I am pricing reels for throwing double cowgirls and super double cowgirls and would appreciate some advice from your personal experiences. I know the Trinidad is recommended, but $350 is a lot for a reel. Has anyone tried a Shimano Torium? And has anyone actually had an Abu burn out due to Double Cowgirls?

magic manta man,
for these baits there are a few options out there. The trinidad 14 is the best bet strictly for these baits. this reel wont work with a lot of other lures because it has no line guide. there has to be a lot of constant pull from the bait to get the line to spool correctly. it has more power and line pick up than anything out there. they are nice...but your right they are spendy. another option are the larger spool reels with lower gear ratios. I personally use the shimano calcutta 700 and it goes 279.99. the abu garcia 7000c3 and it goes 119.99. this one is along the same lines as the 700. big spool and low gear ratio= alot of power. the other bonus with going this route is that these reels are good for just about any use....topwater, burning little bucktails, bulldawgs.....
chris britton

Yes I have had two 6600C3 burn out on me in 2007... Both werent even 6 months old... First one, the bearing blew out... second one the gears worn down... all from throwing out DB#10's... Abu Garcia replaced both with 6600SSC3... Performed a bit better for some reason unknown to me... I borrowed my brother's old Abu Garcia 7000 Syncro... Fell in love with 7000's as it was so much easier to reel in the DB#10's... so I bought two 7000iC3 but havent used them yet... Im not saying that 7000iC3 will last forever but it should last wayyyyy longer than 6600's...

I have an old Abu 7000 that has the original handle replaced by a smaller one. I would like to add the Abu Garcia power handle but it appears that they only fit up to the 6600 model. Is there a good alternative - I want to use it for cowgirls etc.