The Avet brand of reels is not well known in Hawaii. You won’t see them in local tackle stores. I had heard of the brand but hadn’t seen a recent ad for them in years. Accurate is the much better marketed brand that also builds 1-piece aluminum framed reels with stainless steel and anodized aluminum components.
When I was at the 2020 Fred Hall Show in Long Beach, I was taken over to the Avet booth and explained to long time rep Ben Frazier how I needed a light, powerful reel to land strong fish and sharks as safely as possible on my kayak. Specifically, I wanted to troll my baits with very light drag and clicker on, and then increase the drag quickly once the fish was hooked. The problem I was running into with my star drag Shimano Trinidad, was that I took a while to spin the star drag to proper fish fighting tension, and the high gearing of the reel, while great for bringing in the bait quickly, was hard to winch sharks off the bottom. Ben suggested the small framed lever drag SX in the fully loaded 2-speed Raptor version. The Raptor came with a max strike drag of 17lb, full max at 26lb, with low 3.8:1 gearing and high 6.3:1 gearing. It even had a magnetic cast control to pretty much eliminate back lashes. The SX Raptor weighed in at only 17 ounces, and retailed for $395.
I had fished that little reel for a year, landing small ulua and large sharks with ease. In fact, anytime the high gear was feeling a bit bogged, I switched to low to bring fish in quicker. The lever drag mechanism was much easier to adjust properly while fighting a fish, and I liked how light it felt on the rod.
It was my first lever drag 2-speed reel and it exceeded my expectations. But then it was time to break it down and see how corroded it got. I watched a video on how to open it up and clean it, and it didn’t look hard at all but was very different from my Shimano casting reels. I played and paused the video as I took the reel apart. There was no trace of salt or corrosion in the reel. I was amazed. And no breakdown of the drag washer material despite fighting sharks at high drag, to try to bust them off. I couldn’t believe how pristine the innards were. I could have easily gone another year without opening it up. Later, I read that lever drag reels are sealed better at the reel handle than star drag reels, and don’t let much water in.
I just use the Avet as my bait trolling/bottom fish reel so I’ve never casted it. Never jigged it either. But for what I use it for, it has been excellent. From what I read online, the comparable Accurate reel is smoother but more expensive and requires more maintenance.
I definitely recommend the Avet SX Raptor as a light-in-weight workhorse reel and am looking to add another Avet as I step up into larger fish. Please let me know if you’re interested in purchasing an Avet reel. If there’s enough demand, maybe I could become a dealer for the Hawaii market.
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