What are the premium reels made in the USA? I'd like something nice and don't mind paying up but looks like most of the stuff is made overseas. 

Looking at spinning now, but is you know if casting feel free to suggest. 

My buddy as gone over the cliff for IRT spinning reels.  

They also rep very nice NS Black Hole rods (Korea) and offer as combos.  

 

If you want a really nice IM6 rod from US-rolled blank, it's Crowder E-series Lite, and of course St. Croix and Lami mid-grades and up are US-made.  

 

If you have a spot for a compact lever drag or star-drag NLW reel, Seigler quality is tops.  

This is SGN - people with educated thumbs cast them with only the lever drag for brake.  

Anyone else try and like the IRT spinning reels, will compare with shimano.

IMO, they don't compare to Shimano - not even Daiwa has light-braid line management like Shimano. 

 

IRT are definitely benchmade cool, over-built, and offer that nifty reversed foot.  

If you're planning on fishing mono/fluoro or heavy braid, you'll find IRT acceptable.  

Being fully sealed, IRT also have wind inertia that you won't find in Shimano.  

Shimano's labyrinth seals sling water away from the mechanism.  IRT's seals let you dunk the reel and keep the mechanism dry.  They also support all reel maintenance for life.  

VS, ZeeBass, and the mid-higher end Penns but not the best reels for LMB/SMB 

For a while there I was thinking Ardent was going to be our U.S. house brand for bass.....but I believe they have completely moved to China 

I've got a 200 series IRT in all silver that's on back order.  Should be here in about 5 more weeks.  I'll do a review when I get it.

 

 

 

 

  

 

On 6/22/2021 at 2:46 PM, bulldog1935 said:

IMO, they don't compare to Shimano - not even Daiwa has light-braid line management like Shimano. 

 

I have the same reel and it's made me a believer in braid on spinning reels again.  Best line management out of any reel I have used.  It's light as a feather, almost, and is my go to reel when my hands get tired.  I just wish it was a bit smoother.  Super smooth drag though.

 

I wish there were more options for American made reels.>  Even if there were, the parts would probably be made someplace else and then assembled here.

To follow up on my previous post, I've had the IRT 200 for several months now.  It's the smallest reel in their lineup and is meant for freshwater or light inshore/offshore.  My impressions of the reel are as others have said, built like a tank.  I don't think there is a single plastic part outside or inside of the reel, although I have not taken it apart.

 

FYI, I took a picture of the reel but did not upload it because I could not compress it to below 1000kb.  So, if you want to believe it didn't happen then it didn't.

 

I've never had a wind knot or any other screw up and I'm achieving excellent casting distance.  The line lay is a bit conical on my reel.  It's thicker at the back of the spool and smaller at the front.  I have removed a shim but the line lay is still conical.  It may have something to do with the type of line, I'm not sure, but I'm using Sufix Tritanium 10 pound test.  Good stuff, I've been hung up and can't break it with my soft hands, had to cut the line.

 

The cranking of the reel is geary and loud, but from what I have interpreted, that's to be expected with a stainless steel main and pinion gear.  Hopefully, the gears will smooth out in time as others have stated for stainless on stainless regardless of the manufacturer.

 

I'd like to see someone like Tackle Advisors from Youtube, Alan Hawk or Alan Tani do a review on the IRT's, but as of yet to no avail.

 

Below are some messages on a different forum from end users and an IRT rep.  It's dated March of 2021 and it will give you more technical information about the reels than I ever could.

 

Hi everyone. Thanks for your patience and sorry for not responding sooner. Hopefully I can answer all of the questions posed here.

In regards to Rivverrat's comment about our gear material - our 200 series up through our 500DD series have both a stainless steel main gear and pinion gear. Above that, our dual drag 600, 700, and 800 series reels are also stainless pinion and main gear. In the 600, 700, and 800 series, the single drag models have a stainless main gear and bronze pinion. Within the next year, all of our reels will be stainless main and pinion gears.

I'll address some other questions while referencing the IRT600 (as requested by jurelometer below).

With 25# of drag (or more), a 600 series reel can be completely emptied without burning up the clutch bearing. Our anti-reverse is a one-way clutch bearing, so unlike many others that have on/off switches for the anti-reverse, ours are a simple compact unit with built-in springs. There is a much lower chance of failure as ours is a simple unit without many interacting parts and we do not grease our clutch heavily, which allows for the proper amount of friction. This also allows it to be much less susceptible to temperature affects as well. Other brands that do not have an on/off switch are similar to ours. The only real difference is brand of bearing and what has been tested to work best in our reels. If you've had problems with A/R bearings burning up at 15# of drag, I can say with confidence that our reels (even as small as our 200) are more than up to the challenge.

No reel manufacturer will tell you that you can maintain locked down drag constantly and expect your reel to perform flawlessly forever. While the max drag ratings on all of our reels are different, utilizing 25# of drag on an IRT600 is more than safe for a long duration. Our published max drag levels are generally for short bursts, but our reels can take a full emptying at that level of drag without showing wear. We have many guides who have used our reels daily at heavy drag ratings (particularly our 500 Dual Drag) series and fight large fast fish without wear on the reel - if properly maintained.

If a specific question has not been answered, feel free to ask it. I'll try to answer the best I can.

 

Also, regarding your comment about the gear noise - It's important to note that our current gearing is far superior to what it was 12-18 months ago. While stainless does make a little bit of noise, we have significantly lessened this effect and make a gear set that feels incredible compared to where we used to be. We've changed the way we machine our pinion gears to clean up the teeth significantly, thus making a quieter, more smooth gear.

 

 

Other than a few Penn spinning reels, there are currently no "mainstream" (I'll define that as something you could order off TW) reels produced here. 

 

Sixgill is setting up to manufacture some of their reels in Texas, but you said "quality", soo....

I have read on a few other places about the IRTs, a majority seemed to believe that they are not as well sealed as other high end SW reels ie van staal/stella. 

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I have read on a few other places about the IRTs, a majority seemed to believe that they are not as well sealed as other high end SW reels ie van staal/stella. 

That's what I have gathered as well, but I'm thinking a Zeebaas or VanStahl would be the most "waterproof" while the Stella and Penn Torque II would be on the same level as the IRT.

 

I have no proof of that, my opinion of course.

Switch to fly fishing...there are a lot of great fly reels and rods made in the USA