There are specific things you look for in a modestly priced baitcasting reel. Durability, quality of construction, materials used, retrieval rate, ease of casting, and drag are all important aspects in choosing the right baitcasting reel for you. While on the subject of right, having a reel in left-handed configuration is also a significant concern.
A common thread among Abu Garcia Pro Max reviews mentions all of these factors, especially moderate price.
A leader in fishing equipment, and especially baitcasting reels for generations, Abu Garcia has the finer points of baitcasting figured out and delivers it in Pro Max with a compact, streamlined, very affordably priced reel.
Abu Garcia, a World Leader in Baitcasting Reels
You don’t have to look far into finding quality equipment if you start with the Abu Garcia trademark. A leader in fishing equipment, and especially baitcasting reels for generations, Abu Garcia has the finer points of baitcasting figured out and delivers it in Pro Max with a compact, streamlined, very affordably priced reel.
The Abu Garcia Pro Max: In-Depth Review
The Abu Garcia Pro Max checks a lot of the common boxes anglers have in their mental list of features they’re looking for in a dependable baitcasting reel.
The 7.3-ounce reel is light, thanks to a combination of aluminum and graphite construction. An impressive seven steel ball bearings, combined with a single stainless steel roller bearing, ensure one of the smoothest actions you’ll find in a baitcasting reel. The feel is comparable to reels costing five to 10 times as many, thanks to Abu Garcia’s design and packing the moving parts of this reel with high-quality ball bearings.
The reel is available in right or left-handed configurations, in either clamshell or box designs. You can have it in any color you want, as long as that color is black.
Abu Garcia brought their vast knowledge, and engineering expertise to this reel with their Power Disk drag system, MagTrax braking system, and Duragear brass gears.
A recessed reel foot offers a low-profile seating for the reel on a variety of rods, a popular feature among many competitive largemouth bass fishermen.
A one-piece graphite frame, graphite side plates, and an ergonomically designed handle with soft-touch known to round out the features of this moderately priced, high-quality reel.
Add those features to a reel with a 7.1:1 ratio and you’ve created a versatile fishing platform:
Aluminum / Graphite Construction
You hear aluminum, stainless steel, brass, and graphite often in context with fishing reels. The reason is that materials matter in a quality reel. Materials equate to longevity, making that favorite reel last for decades. Once you’ve found one that fits, none of the others matter as much.
Aluminum, specially machined aluminum on the spool creates a strong, smooth light component that lasts a long time, retrieves, and casts line without fear of nicks or cuts, and ensures long-lasting performance. Aluminum is also among the most corrosion-resistant materials you can find in fishing technology.
Graphite is lightweight, and it’s inexpensive. Manufacturers lower production costs by producing solid graphite reels. This style of reel doesn’t last long on the water. Abu Garcia incorporates just enough graphite to reduce costs while keeping metal components in place at key junctures.
A brass gear is durable, strong, and lasts forever, even in saltwater.
The chief complaint about the Abu Garcia Pro Max is that it doesn’t handle saltwater well. The reason is the graphite components. They handle salt, and salt spray just fine, but the sand and associated grit in saltwater fishing quickly wear away the graphite material.
The final metal is stainless steel. It is essential in saltwater-specific reels, but since baitcasting in saltwater is a niche application, you don’t find many baitcasting reels with stainless steel components.
Ball bearings are an exception. Even sealed bearing sets will eventually have water, sand and associated gunk find their way into the working parts of a reel. Stainless steel is hard, it won’t erode and it is impervious to saltwater, acid and just about any other corrosive, you can find on the water.
With seven ball bearings, the Abu Garcia Pro Max is a joy to crank, effortlessly reeling in line with no chatter, clunking or breaks in the retrieve.
Why does weight matter in a casting reel?
Think of bringing in your groceries. If you’re like most of us, you’ll pack as many bags as you can hold then struggle inside your house, kicking the door open with your foot. A reel is similar. You want the heaviest strength reel you can find that fits your rod, but you want a lightweight reel as well since you’re not packing in all those “fishy” groceries at once, but rather holding that rod and reel combo for a long time, sometimes up to 16 hours in a day.
Weight over time adds to the fatigue you’re bound to feel by early afternoon in a full day of fishing. A 7.3-ounce reel, with a few more ounces of line, and a light rod means less fatigue and more fish since your senses will stay sharp.
