300 or 400 size?

[rob.villanueva]

Just bought a 7'11" rod specifically for throwing 6-8" swim baits. Now I need to match a reel to it. The two reels I am considering are the Shimano Cardiff 300 and 400. Can someone who has experience with swimbait setups chime in and tell me which of the two would be a better choice and why? Also, if anyone wants to recommend another reel, I'd appreciate that too. Thanks all!

[Matt_Magnone]

Just bought a 7'11" rod specifically for throwing 6-8" swim baits. Now I need to match a reel to it. The two reels I am considering are the Shimano Cardiff 300 and 400. Can someone who has experience with swimbait setups chime in and tell me which of the two would be a better choice and why? Also, if anyone wants to recommend another reel, I'd appreciate that too. Thanks all!

identify the type of swimbaits you want to throw. hard or soft? walk baits from burn baits.....

next figure out what rate of fall of the baits you intend to fish. bottom dredgers, slow sink stuff or fast sink crap.

then consider line capacity. if you want a reel to throw a hudd but at the same time want to throw a punker, line capacity is a major factor. the 300 size is more than adequate for most all situations however slapping 65 or 80 braid and a bomber cast with a punker... you're pushing it. biggest thing you want to consider is after you made that gnarly cast, how much line are you gonna have left over? if you happen to get bit on the end of a long cast with 1/2 or less on your spool are you gonna be in trouble?

now, when you leave the tackle shop with a full spool of line 150-180yds 65# you're thinking "there's no way in hell i'll get spooled!".

what happens when you make a bad cast into the wind and have to cut off 25 yards?

what if you have to retie throughout the day going back and forth from bait to bait?

what if you're dragging bottom with the 12 hudd and above your leader (assuming you're on braid to leader) get frayed? cut, Cut, CUT.

from your choices, i would strongly recommend the 400 if you're okay with the width of the reel. its pretty wide and a lot of people favor the narrower. pure preference. for a more wide range of techniques and baits, the 400 fits the mark.

in my opinion i would take a look at the daiwa lexa 300. low profile reel with a line capacity of 240 of 40# braid and a drag at 22 pounds. the cardiff has a max drag at around 11 pounds. the lexa casts bitchen and as you know, i'm on the water A LOT and i havent been able to blow the things up yet. i fish mainly calcutta te's and am shocked a reel at $199 is stacking up against them. i liked the 300 so much i snagged another!

hope this little bit helped you out.

[Nessie Hunter]

You might also want to consider the Abu Garcia Toro 60.
Its a 400 size Low Profile reel that is awesome..
Toro 50 is a 300 size...

[swimbaitjunkie]

Rob V......sent you a PM

[rob.villanueva]

Thanks guys! Awesome reply, Matt... Very helpful. Here's what I have. Let me know what you guys think and, if you were to choose from the following, which would it be.

1) Cardiff 300 spooled with power pro 40lb line which should yield about 170 yds or a little less with a 25lb mono leader. Or,
2) Cardiff 400 spooled with mono 20lb line which should hold about 160-170 yds depending on line.

Here's what's important... Budget obviously (that's why I'm going with the Cardiff) other wise I'd go with like Calcuttas or perhaps Lexas or Revos. But the things I am mainly concerned about are castibility and distance. Yeah, drag may not be as good as others but I can work with it. Should I even be concerned about casting distance with a swimbait rod/reel? I mainly fish from shore. I'd be fishing with swimbaits ranging from 4-8". Maybe a 10"...