anyone use this reel?
Abu Garcia Kokanee Custom Reel 4600C3 Right Hand
anyone use this reel?
Abu Garcia Kokanee Custom Reel 4600C3 Right Hand
I just know stuff...
No, not this particular model but I have and still use many Abu Garcia Ambassadeur reels. All have excellent drag systems in my opinion. I really don't think you can go wrong.
What's he cost on it?
Don't you just love that Patagonia fishing lodge advertisement right in the middle of your post. I know you have no say in this department and I understand the importance of adds, they allow us to keep KFF for free, but you would Think they could put them in other places. Sorry just venting a little.
Team:Rocky Mountain Tackle, Radical Glow, Fresh water basics, Velocity fishing.
I switched to an Okuma Magda Pro this year for two reasons, 1st was cost (around $30 at Bi Mart during a close out sale) and 2nd was that it has a line counter. While it's a bit bigger than I'd like it has a nice drag. Seeing as I fish mostly alone, using a downrigger makes for some. . .interesting times. Try to reel a fish in while cranking the dowrigger out of the way was a real pain, lost several nice fish that way when they got wrapped around the downrigger line and got off, not to mention unwrapping the mess they made of both lines. Now I use the line counter and a bit of math; with the line at approx. 30° to the horizontal letting out 100 feet of line places the lure at a depth of approx. 50'. (Sin 30°= .5 and .5 x 100 = 50)
I've been a long time user of the 5600 C-4 for Koke reels and thought I'd go a little smaller so I ordered a 4600. To my surprise, the bodies are the same diameter. All they did was make the spool width narrower. I don't care for the proportioning of it at all.
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually, 21' North River Seahawk
Tica kokanee special is my fave out of a couple of Diawa millionaires, an Endura, a blackmax, and some abus. Love that Tica and looking for a good excuse to get another. May have to buy another rod
When I looked at reels last year I looked at Ticas and abu garcias, as a machinist for winchester/western for 5 years and having worked on titanium cranks for wing flaps on Boeing planes with a .oo2 of an inch tolerance the Ticas were pieces of crap, the slop between parts and the overall cheapness turned me off to their whole line, abu garcias are some of the best machined reels for the price, just try to get the pre -china made models, I got an abu garcia record last year at sportco that was u.s. made, they have a supply of U.S. made reels by ambassadour in their warehouse. I like the idea of a koke reel made by garcia, but just narrowing the spool does't cut it. We use the smallest c3 and c4 reels, the c3 is just the right size but the c4 while being bigger hqas the clicker, love both reels, they have beat up a LOT of fish, one is teamed with the brown lamiglass koke rod, ther other is on the Ugly Stick Kokanee special, a little less sensitive but will not break ( aplus for downrigger rods.), although the inserts on this ugly stick guides are crap, had two pop out on two rods,one is now a backup rod.The 0original Diawa millionares were great but the new knockoffs are really not worth the money even though they are cheap. A good reel will last a lifetime, I just beat up a nice 8 or 9 lb. silver on a 30+ year old ambassadour 6001 reel I outfitted with the larger handle Garcia sells and it was great!
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually, 21' North River Seahawk
I use an Abu Garcia and love it.
i own a pile of abu's and love em. also love my revo and calcutta te. but the abu's are for sure the work horses, and for the money, the can'y be beat. i recently sold a couple 4600's. i bought them to convert to clicker reels but could not find the parts, even from abu. i think the side plates were my issue. anyhow, do they make these in a left hand model? i'd love to own a few, if they do. thanks.
As far as I know all the ABU Garcias are available in the left handed retrieve models, best reels for the money, compare side by side with ticas and differences in manufacturing are very obvious. My wife uses the 66o1c3 with an ugly stick kokanee model, , left hand with a clicker, I use the 4601 with the lamiglass kokanee special, does not have clicker but is slightly smaller profile.Best way to compare workmanship is to handle both brands, tica and abu garcia, (sportco carries both) and decide.I have an abu reel(6001)from 1982 that still works great, beat up big silvers on the Chehalis this year, big ling cods (up to 27 lbs.) over the years, had new washers and maintainence done by george's reel repair in Lacey a few years back, all parts were still good.As I said, some U.S. made models still available.(sportco) Bob R
ya, i know they come in lefties, but wasnt sure if this "custom kokanee" model did. like the c5 they used to make...you thought they'd offer it in a lefty, but they didnt. anyway, i looked them up and saw they did.....then i ordered two of them
I have the old ABU they are great I use about 4 5001c for kok's and 6001c for salmon they are true workhorse's wouldn't trade them for anything.
I have all Garcias with clickers and without, and 1 Shimano Corvallus, that I wish I would have spent the money on another Garcia.
i told myself after the 4601 kokanee reels showed up, i was done buying reels for quite awhile.....then i ordered a shimano cardiff 301a. i need help.
Abu makes a good reel. I have not been impressed with the Ticas. Too many horror stories of levelwinds not working and them falling apart. When I have tried them, I agree with what was said, they feel a little cheap.
I moved away from star drag reels for downrigger fishing a few years ago and went to lever drag reels. I got an Avet SX which is the finest reel I've ever fished with. It started with 1 and then my brother got one and then my wife got one and then I got another one and then I got another one and my brother got another one and his wife got one. Use it once and you'll never go back to star drag reels for downriggers.
Disappoint the Government; be responsible, self-reliant, and kind.
I have used the Abu 4600 series for years on my Rogue rods and have been very happy.
Fish are where you find them
I have two of the Kokanee 4601 left hand retrieves both on Shimano Talora rods and another 4601 C3 on a Shakespeare Agility I use for bass/jigging. I love the Abu rods and the addition of the line clicker is great for top line or trolling with a few ounces of weight on. I simply let the line out and engage the clicker. Really helps detect bites and hook fish while paddling. In a PB I can watch the kids rods and listen for mine.
I like a bigger reel and love the tica caiman gj i51's and have 4 but I needed 2 more reels for company and kids, and was at fisermans and they had the abu garcia kalex 61 with a very respectable 5.9 to 1 gear ratio, very well layed out much like a tica with a thumb bar release and most important a clicker it seams very smooth and it's about 70.00 bucks cheeper than the tica so i will give them a try and see if they are as smooth and reliable as my tica's. dfly
Shawn, I just read reviews on the Kalex and there were a lot of 1 star ratings. I'll be interested to hear your real reel opinion.
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually, 21' North River Seahawk
dave I haven't fished with it yet but took it all apart and it looks to be fairly well made and the maching is also good, it's also easy to disasemble and asemble. the 60's have the clickers the smaller ones don't and I wonder if the rattings are based on the smaller ones, and people not knowing the difference much like a post above (not picking on any one ) compairing all ticas with a line guide that dosn't move back and forth kind of deal. the reel is made in china and there may a personal problem with that also. to me these are tools to do a job and they need to be (1) well made,(2) work smoothly,(3) be easy to use and(4) handle the task. so far they pass the first 3 and will see if they can handle the down rigger stacking and the fish. dfly
I use old Daiwa ProCasters that are still as smooth as the day I bought them but my favorite reel for down rigger kokanee is an Abu 3400C . You can't find them anymore and I can't even find a picture of one but they are too darn cute. I may try to take a picture of mine.
later: Actually it's a 3500C not 3400C. I'm getting old. The outside dia. of the case is 2 1/8"
Here's a picture:
http://www.bbcboards.net/reels-4-sal...00c-3500c.html
Last edited by calamari; 03-23-2013 at 05:36 PM.
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