I am looking for recommendations for a conventional reel for surf fishing. I have all spinnings at this time and am looking to try a conventional.

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Penn Fathom 15 or 25 series are good reels. Anti reverse and very forgiving. They are easy to set up easy to clean and strong. Mine is 3 years old and has pulled in everything from pompano and mullet to slob size drum fighter blues and spanish with never a hiccup.

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Penn Squalls are very popular. Some like the older Abu Garcia Ambassadeurs 6000 series. Also Daiwa Saltists. I have a reel Repair business and see em all. A lot depends on how much you fish. Most common problems in all but Ambassadeurs is bearings. Ambassadeurs seem to stand up the best except free spool mechanism and clickers dont stand up well.

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for bait or plugging?

Bait, For trying it out, grab a penn beachmaster or squidder off ebay, they are cheap but bullet proof, if you can get comfortable with that reel, the rest will seem easy.

plugging, I like my Abu 5500

The rod you pair to whatever you get will influence your opinion. Personally, I would say stay away from med or slow action rods to start.

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Here is a vote for the Shimano Calcutta series. These hold up incredibly well in the sand and salt environment. I have 2 that have held up extremely well for many years.

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I'd give one of the tackle shops a call for this one as well.

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Here is a vote for the Shimano Calcutta series. These hold up incredibly well in the sand and salt environment. I have 2 that have held up extremely well for many years.

I almost tossed out a recommendation for the same. I have 100 and 200 for bass fishing and a 400B for one of my surf rigs. Great reels, a little pricey, and the clutch bearing on Shimano need replacing every few years with heavy use even with an annual complete tear down cleaning.. The bearing is cheap and readily accessible. My 400 is still on the original bearing, but it sees a fraction of the use as my bass outfits. Calcuttas have a slower gear ratio than some others which isn’t always a bad thing. My oldest Calcutta is 26 years old. It looks like hell, but works well. I also have a Daiwa Saltist that is nice and at a better price point than the Calcutta.

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I'm curious about using a conventional reel for surf fishing. I've only ever used spinning reels in the surf. What's the advantage to conventional?

For fresh water, I'll occasionally use one of my bait casters, but even here I find myself using spinning reels more now.

John

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I'm curious about using a conventional reel for surf fishing. I've only ever used spinning reels in the surf. What's the advantage to conventional?

For fresh water, I'll occasionally use one of my bait casters, but even here I find myself using spinning reels more now.

John

I hope you get a good answer so I can feel better about dragging mine to and fro every trip lol. I prefer the layout of a conventional, the placement of the drag adjustment, and the bait clicker feature. I have a few old Shimano Baitrunner with similar free spool ability, bit it’s not the same. Most of my fish come on smaller spinning rigs though. I haven’t hooked into a really large fish from the surf on my heavers yet. I mainly use my larger rigs in heavy surf with 6-10oz sinkers or when throwing big bait hoping for Moby Dick. Catching a 2-3lb blue with 6oz+ sinker and a 13’ rod is uneventful to say the least and that’s about what I can expect on the best of days.

For bass fishing I love them. You can thumb the spool for incredibly accurate casting to structure. I use my spinning in freshwater for baits requiring a lot of action (jerkbait) or baits prome to twisting (wacky senko) and my baitcasters for all power baits like cranks, spinnerbait, large topwater, jigs, etc.

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If you know what you’re doing you can get more distance casting a conventional reel.

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Agreed, more distance from conventional. Hatteras Heavers! In nasty weather you can handle heavier sinkers especially with a compatible rod. Gearing and drag systems are beefier than spinning. My go to reel is a 40 year old Penn squidder with a 9 foot stick. However I do not fish the Point. Con = It takes a lot more experience to cast without backlashes.

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While I'm sure I could figure it out (I do fine with bait casters; after a lot of practice and cursing), I'm rarely wanting to cast out further than I do. If anything I take a good bit of distance off my casts.

Thanks for the info. I'll stick with my spinning reels for now. Maybe I'll look into it more when I actually do more surf fishing. Probably after retirement.

John

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Thanks for the suggestions. I am looking at adding a 13" 'heaver' that can handle to 8+ oz weight situations. My gotos are an 11:9 Rainshadow and an 11 foot 2-5 oz Tommy Farmer. I am pleased with both of these. However, i have nothing for the real heavy surf.
I thought the newer conventions reduced the 'bird nest' issues with the clutching, etc. Is it difficult to learn to throw a conventional?

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For me the learning curve to toss a conventional reel is steep. I watch folks "effortlessly" toss their 8 and bait half a mile and I spray it short, right, long and right, with the occasional birds nest. I do love to fish and the rod/reel combination so I keep trying and tinkering. The conventional rod/reel is much stiffer than a spinning combination and I think could give you a little more backbone for a really large fish.

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I thought the newer conventions reduced the 'bird nest' issues with the clutching, etc. Is it difficult to learn to throw a conventional?

They all backlash and require getting used to the reel. If your reel has centrifugal spool brakes like the Calcutta does then get used to them, how to adjust them, and play with them until you find your setting. Once you find what works for you you'll never change them. The reels also have a spool tension adjustment knob. Do not assume that this takes the place of proper brake adjustment. For me I get my brakes set properly and set my spool tension adjuster until the spool just barely has a bit of left/right play in it and then I tighten the adjuster back down 1/8th of a turn or so. That's my starting point and I adjust the tension as the conditions (wind) warrants. You also need to learn how to use your thumb to delicately control the spool speed while in cast, but with proper brake adjustment your thumb barely kisses the spool just enough to keep slack line from building up.

There is definitely a learning curve, but if you start by casting in shorter you'll get it in no time. Wait for the long throws after you can nail shorter ones every time. Also, most of my screw ups happen prior to the cast. Do not neglect the following... make sure line is not wrapped around rod tip, make sure line is not wrapped around reel handle, make sure enough leader, but not too much, is hanging off of rod tip, and lastly... make sure reel is in free spool when you go to cast. :-)

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