The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Afternoon All,
Recommendations please for an Abu multiplier for a little pike fishing and perhaps a bit of light sea fishing. Reliability, small, 'simple' and Swedish made (stating the obvious) being key + what, if any, pitfalls to look out for.
Regards Cat

Firstly would you reel in with left or right hand?
For lure fishing? Or deadbaiting?

Abu 6500 CT it is small enough to use for Pike and great for a bit of beach fishing.I have a pair that get used for both.

I have a few, and use them as above, in fact the ABU 6500 was the "go to " beach multiplier for many years,they now come with magnetic brakes if you prefer them to brake blocks, the mag brakes prevent overruns ( supposedly) depending how much you wind them on .

There are several different versions, these days level winds are mostly a thing of the past, and without doubt cut down casting distances greatly.

If you are not planning in casting great distances the normal version with brake blocks would do admirably, of you are going to be a bit more enthusiastic when doing a bit of beach fishing, then the magged versions of the above would probably be a better bet for you if you are not used to casting Multipliers.

There are others in the Abu range, smaller, and quite a bit bigger, for me the 6500 ticks all the boxes.... I use a pair for Pike fishing and they will do everything you want them to.

Price wise, probably around £50.00 for a half decent second hand one, going down the new route at least expect to pay a minimum of a £100.00 .

Things to look out for...

The 6500 Sports rocket has chrome on brass flat sideplates and is pretty much top of the range for a bog standard,with ceramic bearings , ceramics are fast and smooth. The sports rocket is a fantastic reel but in my opinion a bit ott for what you are wanting.

You will see other examples with alloy flat sideplates and also domed flat sideplates, the alloy sideplates can suffer from corrosion if used in a salt atmosphere and not looked after. If buying second hand really look at the sideplates, it will also indicate if the owner has been a bit rough with the reel as the alloy plates can get "dinged" easily and show up dents and scratches, its also an indication that the owner has not swilled it off after use, and may have been lax with servicing .

Level wind examples are freel available new.... I would leave them well alone myself , not only does the level wind cut down on casting distance, but if and when you suffer from a "birdie" that is a birds nest caused by the reel spool overrrunning ,the level wind is your worst nightmare for sorting the mess out, they are bad enough without the level wind when "birdied" with it, well, enough said.

There are many Multiplier reels around that look identical to the Abus, Fladen and Shakespear do or did make some almost identical, dont go there they are just really cheap copies with monkey metal gears.

Akios do a nice reel with Mag brakes, its called the "Shuttle" but it isnt cheap. Penn do a range of small multipliers similar to the Abus, the Penn 525 "slidey" range have mag brakes that are adjusted with a slide, and their "knobby" range are adjusted with a knob funnily enough. The Penns have high impact plastic side plates and are pretty bullet proof. They also have the "Mag 3" and "mag 4" which are similar. In fact there are plenty of examples of small multipliers on the market, as you have mentioned Abu"s it may be as well sticking to them as it can get a minefield when you start to look at what is available.

I hope that the above will give you a bit of insight into the reels, any problems please PM as I have been using them for probably the past 35 years and am just about getting used to them by now, although I will say that I have moved over to fixed spools for the most of my Pike and Beach angling , fixed spools have come on so very much in recent years I would say that a multiplier offers no advantages any more, except that they are smaller and more compact .

OMR.

Thanks for your replies. To answer you Olly, a bit of both for pike, and spinning from the Cornish rocks in summer for bass, mackerel, etc, and I am ambidextrous, being left-handed for writing and close up work, and right handed for much other stuff. To answer OMR, I'm looking for something vintage rather than new (well, as vintage as an Abu multiplier may be, but definitely a quality Swedish made, although I was thinking of a Winfield Bass multiplier?),
Regards Cat

Hi Cat, the older Abu multipliers are far superior in build quality than the newer models . Production has gone to the far east and as thing do , the product sometime suffers, there is a big buyers market for good vintage Abus from the 50’s and 60’s , to find one you may get lucky , otherwise it will be a hard job to find one . Mine are from the early 80’s.There are 3 on a certain auction site now,all with level winds, which would be the norm for an older reel.

OMR

Thanks OMR...not in a hurry, but I will look.

I can recommend the old 6000, i use one for sea fishing and I'm sure it would be fine for Pike fishing. If you wanted something a bit smaller you could always go for the 5000.

The 5000 series are great for pike and salmon and sea trout and I personally wouldn't go bigger than that for freshwater though there may be some situations where one might; for example, I've seen folk long casting with light beach and bass rods on reservoirs for pike.

OMR has summed it up pretty nicely but I would say that spinning without a level wind is neither enjoyable nor effective as you've got your 'spare' hand thumbing the line on thus limiting the ability to hold and strike the rod properly. I'd choose a fixed spool for lure fishing personally.
For close to medium range bass/ light beachcasting I'd have a Swedish green mag elite 5500, for any range I'd choose the same in 6500 size. Thats if you dont need a ratchet.
All of the above is IF I absolutely had to have an ABU - I usually choose a Penn 525 mk1 (vastly superior to the Chinese replacements the mk2 and mk3, a mk4 has just been released so the jury is still to decide on it yet) for winter and a Daiwa 7ht Mag for summer as generally my marks involve long range (80m plus) casting and 'backing up' over shallow beaches with a big tidal range where plenty of line capacity is needed

Liphook, have you been in my reel collection ?

My go to reel for hard saltwater multiplier work is my Mk 1 Penn 525 . Bulletproof , absolutely, and for boat or rock marks a Mk 1 535, I have a pair of them , they have taken so much hammer in the past 20 years they should by rights have been trashed,or retired , but, they are still as good as the day they were made, and replacement parts are still available , that should tell you something !

OMR