TackleTour

Looking for options on a low profile baitcaster with brass gears.

Criteria: Left hand retrieve.
No Tatula or any version of the same.
Brass gears.
Gear ratio BELOW 6.0:0

What's available?

dang. Thats a hard one. Lews Tournament MB

Not sure if it has to be current models but some out of production options are the Daiwa Zillion Crazy Cranker or Shimano Chronarch 201e5.

The Bantam fits, right? It's pretty low profile. The slowest USDM you can get is 6.2:1, but in JDM you can get a 5.2:1 I think, the PG model.

There are a couple JDM options:
Shimano Bantam PG 5.5 ratio.
Shimano Engetsu PG 5.8 ratio.
Daiwa Catalina TW PL-RM 4.9 ratio. (Tackle trap is running a great deal on these currently)

If you dont need a lot of line capacity
Daiwa alphas CT 6.3 ratio combined with small 30mm spool gives the same IPT as a 5 ratio.

Quite a few options with a gear swap

bantam mgl
metanium mgl with curado k gears

Thanks eveyone for your input. I pulled the trigger on the Daiwa Catalina. I'm not sure if it has brass gears, but I couldn't pass up on the price.

tacklejunkie2 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:57 pm

Thanks eveyone for your input. I pulled the trigger on the Daiwa Catalina. I'm not sure if it has brass gears, but I couldn't pass up on the price.

Yes, brass gears.

tacklejunkie2 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:57 pm

Thanks eveyone for your input. I pulled the trigger on the Daiwa Catalina. I'm not sure if it has brass gears, but I couldn't pass up on the price.

I hate to point this out now, but that is literally the original Tatula frame.

tacklejunkie2 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:15 am

Looking for options on a low profile baitcaster with brass gears.

Criteria: Left hand retrieve.
No Tatula or any version of the same.
Brass gears.
Gear ratio BELOW 6.0:0

What's available?

Shimano Engetsu PG. Scorpion 70 with aluminum handle side plate, brass micro mod gears and 5.8 ratio. Spool is a little shallow though but works well with braid.

I have yet to use the Catalina 4.9 on the water. However, it is on a rod with a 2.5oz lure. I was laughing to myself as I reeled the bait up and down without feeling any resistance.

I hadn't heard of the Shimano Engetsu. I also didn't see it on some of the more familiar Japanese websites. Maybe this reel is from Australia.

tacklejunkie2 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:11 pm

I hadn't heard of the Shimano Engetsu. I also didn't see it on some of the more familiar Japanese websites. Maybe this reel is from Australia.

There are a couple of Engetsu reels. The one you want is the Scorpion 70 based one. It is a JDM sea bass reel. You can get them off Ebay or from Japan or where ever.

Bantam MGL from Japan, one of the best reels out there right now IMO.