# Tica or Okuma reels?



## cotton (Mar 22, 2005)

Hello! I've watched this thread and just soaked in alot of valuable info...am new to surf fishing, but pier fished quite a bit before Ivan destroyed the Gulf Shores pier. I am struggling to adjust to surf and jetty fishing.

I've seen alot of info on Tica and Okuma rods...are their spinning reels also good? Which is better? How do they stack up with Shimano or Penn?

I know these are loaded questions, I've always used Penn's.. I have 3 706Z's and a 9500 and a 550. 

I am primarily interested in the baitrunner types.

Thanks very much for the valuable info.
Cotton


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*reels*

Cotton, I just started getting into surf fishing. I primarily fish jetties and piers where I live. I have 4 Okuma reels 2-5500's and 2-6500's. I did have two Shimano bait runners, 4500's. They both do the same thing and for the cost of a Shimano you can get two Okumas. The Okumas are sturdy and can take a real beating.


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## Orest (Jul 28, 2003)

*I have both*

But only my Okuma's have the bait runner feature, Tica did not have when I bought mine, Tica does now have it, they call it "Hit & Run".

Check out DigitalDagger.com or eBay. 

They are both fine reels, I find my Tica is a little smoother on the retrieval of line.


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## RoryGoggin (Jan 6, 2005)

Orest said:


> But only my Okuma's have the bait runner feature, Tica did not have when I bought mine, Tica does now have it, they call it "Hit & Run".
> 
> Check out DigitalDagger.com or eBay.
> 
> They are both fine reels, I find my Tica is a little smoother on the retrieval of line.


OK, I told you I was going to ask some stupid questions - here comes one now.

BTW, Welcome Cotton from another noobie, and I don't mean to hijack your thread but....

How does the bait runner feature work and how does that help, Orest?

We now return control of your thread to you, Cotton. - Rory in the twilight zone.


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## Espresso (Mar 18, 2005)

If you're familiar with using a casting reel, you can set it to free spool with the clicker. This is useful when using a fish finder rig if your rod is in the rod holder. With a bait runner, you can set your spinning reel to free spool with a clicker as well. Some spinning reels have a second drag once you set it on free spool. The drag would be set a lot lower but will at least allow you to notice a hit if you weren't able to hear the clicker. The free spool option is helpful when fishing for larger fish or using a fish finder rig. If you were to set your rod laying against the pier railings and a large fish was to take your hook, if you didn't have a bait runner set for free spool or didn't loosen your drag on a normal spinning reel, you will most likely see that rod go over the railings. Having a bait runner is useful since you can set your reel to the right drag to fight the fish and with a switch, set it to free spool after casting. You don't have to adjust and loosen the drag after each cast.


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## cotton (Mar 22, 2005)

While that's a good point Espresso, on the Gulf Coast they are typically used (as are manual 706 spinning reels) to "feed" bait back to the fish (usually for me, king mackeral) so you'll hook him; this is more typically needed when snobbling a dead cigar minnow. Without some way to feed line to your quarry, you'll usually miss a king, as they hit like a missile. Missing one is known as "choking him off", which causes extreme embarrassment.
Cotton


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