Shimano Charter specials

[B-Faithful]

Think of switching my trolling gear over the winter to Shimano Charter Specials. Anyone running them?

[onefishnfool]

I have about 7 of them. I like them alot but if you are hooking into very large fish they don't seem to have enough drag, but I have boated fish up to 45" on them with no problem. We hooked into a fish about 2 years ago that even at full drag, strike was set at 20 lbs, the fish did not stop and almost spooled the reel before the line broke(40 lb mono).

[B-Faithful]

Tfunny you say that as I currently run all 330 gtis and they have a lot less drag than a charter special. The charter specials have like 22lbs at strike vs the 330gti which only has like 16lbs at strike. I was going to spool with 50lb braid. I currently run 30lb diamond line on all my reels and have boated fish to 48" .

Considering I dont use near the spool capacity of the 330s I thought it would be a perfect reel given the smoothness of the reel, its high drag, higher gear ratio, cost etc.

I appreciate your feedback!

Does anyone know if the star drag version of the reel holds as much drag as the lever drag version? I can get a good deal on them.

[B-Faithful]

nevermind, I was told that the charter special star drags are now called the tritons and they are not nearly as nice of a reel as the charter specials.

[onefishnfool]

The drags on the charter specials, as with any lever drag reel, can be adjusted to whatever you want. I have my strike set at 50% of line strength (40 lb mono) so if a fish pulls coming up to the boat there is give. At full, the drag is approx 110% of line strength. I don't know what the total drag (lbs) ability is. Never checked, but even 20 lbs, I feel is a lot for most fish in the bay. I like the lever drags because the ability to adjust the drags and knowing what stress you are putting on the line without guessing.

Paul

[B-Faithful]

when I update, I will go with the lever drags. Thanks for the feedback!

[knothard]

Originally Posted by B-Faithful

nevermind, I was told that the charter special star drags are now called the tritons and they are not nearly as nice of a reel as the charter specials.

Greg, charter specials have always been lever drag. Tritons were the old heavier offshore reels.They still make a TLD star drag though.

[jdimig]

Greg:
If you haven't already done so, consider upgrading the drags on your 330 gtis.

This modification makes a tremendous difference in the drag performance of this reel.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=10.0