Ya'll, I have fished in salt water since 1982 when I moved to the Galveston area to live. And, in those years I've come across a few really good reels that worked well, and didn't cost an arm and a leg. Out of all those reels the best for my money has been the H2O Mettle from Academy. Here's my story.

I bought my H2O Mettle in the spring of 2007. I put 10lb Berkley Big Game line on it. I've used it continuously since the day I bought it on salt water fishing trips as my jig rod. I would typically use it to throw 1/8oz shrimp tails, and such for trout, flounder and reds. I've caught a LOT of fish with the reel on my 7ft Allstar shrimptail rod, which I bought at Academy the same time I bought the reel. I fish at least 5-10 times a month in salt water. After each trip all I do is wash my rods and reels down with fresh water and wipe it down.

For maintenance I'll clean the reels once a year or so if they need it. This particular reel I had never cleaned. It just kept on going and going. It seldom back lashed. But, on my last trip I got a horrible birds nest. Rather than try to get the birds nest out while fishing I just went to another rod, and kept fishing.

Well, yesterday I tried to get the backlash out, and somehow I broke the reel in the process. You could push the thumbar down, but it wouldn't come back up and engage the reel at all. I don't know how it happened, but it happened. I'm not a reel mechanic, so didn't take it apart to see what had happened. I was mad at myself since it was such a good reel and had served me well for a bit over 6yrs.

Well, I found the box, with the original receipt in it. The receipt was almost faded to the point you couldn't read it. but, there it was. So, I boxed the reel up and went to Academy today.

When I got there I showed the gentleman at the front my reel, and the box with the receipt and asked if I could exchange the reel for a new one as this one was no longer working. He said sure, and put a orange sticker on the box. I went to customer service, and explained what happened and that the reel no longer worked and asked if I could exchange the reel. They said sure, no problem, just go get the one you want. So, I went back to get another H2O Mettle. Went back to the service desk and they were trying to read my receipt. They said the reel must have been pretty good since the receipt for the reel was dated 2007. I said, yes it was a good reel, and that's why I want another one. No problem they said. They gave me a new receipt to go along with my new reel. The cost of the new H2O Mettle was 49.90 something cents. My old H2O Mettle showed 49.80 something cents on the old receipt. So, the total cost increase over a SIX 6 YEAR PERIOD was only just a few cents. INCREDIBLE VALUE, with almost ZERO inflation. So, AFTER 6 HARD YEARS OF USE Academy was kind enough to replace my H2O Mettle for a NEW H2O Mettle, with NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!! Incredible customer service, and an incredible value in a reel!!!

And, THAT'S why I shop at Academy, and fish with an H2O Mettle!!!! Well done Academy!!!

Do the reels have that long of a warranty? Academy has always been good to me, but i have never considered returning a 6 yr old product! I have been looking for a couple new reels, the H20's do seem appealing, i may have to try one out just from the story above!

I had no idea if they would exchange the reel or not. But, I figured it was worth a shot. I was totally honest with them, and showed them the receipt with the date on it. The receipt was pretty faded, but still legible. They were very nice, and commented about the date and the fact that the reel must be a good one to have lasted that long. They were very happy to exchange the reel, and it was no problem at all. They were totally cool.

I can't say enough good about the H2O Mettle. It's been an awesome reel for me. I've used it extensively in salt water, and it has caught some very large fish for me. They are great reels.

I forgot to mention that the H2O series of reels and rods are Academy's store brand products I believe. So, the warranty on them is essentially however long they want it to be I would imagine.

Thanks for sharing. I have had similar experiences with Academy on reels. They were not Mettles, but spincasting reels that I had bought for kids. They always took them back with no issue. I even felt a little guilty bringing one of them back.

I have also been impressed with the Mettles. I bought my first one a couple of years ago as an experiment. I now own three and often pick them up when packing for a trip before I grab my Shimanos or Revos.

That's a tiny spool on those mettles,
how light of a jig can you cast?

I'm not sure how light I can go with it. I have also used mine to cast just shrimp on a treble hook, free-shrimping. I don't know how much they weight on a hook. The jigs I normally use are just 1/8oz. I usually fish with Berkley Gulp shrimp tails now days. The Mettle casts them very well.

You got me curious now as to how light a jig I could throw with the Mettle. On the new one I put 12lb Berkley Big Game. It's just a touch larger than the 10lb I had on the older one. So, that may affect a bit of my ability to cast super light weight baits. But, I'll sure see about it on my next trip.

Academy has always given me good service