Baitcasters for saltwater

[shallow thinker]

I sometimes like to use my bass gear for inshore fishing in the salt.  Most of my saltwater fishing is with spinning gear but I'd rather use a baitcaster when throwing topwater or pitching jigs around mangroves.
Awhile back,  I tried the inshore style  Quantum Accurist PTS series but lately I just use my workhorse Shimano Curado or Citica reels.  Everything gets a gentle freshwater washdown back at the house and I'll open and lube each reel annually.

I wasn't happy with Quantum reels and seemed to have better performance and reliability with Shimano.  Lately, I had new issue with corrosion on two Shimano reels.  The brass pinion gear is supposed to float against a stainless bearing.  Well, when they stick together you can't cast.  I typically lube all the bearings but not pinion.  I really don't want to tear down and lube after every saltwater trip.

Is anyone having good luck with other types of low profile baitcasting reels in saltwater?  I have some ancient round baitcasters that never failed but they don't cast as well or have the option for higher gear ratios.  Let me know what works for you.

[Pferox]

I have some old pro qualifiers that I use inshore, they work well.

Back when they were on sale for $50 I bought a few H2O metal reels from Academy.  I bought them as throw away reels, but haven't wore them out yet.  If I remember to I will give them a spritz of water and some oil once in a while, but that is about it. 

BTW, Shimano Curado is one of the most popular salt water reels around here, go figure.

[Mike Cork]

Certain model curados are worse than others.

I don't recommend this very often but in your situation, if you're dead set on the Curado.... Pull the spool after each trip and put a few drops of WD-40 on the outside of the pinion gear and the inside of the pinion gear bearing. I'd put a fresh drop of oil on the pinion gear bearing while the spool was out. This whole process won't take 2 minutes.

Don't spray the WD-40 in the reel, while the WD in WD-40 stands for "Water Displacing" and sounds good... it will also deteriorate all the grease and oil in your reel. So spray some in a bottle cap and then using a tooth pick or dropper to put it where you want it.

As far as other reels, Revo has a reel specific for inshore fishing. I think Daiwa has options as well but I'm not familiar with them.

Salt water and high performance don't go together very well, unless you're willing to do a lot of work. Another option that will help is completely ceramic bearings. Not hybrids but full ceramics.

Last thought... whether you use it in salt or not, you'll be amazed at the performance difference if you pull the spool regularly to clean the spool shaft.

[FlatsNBay]

I had several of the Quantum Accurist inshore baitcasters and they all fell apart. I've heard great things about the Daiwa saltwater baitcasters.

Sent from my moto e5 play using Tapatalk

[BarryFL]

The Daiwa Zillion HDs are made for saltwater but I use them for throwing frogs and big swimbaits. The Daiwa Coastal line is also for saltwater. They all have magnasealed bearings in the description.

~Barry~

[shallow thinker]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll look into the Daiwa options if I can't remember to lube the pinion.

BTW, the issue isn't the bearing itself getting stuck but the outer stainless (race) housing corroding enough to stick to the pinion.  I do have 2 reels with ceramic bearings but I believe they use the same material for that housing

[Mike Cork]

I understood what you were saying, the little bit of WD 40 will help.

They make a ceramic that is completely ceramic, no stainless steel housing.