Cabela's SLA reel

[fishin' fool]

I was wondering if anybody has any experience with Cabela's SLA reel? They look nice, and got a good review in Field and Stream, but I was looking for real life experiences.

[jeffnles1]

I have one of their lower end reels and it's a pretty decent reel, especially for the money. It's the "Prestige" reel. Picked it up from the bargain cave for about $30.00.

Sorry, I haven't used the SLA reel yet.

jeff

[Randy58]

I'm sure it's a good reel. The only concern I would have is that, in the past, Cabelas has often changed their reel designs, so getting an extra spool down the road might be tough.
(That happened to me.)

Randy

[Oregonian]

I dropped a Prestige spool. it bent. when I tried to SLOWLY bend it back... it cracked. It's brittle cast pot metal. SO, as long as you don't tend to let your reel hit the ground too hard...
later,
Oregonian

[jeffnles1]

I dropped a Prestige spool. it bent. when I tried to SLOWLY bend it back... it cracked. It's brittle cast pot metal. SO, as long as you don't tend to let your reel hit the ground too hard...
later,
Oregonian

So far, I haven't bent mine. At $30.00, I don't think I would spent too much time crying over it if I did which is the good part of the reel.

It is aluminum, not pot metal, but I'm sure it's cast and, for that reason, is probably as you found brittle.

For $30.00 it's a decent reel, for more money, I'd have to wonder.

Since the original post was about the SLA series, I don't want to add additional confusion by discussing the Prestige (very low end) series on his thread any more than necessary.

I'm sorry about starting it down the wrong track.

Jeff

[shadesofsisyphus]

I dropped a Prestige spool. it bent. when I tried to SLOWLY bend it back... it cracked. It's brittle cast pot metal. SO, as long as you don't tend to let your reel hit the ground too hard...
later,
Oregonian

I threw a tantrum and whipped my rod at the bank. Dinged the rod and reel up pretty good, but no harm done. wouldnt want to bend it though...

I throw tantrums when I dont sleep. I like being a child apparently...


Geoff

[Brian Moffitt]

I'll second the comment by Randy58 about spare spools being hard to come by should Cabela's discontinue the reel. I picked up a CSR reel almost 2 years ago and found out in late December/January that they were discontinuing this reel. I tried to find a spare spool or two so I would have them, and found that for the size I bought they were completely sold out.

As long as you can accept this I'd say go for it. For my money I decided when I needed a new reel to go another direction and purchased a reel from L.L. Bean. At the very least I know if anything should happen to the reel in the future regardless of whether or not they still make/sell it they will take care of me.

Just my .01

Brian

[Fly_Line]

They are actually a pretty good reel for the money. But a better buy is
the cutthroat reel from Gander Mountain. Reason is the cutthroat is the
exact same reel at almost half the price. If you have any GM's in your
area it would be worth investigating.

[tlerm]

I'll "third" the comment by Randy58. I bought a CSR reel two years ago and then another one (different size) last year. By the time I learned that they discontinued it, it was too late to get extra spools. So now I'm stuck. I had wanted to get an extra spool for each.

I like the reel, but I'll think reel hard before I buy another Cabela's reel.

[PanFisher]

For me it doesn't matter who the manufacturer is. If I can't afford 2 or 3 extra spools I don't buy the reel. Many times down the road they are just not available.