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Lets talk "Avet" Reels..... Mods? Performance? Whats the scoop on these babies?

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Awesome John

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All I know is that I have been drooling over these freeken things for over a year now...

 

locked on to the monitor like a zombie surfing through sites checking out prices performance specs features... etc etc...

 

They "look and sound like" they are fantastic..

Planetary gears, no maintainence, aircraft aluminum, CNC construction, 6 ball bearings lever drag.. blah blah blah... easy to get "aroused" over these sexy babbes...

But I have yet to hear fellow "seasoned" surfcaster turn and say "yes they are okey for us surf folks"..

 

Has anyone loaded these things up with good old mono and taken them out and cast them surf style?

 

I fugure they would be cool off a bridge or heavy jigs in deep water inlets... but what about good old surf casting? Blasting bait and big lures off the beach?

 

huh?

 

These thing are just too well made, beautiflly designed and low priced to ignore any longer...

 

I know I know we all dubbed these things boat reels since they came out... but we surf folks are a resourseful crafy lot of sneaky buggers... I am sure some crafty anglers out there have worked out some magnets or custom adjustments that make these things sing on the beach...

 

Come on come on.... we are all dieing to know..

How did you do it? What model? what oil? What thingamajig? What casting technique?

 

What line?

 

These reels are too awesome to have not been fully taken advantage of by some of our "ingenious sharpies" out there.... (grandpa spill the beans)

 

come one come one... you gonna take it to the grave with ya? Give as a clue at least.... how did you get it work like a true surf reel?

 

Hmmmm?

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

The Horizon Calls..........
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AJ, I'm a wee bit skeptical of Avet reels for surfcasting. These are lever drags, and I don't see a need for one. I have never had a bass or bluefish strip any reel I've owned, or even get close. Sergio regularly whacks large roosters with spinning reels that aren't even as good, dragwise, as the best conventionals. Carolina shore fishers have used truck-mounted Senators to land sharks in excess of one ton. How much more drag do you need? There are two good stripped-reel stories on this board. (The others I recall didn't involve standard size surf tackle.) Ditch Jigger had something blast his spinner into an empty spool, probably a tuna; Alberto had some slower fish progressively empty his VS, a probable shark. Both topnotch anglers who know their tackle and were fishing braid, so we know these were good fish. That's only two stripped reel stories ... and both involving early VS reels that basically use a 704Z drag setup. There isn't ONE stripped-reel story that involves a standard surf conventional. Not a single one has ever been posted. (I'll start a separate thread to ask for one, just to see.) And if either Ditch or Crazy Al had been fishing a good conventional, they would have had a lot more drag power then their VS reels gave them. Those fish might have been landed. So, IMHO, surfcasters are not limited by the state of the art in drags in spinning or conventional reels. Second, I mistrust the ergonomics of twiddling an adustable drag each cast, every cast. There is no chance for operator error when I push a freespool lever on a surf conventional. It's ON or it's OFF, and even if the footing's squishy and I'm getting moved around by the wash a little, it's pretty goofproof. (The cast itself is subject to error, but the drag setting is not). A lever is adjustable through a broader range. You could easily set it short of the strike stop, or (better yet) lock up the drag. In the first case, you may not make a hookset that sticks a fish. In the second, you could break a fish off, and maybe lose the outfit if you get hit hard. Assume your fingers are a little cold and you're a little tired - normal enough, no? Avets are solid aluminum, they'll be cold to the touch and maybe a smidge slippy. Why invite more operator error? Now, let's talk about sand tolerance. There are one or two guys who surf fish here with ProGear reels; the first generation PGs were notoriously sniffy about maintanence. They are probably the closest thing, of the reels actually used by surfcasters on this board, to an Avet in terms of sand tolerance.

Can't fish a sand beach without sooner or later getting sand in the damn thing, can you? I can't. Could one of you PG beach guys please step into this thread with an update? And I don't believe there is any such thing as a maintenance free all aluminum reel. No such animal, period. ....gonna do a separate thread on reels I'd like to see, but an Avet on the beach? Why?

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"Planetary gears, no maintainence, aircraft aluminum, CNC construction, 6 ball bearings lever drag"

 

Planetary gears on 8:1 JX/LX models, not on any reel you are likely to buy.

 

no maintenance? no such thing

 

aircraft aluminum? since they don't dip aircrafts in saltwater, I don't care

 

CNC construction - that's cool

 

6 ball bearings - not in my SX's, maybe 3 or 4, I forget

 

lever drag - I like the ability to have a huge drag range; ie I can push the lever into strike to help stop those fishies from swimming where I don't want them to go.

 

Probably as useless on the sand as any conventional. 2 or 3 screw takedown on the SX.

 

9602.jpg

Your boy is going to be a big flop in Washington, and I can't wait till it happens.-Rocky Rhodes
Mccain is weak, lame and a poor choice for President-JimP
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So whaddya think of these??

 

http://www.accuratefishing.com/produ...p?Part=BTD665N

 

In 6 months they're introducing casting controls which can be retrofit to an older reel and in 2005 you'll be able to get it in levelwind.

I just wanta play everyday despite small nagging injuries --

and go home to a woman who appreciates how full of crap I truly am. ~ Crash Davis

 

Social Distancing since 1962

 

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Brian,

 

If I can get a higher level of performance out of a reel, get exceptional manufacturing quality, put it all in an absolutely gorgeous package, AND get it for the same price that I pay for a good "ordinary" reel, I have to take a hard look!

 

I've made comment of the lever drag issue of kicking the lever down to free but the lever clicks into detente's so you feel when you get it where you want it. It's only a problem if you use the preset knob to crank down your freespool. Then you lose your drag range. I've had the opposite problem on star drags gettting them out of freespool in odd positions. The big problem I have with stardrags is the inability to precisely control the drag when I really needed to during a fight, or having it too loose or tight at the strike. In addition I've also been close to spooled by kingfish and sharks on my stardrags but that's not a regular NorthEast issue.

 

As for sandy beaches, that's why I gave up on levelwinds. I haven't found a perfect beach reel yet, but until now the 6500 CTs and 525 were the best I've used (I prefer conventionals to spinners). Avets are even less mechanically complex than these stardrags so I would think they would be better on the sand.

 

 

I have reservations about the Avets and have posted my concerns elsewhere, but I bought one, checked it out, identified the pluses and minuses and then decided to see if I could address the minuses. The big one was the lack of freespool control. 3 magnets later that was totally controlled. No more birdsnests. Casts better than my 525 mag. Bottom line, the Avet SX looks to be the best all around reel I own at this time.

 

Even though you raise some good points, I think you overplayed he negatives and unfairly overlooked the positives (I understand this is a typical liberal foible wink.gif . I tried to take a balanced perspective and was pleased by what I found.

 

I try not to become too infactuated with material goods but this reel is something else. What a fantastic value. I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying one.

 

[ 12-18-2003, 12:29 AM: Message edited by: Santiago II ]

Laus Deo

 

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Triet,

 

The SX has 6BB also, ABEC 5's, shielded (in the 04 models)

 

Just looked at the schematics. You and AJ are absolutely right. Don't know what I was thinking.

Your boy is going to be a big flop in Washington, and I can't wait till it happens.-Rocky Rhodes
Mccain is weak, lame and a poor choice for President-JimP
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just got an avet sx new model. sealed bearings. cast control should be great. ill use it mainly for 6-8+bait with 80lb tufflineXP on a custom 1363M-2. ill find out in the spring how it handles.

i like lever drags. when a strike comes i can throw it into strike and KNOW how much im giving. if i ever do tie into a monster i can punch it all the way and not worry.

as far as sand, the avet's warranteed for 2 yrs. if it fails ill make sure they know asap. i think itll withstand a beating though. and is a 3 screw takedown, better than my spinning reels.

