medium/heavy level wind.

Hello again fish botherer's,

I'm looking to add a second overhead to my collection, the tld has been a great reel but the lack of level wind is a bit of an irritation for general bottom fishing purposes and while its a very handy reel to have i would like a more general purpose simple wind and forget reel.

Mostly fishing between 20-50M targeting the usual suspects such as snapper, turkey, reds and the the odd shark when the buggers don't get the hint. prefer to use mono so a good capacity is required and i would prefer a leaver drag.

budget is around $300

You will struggle to find a level wind, lever drag of any sort of real quality. Okuma make a few which may fit the bill, Shimano has the Charter special (probably a bit light on) and there are also stardrag options from Daiwa (saltist series), Shimano (tekota series) and Penn (GT300 series).

Level winds present a couple of issues when used on hard running fish from what I have seen. The first is making sure you keep your fingers out of the area where the level wind transits. I was with good mate of mine one day down at the Cathedrals live baiting for AJ's many moons ago. He fishes with a Penn GT330 using 50lb braid. A solid hookup ensued which resulted in a similar sound to that we have all experienced watching an Allianz insurance add on telly - only considerably louder and accompanied by a somewhat panicked facial expression. It took a few seconds to realize, primarily due to his incapability to vocalize anything besides "AAAAHHHHHHHHH", that he had managed to have his finger in just the right spot for the level wind to pin his finger against the reel frame. Fortunately for him, just as I reached for a knife, the fish generated enough power to totally destroy the level wind pawl - breaking the line in the process - braid is expensive after all. Of course I was totally sympathetic to his plight..........after ten to fifteen minutes when the uncontrollable laughter subsided.

The second issue I have experienced personally and becomes more of an issue as the reel increases in width. You need to make sure the level wind stays in sync with the line on the spool. If for any reason ( bust off, removal of reel for storage and the line is wound through the guide) the line is not in sync and a big fish takes a long run, you end up with the line on one side of the spool and the level wind on the other. Under heavy drag this has a real chance of either causing a bust off (had this happen with an ABU10 000) or damaging the mechanism.

Go the Shimano Charter Special.
It will hold 300m of 50 lb Fins and in the depth of water you're fishing, it is more than adequate. They are an awesome reel and punch well above their weight.
And, you can buy them from BCF for $149.
Tim

Well i'll bare the weaknesses in mind, I've always got the Tld for live bating and aiming for the larger fish, i just find it a real pain in the arse having to guide the line as you wind on each time, and while it's a very useful reel it is a little fiddly and therefore doesn't get used as much as it should. I'll check out the charter and compare it to the tokota i've seen about the place.
although by the sound of things i may need to add star drag into the mix just to maximise my options.

thanks guys.

Have a look at the okuma solterra level wind it has a much smoother and more powerful retrieve than the shimano charter special.

The Shimano Tekota range is what you need. Strong, reliable hold heaps of braid, and their drags have been upgraded recently.

Ive had a couple of them for 6 or more years now and while not a lever drag, their star drag system is excellent.

Perfect deep water reels, and the level wind has worked flawlessly.

My current pick of all the options in that price range is the Penn Fathom. The link below is well worth the read. They offer them in level wind.
I'd consider the 25 size for what you are wanting to do. I would however double check the mono size as that's still not a very big reel so you may need to go bigger again.

http://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/thr...r-drag.557549/