STUDIO OCEAN MARK HIGH END FISHING REELS - WHY THIS BRAND OUTPERFORMS THE REST

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]So, we have a few products in front of us here.

[00:00:04]Take this away.

[00:00:06]Talk about these first. All right. So, the one that I took was not a standard model. So, we're talking about the standard model Blue Heaven later on.

[00:00:14]But, they are a low production fishing reel company that specializes in jigging reels. And recently, they've introduced a casting reel based on the Blue Heaven platform.

[00:00:27]They also have another reel which is the blue safari and it's geared towards people that are traveling and it's kind of like a a reel that that's a do all. I don't have one of those or I'm going to talk about that when I have that reel.

[00:00:43]But they're very famous for accessories and they make accessories for Dawa and Shimano uh reels. This is just an example. I use the Shimano platform. So these are for the Stellas and Twin Powers.

[00:01:02]They're the core of the company is innovation.

[00:01:11]And I brought this out as an example because this is something that's useful for everyone. This is their hook remover. And it's not just like any other hook remover.

[00:01:22]Okay? So, it has the same function almost, but there's this part here that's actually very useful. And what it is, it helps grip the hook when you remove it. and it lessens the damage or actually kind of not really lessen but eliminates the damage because if you could see it moving up and down. The reason why it does that is so that when you're removing the hook, even if you're shaking the hook, the grip stays and it doesn't bend the hook, which is very important because as soon as you bend the hook, you know that it's kind of damaged. So, it helps prevent that.

[00:02:04]Another thing, and this is where they went above and beyond, is this thing is very light. Very, very light. So, not only does it function as a hook remover that doesn't damage your hook, but it's almost not there when you're walking around, especially when you're a life tackle fisherman. you're fishing the shores and you carry all of your stuff on you and you hardly feel this on you. They make spools and these spools are awesome.

[00:02:37]This is the older model and there's a reason why I I'm talking about this first. They're the first ones to actually introduce the radiator at the back of this pool. This dissipates 30% of the hook uh of the heat generated by the drag.

[00:02:55]So the heat affects your drag and to make it more consistent they put this here and it works so well. So well in fact that Shimano has introduced something similar which they call the heat sink drag. But Studio Oceanark actually did it first. This bowl is about five 57 years old and Shimano only introduced it in their most recent models. It has upgraded drag washers as well. And the good thing about this is that I could put this on my 8,000 sized reel and it turns that reel into a 16,000 sized reel. So, you get an upgrade on capacity and power.

[00:03:39]Now, the newest iteration of this spool, which they call no limits, is that they have this shape, a different shape. There's a dip, a different cut on both sides here. So, it lessens the contact of the line as it leaves the spool, which gives you farther casts. So, aside from the upgraded washers, the uh radiator, which in this case has also been upgraded, you have that function when you're casting. Now, when you're reeling in, what happens is because of those cuts, as soon as the loops come in onto go back to the spool of the reel, the cuts actually also help with tightening the loops so that you have less wind knots.

[00:04:35]So, those are the spools and they're they were quite revolutionary when they were introduced.

[00:04:42]So, when you're buying a reel, you'll later on you'll find out that oh, like in my case, the handle was too short for the 1500. So, I had to buy a Studio Ocean Mark handle and their handle or the knobs actually are foam, which makes it lighter. That's a and b, it's also angled. No, if you check with say a uh a 2000 size OSHA it's actually straight. So, some people like it that way, but a lot of people actually believe or or can feel the difference when you're holding this. That slight angle kind of makes it feel as a natural hold and you don't have to go like this.

[00:05:29]So, feels great in the hand. uh and doesn't hurt your wrist. Obviously, it's also not fair to compare this with the OSHA because this is a lever drag reel. Now, the L-shaped lever that you have here is actually very important because see this side here is smaller and when you grip it, you can manipulate your drag, make it go to the fight position or even max out with just your thumb.

[00:06:01]on your palming hand.

[00:06:04]And uh the cuts that they have here on the side is, believe it or not, a feature so that when you're dropping, you could just feel and it's on strike. That's it. instead of actually, you know, using your other hand, which can be positioned right here, ready to reel.

[00:06:30]How they put this together is that when you put it on strike, each click of the uh the lever adds 5 kg.

[00:06:43]So, when you're at strike, you put it at fight, you have an extra 2 kg. And when you push it to max, it goes up to plus 3 kg. When you're at strike, you put it at minimum, it's minus 2 kg. And then obviously there's free spool. There are other models where you could actually use this as a fall lever.

[00:07:10]You could actually kind of do it with this one. Although on the other one, it's more refined. And that was that's their super top end model.

[00:07:19]Now, the free spool of this is actually kind of pretty unbelievable because on the spool itself, it's it's it's free floating and it's supported by two bearings. Now, we'll we'll see those bearings later when we open up the reel.

[00:07:32]And there's a certain model, I think the smaller one on the standard smaller one, the L30, there's a there's a mechanism where when you turn the handle, it puts the uh the drag to the strike setting, which is pretty cool. but it's not present on the bigger ones. This particular re reel has a semi-waterproof drag which we will see later. Drag washers are cork and the gear on this is actually quite big, very big gears and they have large teeth which we we will see later. And their design concept of this reel is very different from let's say a Shimano. The engineering on the spools and everything that that's on here is just amazing as you would expect from a Japanese company. The bearings that they use is uh high strength and they have a a custom oneway bearing for this and for the bigger sizes they put two.

