Saltwater reels (and rods?)... Charlie Brown sigh...

So, I am in the market for THE saltwater reel that will do it all (It slices! It dices!). By all, I mean, it will pull 60-100 lb halis and lings from the bottom of the briny depths, but wait! There's more! It will also double as a Southern Cali tuna/yellowtail rod when I head out out of San Pedro to San Clemente or beyond. It has to be under $300 (as I'd like to stay married to my wife for at LEAST a few more years until Salma Hayek comes a callin'), and it has to come in a left-handed model.

I searched the NWKA  and NCKA sites to see what people thought, but I wanted to see what your updated preferences are. AVETs, Accurate? Fathoms? Saltists? Newells? I know asking for just one reel and rod is a LOT to ask, but if you'd be so kind, INDULGE me...

Thank you in advance.

Fred "True" Trujillo

I've got avets, seigler, high end okuma, shimano you name it. The one that's held up to albacore tuna, up to 7-8' sturgeon, 100# halibut, big lings, etc... the best over the years for me is my Okuma Metaloid 5ii 2-speed. Go with the 5ii-size if you're bottom-fishing less than 300'-400', otherwise go up to the 12ii-size. If you can get away with the smaller size, absolutely do it. Maintenance has always been a breeze. Just hit with a freshwater hose after each use, and keep on going. I'm on year 4 with mine so far. Okuma's quality stuff is great. Their entry level stuff (coldwater, etc...) is, imho, garbage.

Smooth as butter (espy compared to my avets), super light tension with clicker on in freespool so even a lowly 'chovy can swim freely, drag is insane (you'll never need to max it out), and the two-speed is great for large fish.

I think they just eol'd these, unfortunately, but that the successor reel is nearly identical. YMMV. Looks like there's a few still around, though. If this is legit, this price is great. I think about $100 off msrp - https://www.roysbaitandtackle.com/shop/okuma-metaloid-lever-drag-reel/

Stay away from Fathoms. I had a buddy lose 3 of 4 in his first year due to internals blowing up, despite seemingly doing nothing wrong. I've heard great things about the Saltists but haven't tried em myself.

I decided to pull the trigger on the Metaloid as per your review, but I went with the 12iilx 2-speed model through West Marine. $209 on sale (regularly $299 - there's now 2 left). At 24 ounces it's about 10 ounces heavier than the 5iilx model. Should be here by the end of the month. I'm looking at putting 65 or 80 lb braid on the reel. We'll have to see how she handles in the spring as the fall ocean fishing window is quickly closing for me... Now the question is, what to choose regarding the rod...

Fred "True" Trujillo

I don't think you can go wrong with the Shimano Trevala line of rods, I've caught 6'+ sturgeon as well as rockfish, lingcod, yellowtail, and even a nice Chinook all on my medium weight Trevala rod, in my mind there's no better bang for your buck rod for Jigging and bottom presentations than the Trevala, although I am sure there are many options out there I don't think you will be displeased with the Trevala. I love it so much I purchased a second as a buddy rod when they were on sale several months ago.

I decided to pull the trigger on the Metaloid as per your review, but I went with the 12iilx 2-speed model through West Marine. $209 on sale (regularly $299 - there's now 2 left). At 24 ounces it's about 10 ounces heavier than the 5iilx model. Should be here by the end of the month. I'm looking at putting 65 or 80 lb braid on the reel. We'll have to see how she handles in the spring as the fall ocean fishing window is quickly closing for me... Now the question is, what to choose regarding the rod...

Fred "True" Trujillo

sweet! enjoy. you're gonna love it.

I think I will go with the Trevala... I can wait a couple of months for an after Christmas sale. I worry I'm going to love them both so much I'm going to go out and buy the Metaloid 5ii LX too. Well, I could do worse things with my money... (Starts bundling stripper singles...)

Fred "True" Trujillo

you wont regret the trevala... i have two of them and catch everything from lake trout to halibut. Took my medium heavy up to alaska and all the guys wanted one by the end of it. definitely a high quality nice rod for a great price.

