Okuma Makaira
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Work-Up
Forum Description: Game fishing related topics here
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51625
Printed Date: 31 May 2026 at 6:04am
Topic: Okuma Makaira
Posted By: andrem
Subject: Okuma Makaira
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 11:06am
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Looking at starting my collection of game fishing reels and very unsure whether to go for the tiagra or okuma makaira. Both similar price, but from all accounts the okuma (dare i say it) looks to be, and given to is a brand new design, should be a superior reel to the tiagra. I know the tiagra set the standard and is what most people use but does that mean its still the best reel out there? Interested to here from anyone who has used / owned or owns both on their opinions, given that i want to eventually get a set of 4 x 50ws i want to get it right first time, and havent exactly had amazing experiences with the okuma softbait reels that i own, whereas the shimanos have been great. ------------- Rehab |
Replies:
Posted By: TheBadger
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 12:13pm
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The Makaira is a seriously nice bit of kit. Okuma is a bit of a 90-10 company. 90% of it is average, but 10percent is fantastic(take the Eos for examply). The Makaira solidly slots into the 10% category. Get your hands on one and you'll see the quality. Not saying its better than the Tiagra, just that its worth taking very very seriously. |
Posted By: TAZEE
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 12:25pm
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I would buy the shimano Over the Okuma any day of the week. Best Brand,best company..Hands down...All my gear is shimano. Happy buying ------------- WWW.WSLAURIE.CO.NZ The Best fishing spot In New Zealand |
Posted By: Tzer
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 3:52pm
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Listened to the hype when P Pakula was here. Okuma may have improved their quality within these reels but the brand name had never been strong on qualtily with their other models and had always been marketed as being a cheap or cheaper option.
Although things may have improved in recent years it would take some convincing the fishing fraternity that they have made big mprovements, just my opinion but I will stick with the trusted Shimanos and Penns until shown otherwise.
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Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 3:56pm
Sounds like you need some TLD 50's mate, and I just happen to know where a couple of goodies are for sale....... 
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Posted By: mozz
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:20pm
pretty hard to go past penn and shimano and go for a new build okuma...........  |
Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:23pm
Bloody show off! 
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Posted By: Finatic
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:23pm
And the brand spanking one I'm selling on Trade Me makes three
------------- What's the cheapest type of meat? Dear balls. They're under a buck. |
ancient mariner wrote:Posted By: cod
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:29pm
| nice reels have a couple myself like them have tiagras also.okuma have put a lot of money and thought into these reels just check out the people who helped design them in california. these people are leaders in drag systems etc. reel passion is running them mark has caught some wicked fish on them blues blacks swords stripies and bigeyes etc this season |
Posted By: poly
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:31pm
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mozz your a homo,
andre tld50lrs's bro, 600yards of ygk jigman pe6(tests at 86lb) should still get a topshot of at least 300 of 80lb mono on top for the amount of game fishing you will do i rekon the braid will last a couple of seasons.
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Posted By: mozz
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:44pm
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Then take the topshot off and use it for bottom bashing. tissue poly
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Posted By: andrem
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 4:45pm
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Poly, I dont want to buy new ones again in a few years, have learnt one thing in life, do it once do it right. Besides when your 7.5m twin V8 powered best in NZ boat arrives I will need to have some gear thats up to the task of catching big fish. Will def go either the shimano tiagra or the okuma's, i just like the gold stuff! ------------- Rehab |
Posted By: poly
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 5:05pm
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Posted By: poly
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 5:07pm
unless you paying for one there is only gonna be one on the back
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Posted By: NZTurtle
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 5:14pm
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This well worth a read..
http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=51057&KW=makaira&PID=724643&title=okuma-makaira-50-ii-rebuild-2-16-2010#724643 - http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=51057&KW=makaira&PID=724643&title=okuma-makaira-50-ii-rebuild-2-16-2010#724643
------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Busted!
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 5:38pm
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Tell you one thing for free, I'm no longer a fan of Penn unfortunately... The spares suppliers have recently changed hands so I'm informed, and I haven't had any dealings with the new outfit but there is just no humanly possible way they could be any worse than the old crowd...
Bloody hopeless!
On the subject of the Makiras, reliably informed that they are every bit the equal of the Shimano's in materials spec, QC, material coatings etc. Probably the only difference is the bling factor (if you care)...
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Posted By: FarmerBrowne
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 6:24pm
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I think the Okuma is probably a good reel but what I had heard (and I could easily be wrong) is that it was designed for the US market where they fish alot of braid.
I was under the impression that when you had these reels set at say 6-8 kg on strike the sunset setting is very high and well over the 13-14 kgs you would expect on say a shimano tiagra 50w.
I would certainly be checking this out in the shop before I purchased one. i.e. put some string on it and check the drag settings at strike and sunset with a preset drag.
I also was under the impression that Okuma were developing a different drag cam for the NZ & Aussie market which would address this issue - if you consider it to be an issue.
