Alice Powell limit caught on Pro Trol Sting Fish and using a Tiburon G20F70F graphite rod. River Run Guide Co. Woodson Bridge Corning Ca.

In 2002, I was introduced to the Tiburon Smart Reels. The demonstration of its ability to shift automatically from high gear to low gear and then back to high gear, depending on what pressure the reel was receiving, really interested me. I thought about how many times, while fighting a large tuna, that all of a sudden the fish would swim right at the boat. The reaction time of going from low gear back to high gear manually sometimes could be cumbersome and cause loss of time, giving the fish an advantage at that point... So I purchased the # 8 Smart Reel !

Last year I fished the # 8 Smart Reel on three long-range trips of 5, 6 and 8 days with great success. I fished 40 lb. and 50 lb. top shots and landed yellowfin up to 80 Lbs. and yellowtail to 42 lbs. Crew members, skippers and other passangers were impressed and began askin questions about the reel. I let several individuals use it and they all could not believe how smooth and precision it was.

In 2003, Tiburon introduced their 3 new larger reels and I could hardly wait to get another in my hands. I purchased a # 16 Smart Reel. I rigged my last years reel, the # 8 with 40 lb. topshot and my # 16 with 60 lb. top shot. Last week (May 22nd) I departed on my first trip of the year, a 5 day on "The Apollo". Exploring outside for about half the day, we ran into a large school of " Bluefin"..... LARGE BLUEFIN !!
I decided to use my new # 16 Tiburon Reel with 60 lb. test. The first bait out was an immediate hook-up. The bluefin was landed with precision and ease with the Smart shift # 16 reel. At the dock, the bluefin weighed 100 lbs. Quite a test for my first fish of the season. ( Maybe a tough test for me, but NOT for the Tiburon Smart Shift Reel.)
I continued to use both Smart Shift Reels for the rest of the trip for bluefin, yellowtail and albacore. I cannot say enough about the performance of the Tiburon Smart Shift Reels. They do the thinking for you. I now know why they call them "The Smart Reel".
I have been ocean fishing out of San Diego for over 40 years with every type of reel on the market. This is the first time I have ever made a public comment on any reel. I thank Tiburon and the Captain and Crew of "The Apollo" for a great start of the season.

Good Fishing,
John R. Scott of San Diego, CA

From Steve Carroll / Finest Kind Sportfishing, Maui

Aloha Steve & Everyone at Tiburon Engineering,

I've had great success, in Maui, with your Tiburon Smart reels. I've included photos from a June 5th and a June 17th fishing charter. On June 5th we caught 5 ono and 2 mahi mahi on new Smart reels. On June 17th we caught a 102 pound ahi on a #30 Smart reel. Other notable catches in the last few months include a 50 pound short billed spear fish, a 250 pound blue marlin that we fought for 15 minutes, a 150 pound blue marlin we fought for 25 minutes, a 40 pound striped marlin, and plenty of nice ono and mahi mahi.

Thanks,

Captain Steve Carroll
Finest Kind Sportfishing
Lahaina Harbor, Slip #7

Rich,

We've been fishing the Samson fish with your Smart Shift SST8 reels on 50# tackle. Those fish are typically 20 - 30 kg, and better than 99% are released, though we had one last week that just wouldn't swim away. We gave it to the local marine research labs because it was outstanding - 53kg (119-lbs).

A while back I mentioned one I got up out of 190m. That fish was released but a photo is attached - just a scan from last weekend's Sunday paper. That's an SST8 handle in the background.

Hal Harvey
Bluewater Tackle
Scarborough, Australia
www.bluewater.net.au

I was introduced to the Tiburon automatic 2 speed reels through research and development and we did everything we could to try and destroy them. To my astonishment they rose to the challenge and surpassed the competition in strength and angling ability! No need to shift gears, its automatic! A 250 pound blue marlin on a 30# class reel in 15 minutes is all the testimony I need. I'm hooked on Tiburon automatics.

Sincerely,

Captain Ryan Fiedorowicz, Reel Hooker
Lahaina Harbor, Maui, HI
(Note- Ryan Fiedorowicz is pictured in the top right corner of the top photo)

Thanks Tiburon, four marlin released, Cabo San Lucas! Smart shift used on all. Fish were leadered fast and released healthy, full of steam! This is typical of your reels. Not only are they easy on the catchie, they are easy on the catcher. This 67 year old is able to put five, 25 lb. class tuna on the deck, without a recess. I'M A BELIEVER!

Joel Barbee

Joel is a columnist, cartoonist and an avid fisherman well known in Southern California.fishing circles. http://www.joelbarbee.com

Friends,

Captain Roc McGuffey here with Almost There! Charters in Key West, Florida. As the largest charter service in south Florida, we offer our guests the very best in private charter fishing. We provide only "top of the line" equipment by the leading manufacturers in the industry. We remain on the leading edge of fishing technology working closely with research and development teams on a continuing basis. Therefore I feel competent to make the following
statement……..

The Tiburon Automatic Reels we have had the pleasure to test on our charter boats are the very finest reels we have come across in the past twenty-five years! These reels are exceptionally smooth shifting and beautiful in overall finish. Tiburon has created perfection in the salt water fishing reel!

Company co-owner Captain Scott Coogle states that the two-speed automatic reels are bullet-proof, smooth shifting, and the gear ratio's are right on the money. The drag system is second to none on today's market.

Tiburon Reels stand up to the rigors of everyday "Big Game" fishing in the Florida Keys onboard the Almost There! Charters fleet, friends, a Tiburon will last you a lifetime.

We fully endorse and encourage you to fish with the finest two-speed reels available anywhere on the planet, Tiburon.

Cordially,

Captain Roc McGuffey & Captain Scott Coogle
Almost There! Charters
245 Golf Club Drive
Key West, Florida, 33041
(800) 795-9448, (305) 295-9444
www.almostthere.net

1/28/03

I fish for a living, 12 months a year, and need tackle that can stand up to the incredible abuse. During tarpon season I guide clients to hundreds of 100 pound tarpon in a matter of months. Battling 5 to 15 giant tarpon day after day has striped the gears and burnt the drags on every reel I've owned, except for my Tiburon reels. These reels hold up to incomprehensible torture, yet the drag remains silky smooth and the two speed gears whip the fish in half the time. I've used these reels to win numerous tournaments in the Florida Keys and believe they are the cutting edge of reel technology.

Sincerely,

Capt. Rich Tudor
Sweet Release Charters
www.sweet-release.com
305/664-2859 home
305/393-3461 cellularr

My name is Ken Corwin. I own Kens Custom Reels, a reel repair business in Oceanside, California. I'm an active angler in Southern California and take several long-range fishing trips to the Mexican tuna grounds each year. Being in the reel repair and new reel sales business, I have the opportunity to fish many different brands of reels and I am heavily involved in the upgrading of fishing reels for long-range use.

I have been a customer of Tiburon Engineering for many years and I have developed a personal relationship with the owners of the business. Since I am also in the business of selling reels, I openly admit that good press on the Tiburon Smart Shift reels could very easily work in my favor in terms of reel sales. I do not deny this. With that said, I offer my personal experiences with Smart Shift reels as testimonial to the quality and performance of the product.

I have been testing the Tiburon Smart Shift reels since the first prototypes were built in 2001. Since that time I have had the opportunity to test each model and design change to come along in the evolution of this reel. I have no reservations in stating that the Tiburon Smart Shift reel is the finest fishing reel have ever used. This reel, with its automatic shift transmission, just plain works!

