About 15 years ago, Mike Chamberlain and I were examining a Shimano Bantam 1500LC (LC stands for line counter). Mike owns Ted’s Sports Center in Lynnwood, WA and knows just about everything about tackle and fishing. The 1500LC was the first high quality salmon mooching reel with a line counter that we’d seen. Gimmick or a useful improvement was our question du jour.  As we talked, a customer of Mike’s who also fishes with AU in Sitka entered the scene. He was looking to buy a new reel for himself and one for his wife. He joined our examination of the LC new reel. After 10 minutes he settled on a Bantam1500, sans line counter, for himself and

the 1500LC for his wife. He viewed the LC as something like training wheels. He believed that experienced moochers count crosses of the level wind or pulls off the reel. They have a feel for their depth built on years of mooching experience – no line counter required.

Three months later, after fishing both reels in Puget Sound, he arrived in Sitka with single reel – the 1500LC. His conclusion: No gimmick. We agree, that’s whay AU converted over to Shimano Tekota 500LC’s when they came out a few years later. Our customers seem to agree, too. If the line counter doesn’t work, they don’t want the reel because it feels like fishing in the dark.

Stay tuned: we’ll give six good reasons for using a line counter next week.