Okuma Trio (20)

I know back when the Trio came out, a lot of people were questioning the strength because of the design of the neck. And anyone who hasn't seen it or doesn't know what I'm talking about, based just by looking at the design, those questions of strength were fair I think.

But I'm here to put those doubts to rest. A month or so ago, I decided to let a friend of mine take my Okuma Trio 20, because I had no real application to put it on, and he needed a few spares so he could spend more time fishing instead of swapping lures.

Well the other day, he took his son out fishing. After spending a few hours out on the water, he went to load the boat back on the trailer. He didn't notice that the reel, in one of the rod holders, was hanging out on the out side of the boat. He started to winch it in, and suddenly heard a very loud BANG, like a gunshot.

The reel was able to deform the 1/8 inch steel fender that the guide bars are welded to, and push that bar forward a good 6 inches before the neck snapped. I'd venture to say that bending that guide back to where it was took a good 100 pounds of force, and even then it still isn't straight. I wasn't just pushing it back, I was leaning into it, and I'm not a small guy. I really was scared I was going to break something, I was putting so much force into bending it back.

And I would say that this is also a pretty good endorsement for those cheap Scotty rod holders. I'm surprised they didn't break before the reel.