What do you look for in a baitcasting reel? Is it performance, versatility, durability, adaptability (I know that’s already a long list of …ilities…), or price? In this Abu Garcia Silver Max review, we’ll take a look at all of these factors, plus a few more, and help you decide if the Abu Garcia Silver Max is the reel for you, or if you’re like most fishing fanatics if it’s another reel to have in your angling arsenal.
Abu Garcia Silver Max Review
You can spend a lot more on higher-quality reels that cost five to 10 times as much as the Abu Garcia Silvermax. You’ll get smoother action, more features along with that higher price tag, but are they something you really need?
Let’s start with the obvious, how much does the Silver Max reel weigh? With four different variations available there is no standard weight, but the differences are minuscule. The average weight of the reel is just over seven ounces. That makes a lightweight reel, and weight over time is one of the biggest factors in fishing fatigue. It’s the reason they make rod holders, and belted rod holders for deep-sea action. Holding a heavy reel all day can be a drag and not the drag you set when battling a big, hard-fighting fish.
We mentioned the four varieties, what are they?
The Silver Max comes in a left and right-handed box or clam design. The ambidextrous feature is obvious, a left-handed reel has the crank on the right side, while a right-handed reel has it on left. It’s not really counterintuitive, it’s just that right-handed anglers like to crank with their left hand, and vice versa for left-handed fishermen.
The only difference between the box and the clam is in appearance, the clam is more streamlined, with more sweep to the lines, the mechanics are the same, just the look of the reel is slightly different.
Made of stainless steel and aluminum, this baitcasting reel has the corrosive resistance to remain viable even after saltwater fishing trips. You’ll still want to clean the reel after a day on the ocean or in wade casting in shallow saltwater areas since sand is every bit as corrosive as a salt spray on the moving parts of a reel, but if you do conduct proper maintenance with the reel will give many days of solid performance regardless of conditions.
The five ball bearings and single roller bearing are also made of high-quality stainless steel.
The spoon is a slick, machined aluminum design. The low profile design features a recessed reel foot, a compact bent handle design, with star style drag all set in a single-piece graphite frame.
The Silver Max has all the internal features you’d expect from Abu Garcia.
The Abu proprietary components are the key to the usefulness of this reel.
It arrives with a Duragear brass gear, A MagTrax brake system, and Abu Garcia’s renowned Power Disk drag.
The graphite side plates allow access for cleaning and the large molded, soft-touch knobs provide the grip you need when battling a large fish.
The footprint is 4.6 x 6.25 x 3 inches.
Abu Garcia Silver Max Specifications
The 6.4:1 gear ratio is in the mid-range of baitcasting reels, meaning it provides power, with enough speed to fast crank surface baits that annoy the eternally angry largemouth bass lurking just below the surface. An estimated average rate of retrieval with this gear ratio is around 21 inches per crank. The speed with power is the perfect combination for bass fishing. The drag has a maximum setting of 18 pounds, more than adequate to tire the strongest rainbow trout, hard fighting carp, or any of the other aggressive denizens of the deep you might tag into while saltwater fishing.
The Abu Garcia Silver Max a Closer Look
We briefly listed the attributes of this reel above, now let’s take a closer look at these quality components.
The Human Interface: AKA the Grip and Control Buttons
The Silver Max handle is geometrically designed to fit most hands easily. The soft, sure grip paddles offer superior grip in all types of weather. If it’s hot the grips work with sweaty hands, if you’re on open winter water they offer the same slip resistance in cold, icy conditions.
The foregrip has a thumb rest, with finger grooves set to increase the firmness of your grip without the constant pressure that can cause hand cramping in other baitcasting reels.
The large central release button aids in long smooth casts. A knurled stainless steel adjustment button just under the star drag on the handle side of the reel allows easy adjustments in all types of weather.
How Much Line Can an Abu Garcia Silver Max Hold?
The reel has a recommended braided line size of 12 pounds. Wound with a 12-pound braid it has a modest line capacity of 145 yards. That’s not much for offshore or river applications, but it’s more than enough if you’re tossing crankbaits, buzzbaits, or poppers off a flat bottom boat or dock in pursuit of largemouth bass.
What’s the big deal with ball bearings?
While it’s easiest to tell the difference in the number of ball bearings in a spinning reel, you can do the same with a baitcasting reel. Ball bearings equate to smoothness. If you’ve ever tried a reel that feels a bit “clunky” as you turn the crank, it’s most likely that it has only a couple of ball bearings that allow the handle to transfer power to the spool. If you’ve gone to the other extreme and picked up a high price spinning reel that seems to roll effortlessly with just a twitch of the finger, you’ve found a reel foot packed with 10 or more ball bearings.
Ball bearings are inexpensive, but getting them to fit in a compact baitcasting reel is complicated, increases the cost of production.
The Abu Garcia Silver Max has five stainless steel ball bearings. These are all in the cranking/retrieval mechanism. It also has a single roller bearing. A high-quality roller bearing, machined to extreme tolerances is the key to great action in a baitcasting reel. The roller bearing allows the line guide to move back and forth across the face of the horizontal spool as you reel in your line.
