Inline or spinning reel?

[Jakesdad]

Which do you guys prefer and why? All I have now are small spinning reels with 4lb mono. Was wondering if the inline crappie reels would work for ice fishing. I have several of those on jigging rods. Didn't know if there were any major advantages/disadvantages between the two. Thanks.

[FG Steve]

Spinning for me, probably due to habit and ignorance.

I fish for large trout and like the spinning reel drag system and high gear ratio.  Early inlines looked dragless and 1:1 to me, though that doesn't seem to be the case any more.  I  deadstick four rods and jig one.  Lots of the pro-inline info seems jigging related.

There, I've expressed my preference and exposed my ignorance.  Others will fill the gap.

[jwetovick]

You can read hours of info on this topic. Personally I tried the inline buzz and they were not for me. Back to spinning reels i went and will stay there. I will say there is a time and place for schooley reels in shallow water. Plus they are cheap. Tight lines.

[filetandrelease]

Steve that’s not ignorance it’s just your choice is all , ,
  I use both and I and have used inlines for bigger eyes , and lakers to 100 FOW ,  panfish to 10’ Schooleys  are fine , it’s all a preference thing as there is no right or wrong , IMO

[sunniewally]

anybody use bait casting reels? advantage of inline but much better in every way. They make some nice small bait casters.

[RyanW]

I use spinning reels because that’s what I’ve always used. If I were fishing very shallow (5’-10’) I don’t mind using a schooley reel (they excel in shallow water). Now, if I were targeting trophy pike/Muskie/trout, I’d highly consider a baitcaster. Baitcasters are essentially tiny winches and would work well for that application.

I think most of the inline for ice fishing is just marketing hype from manufacturers. The rest is just personal preference. Also, my reels work full-time all year round. That way I don’t need 12 different reels when the 5-6 I already own will work gangbusters.

Since you already have the reels, wait till ice season and try them out. No reason they shouldn’t work. It’s up to you to determine how well they work for you.

[RStock521]

Spinning reel guy here, for no reason other than it's what I've always used.  Watched a buddy tinker with an in-line, but to me, seemed like more trouble than it's worth. 

[hays47]

Using braid as your main line with mono leader. Will prevent the spinning lure problem. I have both inline and spinners. Prefer the spinners as inlines too easy to tangle some how some way.

[Deal Ninja]

I like using both, but I miss the sound of the drag singing when fishing my BB 6061s.  Nothing like the sound of a drag peeling out to get your heart racing.  See, totally logical reasoning.  LOL

DN

[piersm2]

I like using both, but I miss the sound of the drag singing when fishing my BB 6061s.  Nothing like the sound of a drag peeling out to get your heart racing.  See, totally logical reasoning.  LOL

DN

^^^ agree 100%!  I have freefalls on my primary rods, but it is silent when fish take drag out.

[HWeber]

Tried to give inlines a chance, always found myself grabbing a different rod last year. Gonna put one on my favorite rod this year and maybe I'll give them a real chance. Otherwise the black HT accucast seems to be my preferred reel

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Which do you guys prefer and why? All I have now are small spinning reels with 4lb mono. Was wondering if the inline crappie reels would work for ice fishing. I have several of those on jigging rods. Didn't know if there were any major advantages/disadvantages between the two. Thanks.

It's preference.....and using good line.

For panfishing in shallow water...Schooleys, black Betty, no. 8 cold blue, frabill black opps. Are great for up and down, no spin on your jig with UL rods. Work well sight fishing to. I found that when using these I tend to land more of the paper mouths because I bring them in slower. Plus I tend to drop to 2-3lb line when using these. It's a blast catching panfish in shallow water with them. With the 1-1 retrieve it allows for a fun little fight bringing the fish topside. With my other reels it seems like the fish is topside and the fight to land him was to quick to enjoy in shallow water. Having a big bass grab the jig on one of these setups is really fun playing the bass on light line. Besides shallow panfishing the rod/reel setups mentioned are next to worthless.

For deeper water panfish. black Betty 6061, free fall, and other Inlines with multiple retrieve work great. In lines help keep the small jigs from spinning. To me the Inlines are meant to be used in this application. Deep water panfishing 15-60ft of water the "spin" on my tungsten jigs are way less with the inline.....which tends to be the difference in getting the bite.