[00:08:37]The handle arms of course come stock.

[00:08:39]This is stock. You don't have to upgrade it, but it's already upgraded. The uh angular bearing needs to be actually mentioned. Now, unload when you're fighting a fish, okay, there's a shaft here and it gets pushed down because of the drag. And what happens is that these bearings kind of bind. But the bearings that they put on here, there's one here that's angular and it carries the load. So angular bearings are load bearings and they work better on load. So when you're cranking, even when the fish is pulling, it actually kind of just feels the same as this without load. So very, very good technology there.

[00:09:28]The thing that really attracted me to this fishing system, this reel, is the fact that it's very easy to maintain and it's very easy to open. Actually, this is the only jigging reel that's modular and it made sense to me. So, I'm going to show you guys exactly what I'm talking about here.

[00:09:52]So, there are certain situations where you want to change your spool. It would be probably when your line is heavily damaged or you're stripped.

[00:10:06]God, if God forbid if your drag actually fails and you need your extra spool, you could also could also happen that way. But as you can see here, the screws are fixed and they don't fall. And there's only three screws that you need to worry about. That's it. And all you do is just have a screwdriver handy and that's it. I don't carry around a screwdriver with me when I go fishing, but I have my Swiss Army knife and the can opener right here. Okay, that's what I use. It's perfect for it.

[00:10:45]Or the bottle opener, actually. Now, to change the spool, you just need to take this off.

[00:10:57]Take the spool off, replace it, and you're good to go. Now, this is one of the bearings that I was telling you about. This is one of the support bearings. So, these guys kick in when there's load.

[00:11:11]Very easy to open this. This is all handtightened, and you shouldn't tighten tighten this a lot.

[00:11:18]Inside, you'll see your drag plate.

[00:11:22]And there's one bearing there, another bearing here, and inside there's another bearing that supports the the uh free floating shaft.

[00:11:32]Very light. You'll see that it's cork.

[00:11:35]The drag washer. Now, if you want to upgrade this to a carbon washer, you could just purchase a carbon washer from Studio Ocean or whatever dealer you have in your area.

[00:11:51]And then you could replace that. And it's very a very very easy operation.

[00:11:55]You just take the uh C clip off like that. Put the new washer on, lubricate it if you want, and it's done. There's a small spring there just to uh keep tension on the uh plate. You don't open this on in field. So, you know, it it's uh not really something to mess around with when you're out in the field. Okay. So, easy as that. Put it back. Just like that.

[00:12:29]This has a semi waterproof seal. And these rails are not meant to be dunked in the water. So yeah, that's pretty uh straightforward, but they protect the drag washers from water intrusion. So that's uh pretty good. Now you can see here that the uh the main gear is actually quite big and way bigger than let's say what you would find in an OSHA The pinion is strong. It's supported by a bearing at the back there. But as you can see, it was very easy to open. So, if you just need to lubricate, put grease there. It's very easy.

[00:13:14]Put oil on the bearings. It's easy as that to return the spool. Very easy.

[00:13:21]Again, just put it through the shaft.

[00:13:25]Sometimes what happens is that the the uh alignment is off with the uh the spring, but very easy. All you have to do is just wiggle it a bit.

[00:13:36]Put this back on.

[00:13:43]As simple as that.

[00:13:49]Put the reel back together and you're back fishing. So, this whole thing, even on the boat, is very simple to do. Plus, you don't lose screws because the screws don't pop off.

[00:14:03]Now, very important thing for me is that when I did the math on things, it occurred to me that for the price that you're paying for this, it kind of made sense because there's always a price for innovation. That is one. And two, if I used the modularity of this reel, I would basically carry less. So, this particular reel with two or three spools would be able to load an extra spool of PE2, a PE 2.5 and a three. So, I not only have a backup spool, I would have two other line classes that I could use in different current situations. Or I could load it up with PE3 or PE4 when I'm fishing shallow water and there happens to be big fish there. So I'll have more muscle to yank them out of structure. So as a system itself, if you think about it, I would rather have one reel that could do several tasks as opposed to two, three other reels. It just made sense to me.

[00:15:10]So you know, I mean, if you think about it that way, what is cheaper? One reel with three spools or four reels? You do the math. It's really up to you to decide, but for me, it just makes sense.

[00:15:21]And it was it's really cheaper if you add all of it. It's cheaper than buying four reels and loading four different lines. Now what I have to do is just take two three rods, two, three spools, one reel cheaper. All right. So I realized that access to these reels are not really that easy. There are several places on Earth where this is ridiculously expensive because the supply is just so low or the demand is so low. It's because a lot of people just don't know what this reel is and what it can do. But definitely for me in the long run, I'll save with this system because again, like I said, it's cheaper to buy one reel and three spools rather than actually having four reels. So, it just made sense to me. Now, again, this is the standard model and it only gets kind of ridiculous from here. This reel isn't for everyone. We know that already, especially for the people that just don't understand what it is. Okay.

[00:16:19]However, it has become the gold standard for jigging and it's really a very good system if you wrap your head around it and if you understand what it does and what it can do.

[00:16:34]Now, as I've mentioned, for me, it will become cheaper to actually just buy one reel that could do several jobs than to actually buy four reels.

