At an outdoor writers meeting over a year ago I bought a Abu-Garcia Orra SXHS reel and teemed it with a Abu-Garcia Veritas medium action rod I got at the same time. The reel lists for about $100 but I got it way below list price. This is a great reel and it still works well even though I have not cleaned it. I spooled it with 12 pound P-Line monofilament since that is strong enough for fishing topwater in open water and the lighter line gives me more casting distance.

I can cast a Lucky Craft Sammy a very long way with this outfit, and the high speed reel helps a lot when taking up slack when a fish hits. Bass often run toward you when they hit and it is hard to set the hook effectively if you can’t catch up with them, especially with a lot of line out after a long cast.

The reel is very smooth but my only complaint with it is very minor. The antiblacklash system is hard to access, you have to loosen the thumb screw located on the top right of the reel then turn the cover on the left side to get to the adjustment. You may have to use a screwdriver to get the screw loose enough to turn with your thumb. And the antibacklash is not magnetic, it is centrifugal. There are tabs you move to increase amount of spin on the reel. They are labled to help you adjust to how you are using the reel. The Pflueger Purist reel is much easier to access and adjust.

In all honesty, I had to figure this out when I started this review since I have never adjusted the reel. With nothing set, all tabs off, I have never had a problem with blacklash on this reel or the Revos I use. They have the same kind of antibacklash. So this is a very minor problem.

Even at list price this reel is a great one, about as good as the Revo. And you could buy three Orras for the price of two Revos!