New Tica Big Game Trolling Reel Review
The NEW 12WTS & 16WTS Tica Team Big Game Trolling reels.
TICA’s advantage in today’s market and economy
is competitive pricing while offering more features and the same quality as
premium reels that cost much more. Every year Tica continues to introduce
quality products that are amazingly affordable.
Since 1965 the company that has for many years been
named Tica, began in the OEM business manufacturing reels for other large brand
name companies.
This
forty three year history of manufacturing reels has given TICA the experience,
highly trained personnel and CNC machining equipment needed to produce it’s own
brand of high quality fishing reels.
When I first examined TICA fishing Reels I was awed
with how solid their reels are.
Tica employs hi-tech CNC machining giving all of
their big water reels and many of their smaller reels one-piece aluminum
chassis. Tica reels are particularly strong and rigid and in this blog I’ll
show you why you should seriously consider owning a TICA.
The first reels I took a close look at where the Tica
Team Big Game Trolling reels.
All
Tica
Big game reels come in a really nice soft reel bag for transporting these
finely finished reels.
Once out of the bag, on the outside of the Tica 12WTS I found a solid forged aluminum alloy one-piece foot, side-plate and frame made of lightweight and very strong aluminum alloy materials.
Notice the how thick the frame is on the 12WTS reel I seriously doubt you will experience any flex from a frame this solid.
Inside there are 6 sealed precision stainless steel rust resistant ball sealed bearings. Did you read that right? If you did you noticed a nice example of extreme engineering for durability. Even if a bearing seal where to get damaged and let water in, the bearings themselves are rust resistant an excellent feature for saltwater and a real bonus for freshwater. BEARINGS: Are strategically placed at critical points through out to ensure the best performance possible.
The seal cover is removed in this picture so you can see the enomus size of these precision
bearings nothing and I mean nothing is going to stress these bearings out.
Notice the colossal snap ring holding the gears in place and the depth and width of the gears. No holds bared this reel has the guts of a serious fighting machine. The shafts are huge and observe the size of the pins securing the gears together.
The key slot and the keys themselves in the shifting system are massive!
The craftmensship on this reel is world class. This close up of the lever drag shows how fine a finish Tica has manufactured into this reel.
Tica even went an extra mile and used Allen head bolts to make break downs a breeze. If you’re like me when it comes to working on reels these types of bolts are preferred because they are extremely hard to strip and will stand the test of time. Tica also provides a complete set of tools and mounting hardware with all reels in the series.
Notice also the easy to use push buttons one to quickly adjust the leaver drag and two more to change speeds. I really congratulate Tica on this ergonomic design it’s easy to use in demanding situations.
Tica’s multi anti-reverse mechanism has two ratchet pawls on each side of the reel, each paw has three strong contact teeth that maintain a brawny posture where the leading ends contact the saw-teeth on the anti reverse side plates.
Notice how thick each of the paws is, this is a mammoth set-up considering the reel has 12 anti-reverse teeth, six on each side.
Tica spared no mercy on its competitors when they designed the stainless steel drive on the 12WTS. I’ve seen some 16-size drives that pale in comparison to the drive on the Tica 12.
Some very high-end reel manufactures do polish the outer face of their gears just to make for better appearance on the inside. But I’m from the school that it’s really not worth the extra cost to the consumer since it doesn’t add to the performance of the reel. One-way Tica has keep the cost down on the entire series is by not polishing the outer face of the main gears. However, Tica has milled the outer faces very nicely as you can see from these photos.
Time for a little summary about engineering for extreme conditions the 6 sealed ARB bearings are water tight and then Tica adds a water proofing system that’s top shelf.
As you can see these are not cheap seals they are substantial in height and width to keep even the smallest amount of water out of the reel.
Final thoughts:
Biggwater reels of today come in a wide range of sizes and of course a sticker price of anything from $200 to $1200 and up. The TICA 12WTS and the entire Tica Team Big Game Trolling reels where designed and manufactured with one goal in mind, to deliver more competitive pricing with the luxuries found in more expensive products. Those looking for a bigwater reel with a combination of quality, reliability, and many useful features that come in an affordable package, should take a look at the Tica Team Big Game Trolling reel series. The 12WTS reel has a smooth retrieve, massive drag system, attractive features, and quality that can compete with reels well above $450. If that's what you're looking for, then the TICA 12WTS is your reel and it’s only $298.99 at Aqualand Tackle . You can see Aqualand Tackle’s complete line of Tica Big game reels at aqualand Tackle Tica Big Game Reels
one comment:
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steel valve () - 08 06 10 - 04:52
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