[00:16:45]And I've done the math. This is the cheaper way. And that's, I guess, one of the ways you could look at it to save money in the long run. I'm going to be replacing these two. These two reels are going to be replaced with just one reel.

[00:17:00]And I'm going to give you the reason why. So, this was the reel I used uh P1.5 with. And this is my PE2 reel. Both of these, of course, are OSHA jiggers.

[00:17:12]This is the OSHA 1000. And this is the OSHA 1,500. Both really good reels. Now, before we proceed, I'd like to say that these are standards, okay? And you can't fault standards.

[00:17:24]There's nothing wrong with them. It's just that for my fishing, I needed kind of a bit more. This has been my workhorse for the longest time. Again, I find no fault on this. The OSHA Jagger 1500 is a very solid reel, perfect for PE2 work. And I love it because it has a wider spool. So, the drag spike on this is not as noticeable as it is in a size 2000. And given the chance which I had to choose between the 2,000 and the 1500, I chose the 1500 and I would probably continue to choose the same reel if if I was to choose. All right.

[00:18:05]Now, the only thing that I didn't like I think you notice between the two reels is that I changed the handle. So, I found the handle on the 1500 a bit too short and the rubber grip was kind of too uncomfortable. So, I changed it with an S Soom uh shaft and the AE85, which is for me just perfect. All right. So, giving me better leverage, better better uh reel balance. Okay. And working the jig is easier because it is longer. And although even if it is an HG, the longer handle gives me more control and more leverage on the jig. So when I move it, it doesn't seem as heavy. The other thing that I I I kind of don't like about them was the weight. So a heavier, of course, the heavier reel will absorb more vibrations. And with that, there are some strikes that are too subtle for uh me to notice.

[00:19:07]And when it matters, it matters. That's the most important thing there. Now, this is also the reason why I chose a 1500 over a 2000 because of the weight and also why I haven't upgraded to the F- Custom because the F- Custom is again heavy. If you're new to slow jigging or thinking of actually going into it, best advice I could give you is actually choose the lightest reel that you can.

[00:19:33]Um, choose the silver one over the F- Custom because the F Custom, you know, it has that fall lever and gives it a lot of weight. This is considerably the silver ones are considerably lighter than the F custom. This reel has 500 m of PE2 in it.

[00:19:52]The reel that I'm going to be replacing those two with is just this one reel.

[00:19:59]This is a mouthful to say, so I'm going to read it off the uh the badge. Here it is. is the Studio Ocean Mark Blue Heaven Garage L30 S2T. The S2T stands for slow style tune or slow style tuning, which means that this reel was really built for slow jigging from the ground up. There's this is the HI version, the high gear, and they have the uh power slow version, which is the low gear. We're we're going to get into that uh later on. Okay. Uh but for now, we're going to talk about this particular reel right here. It is lighter and we'll actually show you without line. Line is almost negligible really. But this is 384 without line.

[00:21:03]OSHA is 464. So, you know, there's a little bit of a variance, but any any weight reduction that you can do on these things matter so much. And honestly, that bit of weight, you can feel it.

[00:21:25]Okay, so this comes with a carbon handle um cork handle or knob, sorry. Still 85 size, same as the other one. It has uh titanium parts. Let's just put it that way for simp simplicity sake. The the main gears are even perforated instead of being solid. Now, there's a lot of thought and engineering that went into this reel, but the thing that really attracted me to this is just a few things. Okay, first and foremost is that it's light. Okay. And then second is that it has this feature where your lever actually becomes your fall lever and it utilizes your drag.

[00:22:17]What it does is in fact they're they're the first ones to actually do this on their reels, not Shimano.

[00:22:24]uh but their methodology of course is different. So there's no clash but essentially the functions kind of the same. Although I'm not going to be using it because to tell you honestly uh I believe that the fall lever is nothing but marketing. What we do is actually just push on the spool here or with your thumb to slow the descent of the jig. So yeah, it's kind of marketing there. But it's no secret that you use your tip, the tip of your index finger to put pressure in front.

[00:23:04]And you could also do the same with your thumb. Or you could alternate. Okay? And and that's kind of like a an old school secret that a lot of people don't even realize and they're thinking that the best thing since sliced bread is the uh fall lever. But if you fell for that, you fell for marketing, buddy. Anyway, so it has this function.

[00:23:27]And uh if you want it, it's there. If you don't, it's not, you know, don't use it. That's fine. So that's one of the things that I actually kind of liked, the fact that it's already incorporated in your drag lever instead of a different setting that you have to fiddle around with. That's one. Two is the fact that with Studio Ocean Mark reels, you can change spools easy. You just take these screws and they don't pop out. They have a retainer inside the spool and the setting remains the same.

[00:23:59]So, all you have to do is just screw it off. Okay, which is fast screwdriver. No, no uh what do you call this? No special tools required. You just take this off.

[00:24:11]Uh one, two, three.

[00:24:13]This separates uh you hold everything. Okay. Like that.

[00:24:20]Take off the uh screw and then take your spool, spare spool.

[00:24:26]Take the old spool off. Put this on. Put the screw back on. Boom. The cover.

[00:24:32]Screw. One, two, three, and you're back to fishing. So, if you are actually fishing, uh, like in my case, I'm going to replace two reels. So, this will hold the PE2 and then the other, this spool holds the PE 1.5. So, I don't have to lug around two heavy pieces of gear with me. I'm just going to have one reel, two spools. If I need it, it's there.

