Cardiff reels

[JustinM]

Anyone ever used one? I'm just looking for some feed back. I upgraded all my river rods today so now comes the reels. How do they cast? How's the drag?

[peter]

I bought 2 in the last year. A 300 for casting and 400 for trolling. Very nice. The 300 is a nice casting reel. Light weight compared to an ambassador. I like them a lot. Will buy more if I need to replace any reels. Solid and smooth. Drag is smooth. My son was casting the 300 last weekend and he does not have a lot of experience with bait casters especially with 3/8 oz lures , 15 lb mono and he was casting like a pro.

A friend bought a 200 for casting jigs for stripers in the winter and likes it a lot.

My only complaint is that if you like to set your drag real light (and I mean real light) the drag setting is a little loose (star drag doesn't have quite the presure to keep it set). I am thinking that can be over come by adding another one of those spring washers on shaft to create more pressure to keep the drag star in place) Wouldn't keep me from buying another though. Can't wait until another one of my Ambasadors breaks and I have to replace it with a Cardiff.

Here is a link to it on Shimano site if anybody else is interested.

http://fish.shimano.com/publish/cont...g/Cardiff.html

[JustinM]

Well I'll be using 2-12oz sinkers so light drag won't be bothering me. For the price they just seem great. Just wanted to know what people thought and if they would buy them for river fishing. I'm glad you mentioned how light they are since that was a huge selling point for me. Thanks for the reply Peter.

[peter]

Sounds like you need the 400. That is comparable to an Abmasador 6500 but a much finer piece of equipment, smoother. Just go get one. If you don' t like it I will buy it from you for a "20% restocking fee"..that would be about 100 bucks no sales tax.

The 300 is light. I wouldn't call the 400 light.

[JustinM]

Gander had a 300 in stock but right handed so it was good to mess with one. I then came home and ordered 5 400's. Thanks for the help Peter.