The Rooster

Had it out again tonight for about 3 hours. No fish (darn). But it was another trip where it was a pure pleasure to use. Casting distance was superb. I'm able to throw a size 8 Rapala X-rap so far that with only 8# line I'm not sure I can get a good hookset on a strike!!!

Would it be good to install a set of each on the same reel?? You could turn off and on the ones you need, depending on what you are fishing. Say, 3 and 3, or 2 and 4, respectively.

If you've been on the forum here for any significant length of time, you will know that I am notoriously dissatisfied with spinning reel performance from a lot of the ones I've owned. So this year I finally decided to spend a fair amount on one in hopes that it would solve some of the problems I've had with smoothness and line management/twist overall, as well as just generally be durable enough to last. I always take care of my reels like new the whole time I own them and yet a lot of them still don't hold up for me. But I've never spent more than $60 on one until now. The one I bought this year was the Shimano Symetre 2500 FJ, for $100. Anyway, I've now had it for about 6 months, but hadn't fished enough before now to feel it would be a fair review, so I held off saying what I thought about it. I've had it on 5 fishing trips, some of which I caught fish on it, and sometimes it was just fished a lot with no catches. But after 5 trips, I've used it enough now that I feel I know what I can expect in the future for the most part so I'll share my opinion on it here. 1. Smoothness - The Shimano Symetre 2500FJ is hands down the smoothest spinning reel I've ever owned or used. Period. Absolutely no signs of roughness, right out of the box up until now, and still as smooth as glass at present. Used with a slow, moderate, or fast retrieve of inline spinners where there is a slight to moderate pressure on the line always, it's still slick as glass feeling. Loaded under the weight of a fish fighting, it's as smooth as when reeled with no weight at all. This is important to me since I want to feel what the bait is doing while cranking rather than a coffee grinder reel in my hands. Using a spinner lure, I can feel whether the blade is turning or not, but if the gears grind or the bearings feel gritty, the reel is all I can feel and it's distracting. This reel has NONE of those problems. 2. Line management - For me this has always been an issue for the most part. Many start out fine and twist up line in short order (ahem, Pflueger) but this Symetre did not show the slightest sign of line twist until trip #4 when it finally started showing up. I feel this was partly due to fishing inline spinning Roostertails, A LOT, in heavy river current, with no swivel at all. For 3 trips to the lake, however, there was absolutely none at all, fishing inlines without swivels, or any other bait. Then trip 4 and 5 was to the river where it saw nearly exclusive use with inlines tied straight on and cast into rolling swells of water, and then retrieved hard and fast at times. But, even with the now severe twist at this point, there was absolutely zero interference with how it casted. If you did not know the twist was in the line, you would be totally unaware of it. It casted long and smooth and handled like a dream. The only time line twist showed was when I let slack get in the line and it would wrap on itself but this was out past the rod tip, not on the rod or reel at all. Never a single time occurred where the reel would be "mummified" by line as in the past with others. It should be noted though, that from the beginning I have also been using KVD line treatment, so I cannot entirely credit the reel on this unless I was to use a spool of line without treatment and have similar results. The line I am using is Berkley Trilene XL mono in 8# test. Once I saw twist which finally started causing a problem by trying to wrap on the tip of the rod, I cut a cast length off and poof, problem solved. So, as long as I continue to use KVD line treatment with this reel, it seems that line management is under control......finally!!! Those are the two biggest areas of concern for me on spinning reels. But also I want to point out that the drag on this reel is smooth and reliable as well. I hooked a couple of nice whitebass and hybrids at the river, and in the current, they can fight hard. I landed each without a problem but the drag came into play a couple of times on these fish. It was a pleasure to see that it gave when needed and held tight and strong when needed also. The overall function of this reel just feels strong and reliable as well. The internals do not feel like they are stressed during or after a fight. I feel like I have plenty of power with it while using it. Also, I've read in the past that some Shimanos had binding problems when they got wet. Today we got caught in the rain while fishing, and it was a steady rain for over an hour, and I had no trouble at all with it even though it got totally soaked through use in the rain. This reel DOES NOT have a sealed drag but it was not affected by being wet that I could tell. Maybe water didn't get into it, but I don't see how it didn't because the spool is facing upwards most of the time when in use at the river, and was directly in the rain. Still I had no problems with drag, or anything else. So far this reel has been an absolute pleasure to use in every way. I'm not trying to say this reel beats all others. But I am saying that it beats all others that I've ever tried. I'm totally sold on the Symetre for exceptionally long casts, smooth cranking, great line management (with use of KVD line treatment also), fluid like drag performance, and general solid feeling of a well made reel in my hands as I use it.

