My favourite ABU 500 series reel
Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:27 pm
I’ve owned and heavily used a lot of reels during my 5 decades of fishing. Some of those reels were state-of-the-art, magnesium alloy lightweight wonders of their age, with a price tag to match.
However, I’ve recently started looking back to those reels that I’ve really enjoyed fishing with, whether it was a result in a hard match, or a good bag of big fish in difficult conditions, or just a relaxing day with a few good fish caught on a perfect day. I grew up as a match angler with the ABU 501, and early last year it dawned on me that I needed to experience the “500 effect” once more.
Fast forward a year and I’m about to be the proud owner of my last 500 in the range (the red label 520; Garcia badged US import clone of the 503). I’ve fished extensively with my new to me 501, 503, 505, 506, 506M, and 507. Here’s my personal favourite. For my fishing (often, lots of big, hard fighting fish in the 2-10 lbs plus range), the 507 seems to have just a little more winding power when needed. And I love the lack of line twist and the speed of cast, I’m sure the saved time adds a fish or three over a day fishing.
I’ve retained the synchro drag and anti-reverse pawl on this 507 (only used for high days & holidays) and another “good user” 507 for my everyday fishing, and I’ve found the drag system reasonably effective on most fish up to double figures on slow to medium flow waters. I’ve also another “good user” 507 that I can backwind with; I use this when float fishing for my local Feral Carp, where I’m sure I have enough space to fish and the Carpies are unlikely to top 20 lbs. All 3 just work. No fuss, no muss. No line twist, no snarl-ups of line, no issues in howling gales. After all these years fishing with all those other reels, I think the 507 is my overall favourite reel.
However, I’ve recently started looking back to those reels that I’ve really enjoyed fishing with, whether it was a result in a hard match, or a good bag of big fish in difficult conditions, or just a relaxing day with a few good fish caught on a perfect day. I grew up as a match angler with the ABU 501, and early last year it dawned on me that I needed to experience the “500 effect” once more.
Fast forward a year and I’m about to be the proud owner of my last 500 in the range (the red label 520; Garcia badged US import clone of the 503). I’ve fished extensively with my new to me 501, 503, 505, 506, 506M, and 507. Here’s my personal favourite. For my fishing (often, lots of big, hard fighting fish in the 2-10 lbs plus range), the 507 seems to have just a little more winding power when needed. And I love the lack of line twist and the speed of cast, I’m sure the saved time adds a fish or three over a day fishing.
I’ve retained the synchro drag and anti-reverse pawl on this 507 (only used for high days & holidays) and another “good user” 507 for my everyday fishing, and I’ve found the drag system reasonably effective on most fish up to double figures on slow to medium flow waters. I’ve also another “good user” 507 that I can backwind with; I use this when float fishing for my local Feral Carp, where I’m sure I have enough space to fish and the Carpies are unlikely to top 20 lbs. All 3 just work. No fuss, no muss. No line twist, no snarl-ups of line, no issues in howling gales. After all these years fishing with all those other reels, I think the 507 is my overall favourite reel.