Sixgill Fishing - Crius Reel - Initial thoughts & Review

[Polaris425]

From their site:

"The Crius is our lightest casting reel courtesy of carbon frame and carbon side-plate construction. The cork composite handles offer positive grip and superb aesthetics. 10 ball bearings make for a smooth cast and retrieve. The Crius also boasts the same dual braking system contained in our Hyperion casting reel.

Features:

Carbon frame
Carbon side plates for maximum durability and weight reduction
Dual Braking System pairs Magnetic and Centrifugal Technologies"


It feels good out of the box. Though I wasn't impressed like I should have been for a $120 reel. I took it down and cleaned it and hit it with Reel Butter like I do all of my new reels out of the box. It's MUCH smoother now.

It does feel a bit... Plastic-y.... If that's a word. Lol. But that could be due to my familiarity with Lews reels. Everything seems fairly nice and tight though.

I like the cork grips. They are very nice. I think it's something Lews should look at doing on their $120 price range reels as well. +2 points for that.

As you can read in their description it has dual braking. It  adjusts  as usual on the outside but also has 4 switches on the inside much like a Lews BB1. I didn't get any instructions in the box nor can I find info on their website on how to tune/adjust this. I'm going to assume it works like the BB1 and hope I don't have to cut a nasty birds nest out on my first cast. Lol. This is a big Minus  in my book. This info should be documented somewhere.








It looks pretty much like any other reel inside. I cleaned the factory gunk out and treated her right w/ some butter. There are 4 screws that must be removed to pull this cover, after removing all other typical parts.




Nothing fancy about the spool. Typical of most reels.




Here you can see the 4 switches. Lots of adjustability here but we will have to see how she plays. I keep hearing "casts a mile" so... We will see.....




Anyway. These are my initial thoughts upon opening the box & taking a look at her. Going to spool her up & give her a few test casts in the yard tomorrow & I'll come back with hopefully some good info.

[Polaris425]

I spooled up some cheap line to begin with on her last night... Strapped her to a spare rod I had, a Shimano Convergence 7'M Crankbait Rod.

Tied two 3/16oz bullet weights to her and made a few casts out back at lunch today... Not a lot of room but with minimal effort I could easily cast 40-50ft.

So all of this "they can cast a mile" talk might be backed up after all. I can't wait to get out in an open area and see what I can really make her do. Going to take a little of the cheap line off and leave the rest as backing and put some of my good line on her now that I know I want to take it to the next step and actually fish with it.

Will hopefully tie on a real lure this weekend and get some fishing time with it. I rode over to this little lake on my lunch break but, there were signs everywhere that said "Private Lake No fishing/No Trespassing" so I figured I better not stop.

[Lee Smith]

Interested to see how it performs on the water for sure!

[ronsm]

I bought this reel also several months ago on sale, 30% off, and it's still sitting in the box. With work and buying a new house I haven't fished in months. Hope you like it.

[Mike Cork]

Enjoying the review

[Polaris425]

I bought this reel also several months ago on sale, 30% off, and it's still sitting in the box. With work and buying a new house I haven't fished in months. Hope you like it.

When you can get around to it, make sure you clean the factory grease out, and lube it with some good reel butter or equivalent. It will make a big difference.

[Polaris425]

Well. I'd say they weren't joking about casting distance.



Watch closely for the splash. This is with the brake set on 4 (of 1-10) and I just have two 3/16oz bullet weights tied on.

It's pretty dang smooth. This is a 7.1:1 reel & you can see I'm reeling pretty quickly & how long it still takes me to retrieve all of the line.