The ease and speed at which this reel fights a fish is remarkable. Shifting gears from low to high requires nothing more than the angler pumping the fish with the rod. Dropping the rod tip and cranking on the reel as you would do normally is all it takes for the Smart Shift reel to shift into high gear and pick up lots and lots of line. I really don't know how to describe the feeling you get pulling on a fish with this reel, other than to say that you have to try it for yourself. Once you catch a fish on one of these reels, you will understand the value of such a great piece of equipment.

Besides the Smart Shift automatic transmission, this reel stacks up nicely against the competition. Unlike the Penn International or Shimano TLD and Tiagra, the Tiburon Smart Shift needs no tuning or beefing up to make it fishable under West Coast standards. The free-spool performance of the Smart Shift is in a class by itself when compared to other lever drag reels. I have personally tested this reel on many fishing trips and have found that I can cast a live bait with no trouble from just about any angle or contorted position imaginable. I have even found that when standing mid-ships against the house with no room for a decent back-swing, I can launch a sardine with the Smart Shift reel as easily as I can with a top-of-the-line star drag reel.

Despite the fact that Tiburon Engineering claims that the SST8 and SST12 reels are designed to fish 12# to 30# tackle, these reels produce in excess of 20-lbs of drag pressure out of the box. This stock feature makes them perfect candidates for fishing 50# and 60# line for the bigger model fish. Several friends of mine and I have literally tried to break these reels by pushing them over their recommended limits. So far, they have held up nicely and not let us down.

For those who consider most gold aluminum reels to be strictly for trolling, this reel will also do the job. The features that Tiburon Engineering has built into the Smart Shift to accommodate the live bait fisherman are only a plus to the trolling angler. This is the perfect "bait and switch" reel. The high gear retrieves a jig at an incredible rate, and the flawless free-spool makes it easy to drop back a live or dead bait to a billfish. The Smart Shift reel is about as universal as you can get in terms of a high quality high performance fishing reel and could very easily replace several reels in anyone's arsenal.

Ken Corwin
Ken's Custom Reels
Oceanside, CA

Don Dunn

I recently fished a 10-day long-range trip to Baja California waters aboard the Islander with Captain Mark Paisano. We sailed on October 17, 2002 from 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro. We fished Guadalupe Island early in the trip and then went to the Thetis Bank and Uncle Sam Bank above Mag Bay where we got into some 70 to 80-lb class yellowfin tuna and some nice wahoo.

On one of the days on the banks, I got hooked up with a 65-lb wahoo on my Trinidad 30 on a 7.5-ft rod and 40# line. The fish ate a wahoo bomb on the drop-back. The wahoo made a typical high speed run around the boat and took quite a bit of line before I stopped him. Within 10 minutes, both the wahoo and I were tired and neither one of us could gain the advantage. The fish couldn't take any line and I couldn't turn the handle on my Trinidad. To top off my troubles, there was a big seal hot on my wahoo. I'm not as young as I used to be, and I 'm not in the best of shape. At 68 years old, it doesn't take a lot to tire me out. This fish wasn't huge, but it brought me to the point that I couldn't muscle him away from the seal and I was sure I was going to lose him. I handed the rod off to the deckhand who saved my fish for me.

Later that same day, I got hooked up with a 75-lb yellowfin tuna. This time I was fishing my Tiburon SST12 Smart Shift reel with 50# line on a 7-ft Fenwick rod. I was fishing a live bait with a circle hook. The tuna made a hard run and took lots of line off the reel. I had the drags pre-set at 11-lbs at strike, which is about all the pressure I can handle for any length of time. As soon as the fish stopped running, I started cranking on the reel. I was told that all I needed to do was to crank the handle and pump the fish as well as I could and the Smart Shift reel would do the rest. To my amazement, and the amazement of the boat crew, I brought that tuna to gaff in less than 8 minutes!

