Hello Crazy Alberto,
Hope your winter is going well. I agree with you on the Newells. Have the 235 and 229 they are excellent casting reels, although noisy. As the commercial goes "they are the most corrosion resistant reels". It seems that you have to grease (white lithium) the spool axle otherwise those no-lub bearings (1997 on)will seize right on the shaft. I was using 3 in 1 red can on the spool axle (pinion). The grease doesn't seem to effect the cast much at all.
This past fall watched a fellow skish/ wade with a Penn 965 International, I wonder if the reel survived the punishment?
Why abuse a somewhat pricey reel like that?
My idea involves a Penn 155L or 209M with the levelwind removed, basically the same reel. The drags are the same as the Penn 500 Jigmaster, which are also the same set up as the Newells. Plain, inexpensive reels with %$%$%$%$ings instead of bearing s that are going to seize. If you rip one Penn down they are all basically the same design. I'll keep you posted on the results of my experiment. Hopefully I'll have something good to pass along.
Probably see you at a sweetwater spot.
Good Luck,
Steve:)

Anyone have any idea why a decent sealed reel has not been put on the market?


For the price of reels and the marketplace to sell them in, seems like one of these companies would have found a solution by now.

At this point, I am starting to lean towards the, buy cheap and replace as needed.

-IWK

holy cow iwk, you just wrote what i was thinking!! you'd think there would be an absolute "go to" reel when dunking is a must.

Iwanakeepa,
That's my line of reasoning. Go cheap and have fun!
No one has made a sealed conventional because there is such a small percentage of guys who enter the water with a reel and a still smaller group that uses a conventional to plug with. To give you an example there are four guys I know of on the South shore of long island that actually plug with a conventional reel. I am sure there are many more that chunk with them, but that is a different ball game all together. If the boat users found a need for a waterproof conventional it would have been done years ago.
The fact of the mater is the surf fisherman is a mere fart in a hurricane when it comes to the fishing populace. Even if they did make a sealed conventional it would be expensive and I probably wouldn't buy it if I had a reasonable alternative.
Good Luck,
Steve:)

Well, if you ever run into me, you'll know of 5 ;)

6! :D

uh, hello! make that 7. Democrat Point to to Shinny, it's mostly conventional for me. Can we say XRA 132-2? :hihi:

my one issue with this idea is the drag will still absorb saltwater and need to be changed after each time they are totally submerged. this is a big reason why i moved away from Penn Z's. unless you want to service your reel every time out, you need either a sealed drag or a drag un-affected by water. this is where the Avet comes in. as i stated earlier, their drag can be totally soaked and it still functions 100%. give the reel a quick fresh water soaking after each trip, and you are good to go. why use a bus-hing reel to prevent the reel from seizing, when your drag will still crap out? :huh:

tlapinski,
A Penn Z reel was used for this purpose before any sealed drag system reels came along. The original wetsuiters used these reels with the Ht-100 drag washers and never had a problem. If you open up a Penn conventional drag stack or Newell,you will see they are larger than the majority of spinner drag stacks and that's why the boat fisherman use them, because of their superior drag systems. I am sure the Avet is a well designed reel. I wish you the best with your Avet.
Good Luck,
Steve:)

i know the wetsuiters used to use the Z's until better, sealed drags came along. there may be more drag washers in the penn conventionals, but they will still absorb the water, then they dry, leave a crust of salt, which renders the drag crap. i lost a couple good fish to 706 drags sticking because i didn't remember to change the washers after the reel was totally submerged. sure, this was my fault for not tending my gear, but i would rather not have to deal with an uncertain drag. hell, i killed a pile of VS drags, so i have my issues with them any way.

let me know how your reel works out, as i am always interested in other options. like yourself, i throw conventional the vast majority of the time when plugging. when i am not dunking the reel, i throw 7xxx class abus.