# Tiagra 16



## SmokenJoe (Mar 18, 2011)

He I remember a couple of you guys posting that they used 16 Tiagra for tuna. I have a couple questions about it.

What lbs can you get at strike before loss of free spool or biding occurs?

How much and what lbs line are you using.

If any of you can weigh the reel that would be great but not necessary.

I know what Shimano says but wanted to see what you guys really get out of them because my experience with Shimano says their numbers are off.

Thanks Joe


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I've been using them for about 8yrs and have beat the crap out of them with no complaints. We've gone toe-to-toe with big tuna, swordfish and blue marlin with the little fellas and have withstood anything they've dished out. I've been able to get up to 34lbs of drag at full with free spool but usually fish them at 18lbs at strike and 25lbs at full. You will pretty much always get about 7lbs extra when you move from strike to full. They are very light offshore reels and I'm not sure what they weigh exactly, something like 37-38 ounces but its not any issue when your using one. I have never serviced mine or replaced the drags in the time I've owned mine and they run as well as when I bought them. I fish 80lb hollow core backing with a 100ft topshot of 60-80lb mono or fluoro. I've had them spooled out a couple different ways but primarily use them chunking and live baiting now and this setup has been perfect.

I have sold a number of sets of TI-16s to many of my regular customers including several forum members. I've never had anyone give a complaint about them. The only thing I would do to them out of the box is switch out that little round knob they come with for a T-Bar lite handle. It makes a huge difference in the cranking power.


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## SmokenJoe (Mar 18, 2011)

Thanks Chris if I decide to get one I plan to come see you. I do wish they were topless not really necessary but it would be nice.

How much 80 HC did you get on it?

Joe


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

John Baker used to make a topless frame for the TI-16 but I believe he went out of business. You may be able to find his topless frames for them online somewhere. Charkbait.com used to sell them but they no longer list them.

I have put several different braids on them but on mine I put 80lb Big Game hollow braid. It is a little thinner and uses less carriers allowing it to flatten out further and increase capacity even more. I have right at 550yds of it on them now with my 100ft top shot.


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

I have two that I bought from Chris that he paired with Star rods that we use to chunk and live bait YF with. They are spooled as Chris mentioned above. I love them for their power and small size. I see a lot of 50s out there for tuna and I used to use them myself, but you just don't need the additional size and weight for tuna when set up with braid and a mono topshot. I had been using higher speed similar sized reels and was killing myself, the Tiagras in low gear have some serious power. I have no idea about free spool as we never cast with them. If I am casting a popper I use a higher speed reel like a Penn Torque or Fin Nor Marquessa where the high speed is huge asset. 

Robert


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

They will actually cast quite well but they aren't IMO the right tool for the job. If you were into some seriously big fish hitting poppers like I've seen a couple times, then it might work very well. the rod would have to have a little more length and a more flexible tip. A heavy, West coast-style live bait rod would be ideal for that type of setup if its wanted.


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## superchicken (Jan 9, 2010)

Works fine, just make sure you have a good harness because they will tote the load. MS Yellowfin and Chris V have broke the code on them, go to Sams and let Chris set you up. You will not be dissapointed in the reel. Light and real good for young anglers if you are on a good tuna. Super strong but make sure you have some great rods. Good for trolling wahoo lures also, jigging,


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## SmokenJoe (Mar 18, 2011)

Thanks Guys the free spool for me is not really about casting. 

I like playing with different reels and enjoy fishing with well designed and functioning reels. At the same time I am annoyed with reels that don't function the way I like to fish them. I have had some past experience with shamino reels that were advertised to have free spool with 22 lbs at strike but in reality it was 18lbs and buy the time you got to 22 it had maybe 3 seconds of free spool(which is not free spool IMO).

Now sure for this application it really would not matter but for me it would piss me off enough I would want a different reel. Yes, I am being anal about it but the reel and playing with reels part of the fun for me. I one of those guys who even likes doing maintenance on my reels.

I would be happy with 20lbs at strike and complete free spool with very little to no binding if I push it to 25 lbs. There again with a fish on no one would notice the binding but if I know its there it will annoy me, plus it is bad for the bearings. I guess I could just set the drag to 18bs at strike and have 25 at full.

Everything about this reel seems right beefed up dual drags, dual dog anti reverse, & relatively light weight. I just wanted to see what the reel could really do at strike and how much line you guys were getting on it.

Here is an example of what concerns me with the stated drag numbers. It says 22 at strike with freespool but then the graph shows completely different numbers.

Stated numbers.
http://fish.shimano.com/publish/con...index/products/reels/conventional/tiagra.html

Graph
http://fish.shimano.com/publish/con...roducts/reels/conventional/tiagra_series.html

Thanks Joe


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