Ice Fishing Reels vs Regular Mico Reels.

[LeXXington]

In this slushy time thought I would ask a odd question.

 

So there are small mico reels for ice fishing, yes they are small, some cheapish and have a few bearings..

 

What is the advantage of using one of these to say a, small "summer" micro reel?

 

Is it worth getting the ice combo's or just buying the ice rod then using a regular reel.

 

thanks

 

LeXX

[trapshooter]

In my experiences the reels that come with the ice combo's are of poor quality. If you're target is perch or panfish, they'll get the job done. However, if you're targeting something that might take some drag I'd recommend a better quality reel. I learned my lesson last year with the cheap, small ice combo reel. It's low capacity for line and poor drag system cost me a big fish. Why fish with good equipment in the summer and crap in the winter? I now have 2 1000 size Shimano Stradic's that do double duty - winter and summer, and they work great.

[Terry]

yeah for panfish they are the right size for the rod so it's balanced and work ok for panfish..

but they are hard to reel with gloves on

and are too small and the drag isn't good enough for bigger fish..

 

 

so for white or trout go bigger and better

[LeXXington]

Cool, I disliked one of the "ice Reels" that came with a combo so just added one of my summer mico reels instead. All worked well. The only issue I could think of would be the oil/ greese they use is not cold weather type and might freeze.

 

I think I will use my small regular reels from now on.

[tonyb]

You gotta watch on those smaller cheap reels. Especially if you are relying on the anti-reverse mechanism. I have seen that be the first thing to go in very cold temps, and when the fish makes a run the reel handle spins backwards un-controllably out of your hand

[carll2]

on my winter jigging rods i use my stradic and symetre,same ones i use in the summer and it works just fine

[addict]

unless your targeting large trout or monster pike those cheap 20 dollar combos will do the trick.ive got a couple and they work for me no need to go over board for many years i used homemade ice equip.and it worked well.caught pike up to 7lbs and walleye at 4lbs.walleye are like wet socks in summer and even more sluggish in winter.my old walleye ice rod was a wooden bone with 8lb mono take a piece of wood notch a v in both ends wrap some line around it u got a walleye jigger.the musky in my avatar was caught without a reel hand lined it.this is the beauty of ice fishing u can keep it pretty basic.

Edited January 7, 2008 by fishtat2

[bassman]

I can't stand the ice fishing micro reels. I bought a couple of smaller regular reels that double as panfish reels in the spring/summer.

 

These Abu's are cheap, reliable, and always in stock:

 

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...t=SearchResults