Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Shimano Stradic Ci4 size question

Good choice.

JJ - the 3000FK has same body size and wt. of 2500

Yet more line capacity if needed in salt water

I'm torn. Want a 1000 and either 2500 or 3000 and since I mostly freshwater fish for now it's a matter of reel handle preference.

I have a couple of 2500's but would not hesitate to get a 1000. On certain rods they would just feel right.

I like the 1000 size as a maximum for ultralights...I use 750s in other models when I can get them. As I understand the spool size is the same....


As I get older I have come to the conclusion that for both guns and tackle, we tend to use stuff that is way too big.

I agree Ingwe. Popped many deer using a BR sized round using 28-32 gr of powder. Pulled in fish 4-6lbs using ultralight gear - oh what fun.

I use Pflueger 20-25 sized reels often. My only complaint is when casting and reeling for hours you crank more using the little reels due to their gear ratio and line retrieve. Not a big deal but when fishing hard for hours - having a faster retrieve might make it less taxing. Only a few UL reels have a say 6:1 vs 5:1 ratio.

Lately, we are fishing for Crappie spawning in about 3-4 feet of water, which have grass beds about 2-3 feet down, so you have to run your jig fast and shallow to keep above the grass. Hundreds of casts in a day....save the times I slow way down and use a cork n jig. Sometimes as effective or more, sometimes not.

I put a Stradic FK 1000 on a 6 foot Browning Air Stream UL rod - and it balanced very well, the 2500 needed the 6 1/2 foot to feel right, the 2500 Ci4+ did well on the 6 foot UL. Yet both were overkill on the 5 1/2 foot UL model, only the 1000 Ci4+ felt right to me. Right now I have a 20 President on the 5 1/2 and a 25 Surpreme on the 6 foot UL. I will likely run the 1000 FK on the 6ft UL, but it might also be used on my TFO 6' LF or my Carbonlight 6'9 MLF. The latter rods would be used more for bass fishing as well as Crappie.

I do like small n light. That matters at the end of a long day