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abu cardinal series

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Anyone have any experience with these. Looking to get a spinning reel and I use abu baitcasters so wondering about their spinning reels.

I picked up two 604ALB's last fall on special.  They are a little heavy but for what I paid, I'm more than happy.  Decent drag and very little line twist. They have a great oversize T handle.  (Are you listening Pflueger !! ) I have one set with #8 and one with #10 for tubes and hula grubs on matching 703 Certified Pro rods.  Look around, you might get lucky and find them for around 40 bucks new.

great reels imo. foo-tackle has them cheapest from what ive found. the 801 i have is a beast.

  • Super User

I have two Cardinal 101's which I picked up last year. Only one full season on them, but I like them a lot. Very smooth, great drag and cost effective for a lite spinning reel.

I have a cardinal 130MX. Cheap lil guy, but it does the job for panfish.

I have a Cardinal 101 and like it.

Also an Abu Garcia Agenda, Pflueger Solara, and a 1965 South Bend Spinmaster II that I bought new and it still works great. I have converted all my spinning reels to right hand crank (except my SpinmasterII, it can't be converted) like mt baitcasters.

The Cardinal 800 series also has a very nice feature for an inexpensive reel, a bearing under the spool.  Most reels only have a shim, Daiwa Japan sells one as a drag upgrade @ $20.00.  It's a great performance upgrade @ $20.00.  It's super for free.

On the other hand, what I didn't like about the Cardinal 800s was the bail didn't flip to 180*, only to about 90*.  I was always afraid it would close mid-cast.

  • Super User

The 800 series has two bearings on the spool, as far as mid closing of the bail, I have 3 of them it's never happened.  My 804 is my #1 snook/tarpon outfit, gets my favor over both my stradic and my cabo of the same size, this outfit never leaves my car, it's always with me.

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