# Pflueger Supreme is falling apart. Going back to shimano, wanted some recommendations



## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

Title says it all, took my supreme out for some pond fishing yesterday and the damn thing is falling apart. Got a few stripped screws, the rotor is wobbly and the side plate popped off on a hard hook set a few months ago. Only used this thing for one season and it couldn't take the abuse, I have 20 dollar shimano reels that I've had for 10+ years with no maintenance. Love the performance of the Pflueger when it's working but I need something that can take a beating river fishing so I'm going back to Shimano.

My question is which reel out of their line up would you recommend? Honestly I'm torn between saving some money and getting a Sedona to hold me over until a little later this summer and then possibly buying a Saros or a Stradic FJ. What about the reels in between? Do they no longer come with a spare spool? Opinions very welcome, not afraid to hear about other reel companies either, it just seems like from the research I did over the last couple of days that no one is comparing to the durability of Shimano and that's my main concern at this point as I'm primarily fishing rivers and this thing is going to get beat to ****. I'm probably going to Gander Mountain and Bass Pro today after work to look at and possibly buy a reel.

Tight lines.


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

Seems like since Pure Fishing took over Shakespeare, the reels have been more troublesome.

I don't own any current model Shimanos to give a rec there, sorry. However, I do have a big collection (over 10, at least) of Shimanos that have served pretty well over the years. In general, I have had better luck with the Symmetre's over the Stradics.


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## FishKilla419 (Feb 22, 2008)

Shimanos are junk. I have a couple old stradics that are crap. Anti reverse in and out. Retrieve is rough.
My Fluger patriarch is the best reel I've ever owned. Followed closely by my daiwas. The newer higher end abu's are tough as nails.

Just read reg's post. Looks like I should have tried symetres. Lol
Here fishy fishy..


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## iLiveInTrees (Jun 29, 2010)

The siennas are very nice for.the money

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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

Does anyone have any experience with the Saros? I was interested in getting it as it is water sealed and about 40 bucks cheaper then the stradic.


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## walleye50 (Jan 10, 2011)

just bought a pflueger president few months ago and so far I love it,think I like it better than my shimanos .


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## danielwebster (Aug 22, 2009)

Funny how people have varying experiences with these items. I wonder if it is due to inconsistent manufacturing? I have had a Stradic for about 5 years now and love it. Had a Pflueger President break on the first trip. I returned it to Jays and they said they had seen the same issue. They did give me a brand new replacement.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

ogie said:


> Does anyone have any experience with the Saros? I was interested in getting it as it is water sealed and about 40 bucks cheaper then the stradic.


I have lots of Shimano reels of all models except the over priced Stella. My favorite is a 14 year old Sustain. Out of all these reels, the one I dislike most is the Saros but I still gill and trout fish bait with it. I bought it because they claimed it was great for casting. Maybe its the 9' rod I use it on, but I have cheaper reels I like better and overall I am disappointed. I walleye fish with a friend who has 4-5 newer designed Stradics on his boat. The old ones sucked real bad because of some purchased part problem and the company replaced them for him at a small cost($50 if I recall correctly) because they quit stocking some of the parts for them. The new ones perform as well as my more expensive Sustain and that is the reel I will big when I buy one next.


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## -Axiom- (Jul 24, 2010)

ogie said:


> Does anyone have any experience with the Saros? I was interested in getting it as it is water sealed and about 40 bucks cheaper then the stradic.


 I've had a 1000 size for the last 5 yrs and it's been and still is perfect.
It gets used regularly.


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## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

walleye50 said:


> just bought a pflueger president few months ago and so far I love it,think I like it better than my shimanos .


I've used one hard for 5 years now and just switch spools based on specie and it's held up great. Walleye to salmon no sweat.


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

6Speed said:


> I have lots of Shimano reels of all models except the over priced Stella. My favorite is a 14 year old Sustain. Out of all these reels, the one I dislike most is the Saros but I still gill and trout fish bait with it. I bought it because they claimed it was great for casting. Maybe its the 9' rod I use it on, but I have cheaper reels I like better and overall I am disappointed. I walleye fish with a friend who has 4-5 newer designed Stradics on his boat. The old ones sucked real bad because of some purchased part problem and the company replaced them for him at a small cost($50 if I recall correctly) because they quit stocking some of the parts for them. The new ones perform as well as my more expensive Sustain and that is the reel I will big when I buy one next.


I hear you on the Sustain, very, very nice reel. One regret I have was not pulling the trigger on picking up a TwinPower when they were relatively affordable. I did get a chance to spin one when a buddy of mine had one. He still contends it was the nicest spinning reel he ever handled, and this is a guy who typically buys the top of the line (Stellas, Steez's, Branzino's, etc)


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## sfw1960 (Apr 7, 2002)

FishKilla419 said:


> Shimanos are junk. I have a couple old stradics that are crap. Anti reverse in and out. Retrieve is rough.
> My Fluger patriarch is the best reel I've ever owned. Followed closely by my daiwas. The newer higher end abu's are tough as nails.
> 
> Just read reg's post. Looks like I should have tried symetres. Lol
> Here fishy fishy..