I occasionally use a 6' rod for skipping underneath overhanging branches or docks, or sometimes for bank fishing where I'M underneath the overhanging branches and then a longer rod would be in the way, hanging up on everything. Also, one of my favorite rods was for shallow cranks casting from the boat to the bank, maybe 60' away from it and bringing it back again. Being short, the rod was easy to fish in a downward pointed position so it stayed up out of the water and yet the bait was able to achieve all the diving depth it needed by having the rod pointed downward so there was no upward pull until the line itself finally started drawing it back up again as it neared the boat. On the whole though, I use 6'6" and sometimes a 7'. The 6' stuff is now reserved for "as needed" applications.

I keep reading where many use crankbait rods for cranking, and then use standard rods for other lures which have treble hooks. So, could someone tell me why they do this?? Why do you use a cranking rod at all?? It couldn't be because of the treble hooks if topwaters that also have them work fine on M/F rods.

What do you use for jerkbaits and topwaters??

I do not own a crankbait rod (yet) but I've sort of conditioned myself to think that I need to use it for all treble hook lures. There are several areas of lures that have trebles, such as topwaters, rattle traps, crankbaits, wakebaits, small swimbaits, and jerkbaits. I LOVE using jerkbaits on the rod I have now, which is a standard M/F rod. And if it works for jerkbaits with treble hooks, then why not crankbaits too?? But on the flip side, I could also see a use for a cranking rod for topwaters since it does have a slower tip, maybe help me to not jerk the hooks out when setting the hook after a strike. Basically, if I really don't have to use a cranking rod for all treble hook lures, then I'd only want it if it helped me with certain lure types, such as topwaters for the above reason, or cranks for maybe more action. Otherwise, a regular rod would work for them too. Right??

I see that some baitcast reels offer aluminum drive gears while still having brass pinion gears. Obviously this works or they couldn't do it with any real success, but I always thought that with dissimilar metals, the harder one would eventually wear against the softer one and it wouldn't last. Wouldn't it ideally be better if both the drive gear and pinion gear were brass, or aluminum??

To those of you who have a crankbait rod, did you buy it for exclusive use with crankbaits but would still fish other treble hook lures on other rods, such as a jerkbait on a M/F rod (not a M/MF)?? Or do you use it for any lures that are treble hooked and NEVER fish trebles on other than a crankbait rod?? Myself, I think I could use a crankbait rod, maybe to give the crank more action (I don't know if that would or not), but I could still see myself fishing jerkbaits like the X-rap on my M/F rod that is not a cranking rod at all. I feel that the M/F rod allows me to better work the jerkbait as opposed to a softer feeling M/MF rod. This rod is not technically supposed to be for treble hook lures, and I have missed a few fish in the past by using it for treble lures, however, not as many as you might think. And I have overcome it also by loosening the drag when I saw this happening, which does seem to work. So, knowing this, do I really need a crankbait rod after all??

I find that 2500 sized reels balance better on rods that are 6'6" and longer. Keeps the rod from being so tip heavy. I like a 1000 size for lighter presentations, finesse rigs, and such, and I have a very light and crisp rod for when I go with those, even if it is 6'6" with a 1000 on it (or similar sized reel from another brand, and on a side note...never again from another brand either).

One hand always, never 2 hands. I use to use 2 hands but got away from it. Don't remember why, I just know that one hand is all I use for bass fishing with any rods I have now. The one good thing is I can cast with either hand on any rod, but I still just use one hand even when I switch hands for making a cast such as when the left would be better for hitting a target than the right would at that particular time.

Curious....doesn't the older Chronarch have a tapered line guide where the Curado E7 does not?? I wonder if the new Chronarch has this??

I only tighten it enough to restrict side to side movement about 98% of the time. The other 2% I might tighten just enough to stop any overrunning if I'm casting into wind.

