TackleTour

Ive used these things for years and they are like tanks....with all this talk about reels being relevant lately, whats everyones thoughts about these reels? they are getting a little older, are there many better cranking reels out there?? If so what reels would u suggest if i end up selling them? I have no complaints whatsover about these reels, except they are a little heavy and ive replaced the handles on them for a longer one....

Great reels, I still use mine all the time. Smooth retrieve and one of my best casters. Just need to watch body corrosion for saltwater use - I coat the insides of mine with soft corrosionx grease and still perfect after 4 years. The stock spool and frame bearings are all of excellent quality and last a long time if dipped in TSI 321.

I've owned the Calais CL-100A and the Antares AR and regret selling both of them.

Great reels!

Strewth wrote:Great reels, I still use mine all the time. Smooth retrieve and one of my best casters. Just need to watch body corrosion for saltwater use - I coat the insides of mine with soft corrosionx grease and still perfect after 4 years. The stock spool and frame bearings are all of excellent quality and last a long time if dipped in TSI 321.

How often do you dip your bearings, and do you dip the gears, too?

Twice a year, depending on use. Yes, I have recently started to coat all the drive/pinion gears on new reels as well, before lubing with Ace-2, Cals or ReelX Medium grease. Stops them from tarnishing in saltwater. Now also apply TSI directly to the worm gear and roller clutch bearing (CorrosionX oil also works well too).

Strewth wrote:Twice a year, depending on use. Yes, I have recently started to coat all the drive/pinion gears on new reels as well, before lubing with Ace-2, Cals or ReelX Medium grease. Stops them from tarnishing in saltwater. Now also apply TSI directly to the worm gear and roller clutch bearing (CorrosionX oil also works well too).

Thanks. I'll check it out.

I am still using at least 10 of my Calais' and have another 4 that I am keeping for when they may need to replace the older ones. Even though the newer models such as Metanium and Antares are more modern and lighter, I prefer the old Calais. They are perfect for many applications. Are strong as a tank, and as reliable as a Toyota !!

They are slightly heavier than newer offerings, but, I have no issues with that in my larger than average hands.

Best reel Shimano has made IMHO period...........!!!

Now you all have me thinking, might just keep my old Calais for awhile...

I had a Shimano Calais that I ended up selling. I have an Antares AR DC that I kept for spinner baits. Very smooth love this reel for casting spinnerbaits into the wind. The thing I don't like about the Calais and Antares is the short handles. I put a 102mm studio composite carbon fiber handle on it and problem fixed.

When I was bass club fishing, I had 8-10 100A's and AR's on the deck of my boat at all times. Regrettably, I sold or traded them all away when I stopped tourney fishing. Built like tanks and smooth as a baby's hiney!

Great reels! I had a gang of them at one time. Doing side by side comparisons, I slightly preferred the chronarch D5. Seemed to have a slight edge in smoothness, tolerances and casted a hair farther, and I liked the gear ratio better, but the Calais had more of the 'connected' feel. And I think it looks cooler.
But the differences are pretty negligible. Both reels are overbuilt A+ workhorses with exceptional ergonomics.
I never owned the jdm version Antares ar, but on hedgehog's site they say spools aren't interchangeable with Calais. I never varied that, and with talking to them I got the impression they didn't varifiy it themselves.
However, Thru tinkering, I figured out that the spools ARE interchangeable between the core 100/chronarch d/Calais 100 platforms.

Compared to the newer shimano reels... this is subjective, but... The ONLY new model from shimano I'd swap it for would be the conquest 100.

If you love your Antares and want to get better performance, I'd send it to Ian shields for a good cleaning & super tuning. Throw in a set of nice bearings, do a carbon fiber drag up grade, longer handle, maybe play with some jdm white brake pins, or the 4 pin brake thing, try some different spools (I didn't do enough thorough testing but remember liking the red core spool in it, though I never tried a yumeya spool), etc.

I always wished there was a way to drop faster or slower (brass) gears into the Calais 100/Antares ar.

Whats the differences in the Antares model and the Calais? And is the Antares AR the same size as the Calais 100??

I think there was a scorpion antares at one time too, was that the same size as a Calais 200?

spookybaits wrote:Great reels! I had a gang of them at one time. Doing side by side comparisons, I slightly preferred the chronarch D5. Seemed to have a slight edge in smoothness, tolerances and casted a hair farther, and I liked the gear ratio better, but the Calais had more of the 'connected' feel. And I think it looks cooler.
But the differences are pretty negligible. Both reels are overbuilt A+ workhorses with exceptional ergonomics.
I never owned the jdm version Antares ar, but on hedgehog's site they say spools aren't interchangeable with Calais. I never varied that, and with talking to them I got the impression they didn't varifiy it themselves.
However, Thru tinkering, I figured out that the spools ARE interchangeable between the core 100/chronarch d/Calais 100 platforms.

Compared to the newer shimano reels... this is subjective, but... The ONLY new model from shimano I'd swap it for would be the conquest 100.

If you love your Antares and want to get better performance, I'd send it to Ian shields for a good cleaning & super tuning. Throw in a set of nice bearings, do a carbon fiber drag up grade, longer handle, maybe play with some jdm white brake pins, or the 4 pin brake thing, try some different spools (I didn't do enough thorough testing but remember liking the red core spool in it, though I never tried a yumeya spool), etc.

I always wished there was a way to drop faster or slower (brass) gears into the Calais 100/Antares ar.

. Some great info, thank u for posting