WOW!

Just came in the mail today from Cabela's. SMOOOOTHE!

Couldn't wait to load it up with some line when I got home so I could give it a test drive! Spooled her up 3/4 to 7/8th's full with 30# flyline backing and topped off with 18 passes of 65# PowerPro.

The star drag has a clicker with well-defined detentes to help duplicate the drag setting. I was shocked by how much tension you could generate with this drag, even with a full spool of line.... way more than my old Bantam 50, ABU 6500's or ABU 7000's (and probably way more than I'll ever need). And talk about a supremely SMOOOTHE drag.... even at a setting that bottoms out my Loomis SAR 1265 (rated to 40# test) before giving up any line. Then I ran across the driveway with it.... the rod never even bucked or surged.... just smoothe steady pressure all the way.

This reel has tremendous pick up as well. With a full spool, one crank picks up 2 feet of line!

Shoulda picked up this reel 2 months ago! Oh well, there's always next year.

i take this is a endorsment?
is it better than a calcutta 400?
inquiring minds want to know?

Not an endorsement... just excited about a new toy. Wait till the first slab king hits the decks, then I'll be endorsing this thing if it performs anything like the dry run.

Don't throw out your Calcutta 400 just yet. The Tekota is a trolling device, not a casting device. Also the freespool button does not pop when you turn the crank... you gotta flip the switch manually. Would be a pain in the ass for bobber fishing or backbouncing eggs.

Doc, the 600 will put itself in gear if you turn the handle, it just doesn't do it immediately. One of my fishing partners let me use his 600 with the line counter last summer during B10, and I think it is the perfect reel for the job. He got hooked on it while fishing with another fishing addict that was using one with the new Lamaglass herring rod. I shudder to think of all the money B10 is gonna cost me next year. Buying fishing gear is like eating Lay's potato chips you can't buy just one.

Elbow, the linecounter models do engage when you turn the handle the non-line counter models you have to flip manually!

FNP, as you know I have the Tekota 500 LC and I used it all of last season on the rigger, it has held up well. The drag still works great even after of a season at Westport. Earlier in the season we went on our Canadian outing and I spooled the same reel up with Powerpro and jigged with it, the Linecounter came in very handy after hitting Kings at certain depths and then wasted no time back to the depth. The thing I really like with the LC is the lever does click back on with a crank of the handle, makes downrigging with it that much easier.
Oh and the 500's had plenty of line capacity to boot.

Steve

I bought 3 Tekota 500s this year after fishing with them in Sitka. I love the reel and they have held up great in the salt.

AKKings
I stand corrected, my buddy’s is a 600Lc and the only other Tekota I looked at was a 500 that wasn’t. I assumed the 500s didn’t have that feature and the 600s did. The only down side to the Tekota that I can foresee is how mad my wife is going to be IF she catches me when I buy two.

Yeah I hear ya...

That's why I bought two.