Bait runners

[tsubaki]

If ya'll have or buy any type of "bait runner" spinners, post what you think of them. Intriqued I bought two of them.

[Sean]

I have a shimano baitrunner 4500 for surf fishing, and love it. If I need to put the rod in holder I just click on the bait runner, or when eeling it comes in handy to let the bass take some line before crossing his eyes!

[tsubaki]

I accidentally bought a Cabelas Salt
Striker Bait feeder and a Okuma Bait feeder the same general size as the Shimano 3500 Bait Runner. (Being intoxicated, on the internet and curious didn't help matters.) I have yet to try them out.

[Airslot]

I've got a large Shimano, 4500? maybe thats 5 years old and I've never used it. I have a small Okuma Coronado? Baitrunner thats 3 or 4 years old and have plain old whooped on it, and its still in good shape. It's really the only spinner that I use. I'm a baitcaster guy at heart.

[willy]

Tsubaki you are going to be impressed, I have both the large and the small Okuma Bait runners and they are sweet and I have used them quite a bit from boat and especially surf the past two years. Held up as well as anything else I have owned. My friend Jeff (Maycraft) has the Shimano version and he has had it for four years no problem, loves it, especially for the surf.

[tsubaki]

Years ago I abandoned spinners in saltwater because of unreliable drag and no let the fish run capability. Seeing these about 6 months ago I bought them and are anxious to try them.

[handyman_special]

The new Quantum Cabo has a awsom drag, I love this reel and I also woop on it very hard

[Stinky_Hooker]

For the money the Okuma baitrunners arent bad reels. Those are the only Okumas I would buy though. All my other spinners are Penns. Of course I would stand by the Shimanos as well.

[phester]

I had a Shimano Baitrunner 6500 on a 10ft. St. Criox one piece, decent reel but it was to BIG and heavy. I threw the 6500 on a 10ft. Uglystick and sold it. Now I'm using a 10.5 StarRod w/ a Penn "liveliner" 5600. I love the reel, spooled w/ 30lb. fireline you can toss plugs for hours or just spike it, through on a chunk or an eel, click it in "baitrunner" mode an "let it happen captain" ;)

[turbinedoctor]

When I went out with Shore-Power this January I caught this rock with a Bait runner. It was the first time I ever used one and I fell in love with it. I beleive it was a Abu or shamano 4500.

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/albums/album132/44_inch_rock_1_11_07.sized.jpg

[phester]

I remember that pic. , nice fish!

[regidog]

I use Shimano Baitrunners on both my 7 and 11footer. Have had no problem with either in the last four years. Love that second drag great for surf fishing.

[turbinedoctor]

I did a little research and it was a Shamano 4500 that we were using.

[shore-power]

Yep we were fishing with 4500's that day. *I have tried a few different types of *spinning reels with the bait runner feature and the Shimano's are the best hands down. Stay away from the Okuma's. They are ok for mild use but the drags dont hold up. Even on the higher end ones (EPIXOR) the drags fail after multiple big fish runs. *I have 9 shimano bait runners, 3500's 4500's 6500's and two Shimano Thunnus reels and they just keep going and going.. *Dont waste time trying the others, go with the shimano reels. You might pay 20 or 30 dollars more but its worth it based on my own personal experiance.

[tsubaki]

Allright that's what I wanted to know. The Cabelas is a Okuma ripoff. I have wore out ABU 5500 & 6500 and wanted to switch to spinning again. I guess Shimano is the only way to go. Some reason (in a drunken stooper) I rationalised that two reels that cost $120 was better than 1 reel that cost $100.

[BuilderFL]

Check out this link for info on regular maintenance, the key to long life and dependable performance of any reel.

http://www.stripersurf.com/shimanobaitrunner.html

[turbinedoctor]

Cool site, but I would take it to Seahawk and tell Mat to call me when it's ready. Too many moving parts for me.