A while back,after many overtime shifts and a long time saving, I had to decide which reel to get. Originally it was for Guatemala sailfish. I hunted all over the net to see if anyone else had this debate and found very little. So here is what I decided,Tibor Gulfstream. This is how I came up with my answer.

The Great Debate, Which Reel To Get?

That's way up in the ether stuff! How did your trip go? How did the reel perform?

Those are great looking reels. Did you go with the large arbor or the mid-sized arbor?

I have to admit that I've gotten old and out of shape (repetitive keyboard injury, I suspect) to the point that I don't enjoy throwing a #12 or #13 fly rod any more. It wears me out too quickly. Today, I can throw a 9 weight just as far and keep doing it hour after hour.

Rrhyne - The trip was great. I ended up fishing the Tibor Gulfstream and an Abel Super 12, my buddy fished the Pacific and a Gulfstream. (he reels left and I reel right so we each needed a reel and a spare that I borrowed). All of the reels worked great and this time we put them all to the test ending up with numerous sailfish on each reel and one blue marlin (again on the Gulfstream). There are times you wish you had the Pacific and its larger arbor so you could pick up the line faster when the fish charges you but the line itself creates so much drag in the water that even with the smaller arbor of the Gulfstream you will catch up to the fish. It is just a little more work. The more work didn't bother me. We fly fish for a reason and that reason isn't to make fishing easier. Cool Blog

Impulse - I have to admit after fighting a few fish that sounded and casting to fish all day (the last day we raised over 50 fish)I was was glad to cut weight any way I could. If I was blind casting around offshore rigs or whatnot I would take that Gulfstream over the Pacific any day. If the fish gets further away than 300+ yards the Gulfstream has, unless he swims right back to me at the same speed, I dont want to fight him for all that line.

you ever hook a scale up to the flyline with the drag locked down? just curious what kinda #'s that reel puts out.