Shimano Reels

So being primarily a walleye fishermen I’ve equipped myself with many rods and reels for many different applications. I currently own 10 shimano 1000 series reels for walleyes. My brother and I were recently talking about our personal preferences with reel size, as he prefers the 2500 series for walleye fishing. My question is what size reel and why, and for what application would you switch between these sizes? We both fish purely braid between 8-20lb test.

For Braid either size works for me. For flouro I am gravitating to larger spooled reels due to its stiffness the larger diameter reels seem to create less coils for me. I to have many Shimano’s some are over 20 years old and still work just fine.

Mwal

2500’s for me for walleye fishing. Seem to have better casting distance for pitching with the bigger spool and less line coil for rigging. I used to use 1000’s for vertical fishing but have gone away from those as well. Drags seems to be a little quicker on response with a bigger spool. Also bigger reel is easier for me to use while wearing gloves in the spring.

Reel for me balances out the rod, so most mine are 25 or 30 bc can’t afford the expensive rods where a more heavier reel would counteract the weight. Even with nicer rods though it’s hard to beat a bigger spool for casting distance and ease of line falling off for rigging. Tell you just came off the lake and the BIL had a 66 ml with braid and smaller reel and I had my 7’ml triumph with 30 president and a 1/4oz jig I could outcast him with mono easily 50′, can’t set the hook worth a darn but still outfished bc I could reach em.

If it boils down to it if you can afford the more expensive reel with lighter properties and a bigger spool why not? Although my small purist on my pitching rod starting to really like bc of slower retrieve rate so in the end it’s more confusing….

As a custom rod builder I choose a 2500 size reel,for a few reasons..

1. Since I build a split grip style rods I can place the reel seat where I want it to balance out the rod with the reel of MY choice.
2. I like the drag system on my 2500 reels better
3. The bigger spool allows the mono to come off with a very minimum line twist
4. Amount of line you put on a 2500 spool
5. Amount of line retrieved per turn of the handle(6.0:1 ratio)
6. All my walleye rods are built with the same 2500 reel in mind

JMHO Jeff

The only place I use the 1000 size Shimanos is my panfish StCroix ultra lights and even there if I could get by with a 2500 I would prefer that for all the above reasons. For me and my StCroix`s Tournaments and Extremes the 2500 balances the rod better.

I’ve always been about overall weight and sensitivity versus bigger reels for perfectly balancing a rod. That’s just my two cents. I use symetre, Sedona, and sonara. So I can’t speak for the higher end models. I don’t have an issue with line twist, and have never ran out of line on a spool. But I have also never fished all day with anything bigger then a 1000 so I can’t honestly compare. Keep the opinions coming!

I used to have a lot of 1000 reels but have switched to 2500-3000 specifically for the bigger spool and less line twist. My favorite spinning reel is a Lew’s SS with the oversized spool (great with fluoro) but they are a little spendy too.

If you’re jigging straight down into medium/shallow water all day, a 1000 is fine, lighter and less fatigue.

I’ve been using the 1500 size the last couple of years with great results. They’re even holding up on numerous wipers, which will find any weakness in a reel. These are older reels (hence the 1500 size), and they perform very well.

2500 have a great drag and are the right size for most hands.

1000 are honestly to small and the drags and gears are not as durable as the bigger reels.

I just bought a new shimano rod and i like the rod outcome of it so far. The cost was $30. Pretty good quality for the price.