For walleye pretty much spinning gear ....the Inlines can work fine too. I just don't see much advantage to them. Plus on average I think the spinning reels give you better drag at cheaper price points then the Inlines. The free fall and Black Betty are ok drags....which both are $80-$100 reels. I feel My drags on my $30-$50 shimano, Abu, tica, pfluger, and cabela reels are better.

For larger big game fish I'd go with a baitcaster on an ice rod. Mainly because the amount of line you can get on them and drag when fighting fish. I put a pfluger bait caster on a St croix bait caster ice rod. Mainly use it when fishing for big pike. I always have it in the wheel house with a large spoon or jigging rap. Then if a big pike comes through on the camera I drop it down.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Tried to give inlines a chance, always found myself grabbing a different rod last year. Gonna put one on my favorite rod this year and maybe I'll give them a real chance. Otherwise the black HT accucast seems to be my preferred reel

Which inline did you get? I tried the cheaper eagle claw first....had such a bad drag and problems engaging after dropping down I returned it then tried the BB6061. Was night/day difference.

Lol on the black HT accucast is a decent reel. Landed many a fish on them. I've got a south bend 8bb reel With a nice Rod I bought for $30.....I use it often over setups I've spent $100-$200 on.

[HWeber]

13fishing Freefall Ghost. It works but it is something a guy has to get use to i think. As mentioned on the other thread I think I'm going to try some okuma reels on the ice this year so the HT's might not get as much love

[Chris338378]

I have one of the Eagle Claw inlines and used it last year quite a bit.  I can't say if I got lucky and got a good one or not but I don't have any complaints about it.  Granted I haven't use any other inlines to compare it to so my opinion is biased because of that.  I will say I noticed a lot less spin on my jigs and it did take some getting use to but I did end up catching quite a few more fish compared to using the spinning reel.  One thing I did with all my spinning reels is I put on a barrel swivel and a mono leader to reduce the jig spin on them and that also helped me catch more fish.  The only draw back per say is that I had two marks on my fishfinder, one for the jig and one for the swivel, when I was using my spinning reel.  One trick that I do with the inline is I use my finger to stop my jig where I want it to stop and prevent excess line from feeding out once the jig stops falling. 

[Agronomist_at_IA]

13fishing Freefall Ghost. It works but it is something a guy has to get use to i think. As mentioned on the other thread I think I'm going to try some okuma reels on the ice this year so the HT's might not get as much love

I bought the free fall and fished with it a little at the end of the season. I bumped the free fall lever when I was feeling in a fish.....not sure if I will like it.

[HWeber]

I'll probably end up not fishing with it again this year unless someone next to me outfishes me with one lol My biggest complaint with the little I've used it was they don't fit well in my rod case (probably most rod cases)

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I'll probably end up not fishing with it again this year unless someone next to me outfishes me with one lol My biggest complaint with the little I've used it was they don't fit well in my rod case (probably most rod cases)

Lol had that to.

[marknpanfish]

 I have several brands of inline free falls,Black Betty being my favorite,two eagle Claws one good one not,caught ten pound pike on the good one drag worked fine. I like the #8 reel better than the eagle claws.Frabil broke at the reel seat, I guess they are not rated for 300+ pound to step on. I like the less line twist and how fast you can drop a small jig.I don't spinning real as much.It is personal preference. Just bring on the ice.

[slipperybob]

anybody use bait casting reels? advantage of inline but much better in every way. They make some nice small bait casters.

I use them.  I have one dedicated panfish set up and several upwards for targeting larger fish like catfish.

Most bait casting reels are not design to work well in freezing temperatures.  In part it's changing out the oil and grease from the factory.  Second the thin ice lines may get over the lip of the spool and get tangled up inside the spool shaft and stuff.  The good bait casting reels that can do the job well, are usually expensive.  Too expensive for most average ice folks to justify the set up.  Check out what is calls BFS bait finesse fishing for Bass fishing.  On top of everything, there isn't much of an option for rods designed for bait casting reel set up.  You may have to customize one.

In the end, if you ever get a set up and learn to use it through all the shortcomings.  It will be far superior in more ways.  Still a preference.

[rundrave]

I have 3 eagle claws and 2 CGI #8 reels and all have performed great and no line twist certainly helps and makes a difference. I had one eagle claw start to get freespool issues but after a quick inspection and cleaning took care of it.