I have caught many tuna in the past, but this one was one of the fastest I ever brought to gaff. The remarkable thing about the Tiburon reel was that the fish never got his "head" back. Once I turned that fish towards the boat the first time, the reel just kept him coming. This fish was not bleeding and had not been gut-hooked, but was hooked cleanly in the corner of its mouth with the circle hook. In my experience, a mouth hooked fish like this one would usually keep me busy for 30 to 40 minutes. When I fish my Penn and Shimano 2-speed reels, I always shift into low gear when I get hooked up, and almost never shift back into high gear after that. I have lost many fish when trying to shift a manual reel in the middle of the fight. When I stop cranking to change gears, the fish usually gets its head turned and that's when the trouble starts.

I never could feel the Smart Shift reel shift gears and I had to actually look at it to see the spool change speed. It's amazing what a difference this reel makes.

Don Dunn
Santa Ana, CA

Post by Sandra Higgins on "Trip Reporter" bulletin board at Southern California Marlin Online. Posted under the title of "Lady Angler loves Tiburon Reel" 9-17-02

I had the distinct pleasure of trying the new Smart Shift reels from Tiburon Engineering. I am sold, sold, sold! The reel is easily handled by a woman. Size and weight along with the ergonomic handle gave me great handling ability. The smooth two speed allowed me to fight my fish without having to fight the reel at the same time. We had a great trip to Cabo, releasing 4 marlin and boating a half dozen Cabo size dorado. Ladies, forget about the diamond, get yourselves a Smart Shift Tiburon Reel for Christmas.

Sandra Higgins
San Clemente,

Jamie Lyons
Posted on Allcoast Tackle Board under "Smart Shift Great Product"
10-24-02

Well my last experience with the new [Smart Shift] reels was on a 5 day to Guadalupe Island. I'd pin a sardine on and go to cast it out, now I am next to friends fishing 30# on Pro-Gears, Trinidads, and Newells, all well known for their excellent casting abilities. I found that I was casting further out, with 80#! My reels performed flawlessly and I found myself hooking the 70lb Guadalupe yellow fin and watching them spiral up to the boat with the reels not missing a beat on the shifts. I now have four of these new reels, two high speeds, and two power retrieve. I truly cannot say enough to those of you out there who have not yet had the opportunity to fish these reels. Get your hands on one and fish it-try maxing it out I'll bet you can't! And I'm sure you will find some room in your reel box for one or more of these awsome new reels!"

Jamie Lyons

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to send you a report on my last trip to Cabo San Lucas.

The trip was going to be a short one, only 2 days on the water. As usual, I hooked up with Rafael, the owner of the Mucho Loco fleet, he set me up on a nice 33 Bertram. The first day of fishing the wind was blowing hard. The second day the wind blew harder. The fishing was still fantastic. Oh, and did I mention the Tiburon Smart Shifts delivered a 5 star performance? We set them up as the primary bait sticks on the boat. the first day we baited 2 stripers and 2 large bulls. The second day we baited 5 stripers and 4 bulls. It was really a thrill to get into some larger fish with the new gear. I really noticed the performance, smooth drag, precision transition when shifting gears. When backing down or when the fish was charging the boat, without a thought, the smart shift took over and shifted gears, increasing my retrieve and changing back when I was at a point when I needed to keep pressure on the fish and just gain a little line.

The highlight of the trip was when I and my buddy Bill had the chance to watch the set of reels perform on a double. Bill dropped one back on a fish that came up in the jigs; he was on! A nice striper! I scrambled on deck and started to help get the rest of the jigs in, when I noticed a second striper! I baited up and threw on him and immediately he crashed the bait, I let him go a bit then hit him hard. This is where I saw the reels really perform, 2 fish on most of the time going in separate directions, while one was greyhounding off the port, the other one was charging us off starboard. We were able to keep pressure on both fish and in less than an hour had them both to leader for release.

All I can say is the old cliche, "it was nice to have the right tools for the job".

Thanks again Steve, Brooks, and crew for a five star performance in the equipment. The gear is a true revolution in the 2 speed market and always stands ready among the arsenal of VAMOS bait sticks

Sincerely

Jeff Barbee
VAMOS