Pro Gear Oceanus 30

[MarkR]

Some pics of my recent acquisition. Upgraded drags and JM T-bar knob. Have heard some rumors that it's made in China but the reel foot says "Made in USA"

Sorry no time to edit with photoshop....

[MoNd3sTo7]

How much u got the reel?

[stickbom!]

Its more compact than I imagined! reminds me of the Blue Heaven

[Makaira]

So it's the ugraded version for + / - SGD$500 then. What does the upgrade entail -- a more aggressive drag curve, different drag cam, larger drag surface, etc? Size-wise, how does it compare to a 665 extra narrow? 6:1 gear ratio? What poundage & how many metres did you load on it? Lots of reel rash already ... You sure don't "baby" your equipment huh. Ruff & tuff like moi Perhaps the rumour of its alleged communist origin is the typical scuttlebutt that circulates here within our tackle trade.

[DaFrogman]

Hmmmmmmmm.....

Decisions, decisions, decisions..... Boy I would like it if "Somebody" could take a pic of the Oceanus next to a BM665N, OJ4000/5000, Saltiga Z40 and toughest of all a Penn Torque 300.... That would convey practical dimensions the best.

The reel sure looks like a Blue Heaven as Mikey said..... any Ahem ... "Internal" shots????

Thanks for the pics dude.

Saimee

[MarkR]

Hi GD,

Moving your queries here:

"Pardon me if my guess is wrong, according to AG video in Perth, i think yours is their so-called "Asian Version" modified with both side having Drag Washers like those of Accurate Twin Drags.
Also mentioned in their Video, the Pro-Gear is supposed to have the best free spool spinning compared side by side with the Accurate and Jigger 4000P and this is with a significant margin. May i just ask if you have found this to be true?"

The Asian version and the twin-drag upgrade kit are not out yet so the reel I have is the standard international/USA version. The drags in my reel have been modified to give more output.

The freespool is very good. But as Mak has highlighted, super freespool can be a problem in untrained hands. Yes, the Oceanus's freespool appears to be better than the Jigger 4000P but I personally feel that the debate on which reel has better freespool is a non-issue for my kind of fishing. As Mak has said, "Why are anglers for the west coast long range fishery so obsessed with freespool? From what I understand, the primary reason is so that live bait can swim with minimal resistance away from the boat into the strike zone"...I don't do "fly-lining" either so with heavy jigs and big leads, the free-spool issue is somewhat insignificant.


Mikey,

"I was thinking about the cranking going tight when you button down the drags with LD reels. That's something that I've encountered on almost all LD reels man"

Yep, the cranking does get tight at high drag settings with the Oceanus...that's one of the reasons i'm beginning to like star drag reels more these days.

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by MoNd3sTo7

How much u got the reel?

+/- $500 inclusive of the JM T-bar knob

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Makaira

So it's the ugraded version for + / - SGD$500 then. What does the upgrade entail -- a more aggressive drag curve, different drag cam, larger drag surface, etc? Size-wise, how does it compare to a 665 extra narrow? 6:1 gear ratio? What poundage & how many metres did you load on it? Lots of reel rash already ... You sure don't "baby" your equipment huh. Ruff & tuff like moi Perhaps the rumour of its alleged communist origin is the typical scuttlebutt that circulates here within our tackle trade.

Hi Mak,

I understand that the drag upgrade involves the installation of an additional cork washer...have not had a look inside so can't report on the nitty gritty of the mod.

Yes, the max drag output is increased tremendously with the mod and the cam has become very very aggressive...a bit too aggressive for my liking Almost like strike setting or "free" Very different from the newer progressive Boss drag cams.

Gear ratio is 4.9:1. Size-wise it's comparable to a 665N. Not EN. Loaded the reel with approximately 500m 65lb PP.

Yeah.....I manhandle my tackle dude...

Gear with scars got character mah

Tight lines buddy

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by DaFrogman

Decisions, decisions, decisions..... Boy I would like it if "Somebody" could take a pic of the Oceanus next to a BM665N, OJ4000/5000, Saltiga Z40 and toughest of all a Penn Torque 300.... That would convey practical dimensions the best.