I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous
It’s an old joke, but it gets the point across. I’ve fished with my left-handed son-in-law’s equipment a few times. It gets the job done, but it’s hard to master. Left-handed people already have to adapt to a largely right-handed world. When it comes to fishing and hunting, most of them draw the line.
If you can’t throw a baseball right-handed, odds are you’re not going to be very good at casting lures or bottom bouncing rig in just the right spot either with your off-hand.
The Abu Garcia Pro Max comes in both left and right-handed configurations. By design, you can’t just loosen a nut and switch the handle to the other side, like you can with many spinning reels. A baitcasting reel doesn’t allow that flexibility, but buying the right-hand configuration creates a much better fishing experience for the angler.
Retrieval
Inexperienced anglers think only in terms of how far they can cast, how heavy the line is and how easy it is to set the hook. Those are all important, but big is not always better when it comes to fishing.
Smaller, compact line, whether monofilament, braided nylon, or fluorocarbon always casts farther, is harder for fish to see in the water, and has specific applications.
It’s best to use the lightest line for the job if you can. Hooking a 10-pound bass with a six-pound test line is one of the joys of life. You’d think the line would instantly snap, but with a high-quality drag, and a good braking system that lets you set the hook without any line slack. This will lead to one of the best experiences you can ever have on the water.
Abu Garcia’s proprietary Power Disk drag system and MagTrax braking system bring state-of-the-art technology to a modestly priced reel.
An adjustable drag that allows no resistance at the lower end up to 18 pounds on the high side lets you wear out a giant, battling fish. Watching the line working back and forth in the water, with your rod bent nearly double and your reel singing as the line rips out under pressure, is lightning in a bottle for serious anglers.
I like the feel of this reel
If it can hold the amount of line you need, it has adequate ball bearings for smooth retrieves, and it’s durable you can’t ask for anything more, can you?
Think of how much fun it is to sit in the driver’s seat after your wife has driven the car? Your knees are packed up in the steering wheel so far you can’t move. On the other extreme, think of the fun, you’ll have sitting down in the seat after your husband has moved it all the way back. You can barely touch the steering wheel, and your feet won’t reach the pedals.
That’s how it is with a reel that’s too big, or too small for an angler’s hands.
It’s the “Goldilocks” principle in practice. Not too big, not too small, but just right.
A lower reel seat lets the fishing reel rest in a low-profile setting in conjunction with the rod. That means tighter action when feeling for hits before setting the hook.
Check out this video for the unboxing of the Abu Garcia Black Max:
Roll on
The final consideration is the gear ratio. A higher gear ratio means more line comes back per turn of the crank, a lower one is just the opposite.
The Abu Garcia Pro Max has a 7.1:1 gear ratio. That puts it on the high end of average for line retrieval.
Many fishermen don’t worry about how fast the line comes back since they’re either trolling or still fishing. A lower ratio means more power, a higher one, more speed.
Largemouth bass fishermen are the exception. You have to be able to control line speed when presenting topwater lures to bass. A fast retrieve makes that jitterbug, crankbait, or buzz bait seem more natural, and mimicking a frog, snake or smaller baitfish is the trick when bass fishing in cattails or lily pads.
You can just crank faster with a lower gear ratio, but you’re going to get tired. With a 7:1.1 ratio on the Abu Garcia Pro Max, you just crank with ease and the reel does the express work.
Conclusion
A leader in fishing equipment, and especially baitcasting reels for generations, Abu Garcia has the finer points of baitcasting figured out and delivers it in Pro Max with a compact, streamlined, very affordably priced reel.
This is a solid reel at a great price. The Abu Garcia Pro Max is packed with the features most baitcasting anglers are looking for.
The pluses are a low price, an ergonomic design, stainless steel ball bearings, an aluminum spool, and brass gears. Abu Garcia’s patented braking and drag systems are a plus, as is the right or left-handed configuration. The gear ratio is a great feature for bass anglers.
The drawbacks are the graphite components when winter fishing in cold climates. The graphite can become brittle in temperatures below 40 degrees, and there will be a lot of those days in the Rocky Mountain West or the Great Lakes, even when it’s not winter.
A minor complaint is the Abu Garcia Pro Max’s poor performance on saltwater. You shouldn’t be using this reel in the first place if you’re not freshwater fishing.
Add all the factors together, and you’ll have a solid reel, at a relatively low price that lasts for years.
For more guidance on choosing a fishing reel, check out the pages below:
