Okuma Avenger

Good – The Avenger AV30 was my first Okuma reel and because of my experience with this reel I have owned several more since. I intially bought this reel at a discounted price and used it for spin-fishing for trout in the Southern lakes of South Island New Zealand. So endless casts and retrieves. I replaced the Avenger with a better specced Okuma Epix… Read more

EFS30 high speed retrieve reel for resh water work and began using the Avenger for saltwater work. The AV30 had already got a bit noisy in the bearings even with regular maintenance. This reel has caught a lot of fish over the years, and is still my choice for saltwater spinning for smaller sports fish. It has caught strong powerful ocean-going Kahawai 50-60cm which are right a the limit of capability of the light (4-8lb line weight) 6' carbon spinning rods to which I attached the little Avenger to. Currently it is loaded with 12lb spiderwire braid. The drag has had severe work outs on the larger Kahawai and has proven bullet-proof. The reel lost that 'new reel' feel very quickly compared to the higher spec Epix (which still feels new), however it has a hard life. The bailing arm now has to be manually flipped as the internal bail flip doesn't work all the time. But all in all the fact that it is still in use after so many fish is testament to it's reliabilty. The Okuma Avengers are robust and durable mid-spec, mid-price spinning reels. My AV30 is one the smaller of the range AV15-AV80 and has dealt well with heavy use for 7 years. Got 'old' rather quickly both cosmetically and funtionally.