# Shimano Stella reels



## TC (Oct 21, 2002)

Man- I tried one of these the other day, wow what a fine piece of workmanship. The price is big, but man, what a smooth reel. I have one question, how do they hold up, i/e, small reel to big fish? Are the gears durable to with stand extreme light tackle fishing for big fish, not that I catch a lot of them. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks wise ones-
TC


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## rockhead (Nov 6, 2002)

where did you try it? duck inn.


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

A Stella shoould have nooo prooblem foooorm the repooorts I have gotten on them. Remember the drag fights the fish, if properly used the gears should be fine.


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## reelrebel18 (Oct 13, 2004)

this summer i brought a new shimano stradic 4000 and power pro 4 $160 and i kno what i'm doing 
wash after each trip 
lube after each trip
run light drag
never drop in sand 
new line every other trip

guess what 
that piece of junk
messed up on the first striper of the year (gears rounded off)
i will be buying a penn 4500ss tom. and would highly suggest penn over shimano
except in the case of tld's
i also don't like okumas and my dad is a wholesale distrubtr 4 them
hope this don't stur things (cause i kno alot of people like shimano)
put this is just my oppinion


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## BLOOD NOT (Mar 22, 2003)

whay in the world would you want to spend near 6 hundred dollars on a couple of extra ball bearings in some rinky dink a$$ spinning reel?? boy have you lost your marbles- FYI this yeas penn SS series reels are going to have one way roller bearings for that solid instant anti reverse. No im not talking about the slammer either ,, the new SS series.. save your money and get yourself a nice 8' 1 piece rod and a new penn, and still have a couple hundred to pay the bills. see ya out there
Jason


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## rattler (Jul 3, 2004)

got a fin-nor lite..on a 2$ eagle claw 2pc. rod..no problems...12lb iron silk..35$ total...cast like a dream and will get the fish


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

reelrebel18 said:


> this summer i brought a new shimano stradic 4000 4 $160 and i kno what i'm doing


What I want to know is where you spent $160. Cuz I wont shop there. I got mine for half that including the rod. And BTW I fish mine hard and do little maint. Which includes dunkings while fishing CBBT last year and a lil rinse off and it still works as great today as the day I bought it.


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

reelrebel18 I concur with Cdog. My Stradic has worked just fine with several dunkings and I have only cleaned and lubed it twice in the several years I have had it. Most striped gears occur from over tightening the drag. Since these are not wenches nor are they ment to be. Your reel should be under warranty so if it is a manufactoring defect Shimano will fix or replace it for you, so with the care you described you should send it in.


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## rockhead (Nov 6, 2002)

I wasnt trying to be a smartass, I just wondered if you were the guy I let use my stella on thurs night at the lesner. As far as I'm concerned they are great. I treat mine like crap, drop in sand, drop in water, drop on rocks, and only lube once since I bought it. .... and it works flawlessly time and time again. there is a huge difference between the stella and the stradic. I showed it to another guy at rudee, he made a couple of cast with it, a month or two later I see him again with his new stella. If I could have afforded it I would have got a saltiga though!


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## TC (Oct 21, 2002)

Yep, the price is steep, but man, it was smooth. I don't l;ike the penn 4500 SS, it has a anti reverse that gives out after a year of heavy fishn. I am not about to buy one of the more expensive reels after reading your guys replies. You made a lot of since, yes it was at duck inn rockhead. I guess I'll stick with Daiwa Regals, in my range, and who gives a tinker if they crap out, cheap to replace.
THX dudes-  TC


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## Kenmefish (Apr 21, 2000)

Reelrebel

I hope you can take a joke. If you paid $160 for a stradic 4000, it becomes a question as to weather you know what you are doing.
It's like a friend of mind who went to Atlantic City with his wife. They went separate ways and when they saw each other again, he asked, how are you doing? She said, I've lost $500. He starts raising cain and she says, well, how are you doing? He comes back with, I've lost $5000, but I know what I'm doing.
  

Tight lines...

Ken


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## reelrebel18 (Oct 13, 2004)

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...e=index&rid=&cmCat=MainCatcat20166&hasJS=true

if u check the price and then add power pro to it with no backing u would come up with about $165 so tom at light house hooked me up and gave me five dollars off

aslo if u want references as to my expierence level check
http://vbsf.ipbhost.com/index.php?
i'm surffisherman18

or u can check
http://www.fish307.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=23

i'm vbsurffisher18 there


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## Capt. Kim CG Ret (Sep 27, 2004)

*"got mine for half that including the rod."*

Who cares what RR18 paid for his Stradic. Inquiring minds want to know where we can get one with a rod for $80. Unless it is a knock-off like the Folex watches and Fokley, $80 is a steal. Can't even find them on Ebay that cheap.

