Ice fishing reels

Over the last few years I’ve either broken or lost about 3 or 4 of my sienna 500 reels. It’s time for me to restock. I think they stopped making the sienna 500 or it’s not the same. What ice fishing reels do people like these days? Hoping to stay in that $30-50 range

I’ve got 4 like new Okuma Ceymar 10’s for sale in the classifieds.

KwickStick wrote:

I’ve got 4 like new Okuma Ceymar 10’s for sale in the classifieds.

I have 3 of these and really like them

There are plenty of previous ice fishing reel threads on this site that have been active the past two years. Also threads on winterizing reels with cold temperature lubricants and carbon fiber washers. I know because I read and reread many.

Sienna 500 is still made and available … places sell out because they are still popular.

About 3-4 years ago I jumped back into ice fishing (never really left, but other responsibilities kept me off the ice more often than not). I have shared on other threads my plan to upgrade most of my outdoor gear before I retire (still 5 years off I suppose) … anyways …

I have purchased 10 or so smaller ice fishing reels over the past two winters … a 13 brand in-line and the rest are spinning reels (multiple-Sienna 500s, multiple-Okuma Ceymars, Daiawa QR750, AbuGarcia Ice Max, 13, and a Pfluegger (came with a Fenwick rod). I have winterized most reels because over half of my ice fishing is outside of any type of shelter.

I would say that I am not disappointed in any. They all function as expected.

I use my in-line reel paired with a highly sensitive rod the most – crappies and other panfish. People I ice fish with (using my gear) have not had any problems with the reels above.

My Ceymars are on deadstick rods … I am thinking that I may put a Ceymar on a walleye jigging rod to test it out more.

The Abu Garcia Ice Max and Daiawa QR750 both have reel handles that fold in if that is important to you. There is another thread on this site that describes their quest to replace the handles on the Ceymar to a folding handle … again if that is one of your criteria for your new reels.

Tough to beat piscifun for the price

I have recently sold/traded out all of my Sienna’s and replaced with Daiwa QR750’s. Main criteria were quality, in the budget range you described, and folding reels handles. For me it makes things so much easier. I did find folding reel handles for the Okuma Baitfeeder’s (CBF-500), as well, so all of my reel handles fold in how. Standard cleaning and then re-lube/grease the reels before use and they continue to perform well for me. FYI, Glen’s had them for $24.99 recently and may still.

acarroline wrote:

I have recently sold/traded out all of my Sienna’s and replaced with Daiwa QR750’s. Main criteria were quality, in the budget range you described, and folding reels handles. For me it makes things so much easier. I did find folding reel handles for the Okuma Baitfeeder’s (CBF-500), as well, so all of my reel handles fold in how. Standard cleaning and then re-lube/grease the reels before use and they continue to perform well for me. FYI, Glen’s had them for $24.99 recently and may still.

Im in the same boat. Have slowly been transitioning from Sienna/Sedone/Sahara 500’s over to the Diawa QZ 750’s. All of them are great, I had just been a shimano guy for so long I thought it would be fun to try something different.

The red/blk siennas that are current model are still great, best place to find them is the mart of wally from what I have found, they always have one or two and have the best price. I encourage every one who buys them to swap out the drag disc for a carbon disc from Carbontex. Gets you a $70 class reel for sub $50 bucks.

Just bought some Diawa’s from Thorn Brothers they had the QG750 for $29 on sale. Nice reel for sure.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>KwickStick wrote:</div>
I’ve got 4 like new Okuma Ceymar 10’s for sale in the classifieds.

I have 3 of these and really like them

x3, love the C-10’s.

Have been satisfied with the basic Descent 13 reels. Have 3 and the drag is pretty smoothe. Have not tried the drag on fish much over 5# however. Maybe somebody else has more experience with the descent reels with larger fish…..

The okuma c10 has way too small of a spool in my opinion. It’s fine for braid but will cause some pretty bad coiling with mono.

I use both the Sienna 500s and Ceymar 10s, love them both. Also use Ceymar 500 with baitcaster which is awesome for deadstick. I recently picked up some scheels branded reels for the boys rods and have been impress with those too.

thanks all. ordered 2 500 sized and 1 1000 sized piscifun reels. never used them before but the specs look good. Was able to get them for $74 shipped too which was a great deal i thought

Link?

crappie55369 wrote:

thanks all. ordered 2 500 sized and 1 1000 sized piscifun reels. never used them before but the specs look good. Was able to get them for $74 shipped too which was a great deal i thought

I bought a couple of the Piscifun reels before last season, and I have to say, they are an outstanding value. I’m impressed. I plan to purchase a couple for open water now that I am confident in the brand.

This is the 500 size Piscifun ice fishing reel I purchased. After logging in to Amazon, I actually have two ice seasons on them now.

Piscifun 500 size reel

bigcrappie wrote:

Link?

i just went to their website and my Edge browswer popped up some current deals. https://www.piscifun.com/

coupon code BS50 got me buy 2 get 1 50% off and BS70 gets you buy 3 get 1 70% off. OR35 code gets you 35% off your order of $99 or more

I love my Ceymar’s but a folding handle would sure be nice for storing them in my rod case. I have Sienna’s also but the Ceymar is much smoother. JMO

I like running my 2500 size open water Daiwa’s. Bigger and Shallow spool for better line management and better drag.

I have been a life long shimano guy. Unfortunately they redid all their spinning reels a few years ago and they are not nearly as good. The new version of the sienna’s are junk IMO. Even their very high end reels aren’t what they used to be. Hopefully they don’t do this with their baitcasters as I really like their high end reels for Muskies.

After I gave up on shimano I have picked up a few okuma ceymar’s in the 20 and 30 size and I have been happy. 10’s were too small for me.

Does anyone have the both the Ceymar 10 size and the 20 size? Are the 20 size much bigger? It seems the 20 size might be more like most reel 1000 size? Guess what I’m asking are the 20’s too big for standard ice panfish rods?

Gerty wrote:

Does anyone have the both the Ceymar 10 size and the 20 size? Are the 20 size much bigger? It seems the 20 size might be more like most reel 1000 size?

Your correct, the 500 shimanos = the 10 size ceymar, the 1000 series = the 20 size.

I run the 20 size baitfeeders on my deadsticks, and had a few of the 10 size on jigging rods.