A Great Reel under $100

A few weeks ago we were encountering some big salmon in the harbor of Lake Michigan. After a lack-luster start to the season, I neglected to up-grade reels for the salmon run. Honestly till that point we really didn’t need to. Then, one particular morning we nearly were spooled by a possible twenty-plus pounder. It graciously saved us the embarrassment by snapping itself off on a sailboat mooring. But, that was my wake-up call. Time to get serious.

Going through my tackle, I was trying to decide what reel to change to. As my wife will attest to, I have quite a selection to choose from. Let’s face it, I have been fishing seriously for 35 years now and have accumulated quite a few. Some on the middle price range, but more recently most of them in the $130-$150 range. Space age materials, ball bearings on nearly everything that turns or spins. They are like fine Swiss watches these days.

So, what do I choose to challenge this year’s Chinook salmon? What one do I go to when I know it is going to have to keep up to the explosive runs or hold up to the stress from the long fight of a bull-dogging salmon. The new shiny 15 ball-bearing $150 model, right? Wrong!

I fall back to my old friend. My 22 year old Daiwa Tournament SS reels. It made me think as I spooled them up. This is a forgotten reel and it is still available today. They never changed the design since 1987. They got it right the first time and luckily the shiny-shoe guys at Daiwa didn’t get a brainstorm to change it to “make it better”. It’s as rock solid as any reel out there right now at half the price. In fact, back in 1987, when I fell in love with this reel, I was paying $99.99 (the tags are still on the box). Get this. They are available right now for $89.99. Besides rebuilt starters for 1990 Ford Rangers, what this valuable has actually gotten cheaper in the past 15 years!

The Daiwa Tournament SS was the first to introduce the “Long Cast” spool design which is practically standard equipment on all reels now. They feature a “Lifetime Bail Spring” which looks more like a ballpoint pen spring than the typical torsion spring on most reels. I do have to say that in 22 years I have never replaced a spring on any of five of these reels that I own. In that same time I probably replaced ten in my Penns which are pretty tough reels in their own right.

The SS features oversized drag washers which gives it very smooth drag reactions. The drag is what seems to fall short on other reels in this price range but not the SS. It has a silicon carbide line roller which doesn’t have a bearing in it but it has never failed to perform.

Last winter we took a trip to Florida and I took a little tackle along to fish the lake behind our house and also the piers in the gulf and ocean. I took two reels that I knew wouldn’t need service, and would hold up to whatever I would encounter. I never thought twice. I took two sizes of Tournament SS. One 1300 and one 1600 series. I ended up catching the biggest Bass of my life in the lake behind the house. I also caught hard fighting Jack Cravelle and the fastest fish I ever hooked, the Spanish Mackerel, off the Port Canaveral jetty. The reels preformed perfectly.

If you talk to a lot of anglers in their 50’s and 60’s and ask them what was the best spinning reel ever, most will tell you that it was the original black and white Zebco Cardinals. This era of fisherman hold these reels up against anything made today. These were popular before I started fishing seriously so I never owned one. I think that the Daiwa Tournament SS is my Cardinal. I don’t work for Daiwa or get comp’d any Daiwa reels. But dollar for dollar, I believe these reels, even after 22 years, are the best reel for under $100 and still going strong.

Till next time… tight line and smooth drags!