I bought one of the cheapies when they first came out and have never been to impressed with the whole idea of them. I don’t think the differences compare to open water cheap vs expensive reels do they? The whole idea seems to be no twist and no resistance so what can an expensive one have over the low priced ones, that would seem to rule out good drag systems and gears wouldn’t it?
What reel did you buy? I have eagle claw inlines and Tony roach that have identical guts. The only difference is aluminum spool vs plastic spool. The guts and drag are identical. I also have cgi inlines and black Betty 6061 that basically have identical guts only the 6061 is all aluminum vs the cgi being plastic. All of these can be drastically improved with a relube job and some drag work. Not to difficult. There are literally dozens of threads about how to tighten up and improve these inlines performance. I can say after tweaking them the difference from out of the box performance of significant!
After tweaking the Eagle Claw was there still significant improvement with the Black Betty which I think is close to $100 isn’t it? Why does aluminum vs plastic spool make any difference. I’m not arguing just trying to learn something. My friend Gary Roach just left, he brought me a couple of his Peek-A-Boo Ice Rods and now I have to put reels on them. They sure seem like a very nice rods for the price point category they are in. I’ve paid a lot more than these sell for in stores for a lot less of a rod in the past.
Maybe cheap stuff is just cookie cutter spool? Not turned on a CNC machine. Maybe cheap bearings or just plastic bushings.
The cgi is from #8 fishing, 6061 is from #13 fishing. They are sister companies. To be quite honest after I reworked my cgi’s they are very comparable to the 6061’s. The gears, guts, and bearings seem to be identical between them. The difference is the 6061 being machined aluminum vs plastic for the cgi. They both out perform the eagle claws head to head.
Bronzbak- can you share some links on how to tune up the CGIs?
If fishing bitter cold I would opt for plastic as it doesn’t transmit cold, I know, I know, cold doesn’t move so, rob the heat from your fingers. In a nice heated ice house I would prefer the aluminum. Having both may be a luxury, but relatively speaking I’ve spent a lot more on other things.
As Jeff B requested, does anyone have the links or a step by step on how to change out the drag on the CGI reels. It would be very helpful. Thanks.
I use my used half worn out fly reels, no need for much of a drag in winter (they palm drag so well) .Plastic spools are good. The loose reels have way less problems in the cold. No need to spend much for winter reels on walleye and northern’s, no bonefish in the lakes where I fish in winter through the ice. Fish safe.
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I own several CGI reels and my friends own several 6061 reels. To be honest there is vary little difference between them. The 6061 may be slightly smoother. But at a 3X higher price point I’m not sure it is worth the extra money.
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