The reel sure looks like a Blue Heaven as Mikey said..... any Ahem ... "Internal" shots????

Hi Saimee,

I can take an Oceanus 30, BM665N, OJ4000P & Torsa 20 side by side shot...no more Saltiga 40 unfortunately!

Errr....don't think i'm adventurous enough to do some "Internal" shots of all 4 reels

cheers

[rain]

Originally Posted by MarkR

+/- $500 inclusive of the JM T-bar knob

at this price, it will give Accurate 665N a good run indeed!

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Hi Mak,

I understand that the drag upgrade involves the installation of an additional cork washer...have not had a look inside so can't report on the nitty gritty of the mod.

Yes, the max drag output is increased tremendously with the mod and the cam has become very very aggressive...a bit too aggressive for my liking Almost like strike setting or "free" Very different from the newer progressive Boss drag cams.

Gear ratio is 4.9:1. Size-wise it's comparable to a 665N. Not EN. Loaded the reel with approximately 500m 65lb PP.

Yeah.....I manhandle my tackle dude...

Gear with scars got character mah

Tight lines buddy

Thanks for the detailed response dude!

Similar to the older generation Boss then. An aggressive drag cam configuration is suited for jigging applications I guess. However, it negates the advantage of being able to "play" with the drag if & when necessary. An on/off type drag curve as you decribed can result in very disasterous consequences should you need to back off on the drag. One way to overcome this is to set your desired strike drag e.g. 10kg for 65# line with the lever at the "full" position. Should you require more drag, you can always thumb the spool accordingly. In the event that you are required to back off on the drag a little, at least you have the space between "full" and "strike" position to play on without the horror of accidentally bumping it into "free."

I would have thought it was a 6:1 from the looks of the large gear housing.
Clumsy say clumsy lar ....... what "Gear with scars got character mah."

I understand from people who have watched the AG Perth video that one of the major selling points they are pushing for the PG Oceanus is that it's superior freespool allow the angler to drop their jig to the strike zone faster than the competitive brands of reels (I stand corrected if I heard wrongly). I don't mean to open up a can of worms here, but do you think that having better freespool makes the PG a superior jigging reel to its competitors? Given that good freespool is a feature in any reputable brand of reels these days, wouldn't being able to drop a jig down to the strikezone faster more a function of the weight of the jig, design of the jig, speed of current flow, drift of the boat and diameter of the line?

[galanted]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Hi GD,

Moving your queries here:

The Asian version and the twin-drag upgrade kit are not out yet so the reel I have is the standard international/USA version. The drags in my reel have been modified to give more output.

So yours is a version with additional Drag Washers. Interesting! Are you by any chance able to measure the approximate Max Drag this Reel can churn now? Just out of curiosity....... Also, i am wondering what the Twin Drag version can churn. It might be the next Stella of Saltiga in Overhead Version, 30KG Drags! Please don't be mistaken that i am a High Drag Lusting Angler, it's just to satisfy my Curiosity.

The freespool is very good. But as Mak has highlighted, super freespool can be a problem in untrained hands. Yes, the Oceanus's freespool appears to be better than the Jigger 4000P but I personally feel that the debate on which reel has better freespool is a non-issue for my kind of fishing.

Should both reels be set at say 10kg Drag then test their freespools? I believe that certain settings will affect the freespool speed. Fast freespool or not is also not a big issue for me as i believe a difference of 10grams on a Jig will speed up the process and also i am an owner of both the OJ5000P & Accurate 665N. You can also say that i am having sour grapes on this issue.

Yep, the cranking does get tight at high drag settings with the Oceanus...that's one of the reasons i'm beginning to like star drag reels more these days.

I second that!

Thanks for your kind Replies & Feedback, MarkR!

Cheers!
GalanteD

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Makaira

I understand from people who have watched the AG Perth video that one of the major selling points they are pushing for the PG Oceanus is that it's superior freespool allow the angler to drop their jig to the strike zone faster than the competitive brands of reels (I stand corrected if I heard wrongly). I don't mean to open up a can of worms here, but do you think that having better freespool makes the PG a superior jigging reel to its competitors? Given that good freespool is a feature in any reputable brand of reels these days, wouldn't being able to drop a jig down to the strikezone faster more a function of the weight of the jig, design of the jig, speed of current flow, drift of the boat and diameter of the line?

