Abu García Abumatic Reel

Before making a choice in your purchase of a fishing reel, you have to take into account what type of fishing you are going to do. However, it is also of utmost importance to know and understand the specifications and characteristics of the reels available on the market.
KEYS TO CHOICE

• Types of reels: depending on the type of fishing you are going to do, you can find reels for casting, spingcast, surfcasting, spinning, baitrunner or trolling, among others. If you are going into the world of fishing for the first time, opt for a standard range reel so that you can try several disciplines before deciding on one.
• Manufacturer: consult among your group of colleagues which manufacturer is the best for each discipline, although as in everything, this is a personal opinion and will not always be effective. The most important thing is to trust those manufacturers that use good quality materials and offer durable and resistant reels.
• Material: aluminum and graphite are the elements par excellence preferred by anglers. The choice for freshwater reels is usually aluminum and for saltwater reels it is graphite because of its anti-corrosive properties.
• Solid construction: it is very important that the manufacturer is reliable, the material is suitable and the casing or construction of our reel is totally solid and does not have any loose parts. It is also known by all, that those reels that have fewer parts, have less chance of damage.
• Weight: those with less weight will help us to reduce wrist and arm fatigue, but sometimes we need a heavier weight due to the characteristics of our discipline and the needs it requires.
• Size: freshwater fish are usually smaller than saltwater fish so, with some exceptions, the size of freshwater reels will be slightly smaller in comparison.

TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REEL

• Line capacity: defined in yards and pounds, it refers to the maximum amount in yards of line or thread that the reel can hold and the maximum weight it can carry. That is to say, a reel that indicates the number 450/20 indicates that it admits 450 yards of line and a maximum weight of 20 lbs.
• Brake or Drag: The brake system of a reel is composed of washers arranged on the spool shaft and sometimes on the action shaft. The mechanism works by lever pressure on the washers, making its resistance greater the higher the pressure. On some reels such as trolling reels or baitcasting there may be star brakes (with screw action) or lever brakes (cam type, easier to adjust).
• Line recovery: refers to the length of line that is spooled for each turn of the reel handle.
• Gear Ratio: this is the number of reel turns per crank turn. This ratio is indicated with a numerical set such as 6:1 where we are told that for each crank turn the spool will turn 6 times. How to choose the correct ratio:
  • Low gears (5.1:1 to 5.1:1): ideal for deep water, large vinyls and spinnerbaits. Indicated for lures that weigh a lot and allows us to reduce the effort in the retrieve. Very effective for heavy baits.
  • Medium gears (6.1:1 to 6.4:1): ideal for medium depth, shallo spinnerbaits and crankbaits. These gears are very versatile and offer extra speed for fishing with movement.
  • High gears (7.1:1 to 8.1:1): for light weight vinyls and worms, shaky heads and bibless cranckbaits. Here the action will be performed by the rod and we need a reel with a high ratio to allow us to retrieve the lure with great speed.
• Bearings: these are placed inside the reel for greater support, stability and smoothness of the winding. The more bearings, the smoother the feel. They are usually indicated as 7+1, 6+1 or 8+1 where the higher number is the bearing number and the number on the right is the number of rollers in the bearing.
• Power: it will be indicated in kg and refers to the maximum tension that the brake of our reel can exert. If the tension caused by the fish is higher, the reel will release the line to avoid breakage.
• Weight of the fish: the choice of reel will depend on the type of fish we want to catch:
  • Ultrlight 1000-2000: for fish up to 2 kg.
  • Light 2500-3000: for fish from 1 to 4 kg.
  • Medium 4000: for fish from 2 to 6 kg.
  • Medium Heavy 5000: for fish from 4 to 6 kg.
  • Heavy 7000: for fish over 8 kg.

The fishing reel is one of the most important tools along with the rod in the world of fishing. Para that we can get the best performance from our reel we must perform maintenance and cleaning after each use. If we do not perform this process, the parts will weaken and the reel will lose its function over time. Para avoid this and get even more life out of the reel, we will have to follow these steps:

• Initial cleaning: we must remove the sand and the remains of dirt that may be with a fine brush, clean with a soft cloth afterwards so as not to scratch it and finally apply some fine oil on the body and the disassembled parts (handle, brake cap, spool and body of the reel).
• Greasing: then we will grease the spool, the brake, the handle, the main shaft and the thread guide since these moving parts must be lubricated regularly.
• Thread guide: we must pay special attention to this part of the reel since it is the one that needs more maintenance because it is in continuous contact with water. We can disassemble it carefully and leaving the parts in order as we extract them, clean them well and grease them and then reassemble the thread guide.
• Central spool: this part never has to be disassembled, but through a small post we can apply a couple of drops of oil directly on the internal mechanism.
• Hand: finally we will clean the hand thoroughly and apply a little oil on the articulated areas and proceed to clean and dry it.

In case you have some doubts in the process, always consult the cleaning guide that you will find in the box of your reel and under no circumstances open the body of the reel because if you find any malfunction it will be best to have it checked by the manufacturer.