 30 dollars more...THANKS BBT!..OH AND OURS WAS THE INTEGRITY MODEL

[chitownflyfisher]

If they get wet they will slip. Keep it dry, do the maintenance and the Integrity should be OK for Kings. That being said spend the money and get a real reel, if you can afford it.

[lilgecko96]

what would you consider a "real" reel, i am in the market for the new rod i am gonna be building, im givin my old setup to my girl

[herefishy]

I have an integrity and like someone else stated the drag has caused problems. It will stick and hold and then cut loose a ton of slack line. Last season I was hand feeding line to the fish on their runs to avoid this. I now have an ***** battenkill. Lilgecko, how did you go about getting new washers? On a positive note I have no complaints about the okuma rods.

[Fishbitch]

You had to replace your drag after two seasons...that should explain it enough. Get a Ross, Tioga, or other decently priced reel instead. The upfront $ will be worth it in the long run. The drag goes out on big lake reels also. Nothing worse than having a fish on, or trolling around, and all of a sudden zooom...and 100 yards of line is out and the fish is off.

[lilgecko96]

You had to replace your drag after two seasons...that should explain it enough. Get a Ross, Tioga, or other decently priced reel instead. The upfront $ will be worth it in the long run. The drag goes out on big lake reels also. Nothing worse than having a fish on, or trolling around, and all of a sudden zooom...and 100 yards of line is out and the fish is off.

ive never had problems with my slv drag just got week after a coupla years, $6 from okuma and she still works good. but i keep that as my backup, got a helious for one of my rods but i am looking at spending like $200 on another for a rod im gonna be building

[Silverbulletbandit]

You can buy two Cortland Endurance III reels for $200.00 at BBT. The reels performed flawlessly during salmon season and the drag is awsome. If you run shooting line (Climax) you can put over 300 yds of backing never worry about it again. Rubber drag handle is even nice in the cold weather. The reel for the money if you are just interested in one for steelies is the Pfluguer Trion. I bought mine new on ebay for $70.00 and it's a beautiful reel with a great drag system.

[ChromerRoamer]

Herefishy,
I'm not sure where you're from, but I stopped in at a Lansing shop today (Grand River Fly Shop) and they carry parts and repair Okuma reels. For the record, the shop is no BBT, but if you need an Okuma fixed... The guy there said it was relatively something like $10 to replace washers. He also claimed that Okuma has fixed the problem of the drag "slipping" when wet by doing something a little different with the washers. Don't know if it's true or not, but that's the word.

[herefishy]

Thanks. My sister lives in okemos so i'm up that way every so often. It would be nice to have 2 reliable rigs, one for indy and one for deep nymphing

[lilgecko96]

Herefishy,
I'm not sure where you're from, but I stopped in at a Lansing shop today (Grand River Fly Shop) and they carry parts and repair Okuma reels. For the record, the shop is no BBT, but if you need an Okuma fixed... The guy there said it was relatively something like $10 to replace washers. He also claimed that Okuma has fixed the problem of the drag "slipping" when wet by doing something a little different with the washers. Don't know if it's true or not, but that's the word.
i got a set for 6 what they do to keep em from slipping is replace the felt washer with another cork one, they say it makes the start up a lil rougher but it wont slip

[chitownflyfisher]

Keep it out of the river and you should be OK.

[Steeldrifter]

Personally I like Okuma. I own 5 Okuma Serria reels and 2 Okuma SLV's. I've had a couple of the Serria's for almost 8+ year now and have never had the drag slip or let go, even went wet. For salmon and big steelies I use my Solitude..but for bigger trout (streamer fishing) smallmouths up to 20" and even pike up to the mid 30"'s I have never been let down by one of my Okuma reels.

Steve