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Best Offshore Fishing Reels
There are several types of offshore fishing reels, and not one of them can handle all off shore fishing situations.
The best way to choose the right reel is to take into consideration the type of fishing you will be doing and the fish you are most likely going to be targeting.
Once you have an idea of those 2 things then you can start to choose a reel that will best suit these conditions.
Three Types of Reel
There are 3 types of reel that are commonly used for off shore fishing.
• Spinning Reel
• Overhead Reel
• Snapper Reel
Spinning Reels
Spinning reels are the most versatile of the 3 types as they can be used for most styles of fishing.
Whether you are casting baits or lures in schools of bait fish, jigging or bottom fishing for king fish or snapper, and trolling light to medium lures can all be done with a good quality spinning reel.
These reels are also suited to the beginner because you don’t have to guide the line back on the spool as you wind them or set them to keep it level and free from over spooling.
They are also more comfortable to operate because they hang from them bottom of the rod eliminating any side roll when winding in.
Overhead Reels
The overhead or conventional reel suits the situation if you are trolling or bottom fishing but do not work when casting is involved.
These reels come with a lever drag or a star drag system.
The lever drag is a on the side and can be pre set to go from free spooling to a set drag limit specifically for the line class you are using. This drag is easy to adjust on the go by pushing on for more drag or backing off for less.
The star drag is situated between the handle and the side of the reel and needs to be turned to increase or decrease drag.
Snapper Reel
The snapper reel is very similar to side cast reel or small deck winch that hangs from the bottom of the rod and is used purely for bottom fishing, the large spool size means more retrieval of line with each turn for when fishing deeper waters.
Most of these have a star drag on them, but it is also easy to manually add drag by simply using the palm of your hand to slow the reel down.
Best offshore fishing reels.
I would always suggest carrying more than one reel when travelling offshore to fish in case one of them breaks down, and having one or more of these types of reel will give you a greater variety of styles that you can fish.
If you’re a beginner or want to cover several styles of fishing and target a variety of fish then a good quality spinning reel would be the best option.