[00:25:01]Another way to tackle this is to actually put PE2 on this as well and PE2 this becomes a sparish pool. Okay, it's totally up to you. Now, the cool thing about Studio Ocean Mark and their system of obviously one of the reasons why I uh chose this is because of these things.

[00:25:25]Okay, it's so clever. Okay. So, this spool holds 700 of PE 2.

[00:25:37]If I put these, which these are called economizers, okay? So, all you have to do really is just press on these until they're they're down.

[00:25:49]You'll feel a click. All right. So, I'm not going to do that now. Let's uh put these this on. Okay. Again, that needs to be closed like that. Okay. Once it's like that for both ends, you have a spool that has a capacity of PE2 300 or 450 or PE 1.5. So, very, very handy because now all of a sudden I have two options, three options for this spool alone. Okay? And if you count that, if you have another spool, you can have like a whole system with just one reel.

[00:26:24]And which is cheaper, having two reels or having one reel and several spools to form different systems. Obviously, this would be the cheaper alternative. I'm not saying that this is something that, you know, that you should go out and uh buy because it's very cost prohibitive for a lot of people. So, yeah, that's it. Anyway, um again, for me, it's just a system that I bought into it or it is the system I bought into because everything seems so intuitive and it just fits my fishing style. So, for me, really worth the investment.

[00:27:02]And I know that a lot of people think that it is very cost prohibitive, but again, think of it this way, okay? because this is how I came to the conclusion that I should be in this fishing system. So I have a few reels with economizers or a few spools with economizer. I have one reel. Okay. I have a spool that will give me 200 uh sorry 300 m of PE2. I have another spool with an economizer that gives me 450 m of 1.5.

[00:27:39]And then I have another spool that gives me 700 of P2.

[00:27:46]Now, considering that I already have a spool of PE2 that's also 700, it gives me a lot of options. I have a shallow water spool that I could change into if I'm really just wanting to fish, let's say, 100 something m. Most of the time, I would have that spool there. If I'm fishing deeper water, I'll have two spools, one back up and one um main just in case I run into bigger fish that would cut my line. Or if I'm fishing high current situations and I want to drop lighter jigs, I have the 1.5 which is at 450.

[00:28:28]And guess what? If I have another spool, I'll fill it up with 1.5 without the economizer. And what do you think will happen? That's a lot of super light line that I could take advantage of. So again, different systems and all within the uh the sphere of the needs that I that I want just one reel instead of buying two or three and and for me I have to have the flexibility when I need it. This is why I went with this reel.

[00:28:57]Very intuitive. It just has everything.

[00:29:00]And for now, this is the best that S Soom has to offer. And if you compare this reel to any reel, any other reel in the market, there is nothing that comes close to what this reel can do. That is a fact. Literally one of the best, if not the best jigging reels in the market today. This is specifically for P2.5 or 3. Okay. Now, we have two reels here.

[00:29:20]One is Japanese, one is well, I would say this is kind of like American. This is something that's readily available in America and the rest of the world.

[00:29:28]whereas the F custom is a bit harder to get in some countries. Here in the UAE, both are available. Both are easy to get, but I chose the Trinidad 16 a long time ago for my PE3 work. And that has a lot to do with the width of this pool. I think I have a video of this. I mean, talking about what? Okay. Uh today it's talking about these reels specific my choice. Okay. Uh why and the good things about the 2000 Oshia F-Custom.

[00:30:06]This is a 2001 HG model and this is a Trinidad, the regular one, not the narrow. Okay, so firstly, as you can tell, this one obviously has a lot more capacity and we'll get into the details it. But hey, if you're new here, this channel talks about the hows and wise of fishing. And we cover everything from big game, ultral light, everything in between, including fly fishing. And if you've been following, we've been doing some fishing videos as well. So, we're going to do a mix of those things. Now, um I guess this is specifically this video actually specific target people that are choosing which reel to get. Okay, for this size, okay, so as you can see here, they're they're pretty much the same reel. Okay, except this one has a wider spool. Now, there are differences, of course. Okay, I'm going to get my funky looking scale here and weigh them and see exactly how much they weigh, what they weigh. Okay, so this one is this one is about 649 g. That's a little over half a kilo. This one is 637. So immediately you can see that there's a weight difference there. This is lighter. Now, this has obviously this has a lot more parts. So, that counts.

[00:31:36]You could also see that I've changed the handle. Now, this is practically the very first thing I changed because the handle of this was pretty short. This already has a handle which you could change to a longer setting at 92 mm. And that's perfect. Okay. So, the only thing I changed on this one is the handle. I like this better because of the wide spool. Now, that gives me a smaller uh drop on my arbor size when I'm slow jigging. That means that I would have a faster retrieve rate. Now, with this one, because it's narrow, what happens is when you drop, the size of the arbor rapidly shrinks, and that affects how you actually pick up slack and stretch on the line. That's that's the main reason why. Now, of course, this has a fancy lever here. And when you put it on the bottom right there, it becomes tight and then or the spool, there's a tension on the spool. And and when you put it on, sorry, uh when it's full up like that, it's tight. And then you get a bit more free spool when you actually um put it on the bottom like so. Okay, both reels are super free for this uh free spool, which is great. Now, this lever, whatever its function is, you could use your index finger and your thumb to actually slow the speed of the spool. It's no secret. It wasn't It wasn't a secret ever in the slow jigging community to use your thumb and index finger to actually control the descent of the reel. So for those guys that actually are in the know, it wasn't really a secret, you know, and we had a lot of strikes going down when it's dropping, if we actually just put our index finger there, here, okay, or both.

