sealines

First off- any issues may be due to HEAVY use. I have two issues- and I don’t know if there is a better reel out there.

1. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but it will- fireline has gotten wrapped inside the reel on the edge of the spool a few times with guests in the boat. There is no getting it out- it is lost line and a retie on the way-

2. Drag loosens itself at times while fighting quality fish leading to having to adjust while fighting fish.

Is #2 an adjustment I need to make to the real? Upgraded to sealines a few years ago from accudepth because drag was always whacked out and loosening. Sealines have been better but now I’m running into the drag issues. I have had guests in boat that had a fish on, then they get mad thinking the fish is gone, and then find out the fish is still there after I look at the reel while they are reeling. Can’t have that.

If anyone will know it will be here- thanks guys!

For #1 have you tightened the slop between the frame and spool?

For #2 I have noticed some star drags to be very loose and easy to move. Sometimes even knuckles bump them. When replacing look for a reel that has “clicks” the drag falls into. I want to say newer sealines are this way now.

It is very easy to bump the drag star and loosen the drag. My guess is that is what they are doing. I do it far more often when it is cold and I have gloves on.

#2 – agree with your observations and the star drag has not been bumped. The SG27LC’s that I have seem to have very little adjustment ‘space’ between almost free spool and locked down too tight. And I would say they have been heavily used too.
John Walters has the carbon fiber drag washer upgrade kits ordered for me as I type this reply and I am hoping that will resolve the drag issues.
I also have a Shimano Tekota (thanks kids!) and let me tell you the difference between that reel and the Sealines is like night and day.
barc

I do not know about your line issue, however I just got two brand new sealines last summer… I know that Daiwa totally re-made the drag in those reels and they now have a Carbon Fiber drag which is supposed to much more durable, I have yet to use mine. I will put them to the test this season. They have a black and orange/copper look to them now. Feels like a great reel so far.

Good luck fishin’

Jake

I have had similar concerns first hand and from customers. The sealines have been the gold standard for years. Perhaps just a phase or bad luck, but I have moved on to Tekotas as of 2 seasons ago. No issues so far.

I had some older Sealines with similar drag issues. With the newer ones, I have had none of those issues and I use the 27’s & 47’s a lot. Including for salmon fishing.

By the way, winter gloves will definitely contribute to the self loosening drag issue. Seen it to many times with clients.

As for the line going into the reel spool, I’ve never seen that happen. Sometimes when people get a little slack in the line, a loop of line will go down and around the nut head at the bottom of the line guide though. It’s easy to fix and recognize if you’ve seen this happen once or twice.

I ran into the line getting into the spool issue a couple times on accudepth reals. What I found was that the looser you have the spool tension, the more slop there was in the side to side movement of the spool. I have not had that issue with sealines though, only accudepths.

Every Sealine I own has had problems with not engaging the spool properly never had any of my Okumas do that. I am about ready to get rid of the
Sealines for this reason. I have pulled them apart and did a little work on them and it helped some but still many times I flip the lever and spool will not engage.

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I also have a Shimano Tekota (thanks kids!) and let me tell you the difference between that reel and the Sealines is like night and day.
barc

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They’re not cheap but the Tekotas make the Sealines look like toys in comparison. I’ve been phasing out all my Diawas over the last few years as I was seeing failures from Sealine 17 and 27 series reels after fairly limited use that I just couldn’t stomach any longer. To date the Tekotas have been flawless.

The 17’s in particular did have problems. I’ve never owned a Sealine 17 so can’t say much about them. But I know for a fact from reading past post on this very subject that many people who did own the 17’s had problems with them and that’s why I stayed away from that particular model.

I’ve run the 27’s and 47’s for years now with very few problems. The 27’s get used for walleye fishing only.

Some of my 47’s get used for pulling lead core when fishing walleyes and all my 47’s get used every year for salmon fishing. No complaints from me on the way they have performed.

No lost fish due to reel issues or the drag not performing properly and no line under the reel spool. I own at least 8 of the 47’s and didn’t hesitate to buy another one last week.

That’s not to say they will perform like a Tekota or Saltist. Those reels most definitely should be better since you pay almost twice as much for them.

If I could afford to buy all Shimano Tekota’s or Daiwa Saltist, I would definitely buy them. We all have fish with what our budget allows.

Yup it’s my 17s having issues, 47s have been flawless with lead core.