I will say having the freespool feature when your on top of a school a perch moving through has put more fish in the bucket for me. Way quicker than hand lining a spinning reel. Once you get the freespool dialed in and running smooth, you can get your bait right back in front of the fish effortlessly. It makes a world of difference when your in a hurry and trying to get that bait back down quickly.

I run and gun on the ice and most lakes and sloughs here in SD are not that deep so they work great for me because I rarely go deeper than 15-20ft.

[BH2]

I've been slowly switching to inlines. Bought the wife and I each eagle claws last year just to try. I liked mine right away, she was unsure. After a few trips and a couple pails of fish she wont use anything else!! I see all inlines in our futures!! They Seem smoother,faster,and have less line twist and with a tungsten jig your back into the action much faster!!

[Bucket Rump]

As of last season, I also use both.  Picked up a couple Black Betty Ghost Freefalls to try out for panfishing and really didn't care for them at first - then I switched the mono line I originally spooled them with to #4 Nanofil line and absolutely loved them.  I still go to my President spinners for walleye, though.

[hnd]

for a few years i used nothing but inlines.  i started with okuma fly reels, went to eagle claws and 6061's, blackbetty's, the Clam ones.  all of them.   I also fished the last half of the 16-17 season with a freefall ghost because it was supposed to solve my inline woes.  It did but at that price tag it wasn't worth it. 

The problem i have is their drags are not good.  they aren't terrible (well some were or nonexistant) but most are not anywhere near as good as a spinning reel.   The other is that even with the freefall i felt i was peeling line off way more manually when fishing 2-4mm jigs (what i fish 95% of the time) than i do spinning reels. 

regarding the idea that it results in more fish due to reducing line spin....my fishing partner never bit on the fad and we never saw a time where there was a finicky enough bite that the inline made the difference.   

I keep 1 inline on a noodle rod that i'll use for the fun of it in shallow (<10') situations.  Otherwise, i'm 100% spinning rods now.   

[DR.SPECKLER]

Off balance on handle/guts side.drags are finicky and either all or none.freespool is nice but im sticking to a good 500 series shimano spinning reel.ive tried the cgi no.8,most of frabill inlines and eagle claw.not spending any more cash on other higher end inlines.all the spools rub my palm with pencil grip.no line twist, but ill change out line on my spinning reels before buying another inline.jmo

[SKIFFLAKEJIMMY]

I agree with the Dr. I bought a 13 teardrop for over $80. Used it sparingly. Odd balance. Heavy. It sits in a drawer now. A 500 series Shimano is on the rod now.

[3300]

same here not liking the eagle claws at all. drag kept changing on it's own and having to pull line for the free spool to drop my jig in size 3mm doesn't get it either. balance is all on one side big time and sitting in a rod holder is even worse. i also bought the more expensive version with the red aluminum spool and it was the same thing. i gutted both of them to try to fix the drag and get the vaseline they used for grease out of them, but they were not for me at all. i sold them on here to a person at a nice discount.

i do have a 1:1 ratio 13 fishing black betty with fender (like a fly rod reel) i break out on finicky bite days only. pulling line is old school and i don't prefer it over spinning reels that all you have to do is open the bail. open face are much faster in every way.

also, the spinning reels seem to shed more water than in-lines because of more contact with the line at the bail and so line freeze up's are  much less of a problem.

[Peccavi18]

I've always used spinners, last year I thought I'd step up and try some inlines. I bought a Eagleclaw and a Clam... Neither one fit my fancy the eagle Claw definitely had problems engaging and dropping 2 and 3 lb mono with small tungsten on it. The clam was just awkard so I went back to my collection of Pflueger Presidents.

[Iceassin]

I have 2 in lines I use on my 48" finesse rods to use in water 10' or less because it is slower to get smaller jigs...even with a small split shot...down the hole. The rest are spinning reels.

[SirCranksalot]

Maybe I'm just an old dog, but I have stuck with what I know and works well enough for my type of fishing. I guess everyone's fishing style is different so some would see a big advantage. I think we can get a bit too caught up in gear decisions. Most of us, I think, go out there to relax and have fun with buds and ---we hope---catch enough fish for dinner. "Performance" plays a small role---just my opinion1
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