[00:33:37]Okay, and that's how we got strikes going down. That was very common. Uh we didn't really talk about it, but now that you know the F custom is uh out there, like people are thinking that it's something new. It's not. Okay, so that's that. As far as the speed of the reels are concerned on a full spool, they're about the same. Okay, about 117 cm per crank, but obviously that's going to that is drastically going to change if you're fishing at depth, which means that this will have a lot more retrieve rate than this when you're fishing at depth. Because of the wider spool of the Trinidad, it will take in more line because your arbor stack or your line stack will not diminish as greatly as a narrow reel. In the subject of drag, this is actually stronger. So, it is just as fast but has a higher max drag.

[00:34:36]This one has 10. This one has about 11 1/2. For some people, that's negligible.

[00:34:42]My question is, why would a cheaper reel actually have stronger drag? So, before even with the choice of uh the OSHA this was what I chose because it just had more. Now, now that the F custom is out, oh yeah, by the way, this will have that. Okay, so the automatic clutch, this one doesn't. Okay, see, you have to manually trip it, which is fine, you know? I mean, most of the time when I fish my OSHA uh, the 1500 and 1,00, I usually actually trip it manually. Okay, so these reels are great. Um, they work for whatever job they intend to do. Now, whatever your choice would be, it would be either, you know, you go for the F custom because you don't want to use your thumb, that's fine. For a little bit less money or a lot less money, you can get this. It's a lighter reel, more powerful, just as fast. Your choice. Okay. Now, when I chose to upgrade, so this will become my backup. When I chose to upgrade, I made sure that whatever reel I had or what whatever reel I was upgrading to would have more of everything, okay? And and this is actually the subject of this video today. It's not a comparison of these reels, okay? It's why I upgraded to this particular reel. Now, this these reels, okay, they're good. I I showed you exactly what the merits are of the these reels, and they're fantastic.

[00:36:19]Okay, there's nothing wrong with them except for this one. You need to change the handle, okay? And they are fantastic slow jigging reels. That being said, what could be better? Okay. Now, if I was to spend a bit of money, I would make sure that whatever I would get would be something that would not just fit my needs, but it's also future proof. As for that bait casting video that I showed you or that uh I've made um explained, it's actually worth it to spend a bit more money to get exactly what you need and more.

[00:36:54]Okay, so this is a Studio Ocean Mark. It has an upgraded carbon handle. It's a lever drag. It's something that these two are not. The good thing about lever drags is that once you set your drags, okay, once you store them, the drag setting is set. That's it. You don't touch it. With these, when you store them, you actually have to loosen the drag. Otherwise, they stick after a while. In the subject of weight, this reel is actually way lighter than both of those. Okay, as you could see by about 100 g and that matters because when you're jigging for the whole day, 100 g actually you could feel this reel is also stronger by by quite a big margin. Has um I would say about I think about 13 kg of drag. So really strong.

[00:37:45]It doesn't have the fancy F custom um lever. Again, I know how to use my thumb and index finger. It's good. um a tad wider spool-wise. Okay. Now, there's a lip on the Shimano and on this one it doesn't. So, it has a bit more as far as the width is. Now, this holds a lot of line, but this holds a lot more. Okay, this is what you're seeing here is actually 600 m of PE3 compared to this one that has about 350 or 400. Okay. So, this just has more a lot more. Super free. Very this one. Okay. It's a lever drag. Again, I can't emphasize that.

[00:38:28]Now, here's the interesting bit. While I was playing around with this, you see that minimum? Okay, that minimum is actually about as tight as the tightest setting for the F custom, which means that if I have like a 300 g jig, it could probably still pull a bit of line on the minimum and I'd be able to make that flutter free flutter free flutter.

[00:38:53]Or I could just use my fingers like I always do and still get strikes. Same thing. Now remember when when you're fishing on a boat, majority of boats these days have a fish finder and you actually know exactly where the fish are or what depth, you know, that's where the line come. You count the numbers, okay? And you drop about 5 to 10 m below them and then you start working your jig. That's how you catch them. Or while you're dropping. Again, I have a video of this and you could see me working the jig while it's dropping. Okay, I could probably link it, but it's it's in the channel. It's I I think no I believe it is the video where I was testing out the storm gum kaki. You type in search on my channel and you just type in kansaki you'll find that video and you'll see me actually working. So I I mean as far as the lever is concerned for the f custom actually of no use to me. Um and that's a skill you could learn guys you know.

[00:39:47]So finger there finger here you could tap tap do like like that. Okay. Or to put heavier pressure, you could use both. And it's that easy. Okay, this rail is stronger. It holds more line. It holds more line. PE2 on this one is like 1,000 me. Okay, that's a lot of line.

[00:40:07]And uh lighter. Already has all the upgrades that I need. I don't need it.

[00:40:12]And price. Okay, so if I got this one, for sure I would have bought a handle for it. Okay, and if I bought a handle for it, it'd be about the same price.

[00:40:22]This just doesn't make sense. So, or probably I need to pay a bit more, but since you're getting more for this reel, it just makes sense to actually spend a bit more extra to get exactly what you need. So, that's it. Okay. Now, when you're choosing a reel, I I don't I I I'm not too sure if this is available in the States or uh uh I'm pretty sure in Asia, of course, uh SOOM is Japanese and there's a lot of shops in Asia that actually specialize on jigging. What I'm trying to say here is that if you have the option of these three reels, okay, you have to think carefully not just about your budget, but exactly how you're going to be using it. Now, do you need more power? Spend the extra bit.

[00:41:06]Okay? If you're on a budget looking for a really good reel, you're in the US, you can't I mean, this is this is not a cheap reel. Okay? If you're on a budget and you want a really good reel, it could be this. And it works fantastically. Just change the handle.

[00:41:20]There are a lot of handles out there, not just S Soom handles, but there's a lot of handles that would be able to fit this that are longer. So, you're looking for something that's about $15 to 130 mm and it would work fantastically. It's an additional $68 on top of this. Okay, if you're if you don't know how to use your thumb, okay, or if you just like the feature, go for the F custom. Okay, you have that as a convenient factor and or as a convenience factor and it works, you know, it's not just it's not just marketing. It's not just something that uh you know, they put on there just so it's a different reel. But, you know, there are some instances that you actually use them and they work. If you want more of everything, more of everything, this is I mean, it's hard to beat this reel. It's literally for me, this is the best reel that you could buy. And I got one because kind of a need for me, especially right now when we're dropping deeper and deeper and looking for other fish species to catch here in the UAE. It's lighter, it's stronger, it holds more line, and overall, the smoothness of this reel is it's really it it's super smooth, and it's very strong. It's like a small winch in your hand. you you just can't compare. Okay, so um I know that it's very difficult for a lot of people to fork out the kind of money for this, but if you are already looking at something like an F custom, see exactly how much you would for an extra carbon handle and you'll know what I mean. because this is a a Z Japan. Okay, there are like the ordinary ones that are silver and if you bought an S Soom handle for this, it's actually more. You'd actually spend more. Okay, and the thing is if you spent on this and you're looking at capacity and strength, this wins by a huge margin. And the biggest factor for me is that versus that. That is about 100 g difference. Now, here's another thing and I'm not there are troubles with these reels and I'm pretty sure a lot of people who have used them have opinions and all that that that's fine, okay? But in my experience as far as maintenance is concerned. There are a lot of things that could could go wrong in a Shimano, okay? Could be the gears, bearings, um the drag. There's only one problem that I know of for Studio Ocean and that's the angular bearing. That is it. That is it. So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, you know, as far as as even the the uh longevity or or just the the upkeep for reals, this particular one takes a cake. Okay? And and that's basically what you're spending for. Now again, at the end of the day, this is your this is your um decision, guys, okay? I'm just putting this out there so that it could help in your buying this. It could be something that is widely available for parts in the US. Take for example a good reel that could do the job, an even better reel, or it could be something that you won't outgrow. This is the reel I'm going home with. Okay, this is this is practically I I I could probably sell most of my jigging reels if not all of them. And this is the one that I'm going to the Filipino when I finally obviously I'm not going to do that. I'm going to keep all my reels. But um a very very big difference. And you as you could see I mean just even on paper when you're using it you'll see I mean I've used I've used this um Fisal has an even better reel than this. Obviously, you can't really compare it, but just uh using the uh old SOM, a friend of mine had one and uh would use it and all that. And I've always I've always thought that, hey, you know, for for what you're paying for, you're really getting what what your money um spent for. Okay. So, or what your money bought. So, again, um kind of a similar sized reels in the same class and each in different segment. I think for me, I'm sold on this. That's it, you know.

[00:45:41]Um, it's just better for everything. If if there's a a downside on this, I think uh on paper they said that this was 110 cm crank and that's the only uh per turn of the handle. And that's that's probably something that uh it's negligible. 85 for slow jk. So, it's not kind it's really not a downside because if I'm fishing with Visal side by side, he he gets just as many strikes as I do with my Fosia So, this is going to be my new main. Okay, this will replace 1600. I'm still going to be keeping this around, of course. Uh, shout out to W for uh or the W for uh lending me this reel. All right, guys.

[00:46:22]At the end of the day, this is your decision. And I am just uh actually explaining why I I switched over to this one. And uh I'm going to make another video down the line for an update especially longevity. Okay. Um this is made in Malaysia. Oh no, this is made in Japan. Wow. Okay. So this is made in Japan. Thought it was Malaysia. Sorry, my bad. This is made in Japan. This is made in Japan. Okay. So all of these reels are made in Japan and they are targeting uh different different segments of okay obviously this is Shimano's flagship right now. That's the top end that they the best that they make uh are really really good. But I just find that for my use this has everything more. We are going to talk about why the L30 as opposed to let's say the L50. And before we actually proceed and talk about anything else, there is there is something you need to understand. Okay, we're talking about slow jigging purely slow jigging. There are a lot of people that would probably mix things up and think that, you know, I'm talking about uh something else, but this is purely purely for slow jigging, okay?

[00:47:44]Not fast jigging. So, just for your reference, this is a high-speed reel and it is a uh relatively narrow spooled reel. It is filled with PE2.