Hi Mak,

Yep, a rather unconventional way to promote a reel. You're right on the $ again, "weight of the jig, design of the jig, speed of current flow, drift of the boat and diameter of the line" are probably more important factors that would affect the speed of the drop. All other things being equal, better freespool may make a difference but I think it's been blown out of proportion here.

GD,

Understand that 35-37lb drag with the modified Oceanus isn't a problem...not sure how "heavy" the cranking will feel like at these drag settings though...also don't think a 10kg setting will affect the cranking "feel" very much.

Would I be right to say that you just returned from a Samson jigging trip with Jigdemon? Which jigging reel do you prefer? The Boss 665 or the Jigger 4000P? Would be interesting to hear your take

cheers

[MarkR]

Guys,

I'm feel that the reel professor tmlim has made a very good point in one of the threads on FK. He said something to the effect that, "a reel which requires after-market modifications isn't a well designed product". Paraphrasing here, but I think this statement makes a lot of sense. The OJ4000P is a very well designed jigging reel requiring no after market mods and no tuning to perform its function well. The Oceanus although designed as a jigging reel unfortunately needs certain mods eg. drag, handle, crank arm upgrades to boost its performance. Similarly, the Boss 665 is a great general application reel but it too requires certain tweaks to become a better jigging machine.

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Guys,

I'm feel that the reel professor tmlim has made a very good point in one of the threads on FK. He said something to the effect that, "a reel which requires after-market modifications isn't a well designed product". Paraphrasing here, but I think this statement makes a lot of sense. The OJ4000P is a very well designed jigging reel requiring no after market mods and no tuning to perform its function well. The Oceanus although designed as a jigging reel unfortunately needs certain mods eg. drag, handle, crank arm upgrades to boost its performance. Similarly, the Boss 665 is a great general application reel but it too requires certain tweaks to become a better jigging machine.

Hi Mark,

My response would be ... yes AND no to the Prof's point.

To illustrate my point, there will always be specialists who claim that they can improve on anything under the sun. A good example is the car industry. Porsche has RUF, Mercedes has Brabus, BMW has AC Schnitzer, and Volkswagen & Audi has ABT to do after-market modifications to enhance a "stock" car's performance. It will be hard pressed for anyone to accuse the cars mentioned as being not well-designed. A few brands come to mind in the tackle industry, Accurate & Tiburon started out as gear, frame & handle specialists to improve on Penns; and indeed they did. There is a plethora of brands from Japan that provide parts to soup up or "mod" reels, be it for aesthetics or real performance enhancement. In some cases, the mods do address the shortfalls of some reels, in others, it is simply a case of "chng my reel"

If anyone claims XXkg of drag output, with or without enhancements, and yet the reel binds when you crank it, that will be a flawed / false claim wouldn't it because you will not be able to use the reel the way it was intended? I know I exaggerate, but wouldn't it be similar to bringing your car to a mod shop, they add in all the turbo chargers or super chargers or what have you to make your car go 0-100km/h in under 5 seconds, but fail to give you the suspension & braking system that can handle such breakneck speeds. I jest, but I hope you know what I mean

I do this simply to yank your chain ...... but....but.....but wouldn't the OJ4000P be an even better reel if you switched the drag washers to Carbontex? While some may not agree, some would. So ... does that mean that the OJ is not a well-designed reel?

[galanted]

Originally Posted by MarkR

GD,

Understand that 35-37lb drag with the modified Oceanus isn't a problem...not sure how "heavy" the cranking will feel like at these drag settings though...also don't think a 10kg setting will affect the cranking "feel" very much.

Would I be right to say that you just returned from a Samson jigging trip with Jigdemon? Which jigging reel do you prefer? The Boss 665 or the Jigger 4000P? Would be interesting to hear your take

cheers

MarkR,

What i meant for the pre-set 10kg was about the free spooling, not cranking. I have good confidence that the OJ's Cranking Power & Smoothness are amongst the best!

35-37ibs Drags would exceed the OJ's Max Rating of 15kg by a wee bit. But i would say that 15kg Drag should suffice most Anglers but there are many out there who only looks at a Reel's Max Drag as a deciding factor. So i must supposed AG made a really good hit in marketing the Oceanus30. On their Video, the showed their results of Drag Testing on a Stock Pro-Gear Oceanus30.

I did returned from the Sambo Jigging Trip reccently with Mr Jigdemon(or should i say Jig-Machine) and have had the chance on landing some Samsons with both the 665N and OJ5000P but to be fair, the 665N was equipped with the stock handle then, which i found it to be very uncomfortable when Jigging.

Based on my personal opinions,

The 665N has a Lower Spool Height which feels more comfortable to jig with all day making it a Handy Reel. But then, this only applys to Anglers who likes to Jig with their thumb on Spool method. The Power Handle is a must for the accurate to be used comfortably as a Jigging Reel. The 665N also require slightly more effort to engage the lever from Free to Strike.

The OJ5000P definately has it's edge over the 665N on it's cranking power & smoothness. Apart from the OJ being retailed at a cheaper price then the 665N, it still comes with two selection of handles(T-Bar & Egg Knob) and i would at anytime prefer Shimano's Egg Knob to any Aftermarket Knobs there are available.

It's a real tough choice to make, one's handy to jig with while the other's great when fish on or retrieving from deep depths. What's worst, both of them have sufficient drag for me and similiar line capacity, thus i ended up with them both.

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Hi Mark,

My response would be ... yes AND no to the Prof's point.

To illustrate my point, there will always be specialists who claim that they can improve on anything under the sun. A good example is the car industry. Porsche has RUF, Mercedes has Brabus, BMW has AC Schnitzer, and Volkswagen & Audi has ABT to do after-market modifications to enhance a "stock" car's performance. It will be hard pressed for anyone to accuse the cars mentioned as being not well-designed. A few brands come to mind in the tackle industry, Accurate & Tiburon started out as gear, frame & handle specialists to improve on Penns; and indeed they did. There is a plethora of brands from Japan that provide parts to soup up or "mod" reels, be it for aesthetics or real performance enhancement. In some cases, the mods do address the shortfalls of some reels, in others, it is simply a case of "chng my reel"

If anyone claims XXkg of drag output, with or without enhancements, and yet the reel binds when you crank it, that will be a flawed / false claim wouldn't it because you will not be able to use the reel the way it was intended? I know I exaggerate, but wouldn't it be similar to bringing your car to a mod shop, they add in all the turbo chargers or super chargers or what have you to make your car go 0-100km/h in under 5 seconds, but fail to give you the suspension & braking system that can handle such breakneck speeds. I jest, but I hope you know what I mean

I do this simply to yank your chain ...... but....but.....but wouldn't the OJ4000P be an even better reel if you switched the drag washers to Carbontex? While some may not agree, some would. So ... does that mean that the OJ is not a well-designed reel?

Thanks Mak. I didn't fully consider this perspective but I do get what you mean. I'm sure the car industry is much more developed and very much more sophisticated than the tackle industry. As far as reel mods are concerned, some of these after market tweaks for fishing reels can be very crudely fabricated and imho these third party companies sometime try too hard to get a reel to do something it wasn't designed to do in the first instance or perform at a level it was never intended to reach.

I've had one of those early fully "Accuratized" Penn jig masters in the past and although it looked impressive from the outside, the heart of the reel was still very much a jig master. So more of a cosmetic factor for this one

I also believe that mods can only do so much. One has to consider the overall design and build of a reel as mods work within these constraints/parameters.

As for carbontex...hmmm...I must be one of the last FOers to have these babies installed

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by galanted

Based on my personal opinions,

The 665N has a Lower Spool Height which feels more comfortable to jig with all day making it a Handy Reel. But then, this only applys to Anglers who likes to Jig with their thumb on Spool method. The Power Handle is a must for the accurate to be used comfortably as a Jigging Reel. The 665N also require slightly more effort to engage the lever from Free to Strike.

The OJ5000P definately has it's edge over the 665N on it's cranking power & smoothness. Apart from the OJ being retailed at a cheaper price then the 665N, it still comes with two selection of handles(T-Bar & Egg Knob) and i would at anytime prefer Shimano's Egg Knob to any Aftermarket Knobs there are available.