I am in Flatwoods, KY too.

I keep mine as loose as possible, just to where the spool has no side to side movement, and 2 out of 6 centrifugal brakes on using a Shimano Citica, and more recently a Curado at the same settings also. I whip it pretty good at those settings too. I'm not sure how far I'm throwing using those reels. I know I can beat 80 feet on most things using the Citica on a 6'6" M/F rod due to back yard testing. That's nowhere near 70 yards though. Maybe I'm over thumbing it?? I used the Citica last year for about 5 trips at those settings with no trouble. I've only fished the Curado one time but had no trouble with it either (other than two monster backlashes hours apart that were my fault completely due to....um....forgetting to thumb?? LOL)

That's pretty clever.

I used to do that. But I found out that I would only look at them one more time after I got the new one to compare the new year's merchandise with last year's and occasionally lament that I had not bought a reel or rod before they quit offering it or the price went up. I'm not the type that will buy used equipment of any kind so keeping it to check reel specs for potential future purchases was not a good idea for me, although that's originally why I started doing it. So....I threw them all away a few years ago and ever after that when I get a new one I toss the old one. Usually I can find the specs of any reel online I want to know about for at least a few years after they quit offering it.

Yep, that's about right for Walmart. Out of one and have been for a long time, only have one left of another and it is damaged. That's the way it is every time I go into the store.

I have a back yard that is 125 feet deep, so I measured it out with a tapeline, marked off every 10 feet with stakes, and began casting. That's how I know what it was in length. I casted it over the fence into the neighbor's yard. I'm definitely not throwing around numbers.

My best casting distance that I measured was 125 feet using a 3/8 oz. spinnerbait on a surprisingly short rod, a 6' medium powered Quest LS-7 from Dick's and a BPS Extreme baitcast reel. I've casted to the same area using a 6'6" Shimano Compre rod also. I'm sure if I'd try something heavier that it would probably go farther. At the time I was practice casting to targets in the back yard and I just decided to see how far it would go with different baits so I began trying them. For me, all I need is 70 to 100 feet for most things, and the 100 is a real stretch. 70 to 80 works great from a boat. There are occasions where I want as long a cast as possible such as shore fishing at the river here where casting into the current and reeling into calm water is needed. That's when I want the most distance possible.

My first thought was that they were not thoroughly cleaning it. I watched it to learn how to properly grease a gear though. Was helpful in that. I break mine down a lot more than they did there though. Every part is removed and cleaned thoroughly.

I got to use my Shimano Symetre today for the first time since buying it a few months ago. At the time I got it, I put some Berkley Trilene XL on it, and treated it with KVD Line and Lure Conditioner at that time, and then leaned it in a corner until now. I forgot to treat the line again like I was recommended to do the night before going. But it didn't seem to matter. After that line being wound tightly on there for a couple of months, and one treatment of the spray that is at least 2 months old, the line was smooth and flawless to fish today. It flowed off easily and seemed to have virtually no memory. I'm not sure if the conditioner increased casting distance, or if it was the reel, or a combination. I was really getting out there though with 1/4 oz. Roostertails, more so than I remember in the past. But I've never tried a Symetre before, and never used KVD treatment before either. Today I had both. Also, this could be a combination of the spray and reel too, but the line never seemed to twist up on me either. Several times I tested it by letting it go slack and wrap on itself to see if it would twist. It never wrapped more than one twist. I fished inline spinners all day on that rod, never had anything else tied onto it, and I DID NOT use a swivel of any kind. I had fantastic results. I hope this lasts. I know it's just the first use but each time I used line before for the first time (when it was on another reel, and not KVD treated) it would twist up badly in just a little while using inline spinners, swivel or not. Today has got to be the best experience I've had in years using inline spinners.

Dude, did you seriously break a $120 rod in a garage test?? An Ugly Stik is going to outbend any rod out there, I'd never test bend of a rod by what my Uglies will do. That said, I love my Uglies and my Shimano Compres. I fish them side by side for different reasons.

If you didn't pay for it, it probably was an earthquake.

Wow, it sounds like if I order from them then it's going to be a mistake. Most of those reviews say the same thing, extremely long waiting times to get products, very poor customer service, 15% restocking fees for cancelling orders that haven't even been processed. That's crazy.