u/Superman_strikes

Hey guys. I was toying with the idea of getting some new gear for my uncle's boat. He just got a new 28ft seafox center console 2 years ago. He doesn't know much about fishing but my dad and I have fished in the bay and near shore for many years from boats.

Gear can be expensive when outfitting a whole boat, especially with larger sized or trolling setups.

I came across reels like these on the made-in-china(dot)com website.

Many appear to be replicas of well known equipment. Like the Penn 30 class.

Then there is this Topline 50 class.

These reels should cost several hundred dollars i think, but you can buy them here for like $40-$75 and either free shipping or $20 shipping max. I can get the crank mechanism on the right or left as well. They have nice looking spinning reels too. (I am looking at the one in the first picture. The knockoff Penn reel is just included as an example) The aluminum one is $75.

Has anyone tried one of these before?

I assume these factories in China are producing the same reels for the OEM companies and so they are likely exact replicas, just sold direct to consumers.

I was thinking worst case scenario, maybe so quality control issues. So best to pull the reel apart when you get it, make sure no debris or metal shavings in the crank and gears and the add fresh oil, check the seals, and reassemble.

Let me know what you guys think or if you have had any experience with these.

I would obviously rather spend $300 total on 4 reels than $300 a piece on them.

The rods themselves i think I will stick with buying name brand. I trust China to precision machine metal (because I can see it and inspect it)

I likely dont trust them to lay up carbon and fiberglass properly. Especially when they can hit it with a top coat and hide the weave pattern.

I have a bunch of loph. About 50 caespitosa seedlings that look like fat pea's. 5 small/medium size adult caespitosa, and a few grafts on PC pach that i made from cutting small heads off the adults.

Some grafts are newer but some are slightly older and making good progress. Think the largest is about 7 months old and started out as pea sized.

Do you guys degraft? If so, what initiates your decision to do this?

I have degrafted in the past and one of my mid-sized adults is from a degrafted plant, but I cant remember why I did it. But its definitely very healthy still.

I have also taken a loph grafted to selenecerius, cut it about 1/4" below the graft, let it heal and the just buried the whole thing so the seleneceruis section became the new loph roots.

But im curious to hear everyone's thoughts and preferences about degraft of loph. Im in no rush and they are not really large or anything. But should the time come id like to know if I should watch out for a "trigger event" to run and get a knife.