# Calcutta 700te Vs. Avet MX



## ahubley09 (Mar 25, 2007)

I'm looking at buying some new casting reels for this upcoming tarpon season, right now I'm looking at the Shimano TE 700's and the Avet MX and JX series. I'm just curious to know different opinion's about each and how they perform.


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## cabolew (Aug 12, 2005)

You need a good thumb on those avets. Freespool is awesome. I guess they can be magged too. I got a Curado 300 I did some casting with last year. Did not get a tarpon, but, a few blaktips were mucho fun.


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## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

I prefer the Calcutta 400 but would not go any lower on tarpon. The Calcutta 700 requires a ton of thumb, too.


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## Scott (May 24, 2004)

I've got the Calcutta 700 - love it. It casts well and is easy to prevent backlashes. Farley has a Avet - not sure he likes it for casting to tarpon. Maybe he can pipe in. For me the 400 is too small. Put 35 or 40 lb. test on the 700 and it works good.

The best was an old Abu Morum reel - you might find one on ebay. It was a 7700C - lost mine overboard - long story but that was the best tarpon reel I ever owned.


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## Rojo Runner (Mar 21, 2006)

I have one of the Calcutta 700s with 30 pound mono. It casts a mile but can get old chunking all day. I just purchased a Calcutta 400 but have not put it to the test yet.

The new Calcutta TEs are very nice. Built like a brick and the drag system seems to be extremely smooth.


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## Jake Reaves (Oct 1, 2004)

I'm not a fan of the 400TE..I've fished with one for the past two seasons...Wont use it as much this year...Don't know about the 700...the Drag seems to be either too loose or to tight...


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## cabolew (Aug 12, 2005)

I got a little over 300 yds of 65lb braid on that curado 300. It has nice drag for a small reel. It will be a challenge if a big girl gets on there. I'll have fun trying!!


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## mr sharkey (Aug 5, 2004)

What rods do you put your 700 and 400 on? I have settled on a Falcon for the 700 that seems pretty good but its really not something you want to cast all day.


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## Rojo Runner (Mar 21, 2006)

I haven't put the 400 on a rod yet. The G Loomis Bucara is looking like a good option. Do any of yall have experience with these?


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## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

Shimano Teramar is good but I might give a look to the new American Rodsmiths casting rod.


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## Jake Reaves (Oct 1, 2004)

I'm Pretty sure they discontinued the Teramar...


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## Mizpah (Aug 27, 2004)

Scott said:


> I've got the Calcutta 700 - love it. It casts well and is easy to prevent backlashes. Farley has a Avet - not sure he likes it for casting to tarpon. Maybe he can pipe in. For me the 400 is too small. Put 35 or 40 lb. test on the 700 and it works good.


I use Calcutta 700s almost exclusively for casting and they are mounted on Calstar Graphiters. They have a fair amount of rash but have held up pretty well over the years. I have replaced the drags once and the only issue is that you really need to stop the spool before turning the crank to engage the reel or it can lock up and damage some gears. I also have a 400TE which is nice for smaller jetty tarpon but it doesn't see much action when casting to large tarpon. A big tarpon can dump a 400 pretty quick.

The Avet that Scott mentioned is a LX 6/3 and while I don't use it that much for casting, it makes for a good all around setup (with Chaos rod) that I will also use trolling. As others have stated, Avets have a good free spool but the thing I don't like about the LX 6/3 is that by the time I tighten the drag enough, you can feel quite a bit of resistance while cranking. Also, repeated casts with a lever drag reel may not be for everyone.

I recently bought a Shimano Saragosa 18000F and put it on a Chaos S7040. It is mostly for casting poppers at Tuna but it will probably see some duty this tarpon season.


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