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Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 6:34pm
| FB, I am pretty sure Penn had the same problem some years back? |
Posted By: campbellc
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 6:45pm
| Not worth taking the risk Andre When your going to be forking out big wads of cash you dont want any doubt in your mind when you do hook into a freight train, Go 2 80ws and 2 50ws and stick with the Tiagras, Then you got a heavy one specifically for blues ,broadies ,blacks and winching the boat on |
Posted By: Tone E
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 7:11pm
| The Diawa goldies are in the ballpark to imho |
Posted By: Fishermen
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 8:04pm
| yes also agree if your going to buy and want to do it right you will wish you had some 80wides in time to come after some big blue turns your 50w inside out,makaira sound pretty awesome reel and wouldnt hesitate to buy one or two |
Posted By: bitie2000
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 10:58pm
| Shimano mate all the rest are playing catch up in my eyes |
Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2010 at 11:11pm
| Just had a look at these reels on the web and they look the bizzo, but the same price as a Tiagra? Sorry mate, you will have to go with the tried and tested brand, and yes, go for 80's. Where you planning on doing most of your fishing? |
Posted By: andrem
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 7:51am
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Live in the mount so will be out of tauranga and prob down waihau, and as funds enable the purchase of a bigger boat then who knows. My idea is to get the right gear so that as i upgrade the boat gear will still be up to the task.
There is very little difference in the price between 50s and 80s so i guess it is probably worth going 80s straight away. Other issue is weight though, talked to a few guys who said stay away from 80s as having them in a standup harness for hours aint alot of fun...plenty of blues landed on 50w gear also....
------------- Rehab |
Posted By: bitie2000
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 8:00am
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Having a fish on for hours is better than one dead on the bottom after you break the 50lb line trying to get it up! trust me when you have been on a fish for a few hours it doesn't matter if it's a 50w or a 80w.....you are gonna be tired and sore either way! |
Posted By: campbellc
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 8:04am
| You can if you wanted put 37kg on a 50w, they hold bugger all though, think last one i did i got 550m which would be fine for stripies. With a BM equalizer the 80ws will be a hell of a lot easier to handle aswell, After talking to all the guys down waihau they say dont even bother taking 24kg down there, everyone has a story about getting smoked and all upgraded to 37kg within the next year. Better to be safe than sorry |
Posted By: Carbine
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 12:22pm
| same retail as a shimano or there abouts why take a risk on an okuma? shimano is the leader for a reason, also got the best service and product warranty of any fishing company in nz. |
Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 1:01pm
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10 years on the Okuma?? ------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 3:19pm
I think if using gear properly, 80w's in standup is not an issue. Taking 50's to Waihau is a bit risky. More chance of leaving a poor blue with a spool worth of mono tailing behind it? Go for the 80's mate, you wont regret it! |
Posted By: andrem
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 6:15pm
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Bought my first 80w today (a tiagra) still think those makairas are pretty bloody awesome but hard to go past shimano. If the okumas were about 500$ cheaper then I would certainly own one of those but at the same money gotta go shimano.
------------- Rehab |
Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 6:22pm
| Great news! What rod have you got it on mate? |
Posted By: campbellc
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 6:44pm
| Good man, Now get that gaff all bloody for me won't ya |
Posted By: andrem
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 7:32pm
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could only afford the budget 37kg tiagra rod, i know its not that great but rather save money towards more rods/reels and can look at upgrading the rods at a later stage if need be ------------- Rehab |
Posted By: Reel Crusader
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 7:44pm
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Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 7:51pm
IMHO I think the reel is the more important part in a 37kg setup anyhow, but I may be wrong. |
Posted By: Sambosi
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2010 at 10:02pm
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Hi Andre, if your fishing Waihau, 4 80 wides. In terms of okuma vs tiagra..well its been said, similar price and tiagra is proven
Love Waihau and would live there Feb\Mar if i could
Saying that I went through the thought process your going through and have 2x50W and 2 x 80W...the 50W are great on stripeys but I'm hopig if/when we hook a blue it will be an 80w. Going back I would buy all 80w tiagras
Fishing the tiagra rods as well anbd have had no problems.
pff blue..it'll be blackb
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Posted By: Fishermen
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2010 at 10:46am
| you also can do quite well just running 2 rods on a smaller boat seen as though there are hardly any tuna in the equation at the moment,makes life a lot easier when you do hook up! |
Posted By: mak_chaser
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2010 at 6:19pm
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Posted By: seansurfy
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2010 at 8:24pm
| how the worm turns... I remember a fledgling tackle company back in the early 80's trying to establish itself as a real contender in terms of reliable, quality gear. When th Tiagra was realeased, nobody was willing to 'risk it'....things these days don't seem so different.... |
Posted By: viking...
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2010 at 8:26pm
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A lot of blues are also lost on 24kg, especially at waihau...if thats where you fish stick to 37 80's and another thing to think of is resale, Tiagra wins hands down here. Walk out of the shop with Okuma and you may have lost 30% already no matter how good they are |
Posted By: Blue Asparagus
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2010 at 8:36pm
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Time will tell, Okuma have done what Shimano did back in the day, designed a reel well a few of them actually, then they redesigned and did another lot then based on sales and feed back you now have the likes of Tiagra etc etc, remember the beastmasters and look at what has taken there place, and only the best sellers, now they are the go, my boat has solely 80 wide Tiagras, heavy combursome and expensive, you pay for what you get, I also have other gears Finor Accurate etc but out of say 50 reels on the boat 47 are Shimano. I went to the Okuma / Pakula seminars, they certainly look the goods, and no plastic bits as said at the beginning of this post TIME WILL TELL. Okuma have been around for years. ------------- Ultimate GAME Fishing Adventures. Northland |