Accurate Boss 197

[cst]

Accurate Boss 197 – This is going to be a tough review to write because I don’t think I can find a single bad thing to say about the Accurate Boss 197. First off, I love the look of this thing. The 197 is completely silver, compact, and as plain as a shiny reel could possibly be. The reel is tiny. It is very easy to palm, yet packs a punch. Many would look at a reel of this size as something made for 15lb test lines but, with a full spool of spectra and a very short topshot of 25 yards or less, you can easily fish 30lb line without a worry. I personally fish 25lb Seaguar Flouro on top of the full spool of spectra.

Initially, I had fears that the spool on this reel would be too heavy and it would make casting difficult however, over time, I’ve come to realize it casts well. Once you get the bait out there, you have the option to freespool the bait, bump up the drag from freespool to the minimum and allow your bait to move at a slower pace and also, to use the baitclicker to help detect the bite. The cast control mechanism aids the bait presentation too. After a fish bites your bait and you move the lever up, you immediately notice, the smooth drag. It isn’t sticky at start up, nor is it sticky throughout the fight. The only thing that will jerk your rod tip are the headshakes from the fish! Bump the drag onto full and you will turn all but the largest of fish. From that point on, you can pretty much crank in the fish. Pumping is not always necessary because this little reel has plenty of power (even at the 6 to 1 gear ratio that it has) to winch them in. So this is where the one major annoyance comes in. the reel comes with a round handle, that is hard to hold and slippery when wet.

With all the power and drag this reel has, your hand tends to slip off of it while cranking hard on a big fish with your drag set really tight. In normal situations, this is not an issue, but it is a bit of an annoyance the few times that this has actually happened. A quick fix would probably be to change the handle back to the old style handles they had before. The second thing I don’t like about the reel is the baitclicker. It is just too strong. It seems like fish will feel the clicker and let go of the baits sometimes, which doesn’t happen as much on reels with a lighter clicker like the Calcutta 400 or the Luna 300. But again, that’s just a real minor issue. Most people probably never have used their clicker. Other than that, the price is a bit high for some people but I assure you, it is well worth it.

You can fish a lot longer with a reel this light and powerful. It also makes bringing the fish in a lot easier, which lets you cast out again a lot faster in a hot bite.


It's just been brought to my attention that some of the accurates have black plastic rings on the cast control mechanism that can fall right off. Fortunately, Accurate replaces them with a metal version for free.

[dodoman]

your right cst, NOT ONE SINGLE BAD THING.

THEY ARE A SOLID PIECE OF IRON.+


fo yo info, MOST ALL USE 50 SPECTRA/ TOP SHOT 25 OR 30.

[cst]

Originally Posted by dodoman

fo yo info, MOST ALL USE 50 SPECTRA/ TOP SHOT 25 OR 30.

Yeah i think i mentioned the spectra in the review.I have spectra plus a short topshot of 25, dont remember if i had 30 or 50lb spectra on it though. but either way, 300 yards of line is plenty