I am thinking about purchasing a shimano calcutta 700 levelwind reel. I was wondering if anyone out there has any opinions?experiences with the reel. also, if there are any other suggestions of a better reel that I should purchase or look into purchasing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and tight lines, Derek.

fantastic reels !! Only for surffishing you are better off with the 400 size levelwind reel.

I've heard that they are nice but I've never used one. I have recently started using a 7000CL Big Game Abu and am very happy with it. It's far superior to the old 7000C (bushing type, no bearings) that I had....

Unless your livelining or fliping 4oz jigs,all the above mentioned reels are simply to big! there is no need for reels that size.

You will cast further and have much better control with the smaller reels,not to mention the way your back will feel casting those behemouths all night.

The only other reason I would use those monstrosities is if I were chunking with large sinker and bait combinations,everything else is handeled just fine with a clcutta 400.penn 965 or abu 6500 bigame....Good luck.

Hey john, Im not picking a fight here and I dont how to use those "smiley" thingamajigs here.

I think your assesmant of the 7000C is wrong and off base,Those reels cast just as far as the bearing 7000C3. The other advantage of the bushing reels are that they can handle more abuse form saltwater getting in them,The bearing reels were extremely tempermental.We (joe and I) Changed the bearings to bushings in our 7000 reels for better reliability.I have used 7000 reels for many years and I know how much of a headache they can be,the drags would constantly fail when even the slightest water got in and, if your fishing right you are bound to take a wave or two.Thats why I stayed away from them for the past 6 years.Im sure they still use the same crappy drag they alwayes did and, have done nothing to seal it up better.Using the bushings was one less thing to worry about when there were a host of other problems with the abu reel's.

They may have changed,I dont know.From what I have seen they look the same.Shimano did a fantastic job with the calcutta,as did penn with the 965 and 955,They gave fisherman what they realy want for a change versus how "pretty a reel looks" or buying into the "cast to the moon craze" The worst has to be the 500 ball bearing deal!! all you need is two at the most at each end of the spool. All the newbies and techies,buy into that stuff,its the wrong thing to do.Fishing equipment should be "reliable" first and formost and, i'm sorry to say, abu-garcia is seriously lacking in that department.The second thing tackle should be is easy to maintain,ripping a reel down everyweek to change drags is not my idea of easy to maintain.My penn's and shimanos have NEVER had to be taken down for drag maintainence and, that says alot.

Shimano and penn kept it simple,made it stronger and more durable and have the best drags on the market bar none!!

I said it before,and I'll say it again. more fish are cast over,than cast too.....Look for a reel that can handle the test of time!!

Hey Bill, Also not trying to see who can piss furthest <img src="/Images/biggrin.gif"><!--e7-->... I realize you have alot more experience with the 7000 series ABUs - all I'm saying is IMO, that big game 7000 I got last month feels much nicer when casting than my 7000C did. Neither have had the test of time for me as the 7000C did not get used often and the big game I just got. That's what I base that on. I am in agreement that the bigger capacity reel is not really needed in most places up here. It's also nicer to toss the smaller reels all day long.... Hey, I'll call you later or tomorrow...see ya

Hey guys, I'm going to do some experimenting with various Penn washers to see whether they can be fitted to the 7000 size Abu. I found that the washers from a 704 spinning reel will fit the 6500BG I have, and they make the drag much more reliable--although, they haven't been tested on a fish yet. Hey, after all, I just swapped them yesterday and went and did about 50 test casts just to make sure everything was working right. I picked up the washers from the 113 and 114 Penn Senator, I figure, one of them might fit the 7000. Haven't had the time yet to take them apart. I'm talking about just the fiber washers here, and the best part is, the ones for the 704 only cost about 50 cents apiece. Keep the bottom washer in the stack as one of the original Abus, and then put the Penn washers towards the top. You'll notice a big difference as you pull line out.

The BG series reels do feel a lot more "solid" than the others. My Mag Elite doesn't feel as tight now as when it was new, but the BG 6500 is still solid. Like Bill, I never noticed a big difference in casting the red 7000 and the C3--if anything, my red 7000 casts better. The extra ball bearing in the C3 is really just a throw-away part. They have it in the drive train, and it does nothing to make the reel perform better.

Back to the original thread, unless you're going to use line heavier than 20# mono, the 400 Calcutta is all the reel you'll ever need. It also is durable, I'm in my third season with it, and Bill has been trying to kill his even longer<img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1--> The 700 size Calcutta is too wide. What Shimano needs is a reel between these two, but Penn beat them to it with the 975. If you think the Calcutta 400 is too small, take a look at the 975 before you decide, it might be just what you're looking for.

The people I know who use Calcuttas all have 400s and they seem to be adequate for most surf fishing duties. I don't know the minutae about either family of reels, but I am sure they are both good. I am happy with my ABU <img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1-->.

Derek, what reels do you fish with now??