Michigan Muskie Alliance

Besides Tranx 500.

Who's used them all, which ones work?

Tranx 400? Abu Beast? Lexa? 13 Fishing? Okuma?

Any others?

Haven't tried them all, but the Toro Beast 60 (4.9:1) in the first generation was a good reel for me with 10's. Pure Fishing has since changed it up and haven't used the new generation of Toro Beast that hit the market this year.

The new Lexa 400HD's @ at 6.3 work well with Double 10's.. i haven't tried anything bigger on them.

You can do a nice consistent crank with them, but if you try to burn them with the 6.3 400HD you will tire out quickly.

Otherwise you can drop down to a 5.1 or whatever the step down is and it will be super smooth and easy.

Lexa 400 in the 6.3:1 or 5.1:1 as Jon said. I prefer the 5.1:1 for big blades - you do have to work a little harder to burn them, but I feel it doesn't put as much wear on the reel when using the lower gear ratio.

I have the Shimano Tranx 401 HG and it is by far the best reel for blades I've ever used and literally everything else I've thrown with it. I've had it for 3 seasons now and my only knock against it is the wormgear is just now starting to go on it, which I believe was caused by fishing in icy conditions, since it just started this winter while fishing in 20 degree weather.

I've run into issues with the wormgears on all of my other reels in the past when fishing in sub-freezing temps except my other Shimanos. My Calcuttas have never had this problem, they are unbreakable tanks, so it is a little disappointing that Shimano didn't build the Tranx as robust as their Calcuttas. But overall when comparing it to all the other non-Shimano reels I've used, the Tranx is hands down my favorite. I'll just have to put it away and only use my Calcuttas once the temps drop below 30.

I've used the Okuma, Daiwa lexa and all the shimanos for blades, and agree with Matt. Tranx 400 is a great all around reel. I am not an enormous fan of the power handle on the high gear, and have replaced the plastic/metal knob with a rubber oval-ish knob from a curado 300 ej, and it works well. But as far as comfortable and durable, I like 'em. The lexa is too wide, and I just never liked the Okuma... but I don't like Fords either.

I like the Lexa 400H and hate power handles so I like that it comes with a big/long double paddle. It's the right balance, for me, of speed and power. 90% of the time you don't need to burn big blades but when you do it's fast enough that you can do that. A lot depends on what YOUR fish like because as noted, there's not many times when they really want big blades going mach 2 with your hair on fire fast.