Well I finally broke down and bought a small Shimano Baby baitrunner reel ST 2500FA. They have not been sold in the US that small for a very long time, but they have been over seas and with the exchange rate in our favor I bit the bullet and got one on eBay. With shipping from a shop in England it was about $80. This will be a lot of fun for both ice and summer fishing, I can even use it on a small down-rigger I have! Last season I built a nice jigging rod holder that works as a "hook setting style" or can be used with a "Free Spool", and this reel will work great!
For those of you that are not familiar with what a Baitrunner is; The idea behind them is you set the top drag to where you want it when fighting a fish. When you click the lever on the bottom of the reel it essentially acts like there is no drag, you can adjust the knob at the bottom to add a little resistance. Once a fish picks up your bait and takes off with it, line will flow pretty much freely from the spool until you pick up the reel and begin to turn the handle, which then the lever will click up and you will be fighting the fish on the preset top drag system.
