Boat reel - shimano tld20 or penn senator 2

[Tricky Tree]

I'm due in the States shortly with work and I'm looking to purchase another reel. Both reels are priced at around the £80.00 mark so what would be the better buy? From the reviews I've read they both appear to be good value for money and reliable! The Senator reel I was looking at was the 114H2 model. I did purchase a Penn 320LD late last year but I'm still to use that one of the boat. I'm new to this game so any advice would be great, cheers Mike

[KeithB]

TLD all the way for me, but the 20 is a tad big, I'd go for a TLD15.

I got one from James Tackle is your #1 source for discount fishing tackle a while back when the pound was canny against the dollar worked out about £60 and I avoided paying duty.

[Tricky Tree]

Cheers for your prompt reply Keith.

[lingking]

TLD all the way for me, but the 20 is a tad big, I'd go for a TLD15.

I got one from James Tackle is your #1 source for discount fishing tackle a while back when the pound was canny against the dollar worked out about £60 and I avoided paying duty.

tld 15 wins it for me

[Kev1n]

I’d go for the 15 too, the 20 is much bigger than you need even for the deepest wrecks round here. There’s not much between the TLD15 and the 320LD in size; both are good reels suited to the fishing we do. The main difference is that the 320LD has a level wind, which is one less thing to think about when winching up a big fish but can catch loops of line when letting line out.
Whatever you choose, fill it with braid.

[Tricky Tree]

Cheers for the replies. I'm going to purchase the TD15 but I see they have a Star drag model and also a Lever drag model available in the States - could someone explain the difference to me? Thanks Mike

[Norman]

Mike,
Always go for a lever drag ..... the star drag sets the drag you want by turning the star so its basically set to your desired level all the time. You engage and/or release the spool by a click in lever (more of a switch than a lever) so you have drag off to free spool then click on and you have drag on ......... works fine but a little tricky to alter the drag setting (if ever a need to) when playing a fish ....

Alternatively a lever drag has a pre setting dial (similar to the star on a star drag) but the lever itself instead of simply switching the drag on or off can be pushed anywhere between off and on and therefore lets you play anywhere between the two extremes of no drag and full drag ie infinitely variable by the position of the lever.
Most lever drags (although infinitely variable positions) have a couple of click in positions giving you free spool when pulled fully back, fish reel in and fight on the first click position (about 2/3 of the way to full) then full (set by the drag dial) when you need to have it. (maybe when pulling through weed or similar).

Hope this helps.

by the way I have both TLD 15 and TLD 20 but never use the 20, it really is just a bit too big

norm

[Tricky Tree]

Cheers Norm, thanks for clarifying that for me, I'll get the TLD15.