I don't know anything about inshore fishing, but shimano makes a great reel. The TLD series are grouper diggers and also troll well. Their 6500baitrunners killed a lot of sharks and kingfish when I used them. couldn't hardly kill the things....
Penn is cheaper and hella durable too, not as smooth of drag or reel though.
I had a boss of mine get a couple okuma's and I don't think they lasted three weeks on the boat before they failed on nice fish and then got chucked into the water.
I have to say that I am a die hard Penn Guy. Ive owned more penn reels than I can count and love every one. Recently though, I bought a couple Shimano Bait Runner 6500's, two TLD 15's and two TLD 20's, and have been fairly happy with them. My most recent purchace was a Diawa Coastal 2500 for fishing the flats. I got this reel only because it came full of braid from the store. This reel by far is smother and casts further than any Penn or Shimano that Ive ever had in my boat.
I think will always gravitate toward Penn when looking for new purchace though.
I prefer Shimano for the lighter stuff as well, but ave a couple Of Penn for the Deep Water stuff.... I really like Kunan the best, but the factory burnt down, and they went out of biz a few years ago....
inshore/flats i use shimano, have Shimano Stella 2500/loomis rod,,, shimano sustain 2500/fenwick rod,,,Shimano Stella 4000/dogfish stik,,, Offshore Bottom,,, Shimano Tekota 400's on penn stand-up rods,,, 1 Diawa eletric reel/Kunan rod,,, Surface/Trolling,, Accurate 665H's on Loomis peladgic rods,,, plus some other stuff,,, i use mostly power-pro on all equipment but still use mono top-shot,,, cant wait for the weather to warm up and put some fish in the freezer,,,, anyone here frustrated on all these fish restrictions??? its got to the point that going 40-60 miles offshore cost above and beyond the limit of fish you can keep to offset the expenses !!! Mark
I choose Penn(slammer line) simply because of the price differance. I'd go Shimano in a second if my wallet would allow it...
Okuma is a waste of money that rusts no matter what you do to clean or lubricate.
Just sayin'
