I'm a Florida saltwater fishomaniac, I'm out on the water at least once or twice a week, in all kinds of weather, for multiple species, Redfish, seatrout, black drum,pompano, bluefish, sheephead, spanish mackerel, snook, cobia, jack crevalle, snapper, Etc.With occasional dances with shark & tarpon. I
've had a couple of these for nearly 5 years, and recently got 2 more for guests. Nice smooth action, great bait feeder function, I do wish the ratchet function was a lot louder for wave & surf use. You should get multi packs of line bearings, (uxcell SMR85ZZ Stainless Steel Ball Bearing 5x8x2.5mm Shielded MR85ZZ Bearings 5pcs ) as salt water kills them if you don't keep them lubed. But over all, a surprisingly well made and versatile reel for a great price. The bigger sizes are beefier if you want to throw down with monsters regularly, and you'll get lot's of miles out of these if you clean, strip down and re-lube every season or after immersion in salt water. Tight lines!! 11/23/23 update, 2 years and lots of fish later, I discovered that Okuma specifies these reels are for "light to medium duty FRESHWATER use" but Amazon advertises them as "saltwater spinning reels", which was my primary reason for buying multiples of the ABF 55b. I contacted Amazon recently about the inaccurate advertising, and am hoping they will correct the adds, for the sake of the folks who will buy them and assume they are totally unaffected by repeated exposure to saltwater. (even reels rated for saltwater need to be rinsed and maintained) That being said, I still think these are amazing reels for the price, and with attention to the vulnerable areas, will last for years! The 3 main areas to pay attention to are, 1- The handle, at the inside of the 90 degree elbow, specifically where you can see the metal shaft at the pin/swivel point. This area has a recess that retains water. After rinsing, use compressed air or a can of computer duster, followed up with a squirt of WD40, or a drop of any light oil. 2- The line roller bearing, It's inside the roller the line passes over right off the spool. Remove the screw, you can see the bearing inside what looks like a mini tire rim, keep it clean and oiled. If it starts seizing up, see the bearing number above for replacement. 3- The secondary bait feeder drag. When the pole is in use, it's the lowest point of the reel, It also tends to collect water. It's accessed by first removing the rubber adjuster knob cover that snaps over the knob like a stocking cap. use a guitar pick or a butter knife inserted in the small gap between the cover and the body of the reel to pry back the rim of the cap out of the groove it's snapped into, then peel it off. If the cap is not too old or stiff you can sometimes squeeze it hard enough to get one edge out of the groove. Then remove the plastic cap that's immediately in front of the drag adjuster/wheel, there's 1 screw on the side, and one kind of hidden in a small hole in the front of the stem that attaches the reel to the pole, remove both, pull off the cap/cowl. there's a small slot that you can see right in front of the adjuster wheel, that you can squirt with WD40. Rotate the knob a turn or so back and forth to work the water displacing stuff into the vulnerable works. Wipe off the excess & replace the plastic cap & rubber knob cover. After you've done this once or twice you realize it's easier than it sounds!
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Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2021 by 3cells 3cells
