Quote:
Originally Posted by SamSteele
So I’ve had a few trips using this reel for walleye and one trip for lakers. I have the reel spooled up with ice braid. I like it quite a bit for inside the tent/shack as you can free fall it without issue. You do need to kind of “feather” the drop with a finger on the spool so it doesn’t overspin. I was using 1/2 oz to 3/4 oz baits for lakers.
It doesn’t do very well outdoors with ice braid. I haven’t tried it with mono or fluoro, but it tends to freeze up on the spool so you need to pull the line out by hand which defeats the purpose of the Freefall design.
I will say that the drag works quite well. We caught 28” inch walleye, 36” inch pike, and 30” inch lake trout with it and no issues with the drag. Seems smooth.
Hope that helps for others considering them.
SS
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Good to know. I've had one of my Trick Shop Black Betty FreeFall's spools damaged in my rod case somehow. They're ok, but if I could do it over again I'd just keep buying Stradics/Vanfords, especially with the Vanford in a 500 series now. I do wish they'd go back to the folding handles like the CI4+ though. It's only a matter of time before I lose the handle to a $350 reel.
FWIW, my 2500 Vanford with braid was icing up last time out at Cold Lake as well. I think that's a function of the line more than the reel.