New cabelas depthmaster III reels

[Chas0218]

I was just browsing the cabelas site and I saw the DepthMaster III reels. I use the II for walleye and they have been great but there was something about these new ones that looked familiar and sure enough I think Okuma is making their reels. You be the judge but they look very very similar to the New Magda DXT reels. The only difference I can see is the line counter reset.

 

http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishing/fishing-reels/trolling-reels%7C/pc/104793480/c/104760180/sc/104652180/cabela-s-depthmaster-reg-iii-trolling-reels/1750480.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ftrolling-reels%2F_%2FN-1100307%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104652180

 

http://www.okumafishing.com/product/view/reels/linecounters/magda-pro-dxt-linecounter

[alex1young]

I have both the DM II and DM III models.  I've replaced the drag in all of them but feel the DM II was much better quality.  I'm not sure who manufactured the DMII, but you're correct Okuma makes the DM III.

[Chas0218]

The 20 series of the DM2 had horrible drags and nothing would fix them but my 30 series DM2 have 3 seasons on them and other than a little moisture in the line counter they have been trouble free these pulled double duty as my first salmon reels and were abused by some nice fish. I think the DM2 were made by diawa (a little redesigned accudepth).

[power dive]

I never have good luck with okuma reels I know guys that love em I own them but nothing but problems with them! I do own Cabalas reels and not yet a problem!

[p3434]

I been using the cabelas reels for about 7 years . The last 2 years , I have been upgrading my reels to saltiest . The reason for the upGrade is the salmon has been killing the drags on the cabelas reels . These saltiest reels are so much better .

[Xxx]

A few years before the DM lll, I used the ll and I sent them to Tuna Tom, I had a problem first thing in the morning the drags would like stick all I had to do is pull the line and they worked flawless the rest of the day. One morning I forgot the old pull the line and it cost me a whale of a walleye tore off as soon as it hit which was a violent one at that. I saw he had advertisement for Cabela's reels and he did a bunch for me I asked where do you get your parts and he said a lot interchange with other main brand reels?? I didn't want to get into it so I figured it was Okuma there's to much resemblance. Now if I were to buy a better grade of the lll which I haven't had 1 oz of trouble I wouldn't buy their all metal ones. I would go with the salties there drags seem really smooth to me, I had them all in my hands at Cabelas, the key to there drags is change them out, like I did, now they are as smooth as a Mitchell tide water, which is the smoothest I've ever felt. The guys at Cabela's let me put 20 some feet of line on every reel and for the money the salties are the smoothest.

[Chas0218]

Pap, that is why you don't store your rods with the drag tight. Best thing you can do is storing your rods long term or overnight is to loosen that drag. I have done it since my reels were new and I feel like that is why the drags have lasted as long as they have. My Depthmasters are silky smooth and rival my buddy's coldwater reels.

 

I am an Okuma guy and own 18 Okuma reels mostly of the Magda Pro 30s but a few spin casting but next year I will be phasing out my Magda Pro reels for the coldwaters. I have done regular maintenance and drag washers in a few but after a set of drag washers they are back to new.

 

I had a bad taste left in my mouth after dealing with Diawa on a brand new Saltist (line counter wouldn't index just clicked and the drag was all wonky right out of the box) they wouldn't do anything for me even after they lost my original receipt (the copy wasn't good enough). After going around with them for 3 months over 1 reel I just gave up and took the $75 hit and ordered parts, fixed it then sold it. I didn't trust it after everything I went thru and vowed never to intentionally buy another diawa product.

[FleetTracker]

That may be the first Daiwa knock I've ever heard... I wouldn't trade my Saltist reels for anything!! That's all I run except for Seagate's for copper. Best drags on the market. Sucks you had a bad experience with one have never heard of a saltist line counter issue. They're directly driven vs the Okuma friction counters which aren't accurate or consistent.

I naively bought some Okuma's when I was starting out. Wasn't a fan of losing fish with sticky drags.

Edited June 15, 2016 by FleetTracker

[Chas0218]

That may be the first Daiwa knock I've ever heard... I wouldn't trade my Saltist reels for anything!! That's all I run except for Seagate's for copper. Best drags on the market. Sucks you had a bad experience with one have never heard of a saltist line counter issue. They're directly driven vs the Okuma friction counters which aren't accurate or consistent.

I naively bought some Okuma's when I was starting out. Wasn't a fan of losing fish with sticky drags.

Yeah they were hit or miss for a few years, I think they might have their crap together now. Their larger reels have the gear driven counters as well but still that same drag system. My buddy bought a couple of their new coldwaters and wow are they smooth. I have picked up a couple Diawa in the stores but just couldn't bring them to the check out. Nice reels but had a bad experience. I do still have a couple of the older DepthMaster 2 that I think are Diawa accudepths and work great for walleye. They were bought 4 years ago I think. Time goes too fast haha.

[Xxx]

Yea Chas, that's the first thing tom told me lesson learned, didn't break the bank. I still use the Depthmaster reels. I like them and to me that's what matters.