[00:48:01]Okay, PE2 with a 40 um a 40 lb leader. That's it. fast reel. Okay.

[00:48:16]Small, very light, compact, as you can see, easily fits in the palm of my hand, and it has a uh long handle. So, it doesn't have to be this reel, but I'm telling you exactly why. Okay. Now, in comparison to, let's say, a standard reel like a Shimano, this would be equivalent to a 1500 or 1,500 size Shimano OSHA And there's a very good reason why I'm using this.

[00:48:49]A lot of people, they're using a bigger size, an L50, or in Shimano terms, this is equivalent to a 2000sized reel. Okay. Now, first let's talk about the L50. And this is the Z Japan model for uh Studio Ocean.

[00:49:12]This used to be the reel that I used a lot. Okay. And pretty much I took this off of the rod that this now sits on.

[00:49:24]And I've kind of upgraded this for a uh a uh use. So the use for this is actually kind of upgraded. Okay. The line is 2.5 and the leader is still 40, but I choose to put either 40 or 50 on this particular reel. Okay, it has a different mission.

[00:49:51]However, it doesn't see as much action.

[00:49:54]Okay, so just to uh just to be clear, this is still one of the reels that I use a lot before. It used to be the one that I use a lot of, but I have since acquired an L30 and now this is the bulk of my fishing. This is what I use. Why?

[00:50:20]Uh mostly because of weight. Okay. So, if you compare even an S2T L50 and an L30, you'll find that the L30 is actually lighter. Okay? It's smaller in size, of course, but it's not really something that you could call that's lacking in capacity because um it holds a lot of line. It is quite powerful.

[00:50:54]And um with this with this type of uh reel, it's actually like really strong, very light for its uh for its size. Of course, it has a lot of capacity. In fact, the capacity of this is very similar to a 2000sized OSHA And it's just as strong, but in a very small compact size. Okay. The capacity is uh quite a lot. Okay, this has about 800 meters of PE2 or 600 something like that, I forget.

[00:51:32]But it it has an absurd amount of line.

[00:51:36]And if you want, you could put a reducer on the spool and then you could spool up with like, I don't know, 400 500 m of P2 on its own. It's a very very versatile reel and it just ticks all the boxes for me. Okay. Uh I'm not saying that I'm not saying that this is the best reel for the buck because it's not. Okay, it's not. But see, the thing is there's something that you need to understand with slow jigging. And if you if you haven't yet uh unders understood or heard of this, this is the first time you're hearing it. It's actually one of the core concepts of slow jigging. Okay. The biggest thing in slow jigging is actually sensitivity because slow jigging is a finesse technique.

[00:52:32]Now, when you are fishing finesse in, let's say, shallow water, fresh fresh water, okay? You're fishing for bass or any type of fish, you're fishing ultralight. What you want is a very small jig, jig head, okay? With the soft plastic, you cast that out with the lightest gear possible. And what you want, and this is the same thing when you're fishing for fish that are like harder to catch when you're fishing in areas where where uh fishing pressure is actually quite high. So, what you do is scale your tackle down, scale your leader down, scale your light down, and then you scale your lures down. Of course, it also follows that you have to also scale down your rod. So instead of heavy heavy equipment, you're using very very light gear for finesse fishing. And more than likely, you'll actually catch fish, whether it be bass, trout, pan fish.

[00:53:32]For slow jigging, it is the same.

[00:53:35]Sensitivity is key. And you know, you your your rod um this one sits on a on a uh hot stiletto. And if you see that, if you're familiar with that rod, the that rod is actually very light. It has a very small tip.

[00:53:51]And um the one that I have is is actually rated for up to 350 g of uh jigs paired together with this. It's a very light combo. And especially with this reel, this reel is designed with nothing but sensitivity in mind. So it has titanium parts. It has a lot of carbon parts and a lot of thought has uh been put into this this reel to make it as strong and as as good as possible. Uh as light as possible and as durable as possible. The uh the brake system on this is also made in such a way that it is very similar to fly reels wherein when the fish grabs the the jig and runs, it doesn't automatically apply the pressure that you set it on. It slowly eases it in.

[00:54:53]Okay. So, the the the the drag material on this is actually cork. And what happens with cork is that it eases the drag in. Unlike carbon that when it when the fish strikes and runs, it immediately applies like that type of force.

[00:55:12]This has it. This has carbon drags. So as soon as the fish hits, boom, automatically if you put 9 lbs there of drag, as soon as the fish hits, bang, 9 lbs transmitted to the fish. Whereas this, it eases in. Okay. So, basically what happens is that let's say if you have small nicks or a little bit of damage or even if let's say your your knot isn't particularly tied 100%.

[00:55:43]You could still survive. So, what happens is that when the fish grabs and runs, it eases the drag in. So the drag curve on this is actually quite gradual as opposed to let's say a uh uh carbon drag. As soon as the fish hits the drag curve goes like that. It it just spikes up. So with this it eases things and and uh cork as a material is also lighter than uh carbon. So it adds to a little bit. It adds to the lightness and the sensitivity of the reel. And that is it.