Think of it as a mini-winch. The principles are the same with a winch as with a baitcasting reel, you wind the line in across the face of the spool, laying it down evenly so it can be retrieved without snarling or that annoying backlash.
A quality roller bearing allows longer, smoother casts, free of the nightmarish backlash that ruined many fishing expeditions just a generation ago.
Fishing is such a drag…
The most neglected aspect of deciding which reel to purchase is without a doubt the drag system. Anglers are concerned with casting distance, ease of use, and retrieval rates, and often don’t even consider the power, style, or type of drag the reel might contain.
A reliable drag is the difference between showing a photograph of you holding the lake record largemouth bass, or just another boring story of the “one that got away.”
The Power Disk Drag System is an Abu Garcia patented design. The variable drag can be set from a few ounces of pressure to 18 pounds.
A drag offers variable resistance as a large fish “runs” with your lure or bait. The singing sound of a drag ripping through your reel is music to the ears of a serious angler. It can also be the sound of your reel destroying itself if you don’t have a quality drag with the durability to battle a hard-running redfish, or a big salmon using the fast-moving water of a river in its battle to escape.
An inefficient drag will grind itself to bits, destroying your reel in the process and leaving that 15 pound salmon in your imagination only.
The Abu Garcia Silver Max’s drag system is worth the price by itself.
Spools are spools, what’s the difference?
We don’t often think of the spool that holds our braided, monofilament, or fluorocarbon line, but it can be the biggest difference in the effective life of expensive line in your reel. A smooth, strong machined aluminum spool serves a variety of functions. First, it allows the line to reel into place without nicking or cutting it. A small nick in your line will eventually lead to a lure flying far out into a lake with the line still attached, or worse, a large trout, salmon, or bass snapping the line as you set the hook.
A smooth spool also allows for longer casts since the line is laid perfectly in place and can flow off the reel without resistance.
The Abu Garcia Silver Max has one of the best machined aluminum spools you’ll find in the moderately priced baitcasting style.
What does it mean to put on the brakes?
There are just a few functions a reel has to perform. The first is casting, the second line retrieval and the third is the interface that allows an angler to set the hook or to miss the fish. Setting the hook involves the braking system of a reel.
It might seem intuitive that every reel locks in place as you set the hook but that’s not true. A reel has to have the rigidity to lock as you flip your rod tip back and set the hook on a strike or a nibble. Poorly designed reels have a lot of “play” in them, meaning that setting a hook can sometimes allow the spool to slip rather than stay locked in place with the sudden movement of the line jerking tight.
That locking action involves the brake.
The Abu Garcia Silver Max uses the proprietary MagTrax braking system. If your hook slips when reacting to a strike, it won’t be from your Silver Max reel. It could be from inferior line, but not from this reel.
Lower quality braided and monofilament lines can stretch when setting a hook. It’s not the last few inches near the hook that stretches but the intervening dozens of yards of the fishing line connecting your rod tip to the end of the line, and the hook that can delay setting just enough to let the fish get away.
The Abu Garcia Silver Max wound with a good quality fishing line will never slip when the action is hot.
What are the benefits of buying an Abu Garcia Silver Max?
We’ve listed all the features of this high-quality, moderately priced reel, but we’ll review them in more compact notation for you to compare later with other models. The key to baitcasting reels is finding one that fits your hand. The Abu Garcia Silver Max is a great choice, but there are always others that might do the trick for you a little better.
- Weight – just seven ounces
- Grip – multi-weather, moisture resistant
- Drag – variable up to 18 pounds of pressure
- Spool – machined aluminum
- Gear Ratio – 6.4:1 – mid-range gear ratio and versatile
- Line capacity – 145 yards with 12-pound test – mid-range
- Release – central button for easy use
- Adjustment – star drag and power setting easy to access
- Bearings – five stainless steel ball bearings and one stainless steel roller
- Corrosion resistance – Stainless steel, aluminum, and graphite construction
- Saltwater ready – corrosion resistance with regular cleaning means long life
- Moderate price – perfect for buying multiple reels at a low price `
Any detractions with the Abu Garcia Silver Max?
- Line capacity – only 145 yards with 12-pound braided line
- Low profile design – may not fit well on all rods
Conclusion:
You can spend a lot more on higher-quality reels that cost five to 10 times as much as the Abu Garcia Silvermax. You’ll get smoother action, more features along with that higher price tag, but are they something you really need?
How much do you want to spend on a baitcasting reel? You have hundreds of lower-priced alternatives to the Silver Max, but they all come with limitations in comparison with this full-featured reel.
You can spend a lot more on higher-quality reels that cost five to 10 times as much as the Abu Garcia Silver Max. You’ll get smoother action, more features along with that higher price tag, but are they something you really need? If they are, spend the extra cash, but if you’re just after solid performance with almost all the features available no matter how high the price, the Silver Max is a good choice for you.
Durability, reliability, performance, and quality construction, all wrapped up in a moderately priced reel produced by a world renowned manufacturer, are the final considerations you should have in buying a baitcasting reel. We hope this Abu Garcia Silver Max Review has answered those questions you came here looking for. We know when you take this reel on the water you will be glad that you did.
For more guidance on choosing a fishing reel, check out the pages below:
