# Any experience with Shimano Torium 20/30`s



## catfever24

I almost pulled the trigger on 2 Shimano Torium 20`s or 30`s today. The salesman at West Marine said they have been having problems with the drags. Anybody have any real experience with these reels? I bought 2 Ugly Stick Lite jigging rods after another member recommended them. So I now need to outfit the rods with a reliable jigging reel. Are Shimano`s reliable or do I need to look at other brands? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## JoshH

I love my 16s for jigging. no point in dealing with extra weight and size of 20s and 30s, it has the same internals.


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## catfever24

How long have you owned them and what is the largest fish you`ve caught on it? Any problems with the drag or anything else?


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## Brad King

I have two 30's I use for Snapper fishing... Had them for two seasons and they seem to be holding up just fine. I have heard of some troubles with them but not for me.


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## Chris V

I've caught yellowfin over 100lbs on Torium 20-30s. I've never experienced the drag issues the salesman mentioned and lord knows I've sold a pile of them. 

The issues that you may experience with these or any other conventional reel in their class are generally with the eccentric (the free spool lever or spring) and flattening the drag washers by keeping the drag engaged when not in use. You can avoid the issue with the eccentric on any reel by stopping the spool with your thumb prior to engaging the lever, rather than slamming the lever forward and trying to rack the pinion gear onto the shaft while its spinning full speed. Your drag should last quite a while as long as you back the drag off after use. The only real manufacturing defect I've experienced with them since they came out is a few cases where the one way clutch bearing failed under extreme load. I haven't had one returned to me with this problem in about 6 yrs


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## catfever24

Thanks Chris, this is great info. I do exactly what you said about backing off the drag while not in use on all my reels as well as slow the spool down before I engage the lever. Well I guess I`m going to do another search on these reels and see if I can find a better price. I wonder why this guy talked me out of a sale? You said you`ve sold a pile of them, are you still selling them?


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## ADRENALINE

I had terrible luck with all six of the torium 20 I purchased. Granted, they were used very hard. The freespool lever is the first thing that failed on ALL of mine. There are MUCH better products for the money. I have had good success so far with a newer company, can't remember the name. Chris V knows the ones I'm talking about.


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## catfever24

ADRENALINE said:


> I had terrible luck with all six of the torium 20 I purchased. Granted, they were used very hard. The freespool lever is the first thing that failed on ALL of mine. There are MUCH better products for the money. I have had good success so far with a newer company, can't remember the name. Chris V knows the ones I'm talking about.


Hey Chris, do you recall the brand?


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## ADRENALINE

I think they are Konas. I will personally vouch for them. I have six that have a hard season on them and they are still ticking with zero hiccups. They are BADASS for the money you pay and what you get.


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## ADRENALINE

Had a customer that wanted to manually deep drop in 750'. He ripped up a good 30lb yellow edge with no problem and continued to fish manually with them all day! We have caught everything from 70+lb tuna, big AJ, monster snapper, and even double hook them for magnum bb's in deep water on a daily basis. They are SICK!


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## Tyler Massey

I think they are referring to the Atlas Kona. It's very similar to an Avet and in the same price range as the Torium. I have not used one but I have messed around with one at the shop and I think they feel pretty good. 
We have a set of Toriums for charters and we like them a lot. We abuse the crap out of them and they hold up just as good as any.


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## Chris V

I sold adrenaline the Atlas Kona 400s and they've held up great for him. The Kona is a machined aluminum, lever drag reel with six ball bearings and up to 28lbs of drag. They sell for right at 200 bucks or so. I still sell a lot of torium a too and still with very few complaints.

On a personal note, I've owned several toriums of different sizes and have never had an issue with them


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## Lyin Too

I had 2 of them, they lasted 3 seasons.


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## catdad100

Ive got 2 30,and buddy has a 20 and 30 and 2 out of the 4 have had to have the free spool lever repaired(think its called a dog gear),biggest fish caught jigging was a 48lb gag but later in the day it started making a grinding noise which turned out to be bearings,got that replaced and it worked about 1 season and started grinding again so its put on the sidelines for now,after that a buddy(pff clunan1) kept ragging about them and showed me(hull truth,etc) a bunch of people bad mouthing them for the lever issue and the fact it has only 22lbs of drag to turn a big fish near structure,Im using a machined aluminum lever drag these days(omoto zorro 200) and would recommend the penn torque.I still use the torium 30s for king mackeral and light trolling duty as the drag is really smooth and of course for the fast retrieve.


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## Ocean Master

There are updates you can do to the Torium reels to make them much better. I have done quite a few. Especially the anti reverse upgrade that will never fail.


