IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Equipment => Topic started by: fishermanhunterguy on Dec 29, 2016, 07:55 AM
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Hey all I'm looking a getting my first inline reel for pan-fishing and I have pretty much decided on the Frabill 371. My two questions are do I need to purchase reel oil for it (like a hot sauce) like guys talked about is a must with say the eagle claw inlines, or does the factory Frabill sub zero lube they talk about work good right out of the box? Second question is what kind of line do most of you use for panfishing with these inline reels? I'm putting mine on a spring tip ultra lite for sunfish and crappie. Do you recommend a mono or flouro or braid and what lb test? Thanks in advance for any help!
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Fisherman, I just received one of these for christmas and had to take it apart to change reel hands(flip the middle bearing). There was some of the sub zero lube on the inside but it couldn't hurt to open it up and put the hot sauce in there. Frabill has a video on how to open it on youtube, my suggestion would be to remove the small screw holding the red piece on the handle before trying to remove the handle nut. Makes it much easier because you have more "meat" to turn on the nut.
I rigged mine up with braid but I'll be using it for multiple species including walleye, crappie, and perch. I'd assume the same mono you'd put on a spinning reel would work fine.
Haven't been able to test it on the water yet but trying it out at home I found the freefall and the freefall brake work very well, I'm excited to try it out!
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I just put one of these on my tickle stick. Spooled it with 3lb mono, seems to work nice, will be giving it the first run this weekend.
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Let us know what you think of these after you've used them. I've messed with them in a store but don't have one yet.
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I have 2 371's. they've worked great out of the box for me for 2 seasons now. I use 2-3 lb fluoro to chase the tight lipped gills. I like to palm the reel and have had no issues adjusting the drag mid fight. The drag is silent which is kinda nice if you're in a shanty - the slappy's fishing next to you don't hear a drag screaming ;D ;D I'd recommend this reel.
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I bought one a couple weeks ago, only used it once so far, but it worked well. I like the way it sets tight to the rod without the extension, very nice for palming. Used mine right out of the box with 2# mono, no problems. Hope to use the hell out of it the next 4 days, if it continues to work this well, I'll be adding another one.
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Used mine for the first time yesterday after adding some ardent reel butter. Loved it, very smooth. Caught a few but nothing to challenge the drag. So far so good.
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I have one of these reels, and here is my one gripe about it. The single handle crank leaves the spool release button exposed to be accidently pressed very easily. It seems like every time I go to pick the rod out of my rod case, the button has been pressed, the spool has freely spun out a bunch of line, and I have a knot to untangle. I have since added a Rapala inline reel to my arsenal, with the dual handle crank, and it seems to prevent the release button from being pressed by accident. A small annoyance, but something I notice every time I go to use it.
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I have one of these reels, and here is my one gripe about it. The single handle crank leaves the spool release button exposed to be accidently pressed very easily. It seems like every time I go to pick the rod out of my rod case, the button has been pressed, the spool has freely spun out a bunch of line, and I have a knot to untangle. I have since added a Rapala inline reel to my arsenal, with the dual handle crank, and it seems to prevent the release button from being pressed by accident. A small annoyance, but something I notice every time I go to use it.
I second that - I was hoping they would have fixed this problem this year but it doesn't look like they've made any adjustments to the design. I love the reel, but my hard case is a little too tight for it and the button gets hit every time I close it...