Big pit reel

Hi Lads
Been looking into buying a new reel, 2 be honest 90% of my fishing is ledgered deadbaits. I currently have a shimano ST6000ra w/65lb braid
I know deadbaits dont cast well, not near as far as a carp bait.
I use a fox warrior 3.25 TC
Baits aint goin as far as I'd like to put them out
I know there are many factors that influence the distance one can cast a bait ie.
bait size,lead size, line, rod, wind, ability etc..
I was looking at the Daiwa Emcast and shimano biomaster xta 8000
Any thoughts?

Welcome to the forum,

Not a fan of the big pit's, but i do have some shimano GTE6000C's on a general note,

Also are you using a ledger ling longer than the trace itself,???

grimreeper wrote:Hi Lads
Been looking into buying a new reel, 2 be honest 90% of my fishing is ledgered deadbaits. I currently have a shimano ST6000ra w/65lb braid
I know deadbaits dont cast well, not near as far as a carp bait.
I use a fox warrior 3.25 TC
Baits aint goin as far as I'd like to put them out
I know there are many factors that influence the distance one can cast a bait ie.
bait size,lead size, line, rod, wind, ability etc..
I was looking at the Daiwa Emcast and shimano biomaster xta 8000
Any thoughts?

got rid of mine mate and not missing them to be honest mate your not going to cast a deadbait say over 80 yards of any size .......... but having said that.........

emcasts are a great reel for he money mate,ive got two,and the emblems 5500 advanced a great reel too

little piddly baitrunners are not much use for pike fishing once you start using big baits leads and hefty lines (as it looks like your discovering)

ive emcast advanced i traded the shimano long casts for them they are nice smooth reels decent clutch etc
however for the brunt of my piking i prefer a more robust reel they are not as fancy looking or have any of the technical niceties the daiwas have, what they do have though is stainless and brass gearing throughout none of this grey metal crap, a clutch you can lock down and not worry about slipping if your throwing 10 ounces on braid.

anyway they are penn surfmaster 75's the old ones amazing reels for any grunty work

although i use shimano xte 10000,s for my zander fishing as i don,t really ever have to cast any distance or use big leads and baits
where as with my pike fishing i use shimano biomasters for my pike fishing due to using stronger line, bigger leads and baits and they work well i switch to them from diawa emcast which were a very nice reel for the money and i never had a problem with them either .

by noodle on Thu Feb 03, 2011 12:37 am

ive emcast advanced i traded the shimano long casts for them they are nice smooth reels decent clutch etc

did you find noodle the shimano longs casts a big heavy ?? i know i did thats why i traded my in

so heavy in fact that i dropped distance with them, although i could use heavier line and cast a better distance if that makes sense

oh and the fact they froze up on me in sub zero temps until i stripped them and put some quality lube in them


was never happy to be honest, and add in the fact i have destroyed just about every shimano fixed spool ive owned inc the seaspin 4500's t 6010's aerlex

i had bought the penns as a pike reel and the shims as a carp reels with the idea being to use both as crossovers as well things like, spodding marker, drifter long long range set up as it were.

the emcasts work far better in conjunction with my carp rods and even better on the pike side than the long casts did

glad it wasn,t just me

I've got one of the old Daiwa Emblem S 5000Ts.

Straightforward workhorse reel. As good as the day I bought it.

Andy Macfarlane wrote:I've got one of the old Daiwa Emblem S 5000Ts.

Straightforward workhorse reel. As good as the day I bought it.

are they the champagne coloured ones?

if so had a set of those for about 3 days, i was made an offer i couldnt refuse for them

Thanks for the useful info guys
Still cant make up my mind on the reels though
I can get 2x Biomasters (XTA 8000's) 2nd hand for in around 100 quid or buy 2x Emcasts or Emblems new with guarantee
Kinda swaying towards the Biomasters to be honest
What ya think?

emcast are far nicer reels, daiwa do do big pits well

noodle wrote:

Andy Macfarlane wrote:I've got one of the old Daiwa Emblem S 5000Ts.

Straightforward workhorse reel. As good as the day I bought it.

are they the champagne coloured ones?

if so had a set of those for about 3 days, i was made an offer i couldnt refuse for them

It is aye.