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## catfever24

Ocean Master said:


> There are updates you can do to the Torium reels to make them much better. I have done quite a few. Especially the anti reverse upgrade that will never fail.


 Did you order the upgrade parts online or can you find them locally?


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## Mullethead

I have 4 Atlas Konas - 2 x 400 w/65 lb braid and 2 x 200 w/ 50 lb braid .. great light duty jigging/all purpose reels - got the at the outcast sale last year for less than $200 each .... not the weapon of choice for big jack fishing - but light - with stiff frames - decent drag and fast retrieve.. good complement to the heavier 80 and 100 lb rigs Talicas I use to pry the big critters of the bottom ... for me great price/performance trade-off


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## Contender

I have 16's 20's and 30's fished hard for years with no issues. Not a Charter situation but hard core jigging. Usually have a couple of young guys that spend a lot of time in the gym pulling on big jacks with drags cranked down and 65-80 # braid. Great reels for the money. I also have some of the discontinued Penn TRQ 200/300 star drags. These crank in as much line and have more drag than the Toriums. I don't have any experience with the current version of the star drag TRQ replacement but a bud I trust likes the gold ones better.

I have read the same bad reports on the toriums but it is outside my experience


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## ak555

I have had a Torium 20 now for one season and have not had any problems with it (knock on wood). 

As soon as I bought the reel, I upgraded the drags to Carbontex, replaced the ambassadeur-style pawl (anti-reverse dog), and replaced the bushing under the drive shaft with a bearing. All these upgrades can be read about on Alantani.com. Here is a link to get started http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=509.0

The main issues that I have read (which caused me to do the upgrades as soon as I bought it) are regarding the hard fiber drag washers and the ambassadeur-style pawl failing. By replacing the pawl, the reel will not longer be silent (will have a light clicking sound), but it eliminates the anti-reverse failing (it will no longer have the two prongs which allows the anti-reverse to be silent which is also the source of the failure).

With those upgrades, it is a nice little reel. However, my one complaint is that I don't seem to get as much drag out of it as I would like. It works great for bottom fishing and jigging for snapper. However, I have not been able to turn groupers before they cut me off or really put some heavy pressure on a decent AJ.

One last thing you need to be aware of is the spool capacity when choosing between the 20 and 30. When I spooled mine, I put a mono bottom shot (think 50#) and a top shot of 50# braid. I believe I got about 150 yards of each on it. (I did the bottom shot of mono to lower my price for spooling the reel with the plans of putting a new top shot of braid on it as needed). Really just depends on your preference and how you are going to fish it.

All and all, it is a nice 6.2:1 geared reel with the upgrades and is pretty versatile (pitching, jigging, lighter bottom fishing). A new Torium 20 with the upgraded parts will set you back about $190-200

If you are looking for something with a more backbone to it, I highly recommend the Penn 113HN Baja Special. It is basically an upgraded Penn 4/0 with a narrow spool for jigging. This thing is ready to go right out of the box (minus some additional greasing for corrosion protection) and is my favorite reel for the price and quality. 

While it is larger and heaver than the Torium, it has double anti-reverse dogs, stainless steel gears, updated carbon fiber drag washers, and puts out a lot of drag (25# plus seems to get quoted a lot on forums, though I have never personally measured it). 

I have been using it for bottom fishing and jigging. Biggest thing I caught on it so far was a nice 5' sandbar shark (released). It brought the shark up from 160' quickly and with plenty of drag to spare.

This reel will set you back $250 before tax at a tackle shop, but nice used ones do come up on online auctions somewhat frequently. Depending on whether it is spooled, condition, and the ferocity of the bidding , these reels typically go for about $180 for a single reel.

As to your rod, I am not sure exactly which ugly stik model you are planning to pair with a reel. As such, if you are considering the Baja Special, I would recommend that you make sure the rod is suited for the line weight you are planning to use and the heavier drag capabilities of this reel.


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## tailfisher

Do the upgrades, it is worth every penny. Alan Tank is a great guy to do business with and will help you anyway he can.


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## Ocean Master

catfever24 said:


> Did you order the upgrade parts online or can you find them locally?


Read the other post's and do the Alan Tani upgrades. Especially the anit-reverse dog upgrade. The Shimano drag material is fine as long as it is greased on both sides and wipe the grease off before assembly. You can by the parts from Alan Tani thru his website.


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## catfever24

Thanks everybody for the great info. I picked up a Torium 20 this past weekend and I`ll do the upgrades. I think I`ll also pick up a Penn 113HN Baja Special that AK555 mentioned. That should be a good combo for my jigging needs.


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