I went out and bought a new reel for salmon on Friday at GI Joe's. I decided on a Shimano Corsair 401 over the Ambassadeur 6501 since I liked the spool release location and it felt smoother to me. I got it home, filled it with line, tied on a bank sinker to play with it in the yard. Within 30 minutes of casting the levelwind quit working. Back to Joe's minutes before closing to get a new one. It was replaced and I was ready to fish Saturday. Went out fishing and towards the end of the day (less than 24 hours from when I bought the first one) the drag went to hell and it wouldn't work. Joe's closes early on Saturday, so had to wait until today to get a replacement. Got a refund this time and bought the Ambassadeur. Got money back and we will see if it is a little more dependable. I couldn't be happier with Joe's refund policy, but what is the deal with the Corsair's. What can you buy these days for $80? I hope the Ambassadeur is better. I can live with a rougher reel and reach for the spool release if it will work. IMO do not buy a Corsair, 2 in a row with less than a full day fishing doesn't impress me.

Tight Lines & Screaming Reels,

TheGamehog

Too bad for you. It stinks to have gear fail in the heat of the battle.

I have a 300 and a 400 and have found them to be very dependable. However.... the "new" 5500 and 6500 are far an away a better reel.
I had the same trouble with the "old" black and silver Ambassadeur's went through 3 reels in a month. Drag problems, gears freezing up. So I tried the Chorsair's, sounds like I got the only two good ones. ( Their drags aren't a tight as the ambassadeur's by any stretch on the imagination.)

But the new Ambassadeur's are far a much better reel. I'm sure you will enjoy.

I probably just got a couple bad reels.

So far I am happy with the 6501. It casts well, and I am ready to catch some fish on it now. With the $15 rebate, I don't think a guy could go wrong. Big improvement with the "new" reels on a proven design!

Gamehog, I bought a corsiar back in december and also had problems, they let me upgrade to the curado and it turned out to be one of the best drift fishing reels I ever owned. Also thanks to everyone who responded to my Question on plug reels. I ended up going with the 5500's. I just got them through Cabelas a couple of weeks ago, and I never heard about a rebate.Gamehog, e-mail me if you can and let me know how to go about getting my rebate. I bought two so any money back helps, thanks Mac.

I also have a Corsair and had problems with it. The quick stop sometimes comes loose if bumped for no good reason. I fished it about 2 weeks before the problem came on. I have also heard of other guys wearing out the worm gears far to fast. Definetly would not recommend them. For that kind of money I don't want a head ache.

Guy's just step up and get a Calcutta 250 or 1 or a 400 and enjoy the best reels on the market bar none!

My fishing buddy bought a Corsair last fall for river kings and it too had a problem with the gears not engaging at certain times. He was told by John's in Everett that the problem with the gears not engaging after a cast and a flip of the handle, is because of two much factory grease in the reel. I've also had this problem on the initial use of my curado.

Anyways, I need a salmon reel I can use in the salt and in the rivers. I think the ambassadors hold up pertty good in the salt. I have an older 6500C I use for coho saltwater beach angling and the cast is very smooth and far. I'm looking for a backup for this summer and I'm thinking about the 6501 over the corsair. The corsair looks like it wouldn't do well in the salt. I have a Bantam 50 it's a great saltwater reel but tends to backlash very easy when casting light rigs. Does anyone have any bits of info. for me on how the 6501 performs from the sandy saltwater beaches of Puget Sound?

I bought my wife a Stradic 2000 spinning reel last summer to go on a GL3 1143S. She hated it because it was hard to click the bail closed after a cast. So I put my Stradic on her rod for the rest of the summer.
It soon became smooth, just like the rest on our Stradics'. I think it was loaded with too much factory grease. It works like a champ now.