It's a real tough choice to make, one's handy to jig with while the other's great when fish on or retrieving from deep depths. What's worst, both of them have sufficient drag for me and similiar line capacity, thus i ended up with them both.

GD,

Thanks for your perspective. I personally do not find any problems gripping the jigger. I don't place my thumb on the spool. Most of my grip is around the left side plate. And I have small hands...Fisherman gloves medium size

[scarpie]

I met up with Randy Kao, the owner of Pro Gear and I asked him why not produce the OC30 with a longer power handle and T-bar?

He replied that this was the domain of AG and his expertise. Besides, the OC30 was designed mainly for So Cal anglers but had good jigger breeding with design input from AG. So the reel is essentially a very good multipurpose one and can be successfully jigged. In standard form, it is similar to Boss reels - both reels are capable jiggers but improve with power handle enhancements.

I suspect the reason why the OC30 leaves the factory only as a single drag reel is to ensure that PG are not infringing on Accurate's patented twin drag design. The reel is designed for the 2nd drag set and will be a simple user installation - again to avoid patent infringement.

Overhead reels designed from the ground up for specialist jigging would be OJ, Saltiga, Trinidad, Blue Heaven, Mamiya. Even with these specialist reels, some modifications to drags and handles were improvements that owners would undertake. So really, the perfect jigging reel is yet to be made, although I feel the OJ's are probably the closest yet.

There are some close up photos of the OC30 internals on the AG website's message board. Very impressive machining, gear design and general design. The AG power handle with 2nd drag set would make OC30 very hard to beat especially at the price.

Oh it jigs pretty well. I landed some heavy Kingies to 28kg recently at the 3 Kings with the standard reel.

[DaFrogman]

Ahhhhhh, more robust discussion, very nice...

Well as you know I am ze Carbontex afficiando, but thats probably as much to do with the fact that I work a lot on the reels and hate having to work on the stock drags. I note also that I just had an OJ4000P in that had some drag issues that turned out to be grease/oil contamination and a chipped No.2 stock carbon washer... In fact every OJ4000/5000 that I have opened has had the No.2 stock carbon washer chipped...I reckon consumable drag washers are part of the marketing for both Shimano and Daiwa in getting us to keep spending money on the same reel.

Now in terms of to mod or not to mod, I certainly take on board Maks parallel example to the car mod industry to which I might add that Japan is as vibrant as any, if not moreso than the west...HKS, Trust, Apex, Greddy, Toms etc etc countless brands that are just JDM too.

But as Mak said, most reels were built for a specific purpose and this is reflected similarly in the mods available for different markets. The West Coast US market mods with Cals and Cofe being the top modmen, place great emphasis on freespool and line class blue printing. This is reflected by their style of party boat long range fishing, flylining live baits, the use of multiple outfits loaded with different line classes to suit the "bite" etc etc.

Jiggers and poppers on the other hand all seem to want one thing: DRAG & MORE DRAG and lighter reels that can be worked at those drag settings without falling apart or blowing up. This is a reflection of the fact that few jiggers and poppers use mono and the lighter line classes, nor are they as worried about leader sizes...after all, poppers use twisted leaders, 200lb mono etc etc and they need the drag settings to wrench their quarry from point blank tiger territory fishing.

So we are looking at an evolution in the way we do things for different techniques and species. As I see it, the biggest driver of the resurgence in jig & pop is the now widespread use of braid which has allowed for smaller reels of sufficient capacity, but with high line classes and the corresponding demands for drag.

So I salute Pro Gear and put the Oceanus 30 on the list for the next Saimee reel. BUT, still the Ocea Jigger 4000 & 5000 are to me, the standard to be beaten for smoothness, ergonomics out of the box, drag capabilities and all round utility. Nothing has yet to beat the ease of fishing an OJ4000P on the drift with heavy sinkers and Apollo rigs and of course for jigging it still no.1 of the overheads. Now if they made the OJ4000/5000 with greased Carbonfibre drags and a sealed gearbox...Woah that would rock. Its a shame the Torsa was a more US market reel, if it had been engineered for the JDM market, I bet it would have come out lighter more balanced.

My 2.5cs....

Saimee