I also agree that they do take some care and at least my 4000 frowns on being dunked in the wash. The sand makes a mess such that I have to disassemble it and clean each of the bearings individually. But mine is only ten years old, was made in Japan versus Thailand (don't know if Stradics are built there but a lot of Japanese reel manufacturers have gone there), does not have the ARB bearings, and has caught over 100 stripers up to about fifteen pounds in the surf and the bay. Gears look fine to me. Maybe I lucked out. I still like my Daiwa 1600SS better for $40 less.

I'd take it back to Lighthouse. Could be a defective housing that has the gears off-center. But you should have noticed that when you tried to crank it.


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

*Wasn't a fair comparison*

I got mine on sale at BPS when they first opened and had some very sweet deals.


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## reelrebel18 (Oct 13, 2004)

thats 4 shore


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## Adam (Feb 19, 2001)

You can by about 5 nice Daiwa Capricorns for the price of that Shimano Stella ...20# Fireline and a Capricorn 3500 is a beautiful match.


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## TC (Oct 21, 2002)

Thanks for the support, and all of your experience matters to me. Thanks for the friendly replies and I hope to see you all at the ...well... tackle shop or the surf. Prolly gonna not get a Stella, but it was smooth.
P.S. Can anyone recommend a nice 8' medium heavy one piece graphite rod in the $ 100 price range?
Th-naks
TC


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## Fishman (Apr 23, 2000)

Check out these Diawa reels. I have two of the 4000 series and one of the 2500 series and love them to death. I own a shimano sahara 4000 and slod all my ss series Penns. I prefer to fish with the Diawas.

http://www.daiwa.com/tackle/reels/spin-fw/la/index.html


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## ccc6588 (Jun 20, 2003)

$500 plus reel is a bit too pricey for me. Some of the most expensive Shimano reels also have an extremely high gear ratio. 

My experience with high gear ratio Shimano reels have been terrible. I had several old Shimano Spheros reels. These looked beautiful. But, the first time I had big fish on the 5000 model and the 3000 model, the gears gave out (Sting Rays). Not beefy enough, and the pressure on the gear puts it out of balance and ruins the entire reel. Had it happen twice. 

The unique thing about this reel was that it had an offsetting spool so the line on the spool was perfectly straight rather than an hour glass shape optimal for long casts.


I am still a Shimano man and own 2 baitrunners and 3 newer model Spheros (Gold/Black).

The Thunnus seemed to be more beefy and better priced. The gear ratios are a lot lower. For certain applications (fast fish), you need high gear ratio. My advice would be to fight the fish with the rod and not the reel. In other words, don't crank the reel with maximum pressure on rod. Pull in with rod and on the way down reel.

I would buy 2 to 3 Thunnus before buying one Stella. And if I really needed a high gear ratio reel, I would get 3 to 4 Stradic before 1 Stella. Too much risk like getting sand in it, fish running away with it, getting it stolen, etc.


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## ccc6588 (Jun 20, 2003)

Good deal on a good quality reel $40

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/cata...724&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=151-0-0&cmid=STB1

Shimano Thunnus

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/cata...arClassCode=1&hvarSubCode=2&hvarTarget=browse


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## reelrebel18 (Oct 13, 2004)

check out the knew ugly stik inshores under $40 and r pretty nice


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

I had a similar problem with my Stradic. Had to replace the bearings after a couple of seasons.

Got rid of it in favor of a Spheros (the Stradic was never intended as a salwater reel until a recent re-engineering of it hardened it for salt).

The Spheros is the way to go. Great reel, designed for saltwater. Not as many bearings and not quite as smooth as the Stradic, but it holds up very well and is perfect for plugging.


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## rockhead (Nov 6, 2002)

in regards to the shimano thunnus, I checked them out too, they are nice but EXTREMELY heavy.


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## BLOOD NOT (Mar 22, 2003)

HEY TC - check out the all star 1pc 9'footer that "croaker" has 4 sale right now in the classifieds on this board- jason


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## jay b (Dec 1, 2002)

TC, I recently had Tom at Oceans East 2 order me a 1 pc. 8' graphite Tica, rated for 1/2-2 oz. lures and 10-17 lb. test line. It's a great rod and throws 2 oz. with no problem. There's no doubt it'll do more, I just haven't tried yet. Only $60.00, I highly recomend it.


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## Lip Ripper (Dec 8, 2003)

if you dont want the gears to go on your spinner the main thing to do is DONT PUT BRAID ON IT!!! 
if you have a graphite rod and your using braid when you set the hook on a big fish all the stress goes to the gears because braid has no stretch and graphite is pretty stiff. i have made this mistake before and it can be a pricey one. some people dont believe me when i tell them, but i promise you the worst thing for your reel is braid even at low drag!


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