I like the Trevala S (Green) over the regular grey rod. Lost mine last year but it was one the best rods I've owned. Heavy enough for dinos and halibut but light enough to make fighting rockfish fun. I believe I had the medium. When going for rocks and lings I paired it with a Tatula and for the bigger stuff I used a Revo Toro.

As others have echo'ed the Trevala is a fantastic rod.  I have a 7ft ML that I use for a variety of species.  While I bought it mostly for bottom fish, I have also caught multiple salmon on the troll plus 4 ft sturgeon.  To date its the most money I have spent on a rod, but I feel it is also the most versatile.      For your target species probably would need to step up to a medium which is a 6-6 rod I think.

I picked up a Daiwa Harrier jigging rod as a buddy rod/backup for the salt mostly.  Its in the same price class as the trevala but I am not sure if it is going to be quite as versatile.  Its a bit stiffer and definitely a faster action so my guess is it wouldnt be able to pull double duty as a salmon rod. 

Looks like the fishing gods have it in for me as I found a 6'3" 30-80lb test E Glass rod that I made back in '99 for a trip for Baja yellowtail. I actually got to use that but ended up using a 10' salmon rod as that stout little sucker and the Jigmaster was just too much for those fishies. The coincidental thing is I made the wraps in red and black in honor of my dad's old high school in Wilmington, CA - Banning High School where a lot of my cousins also went to, and the Metaloid I ended up getting was the red and black one that goes perfectly with that rod... #FredsFishingFashion

Fred "True" Trujillo

I don't think you can go wrong with the Shimano Trevala line of rods, I've caught 6'+ sturgeon as well as rockfish, lingcod, yellowtail, and even a nice Chinook all on my medium weight Trevala rod, in my mind there's no better bang for your buck rod for Jigging and bottom presentations than the Trevala, although I am sure there are many options out there I don't think you will be displeased with the Trevala. I love it so much I purchased a second as a buddy rod when they were on sale several months ago.

I love the Trevela, but it might be under gunned for the stuff he is after, maybe a good Calstar would be the ticket.

I've owned tons and tons of saltwater reels/rods.  Don't overthink it... the biggest halibut I've ever landed (a 90# fish caught while jigging rockfish outside Neah Bay) was landed on a Shimano salmon rod with a cheap Okuma Convector reel.

A two speed Avet or Accurate (I favor Accurate, probably an FX-2 in the 600 size) would be my suggestion (somewhat affordable, but built like tanks).  The two speed feature makes bait checks for deep water halibut less painful, and both of them have machined aluminum frames w/ lots of stainless steel in the guts.  For halibut, max drag pressure doesn't really matter, but for bluefin/yellowfin you want at least 22#.

A rod to do both halibut and big tuna is tougher.  For halibut, a short rod is better (easier to jig with a 3# weight attached to the other end, and easier to drag a big barn door up from 600' of water).  I like the Lamiglass BFC5610 for this, but it's only 5'6" and is utter crap for trying to cast or pitch bait with.  Would work fine in trolling applications.  Lamiglass makes 6'6" and 7'0" versions of this rod for casting and live bait... they are relatively affordable ($175 or so), so if you really want to do both types of fishing you might go with 1 reel + 2 different rods.

I have a whole fleet of Shimano Trevalas in my tuna gear.  They are awesome rods, but they are not what you want for this application.  They are designed with extremely soft tips/midsections in order to properly work a butterfly jig up through the water column.  They make some heavy models that can handle big tuna (I have one), but they are miserable for jigging halibut (when you try to lift a 2 or 3# lead ball, 1/2 of the rod will bend and the bait won't move on the bottom.)

Darn it,Fred. When you used Salma Hyak and comparison in the same sentence,  I immediately thought of Rachel Weiss and Gal Godot... not reels...

Glad to see you're happy with you choices .