absolute worst reel you ever owned

[amishfury]

so recently looking back at the gear i've had (prompted by recent purchases) i ended up remembering the most godawful reel i ever had...

i couldn't even begin to mention the model or brand (it might have been shakespeare) just that it was either red or blue (don't remember the color but am certain both were available to choose from when it was purchased) it was my first spinning reel... made with as few metal parts as possible held together with the cheapest plastic ever molded by chinese toddlers and featuring a bail that was nothing more than a bent piece of wire (not even joking... if the bail broke it could be replaced by bending a bit of coat hanger not like the bail would have been the part to break as it was the strongest component of this turd) i hope that some day i can find some form of photographic evidence of this reel so others can marvel at it's awfulness

how that thing never managed to put me off spinning reels all together i'll never know

[DBOULAIS]

A Pflueger Freespeed 1000, my first spinning reel. It had a painted spool that wore off almost immediately on the spool lip. It had gears like they were wooden pegs on a wind mill. When I got my first Mitchel 300, I was in heaven!

[H8R]

Quantum Energy, circa 1999. That thing has such inconsistent brakes!

[biggs]

Daiwa Megaforce

[IlliniDawg01]

Daiwa Megaforce

I have a Daiwa Megaforce Plus that I'm in a love/hate relationship with. It is pretty cheaply built with a graphite body and the cast button sticks a little, but it has a spool as good as the Zillion, fast retrieve, decent drag, and I LOVE the twitching bar for walleye jigging on fly in trips. Being able to fish with one hand while controlling the motor while backtrolling with the other is great. I bought a Viento I liked it so much, but the Viento is only much better in build quality. The slower gear ratio, fixed inductor, and shorter handle spin time are all downgrades. I used the all the bearings, swept handle with removable knobs, and metal drag star to upgrade a classic TD-S, so that was a nice bonus.

Worst reel for me was an old Abumatic Spincast reel. I could not find line that would cast without binding up in the thing. Blessing in disguise though because it got me into baitcasters at age 13.

DaveJ

[lape0019]

Pflueger President...

I used to get winding knots constantly and the lines would catch on the guides alot as well. As for breaking, it still works, I just do not fish it anymore. It has been handed down to my son who uses it for sitefishing panfish.

[ScoobyDoo]

Zeebaas ZX 25 and 27 Second generation....well documented on other message boards.....overpriced pieces of junk.

[MondayMonkey]

Daiwa Megaforce

Dear god yes! Had a Megaforce plus and it was absolutely horrible. The clutch wouldn't engage or disengage properly and the twitch bar constantly locked the reel down completely. Other times the twitch bar would disengage and just flop around. Although I had a Pflueger Partriarch XT Spinner that was absolutely horrible it comes in a close second.

[MondayMonkey]

Pflueger President...

I used to get winding knots constantly and the lines would catch on the guides alot as well. As for breaking, it still works, I just do not fish it anymore. It has been handed down to my son who uses it for sitefishing panfish.

I actually had several President and President XT reels when I was in college I loved them. You had to be really careful what line you used because they loved to cause twist but they were beasts for me back then.

[StarTzar]

It was a Daiwa "something" can't remember the model.
What I do remember is tossing it overboard.

[raul]

I´ve got:

A Quantum which I don´t remember which model was, hell, even my cheaper Silstar was a much better reel than that piece of garbage. Consequence ----> Quantum may have done great improvements but why bother trying again when I can purchase Shimano and Daiwa ?

Abu Garcia Törno, nothing to add.

[Crappielimits]

Shakespeare's are pretty bad, but had some quantums that stink too! Wasn't much on the first Lews Lasers.

[njbasscat]

I bought a Silstar reel on a no name rod in my early 20's and used to fish for Stripers and Blues from the beach with it. The reel was plastic (they called it graphite) inside and out and seized up while a bluefish blitz was underway. Those cheap reels don't last too long in saltwater.

[Lawaia]

Shimano Corsair complete junk!

[MaxZmus]

Shimano Corsair complete junk!

Yep. Even Shimano knew that. That's why they offered the Corvalus (discontinued) as a free replacement. I sent mine in 2 years after they stopped the replacement and still got the replacement no questions asked.