[00:56:22]This is the main purpose of why you want light reels for slow jigging is bite detection. Okay? And it's very very important especially since you are fishing in deep water. And for this particular reel, I'm rigged up for up to, let's say, 300 m because this holds so much line that I can fish that deep with uh lighter jigs. So, let's say I could use a 350 or a 300 g jig to fish in waters up to about 350 m as well. If you're pushing it, maybe even 400, this small reel. And when you get a bite at that depth, because believe it or not, the braid that we have is still has stretch.

[00:57:13]Even if it's a low low percentage stretch, okay, low low percentage uh line or stretch that you have on your line, let's say 4%. If you're at 100 meters, that's still four meters. So that's a lot of stretch uh for for you to actually deal with. And this particular reel because it's very light transmits the vibration to your tactile sense which is your feel. And uh once you feel that okay your response would be kind of immediate. You just reel up boom set the hook the fish is there.

[00:57:52]Otherwise you lose it. So yes, I have been using this and I have been feeling those strikes that I haven't been feeling before just because I was using a heavier gear. Now for finesse fishing, which is slow jigging is actually a form of finesse fishing.

[00:58:12]Detecting those vibrations is the key and it is a huge huge thing.

[00:58:20]big enough for a company that really understands the uh the world of slow jigging to actually create one of the lightest reels out there. And if they're giving that much attention, it means that really it's not just the durability that you're looking at. It is a very important factor. So, Studio Ocean Mark, especially with this model, this is the S2T uh OTAA auto garage uh model L30, the lightest reel in its class.

[00:58:56]Okay, the lightest reels in its class and it is built exactly for that. Now, there is actually an L50 version even up to we're up to L80 now with the uh with the S2T.

[00:59:14]But even with that, obviously bigger size would mean that it's still as heavy as it, you know, it's it's heavy. But with an L30 because we're fishing in in most of most of our fishing here, we're actually fishing in like maximum about 250.

[00:59:32]So, um although the capability of fishing way deeper than that is there, it doesn't mean to say that we're we're doing that all the time.

[00:59:43]But if you're fishing, let's say 100 200 m, even more so with this reel, okay, that's just a very very good reason. And if you're very serious about your slow jigging, you know exactly what I'm talking about with the sensitivity and all. Now, if there are people that actually think that um a heavier reel would help you and they feel it's a bit more robust or whatever in their line, uh physics disagrees, okay? Cuz that's it. Physics dictates that the lighter everything is, the more vibration will be um detected. Okay? Now if you have a heavy reel because of the mass, the bigger the mass, what happens is that when there's vibration, it gets dampened by the mass gets absorbed. It gets absorbed and that's it. You don't feel it. So again, biggest thing for this is the sensitivity. And this is exactly why you're paying extra for something like this. Now, not everyone would be able to get this reel as an option. However, you know, you're looking at, let's say, a uh an OSHA 1,500 as opposed to a 2000 or or uh just a silver a silver uh OSHA as opposed to the uh fancier uh what what's that? Uh F Custom. Okay. Cuz for me, like the F Custom is like too heavy. It's a good reel. Uh, Shimanos are standards. Okay, Shimano and Daiwa are standards. But you'll find that a 2000 or a uh, let's say a 20H is actually kind of heavy, you know. U, you move down to either a 15H for Dua or a 15 1500 for a Shimano and you'll find the silver models, not the special models, but the the silver ones, the ba basic ones. and you'll find that they're lighter than those uh fancy models. And that's where you should be. It's not it's not the extra bells and whistles that the uh the the the the reel gives you because 90% of the time you're not even going to use that feature like the fall lever.

[01:02:07]Not going to use it. Guess what? Your thumb and your forefinger actually does the same thing. And that's free. You don't have to pay extra. And uh if you buy the silver one, the silver the base model of the OSHA you save money, okay, for something that you could use your thumb and forefinger for for and guess what? If you use your thumb and forefinger, it's really much more sensitive because that's a direct contact with your skin, your tactile sense. Okay? So that's uh you know if it speeds up or slows down or if something nibbles you actually feel it and your reaction time would be faster rather than having like that lever and you're fiddling around while you're when you're dropping your line doesn't help you. It doesn't. Okay, that's all marketing.

[01:02:56]So with an S2T though, this whole package is very very light. again uh the lightest in its class and this is the reason why I've chosen it. Uh that that is the biggest reason for this particular reel. And guess what? This reel packs a punch when it comes to all of the features and uh for the for the reel that it is with the features that it has. The biggest thing about this reel is that it adds so much sensitivity to your system. you can actually kind of not think of the other features just because this is so light and your whole system is light. You'd be able to not only last the whole day, but you would be able and not get tired.

[01:03:46]Okay? So, so you're moving it, you're you're using less energy because of the weight uh reduction and you will actually striders here. You would actually uh see right there. So, you would actually uh detect more bites with a lighter reel. So, that's it. Now, if you have questions, uh go ahead and drop them in the comments section. If you learned something, give this video a thumbs up. If you want to learn more and you haven't yet, click on that subscribe button. And uh yeah, again, I'd like to say this might not be your top option for the reel. Okay, it not everyone would be able to get this reel, unfortunately. Okay. But uh you can actually go for the standards and you will see exactly what I'm talking about.

[01:04:47]Instead of a uh 2,000, you go with a 1500 and uh immediately you're cutting back a lot of weight. And that is the one of the core concepts for slow jig. All righty. So that's it for now. Thanks so much for watching. And I really hope you picked something up on this because this is quite a very important topic. All right, that's it. See you in the next one.