Post
by buster 2900 » Tue Sep 10, 2013 4:31 am
Okay, I will try to explain the reason for my referring to the Calcutta D as 'junk’. First off, the reel as such is not junk. It performs very well, as well or better than the TE reels. The problem is reel access. This is real. And it is a major issue. I’ll quote again from Tackle Tour’s 11/4/12 preview of the reel, “A Question of Access in Shimano’s New Calcutta”:
“…while there is no doubt there are some innovation implemented on the new reel there are also questionable design decisions which definitely impact anglers.”
Those design decisions involve reel access, as the title of the Preview would indicate.
I fish on inshore saltwater. Reel maintenance is critical after every use. If saltwater is left inside a reel, that reel is eventually doomed. Hooks, for instance, that are not rinsed with fresh water after use are often severely corroded by the next morning. (Here in South Texas, the inshore bays are subject to high salinity levels as the result of extreme drought which has severely diminished the normal flow of freshwater from rivers into the bays.) To perform routine maintenance of the spool, the spool bearings, the shaft or exposed parts of the reel most subject to corrosion, or even to adjust the brakes, it is necessary on the Calcutta D to remove three panhead screws and take the reel apart. The reel is very tight, and it is necessary to forcefully pull on the handle and rock it back and forth to pry the two sides apart. Doing so with the force necessary doesn’t feel like it could be good for the reel. When the reel finally does come apart, it does so with a vengeance, in the way two things tightly held together suddenly break loose when enough force is applied. They fly apart, and the spool can fall out. Ding the lip of a spool, and it is toast. The reel has possibly the worst design of any quality round baitcast reel of the modern era.
I wasn’t willing to take the reel apart after every use, but I did so several times initially while adjusting for the best brake-pin setting. Each time I opened the reel, there was a pool of saltwater, sand, grit and lube on the bottom of one or both sideplates. There is no drain hole on the non-handle side of the reel, and the pool of liquid did not drain through the hole on the handle side. This was likely due to its high viscosity after sloshing around on the lubed internal parts of the reel. I had never seen this on a TE reel. I don't wade-fish and the reel had never been exposed to saltwater spray.
If memory serves, the Calcutta DC was the last TE model introduced. It has three panhead screws identical to those of the Calcutta D. It is also a TE reel without a thumbscrew. There is a panhead screw that releases a removable sideplate. The reels are virtually identical in color. The internal parts of the two reels could hardly be more different, but the design influence is apparent.
I quit using this reel after three weeks due to its major design issues. The reel is not, in my opinion, appropriate for saltwater use. It is in that sense that the reel is, for me, ‘junk’. I cannot use it. I'm not willing to deliberately ruin a $369 reel—to turn it into actual junk. There was already irreversible discoloration on a part that interfaces with the right sideplate and below the pools of liquid I found on the sideplate. Rather than ruin this expensive reel I will find some useful purpose for it, either by selling it or using it only occasionally when I am willing to take it apart afterword.
For anyone considering a round baitcast reel of similar size to the Calcutta 300 D, please first take a look at the Daiwa Luna 253. It has a magnetic brake that has an external adjustment with eleven different settings on the left sideplate. This sideplate is also removable and provides easy access to the reel for maintenance of the spool, spool bearings, etc. It has a much smoother retrieve than a Calcutta, and on the cast it will outdistance any standard Calcutta reel I’ve used, including the Calcutta 200 GT, and it is at least the equal of the 200 DC. It also holds a bit more line that the 300 D, is .5 of an ounce lighter and is far less expensive.
There is always the bright side, and in this instance it is that after many years as a loyal Shimano user, I have finally learned that there are other, and sometimes better, quality reels available.
