Fellow Fishing Gurus! New reel time.

[BigMike]

So its about time to buy a new fishing reel. Mine has had just about all it can take ( Im gonna try to get it rebuilt again, but there might not be enough left.)

Im a Diehard Shimano fan. I fish with the stradic open face. Im looking at either the Stradic FJ or the CI4 reel. I have fished with the CI4, nice reel. My old Stradic FE served me well for 15+ years, and the FJ is the newer version of the FE.

Whos used em, opinions, thoughts. Im also open to recommendations, but no casting reels, spinners only. Thanks yall. Mike

 

[CardsFan]

I have been a huge fan of the Stradics for a very long time. When I was bass fishing before the new century, the Symmetre was fine. Got into Striper fishing cool water refuges in the summer around 2000 and realized the Symmetre was a little underclassed for the type of fishing I got in to which requires pitching live shad and horsing fish away from submerged trees. Many of the creeks I fish have some big fish, are very narrow, and filled with snags. The Stradic is perfect for this type of fishing and the drag stays smooth when fighting a big striper out of snag, and continue to stay smooth despite my lack of maintenance on them.

I have yet to to try a different brand of spinning reel and don't see a need to. Shimano won me over about 30 years ago. If you like the Stradic, stick with it!