13 Fishings Tear Drop inline ice reel

Here we go again…

Specification details per 13 Fishing website:

The New Teardrop Ice Reel delivers everything Ice anglers asked 13 to design. A ultra sleek light composite body surrounds the narrow spool, and Japanese high spin bearings deliver even the lightest ice jigs to the bottom with ease. The push button thumb bar free spool release is easy to use and familiar for any angler that has fished open water. Instant anti-reverse, oversize line window to reduce ice build up, and a ridiculously smooth carbon drag system are all featured in this inline zero line twist design. Join the Teardrop Revolution!

Material: Composite Construction
Gear Ratio: 6.2:1
Drag: Carbon
Anti-Reverse: Instant Stop
Total Bearings: 8BB including 2 Japanese High Spin Spool Bearings
Design: Teardrop Shape

You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

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You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

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Yeap its pricey alright at $109

But if its quality and does what it supposed to it’ll be worth it. Still cheaper then my open water spinning reels and baitcasters.

The drag and gear assembly look like they belong on a muskie reel. appears to be too bulky to me.

Wouldnt mind seeing it mounted on top of the fishing pole but that would mean redesigning a lot of fishing poles.

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Wouldnt mind seeing it mounted on top of the fishing pole but that would mean redesigning a lot of fishing poles.

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You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

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Yeap its pricey alright at $109

But if its quality and does what it supposed to it’ll be worth it. Still cheaper then my open water spinning reels and baitcasters.

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The black Betty was $99 and wasn’t worth a crap unless I stripped it and did some machining work to it. Doubtful this one will be any different. 13 fishing needs to keep better tabs on its quality control.

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You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

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Yeap its pricey alright at $109

But if its quality and does what it supposed to it’ll be worth it. Still cheaper then my open water spinning reels and baitcasters.

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The black Betty was $99 and wasn’t worth a crap unless I stripped it and did some machining work to it. Doubtful this one will be any different. 13 fishing needs to keep better tabs on its quality control.

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As soon as the 6061 came out all we saw here was posts on how to tweak it, fix it and re-assemble it and lots of excuses from 13 fishing on why we should give them a pass. I won’t be sending even more money there way with this one.

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You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

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Yeap its pricey alright at $109

But if its quality and does what it supposed to it’ll be worth it. Still cheaper then my open water spinning reels and baitcasters.

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The black Betty was $99 and wasn’t worth a crap unless I stripped it and did some machining work to it. Doubtful this one will be any different. 13 fishing needs to keep better tabs on its quality control.

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The revamped version took care of the issues from what I was told. I have yet to put mine on to test it.

As for the Tear Drop, its been one of the harder secrets to keep. When I was shown the design photos a couple months ago, I knew it had to be kept quiet or else we would start seeing $15 dollar imitation plastic copies pop up everywhere, like what had happened last year with the 6061 design.

Jesus….aren’t we a bunch of whiners on here. Good thing none of our opinions mean squat, no company would attempt to do anything new.

I’m stoked. I hope the other companies are improving their offerings as well, I like all of this competition. Ends up being fun to play with all the new gear.

And, I agree, that plastic crap of a reel last year was a joke. Of course, I’m not of the age where good ol’ value is good enough for me. My generation tends to believe you get what you pay for. Probably why my EC lasted 8 seconds last year…

Interesting…..
I wonder what the weight is.

It will be interesting none the less to see how this reel shakes up. – QB

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Wouldnt mind seeing it mounted on top of the fishing pole but that would mean redesigning a lot of fishing poles.

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I would be shocked if they aren’t already designing one. Anyone know if they are planning on reducing the price on the 6061? Have they made any modifications to the 6061.

I am glad they are coming up with new ideas though.

So is this right hand retrieve only or you can change to left hand retrieve.

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So is this right hand retrieve only or you can change to left hand retrieve.

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You order either left or right hand retrieve. The 6061 looks like you will have to order lefty or righty also.

http://store.13fishing.com/c/ice_reels_inline_teardrop

http://store.13fishing.com/c/ice_reels_inline_black-betty-6061

I have heard that they have taken steps to improve this years 6061 also. A couple of things I can remember are the updated drag washer which really helped last season and they have also tightened up the movement in the reel to make it feel tighter.

As for the teardrop I am happy that there is somebody out there pushing the technology side of ice reels like Marcum is doing with flashers. And like any new technology it is going to be a higher end price for higher end technology.

