tlapinski, I had a stella 4000 that I fished on my light tackle set up I had it matched up with a 7'9" G-loomis custom rod. All I can say is it was the best reel I have ever fished.
It was smooth, tough and the sweetest reel I ever had the pleasure of fishing. I did accidently dip it in the salt a few times and it did not affect the performance at all.
One thing also that I didn't see here in this post but I may have missed it, is that the reel maintenance manual that comes with the reel says to put 2 drops of oil in the little oil reserve hole on the underside of the reel every 3 or 4 times you fish it. So it could be that some of you may not have seen this and done the drops and that it why it may have been grinding on you or got stiff. I did this every few times out and fished it pretty hard and it never got stiff or ground on me at all, I used it for striper, blues, bonita and albies and it worked pissa!!! Boat and shore!!!!
The only down side was that last spring while we were out fishing the tri-state tournament for MSBA, I had a fish on, it was hooked in the tail with the teaser and the mouth with the lure. The fish rolled and the barb went right thru my thumb nail so I dropped the rod when I flinched and the fish took off with the whole setup, never to be found again. I was heart broken!!! I will own another one soon as now I have the stradic and it just isn't the same!!!!
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