I have 3 SpeedMaster 2500's that are 20+ years old, I currently run a few AX/TX on ice rods - I own 8 Spirex 2000/2500 and the 2000's are 2004 models. I think we have 3 or 4 Syncopates and Burksee owns a Symetre I ran for about 7-10 years and he's still using it.
I also have a few Citica bait casters, a few Cabela's MG, Daiwa, Okuma, Silstar, Mitchell and I _had_ two Garcia's that fell apart within 2 years. 
I even bought a few Quantums B/C they should be good ice reels for $15.
ANYTHING Pure Fishing *grunts *out - is _always _questionable IMO and I'm not the first to go buy their "new" imported "stuff"....
REG is spot on with PF taking over snakes***, er... I mean Shakespeare... :lol:

FWIW- I PM my own reels - so that may lead to longevity when you TAKE CARE of them.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

sfw1960 said:


> I also have a few Citica bait casters


You don't happen to have a 201E for sale, do ya? :evil:


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## sfw1960 (Apr 7, 2002)

diztortion said:


> You don't happen to have a 201E for sale, do ya? :evil:


Sorry Diz, I'm a righty.....:evil:


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## raisinrat (Feb 9, 2006)

ogie said:


> Title says it all, took my supreme out for some pond fishing yesterday and the damn thing is falling apart. Got a few stripped screws, the rotor is wobbly and the side plate popped off on a hard hook set a few months ago. Only used this thing for one season and it couldn't take the abuse, I have 20 dollar shimano reels that I've had for 10+ years with no maintenance. Love the performance of the Pflueger when it's working but I need something that can take a beating river fishing so I'm going back to Shimano.
> 
> My question is which reel out of their line up would you recommend? Honestly I'm torn between saving some money and getting a Sedona to hold me over until a little later this summer and then possibly buying a Saros or a Stradic FJ. What about the reels in between? Do they no longer come with a spare spool? Opinions very welcome, not afraid to hear about other reel companies either, it just seems like from the research I did over the last couple of days that no one is comparing to the durability of Shimano and that's my main concern at this point as I'm primarily fishing rivers and this thing is going to get beat to ****. I'm probably going to Gander Mountain and Bass Pro today after work to look at and possibly buy a reel.
> 
> Tight lines.


Not a fan of Saros I would buy a Symetre FL before that reel. If you want to save a little more money look at the Sahara FE(This years Sahara is Sick). If you want to go up a above the Symetre I would check out the Stradic CI4. If you want to save a lot of money right now you can't beat the Sienna FD it is the best reel I have seen in that price point.

I have tried many other brands of reels and if I am looking at brands has a whole on the spinning reel side of things Shimano continues to be head and shoulders over everyone else in my opinion.

We have many of the above mentioned reel in our case for you to check out if you want to swing on by the shop while you shopping around. I would be more then happy to answer any questions you may have also.


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## eye fishing (Jan 9, 2012)

Wow I love my pflugers always bought the lower dollar models but my first is over 10 years a trion I believe thinking I've purchased 7 currently and haven't had an issue with any of them

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## Phoolish (Aug 17, 2011)

sorry for derailing but what size would u suggest for trout. I picked up a shimano for salmon and loved it.


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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

shimano are very nice reeels the one you may want to look at is mitchel reel i was suprized my self but i got one 300xe at wall marts for steel / salmon tried it out dang thing is way better then my pfluger trion's and quantum optix and better then my abu cardinal 401i that i had fall apart if your at bass pro pick one up in you hand and see what you think of it. i thinking the 310xge i think is the size you need it the smaller one. the one i got feel solid like a tank it the 300xe. the difference between the xe and the xge is spool color and a bearing or two. and it is a ten dollar difference about if i had the choice i would go with the xge but xe is a very good reel i got too. have had the shimano ir 2500 to 4000r 's and they still preform flawless probably 15-20 years old but still have them. and a diawa regal that is for small pan fish that i do not care fore that much any ways i bought another mitchel i like them that much any ways best of luck to you hope this help you think about it ....


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## The RodFather (Apr 5, 2013)

I buy Shimano Sonora reels ($59) for every rod that I don't put a "high end" reel on. I have 4 or 5 of them, with nothing bad to report. As a matter of fact, I recently bought the new quantum smoke ($170) and to be honest, I like the $60 shimano better... It's a great reel for the money, and has been bulletproof. I also river fish about 80% of the time, and my reels get a lot of abuse. Now put it up against a patriarch or stradic... That's a whole different ball game. 


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## ogie (Dec 31, 2011)

Well, walked into BassPro and didn't walk out with a Shimano. Kind of surprised myself with that one but after looking over the reels with the salesman I picked up one of these bad boys:

[URL="Penn Fierce]http://www.basspro.com/Penn-Fierce-Saltwater-Spinning-Reels/product/10209996/[/URL]

Just felt way more solid then all of the other reels I was trying out. It's a little heavier but I'm using it on a 10 foot rod anyways so no big loss.


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