Texas Fishing Forum

Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition

Posted By: dlmyers

Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/17/19 03:09 PM

Seeking help from anyone with experience with one of these reels may be able to add. I have been very disappointed with casting distance, which is doubly frustrating considering that’s the exact thing this is suppose to be good at. It’s either birdnesting, or overbraking. I broke the reel down last night and removed the factory grease and cleaned a brand new reel and reapplied grease and lube, thinking that may work and I have the same result as before.

Yesterday I called Abu about it, and they assured me I have the top of the line caster from their product range and that it should be capable from 1/4oz on up. And that’s just not so at the moment. They attributed the issues to a need to increase finesse with thumbing the spool. However, I can cast their 5500c3 and a 6000c both as hard and intentionally as I want and everything is perfect and double the distance...I feel like I can use these reels well enough that that’s not the issue. They pointed me to a reel repair shop in Dallas if issues persist, however this is a brand new reel and I live in weatherford. Spending $50 more on a reel that is suppose to work out of the box is frustrating to consider.

Did I buy a lemon? What’s going on? Are bearings bad right out of the box? Could my line choice make the difference? Help!
Posted By: jwcromer

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/18/19 12:43 AM

what distance are you getting?
Posted By: dlmyers

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/18/19 11:44 AM

I have a 1/4oz jig head and paddle tail jig on. I made some further adjustments between the centrifugal and the spool tensioner. I think now I’m getting about 100 to 110 feet with the wind at my back....which requires a relatively light cast. I found that encouraging. But that’s still a little shy of what my other reels can do with full effort. If you turn into the wind distance is reduced by half with this same cast tactic though.
Posted By: TCK73

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/18/19 08:53 PM

I have 8 of those reels, and with a 3/8 oz head and grub or 3” swimbait I can easily throw 60 yards with them. I use 65lb Power Pro line with flouro leaders. They will launch a 7” pencil popper farther that you can imagine.
Posted By: dlmyers

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/19/19 03:33 AM

Care to help with why that’s not the case for me?
Posted By: dlmyers

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/19/19 03:36 AM

You think it’s the difference between 15lb mono and braid?
Posted By: jwcromer

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/19/19 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by dlmyers
You think it’s the difference between 15lb mono and braid?
if this is the case it would make you use braid all the time,even if you didnot want to.
Posted By: TCK73

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/20/19 09:44 PM

Here is my setup, it fits my style of casting. I set the spool so there is no end play and tie on my lure. I let it drop and hit the water and tighten or loosen the left knob until it will slowly descend thru the water. I may have to make a few small twists sometimes after the first cast to get it to the tension I like. On the braid deal, I'm not sure, I have never spooled them with 15lb mono. I have spooled them with 30 lb in the past, but I was casting cut shad with a 2 oz. no roll sinker, so I really cannot compare that.
Posted By: dlmyers

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/28/19 05:46 PM

Thanks to each of you for your responses. Your input helped me not turn away from the reel too quickly.

After some more messing around I’m casting consistently at 140ft. I consider that acceptable (would love an effortless 160‘+), and there are not any birdsnests occurring, I think my main issue was attributable to the rod I was using. It’s a heavy rod that has a lure rating of 1/4 to 1oz...I think I’m finding out that range is more narrow to the higher end than advertised. When I was having my issues I was casting closer to slightly under a 1/2oz lure. Switch to a jointed football jig with a creature bait and it was closer to 7/8oz. The weight of that lure seemed more in tune with the overall set up.

TCK73, maybe with a different rod I can get closer to the 60yds you get from yours on that near 1/2oz set up.
Posted By: TCK73

Re: Dissapointed: Pro Rocket 6500 black edition - 09/29/19 12:42 AM

You will get there, the rods I am using are 7’6” medium/medium.
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