i plan to use this reel on boats as well. and it is a super high quality boat reel, to be sure. i used one and slayed the blues on a boat last month. and i have their 4/0W 2spd. that thing is a tank/ ive tested the drags to 40lbs+

mikeD
iskateforfun @ gmail dot com
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Hey, Nycman, when you've fished the Avet in the surf a bit, post us a report - experience beats speculation. If you're targeting sharks on bait, then I guess a lever's o.k. I have a strong preference to plugging, and AJ's a big darter guy himself; I'd hate to be twiddling a lever drag back and forth, detentes or no detentes. It occurs to me that a graphite lever might be a good deal more comfortable in cold weather, too, just as graphite bodies bite the fingers less as the air temps go down. Sudsy, Accurate makes some damn nice reels and I'll follow that hardware with interest, when it comes out. Santiago, do you really tweak the drag when a fish is on, while you're surfcasting? When I'm using a Mag 525 with braid (30 lb SS at the moment) I don't twiddle the drag at all. Stick the fish and come to Daddy .... and if you can find kingfish big enough to come close to spooling you in the surf, my hat's off to you. Most guys have to go offshore for those. "Liberal foible," aaarrghhh. Levelwinds haven't been a problem for me. My 7000 was good to me till stolen. The calcutta 400 has been good too, but the spool seems too small to keep up with a plug in a tumbling surf. I'm tempted by the 700TE, but it's too much money - the Mag 525 will be fine.

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I knew it!

 

I just knew it!

 

You take a driven obbsessed fanatic being such as a "Surfcaster" and then add the new presence of these snazzy Avet reels.... Ya figure that a few of us are bound "to figure out a way to get these reels to zoom on the beach"...

 

Hey Santiago II thanks for sharing and being the "first" caster on the board to "admit" that you worked it out on your Avet... smile.gif

 

Those reels were just begging customizing!!!!!

 

I bet you there are a few great mods out there in select circles for these reels.... its just a 2+2=4 thing... there are too high quality and cheap priced not to futz with biggrin.gif

 

3 mags ey Santiago II ?

 

You crafty angler wink.gif

 

So where did you put em? did you use the Radio shack mini rare earths that we all use on the Penn 525's of another magnet?

 

If you sont want to post it I will gladly accept a friendly PM lg_smile.gif

 

I bet you there are at least a dozen casters on the board with mods on these Avet reels blasting out rigs from the beach...

 

 

Briab thank you for your all your points that were well taken "but" I think canyondiver summed up wonderfully illogically complusion that many of us feel for these reels.. They are just to sexy not to "strip down and futz with" (ooops I know that there is a fruedian thing in there somewhere)

The Horizon Calls..........
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Hey sudsy those acurate reels are great but dont they cast like 4 times what an Avet costs?

 

by they way gentleman I dont own an Avet reel "yet" and am not affilated with the company.

 

I think they are owned by Armenians brothers and probably would get a big laugh out of having a Turk in the company. smile.gif

The Horizon Calls..........
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AJ,

 

No secrets here. At first =I didn't want to touch the reel but adventure won over common sense. Yeah I might void the warranty but I had to do it.

 

I never use the Radio Shack rare earth magnets. Too expensive and corrode easily. I have 1/4" and 1/2" chromed magnets you can get at several site that sell online (KJmagnets is one of the most convenient). I didn't want to use SS washers in a solid aluminum reel so I molded some plumbers epoxy putty into a a crescent, very thin, about 1.5 inches x 1/2 inch and stuck 4, 1/4" magnets into it. I removed two so there would be a depression if I wanted to put them back later. I cleaned out the bottom of the clicker side plate with a q-tip and acetone (nailpolish remover) and put in the putty and magnets at the 5 to 6 oclock position before it hardened. I put back one of the magnets for a total of 3 for the optimum cast control for me. 2 magnets worked ok too, most of the casters here would probably like it better that way. The putty holds great, solid as a rock, and is non-metallic. I put on some silicone to coat it in case a magnet shakes loose in the future. I would like to find a plastic that I can use to mount magnets in the future instead of the putty, but this will work for now.

 

Brian,

 

I usually fish with my drags light and then add more in the fight. I strike with my thumb on the spool. My 525 likes to loosen its drag when it's not cranked down. The kingfish and the shark were from a kayak but both were close enough to shore to have been caught surfcasting. The wind kept me from getting on them with the boat. The kingfish broke my terminal hardware near the bottom of the spool when I screwed it down really tight. The shark was in the keys on the flats. He just made a beeline for the open ocean at mach 2.

Laus Deo

 

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