As much as the 6061 changed the way I setup my gear I can’t wait to see what the teardrop does for me this year. I just can’t decide how many I “need”!

It looks like a cool deal. It appears to be a low-pro baitcaster flipped upside down. I bet it’s pretty smooth.

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It looks like a cool deal. It appears to be a low-pro baitcaster flipped upside down. I bet it’s pretty smooth.

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i asked about a worm gear and pawl a couple months ago, but was told it would freeze up from water/ice on the line pretty easily.

Just found out the new Teardrop will weigh at 6.9 oz. So right in there with the Shimano spinning reels.

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You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

---

Yeap its pricey alright at $109

But if its quality and does what it supposed to it’ll be worth it. Still cheaper then my open water spinning reels and baitcasters.

---

The black Betty was $99 and wasn’t worth a crap unless I stripped it and did some machining work to it. Doubtful this one will be any different. 13 fishing needs to keep better tabs on its quality control.

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The revamped version took care of the issues from what I was told. I have yet to put mine on to test it.

As for the Tear Drop, its been one of the harder secrets to keep. When I was shown the design photos a couple months ago, I knew it had to be kept quiet or else we would start seeing $15 dollar imitation plastic copies pop up everywhere, like what had happened last year with the 6061 design.

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Raft reels were around long before the 6061 hit the market last year.

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You forgot the probably ridiculous price.

---

Yeap its pricey alright at $109

But if its quality and does what it supposed to it’ll be worth it. Still cheaper then my open water spinning reels and baitcasters.

---

The black Betty was $99 and wasn’t worth a crap unless I stripped it and did some machining work to it. Doubtful this one will be any different. 13 fishing needs to keep better tabs on its quality control.

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The revamped version took care of the issues from what I was told. I have yet to put mine on to test it.

As for the Tear Drop, its been one of the harder secrets to keep. When I was shown the design photos a couple months ago, I knew it had to be kept quiet or else we would start seeing $15 dollar imitation plastic copies pop up everywhere, like what had happened last year with the 6061 design.

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Raft reels were around long before the 6061 hit the market last year.

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raft reels were around long before, you are correct. Your attempt to steal the thunder is duly noted. Please tell me how many times someone had tried to adapt that style of reel to ice fishing before 13 Fishing?

I am expecting you to post on the Vexilar threads next to let them know that their new offering of a digital depth display has already been around for years…..

For $109 to go out and catch panfish I think you are out of your mind to think this is reasonable and a good deal. If it is a inline reel that you want you can get decent ones for less.

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For $109 to go out and catch panfish I think you are out of your mind to think this is reasonable and a good deal. If it is a inline reel that you want you can get decent ones for less.

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i wouldnt consider it a good deal, it is what it is, either you pay to play or you dont play. as for finding decent ones for less, i don’t consider plastic imitations as decent. also, i wouldn’t limit this to panfish. The free spooling on this means you can get down to depths in a hurry, so fishing the bottom hugger walleyes in 51 feet of water will be a breeze dropping down to without any line twist….

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it is what it is, either you pay to play or you dont play.

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So if I don’t buy that reel I can’t go fishing? Or I just won’t have as much as if I did buy the reel?

Either way

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it is what it is, either you pay to play or you dont play.

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So if I don’t buy that reel I can’t go fishing? Or I just won’t have as much as if I did buy the reel?

Either way

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yup, banned from fishing forever! hahaha. nope, you just don’t get to use the reel. just like everything in life, nothing but sarcasm and bad advice is free.

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just like everything in life, nothing but sarcasm and bad advice is free.

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All I can say is after getting my mitts on one of these they are very impressive. I can see this reel changing a few things for those of us that are used to open water water baitcasters. First will be the way I like to hold my baitcaster will more than likely transfer over to this ice application. I’ve never been a pencil style grip kind of guy with a spinning reel but I can see that because of my normal hand position with a baitcaster that grip could change quickly. For those that are using a pencil grip this thing just feels right while in the hand. Second is the infinite drop speed adjustments. From wide open free spool to a controlled slow flutter through a suspended school I can see it having some definite strong suits over the traditional reels we’ve been stuck using. I can’t wait for ice to try this thing out.

CW

Nice to see some good old honest feedback.

Has anyone held one mounted to a rod? How is the balance? I had a 6061 last year and returned it due to the very noticeable uneven feel in the hand. Way more weight on handle side of reel.

Anyone heard when they’ll be available?